Pet ZoneSelf Cleaning Automatic Cat Litter Box - Smart Scoop Cat Litter Box with 6 Bags & Carbon Filter for Up to Two Cats 6-16 Pounds

I purchased four of these Automatic Cat Litter Boxes last year 2024 and another May 2025. Two of the ones from last year stopped working recently. In spite of the short life cycle, I still like these better than other brands that we’ve tried. The price point is great. We have 4 cats and these are really nice for keeping their litter boxes clean.Now for the really good news. The new owners have improved the design and quality. I received the latest version today and the whole assembly process has improved significantly which means the manufacturing process has improved. The motor (heart of the box) seems stronger and smoother raking.The one improvement I wish the manufacturer would do. When there is a power outage (even just a power spike), these units do not come back on. I’ve added UPS units to all four boxes to overcome this issue.

UPDATE TO PREVIOUS 5 STAR REVIEW;I bought this box on January 9, 2015 and it started malfunctioning in August. Intermittently, the box will rake to the end, and then do a little dance and error out with the box held wide open (talk about smelling bad). The rake will not return on it's own, requiring me to power cycle the unit. Even that doesn't always work, you have to repeatedly power cycle it until it finally decides to return the assembly to the ready position. At first, this would only happen about once a week, but now it is multiple times a day. Being a fairly mechanical person, I pulled it apart to see if there was something stuck or perhaps debris stuck in the gears. No such luck. Also, the advertising of metal gears is very misleading. Yes, there are some metal gears, there are also some plastic gears. I considered buying another one, but after skimming through the reviews, it appears this is not an uncommon issue. I will purchase another Littermaid instead as my previous Littermaids lasted years instead of the months I got out of this unit!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------If you have use a LitterMaid, you know the pros and cons of automatic litter boxes. This box is far superior to the LitterMaid variation in the following ways; It is FAR quieter, easier to empty, and feels much better made. Instead of using bins that you have to properly align with tabs, this unit uses a permanent bin that you put a trash bag around. When it is time to empty it, you simply remove the bin using the handle, then peel the bag from one end of the bin and roll it down to the other end. This traps the mess in the bag, you never get your hands in the refuse. Put the bin in a new bag (a plastic grocery bag works just fine), and drop the bin back into place. Such a simple solution to this messy job. With the LitterMaid, I hated this job. You could never avoid getting crap on your hands, and the bins were a pia to reinstall. With this unit, it is a five minute frustration free job. As far as the litter goes, I suggest Tidy Cats hard clumping litter. This litter works perfectly with this unit. Do not fill the unit above the upper line of the pan. I have three large cats (MainCoon, Angora, and a Blue Russian), and this box is more then up to the task.The only two downsides I see with this product are the charcoal filter does not stay in place, and you must leave room on both sides of the unit as the motor and guide rails are on the outside of the box.Answers to a few questions I have seen posted;1. The attachment on the end of the box is to help release sticky refuse from the rake as well as to insure larger clumps do not roll off the end of the rake.2. If your cats pee on the rake, turn the box around. They are aligning themselves with your walls, not the box.3. If the clumps are sticking to the bottom of the box or are breaking apart, use a better litter. Again, I suggest Tidy Cats hard clumping litter. I tried their feather light product with my old LitterMaid, and they broke apart instead of being raked. In fact, I have tried several different litters over the years, and, in my experience, Tidy Cats simply works best with automatic litter boxes.4. All of the automatic litter boxes I have used do not rake all the way to the edges. This is not usually a problem, but can cause small pieces of refuse to be left in the box. Your cat will adjust the litter without your help, this will cause the missed pieces to eventually be picked up.To sum it up, this is the best automatic litter box I have used. Is it perfect, of course not!

I like many others writing reviews have experienced the pluses and minuses of automatic litter boxes. I like many started many years ago with Litter Maid. I had 3 different models over the years, each lasting less time with each subsequent generation. The last I literally had replace 5 times under the 1 year warranty. The Litter Maid has several design flaws that guarantee failure. Thus the search and research to find something that worked better.Let me be honest. We have two male cats 20+ lbs each. Any litter box will be tested. I looked at every make and quickly came to the conclusion I would not spend $500 for any litter box. I was looking for something < $150 that addressed the design flaws of the Litter Maid. The two top candidates were this one and the Pet Safe Scoop Free. I read every review. Watched youtube videos. The Pet Safe clearly had more reviews than the Pet Zone and many positive reviews. In the end I really could not live with the thought of spending an additional $40 for a reusable plastic litter pan for the Scoop Free. Between the price of the disposable litter pans or having to spend $40 for something that should be part of the base unit seemed a bit to predatory to me. After seeing a well done YouTube video on the Pet Zone I decided to give this one a try. I have had it now for about a month.The Pluses:The design corrects defects in the Litter Maid.1.The rake and motor move as a single unit. No electronic components are exposed to kitty pee. Male cats tend to pee back, or spray. The rake on the Litter Maid has the stop switch contacts on the back of the rake. A major source of issues on the 6 units I had.2. The rake gear and track mechanism are outside the litter box. This keeps them dry and clean. The Litter Maid the gear and track are inside the litter box. Subject to urine, and eventually caking of litter in the gear and gear track. This eventually leads to the rake mechanism jumping off track on one side or the other and it jams.3. With the drive motor and litter basket moving as a unit, there are no wire harnesses and ribbon cables that have to track with the movement of the rake. The Litter Maid has both and both are document sources of failure. Especially the ribbon cable.. Search YouTube videos. Very common problem.4. Extended delay after use. This unit waits 15 minutes. The Litter Maid 12 Minutes. This does not sound like much but I have seen much less problems with the litter clumps breaking up during raking. I'd really like to see an option to delay up to 30 mins.5. Much quieter than the Litter Maid6. Plastic bag liners. We use the plastic grocery bags rather than the supplied bags. They fit better and are free.7. I have not verified, but one of the YouTube reviews indicated that the drive motor can be replace. If the cost is not crazy, that could be very helpfulThe Minuses:1. With the way in which the rake must scoop the waste to empty into the bin, the L shaped rake must lift up and over to deposit behind itself. There are times #2 waste get left at the front of the litter box.2. This box seems to use a motion sensor rather than an IR sensor. This causes the system to trigger a cleaning even if you are simply filling the box with new litter.3. The cleaning cycle does not reset the timer if another cat uses the box while it is in the countdown. With two cats we have had the clean trigger when the kitty was in the box. Good thing for us, our cats are not scaredy cats:-04. Like I mention above, it would be great if the delay could be adjusted to accommodate longer or shorter periods. Different clumping litters behave differently, and change over time after the box has been opened. Yes the Scoop Free does have a time selection.We will see how durable this unit is, but over all, we are very pleased with the design and function. We have minimal manual intervention. Much less than the Litter Maid. About every other day we clean the rake when we empty the waste bin and put a new plastic bag in. We usually have to lift the rake and hand scoop where the kittys pee behind it.. Not much you can do about that. I love the fact that I can pull the bag out and tie it shut to seal the waste and smell. The house smells much better these days.Update 6/2022I had to replace the original unit this month. The motion detector had stopped functioning. I believe it is because the cats, male, have pee'd over the motor / motion detector enough to damage the motion detector. No I did not reach out the manufacturer. I felt that given the price and how long I have used the system that purchasing a new one was not unreasonable. All of my previous observations are still true with the new litter box. Still, my overall satisfaction is good.