Customer Reviews:
 Petmate Automatic Feeder July 10, 2008
The programming is extremely counterintuitive. Once figured out it works great and is perfect for weekend getaways.
 Be patient July 5, 2008
This feeder is fantastic for cats that need diet control.
While the programming IS difficult, the company does provide a phone number and will walk you through it, very patiently, even waiting while you do it with them on the phone.
I am not much for writing reviews, but in light of some of the bad ones on this product, felt compelled to write my own.
 Otherwise Good Product with One Major Flaw... June 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have owned these cat feeders for several months, so this review is from a seasoned owner. My two cats, when left to their own devices, will overeat, and put on too much weight. So, I was hoping these pet feeders would provide good portion control without me having to be around all the time.
Setup: Several other reviews say that the setup is difficult and unintuitive; I completely agree. The secondary instruction "cheat sheet" linked to elsewhere was a big help, and once I had that, programming was not too hard.
Operation: The devices run for a long time on their D cell batteries. Operation was as advertised, and the devices dispensed the food reliably. One complaint; when you have to replace the batteries, the unit has to be reprogrammed from scratch. However this happens once every few months, so it's not that big of a deal.
This brings me to the Achilie's heel of these units: within one month, my cats had both learned how to defeat them.
The cats quickly figured out that if they stuck their paw all the way up the chute and poke around, that it would dislodge a pellet of food. Granted, just one pellet, but being cats, they have little else to do all day, and can repeat this as necessary.
Ultimately, the cats ended up getting to eat as much as they wanted anyway. Might as well have just left big bowls of food out for them.
instructions????? June 28, 2008
Great product.....the programing instructions are AWFUL!!!
Please get word to manufacturing source or distributor....
Sale$ could double with u$eable in$truction$...get it???
Programming Simplified for LeBistro June 28, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Programming the Le Binsro is a pain, and the provided instructions are not good. Below is a set I created. I suggest having one person read the steps, slowly, and a second person push the buttons, deliberately. Legend for the codes is at bottom:
Simplified how-to Le Bistro programming steps - starting from normal display:
Turn on/off Breakfast feeding:
p+,s,p,p,p,p,p,+++,s,ps
Turn on/off Lunch feeding:
p+,s,+,p,p,p,p,p,+++,s,ps
Turn on/off Dinner feeding:
p+,s,+,+,p,p,p,p,p,+++,s,ps
Set Breakfast time:
p+,s,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,s,ps
Set Lunch time:
p+,s,+,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,s,ps
Set Dinner time:
p+,s,+,+,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,s,ps
Change meal size:
p+,+,s,+++,s,ps
Change current time:
p+,+,+,s,+++,s,+++,p,+++,p,+++,p,+++,s,ps
Manual feeding:
s+ on, s+ off
To return to normal display from any point:
s until "meal time" shows, then ps
Where ...
p = prog button
+ = plus (+) button
p+ = prog and plus buttons at same time
s = set button
ps = prog and set buttons at same time
s+ = set and plus buttons at same time
+++ = hit plus repeatedly till desired value
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