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I and many people I know swear by the litter robot. Off the top of my head I can think of 5 different households in my social circle with 1 or more litter robots.
For 4 cats you might want two litter robots as they tend to fill up quickly with multiple cats. Or set up the litter robot in addition to a traditional litter box so the cats can choose where to poop.
I have a LR3 it is great until it isn't.. Both my cats used it for several months but my oldest cat with joint issues refuses to use anything but an open litter box now (doesn't like the confined space).. Also possibly fixed in the LR4 the LR3 FULL sensor easily gets false positives due to dust build up from litter and is a PITA to clean.
I have been looking at a lot of reviews for alternatives but all of them eventually seems to have some flaw around reliability.
The LR4 is such a nice upgrade from the 3. I now own both due to having 4 cats. It's a night and day difference between the two. Not saying the 3 isn't amazing at what it does, but the 4 addresses so many issues I've had with the 3.
What issues does it address?
For one, it's so much quieter than the 3. The drawer was redesigned to be much easier to replace the bag. Sleep timers can now be defined with start and end times for both weekdays and weekends. The 3 only allows an 8 hour sleep with a given start time. The cat detection sensors are much better at detecting cats. There is now a litter level sensor. The cat weight sensor is probably nice, but with 4 cats, they're too close in weight to get any good use out of it. It also looks nicer.
Cost and my old cat not willing to try it are the two things that hold me back from getting an LR4.. It it is wider but still not open so I am not sure he would use it.
These things are ridiculously expensive. I will say that we have a hesitant cat, and she eventually started using these litter boxes as well.
As previously stated I have an LR3 already that my cat STOPPED using... Not sure the LR4 opening is different enough to get him back in one.
I can't speak to any of the newer litter robots as I have a LR1 and an LR2. The only issue I had was with the LR1. The hall effect sensor wore out and I was able to replace it with parts from their site.
This post right here.
I have gone through 4 replacements of the LR3.
When it works it is good but when it doesn’t it usually is due to a hardware fault.
LR4 sensors are easy as hell to clean, no removal necessary just stick a stop into a hole and wipe the sensors
I’ve been using my LR4 since May with no issues in functionality only a few WiFi disconnects
I've been having tons of issues recently with the pinch sensor on my LR3. Basically it'll stop rotating mid cycle and I have to either take it apart and clean the sensor or sometimes just power cycling works.
If that's not an issue on the LR4, I'd be tempted to get one eventually
Maybe I'm being the overly marketed to weirdo here, but this is the third post today asking about cat box solutions and the comments on all of them are pushing the Litter Robot 4. The timing is pretty weird... again is it just me?
I think it's because it's the only one that comes close to working well
I actually own a LR4 and me and my cat fucking love it. It actually works and is quite reliable. Been using it since May and the only issue I’ve had is sometimes I need to reconnect it to the WiFi so I can get alerts and see status from the mobile app. Doesn’t stop the LR from functioning if it does dc from WiFi
Yes it is just you, it’s not a psy op it’s a good fucking product
I wouldn't look at HA first for this kind of thing. Asking a cat group would be more effective unless you're looking to add smarts to a dumb litter box.
HA related the Litter Robot does have an integration for the wifi enabled ones and it will report state and error codes.
Others have already mentioned the litter robot, but one automation you might find handy is having HA trigger a robot vacuum to go vacuum the room where the litter boxes are, after it detects a cat using it. It'd help keep litter off the floor if your cats like kicking it out of the boxes.
Also if you're having to clean litter boxes multiple times a day, how many do you have? Iirc the general rule is one litter box for each cat plus one extra, so for 4 cats you should ideally have 5 litter boxes.
I've had both the CatGenie and the Litter Robot 4. While the novelty of a washable cat litter made the CatGenie appealing and I used it with my two cats for a few years, it was just prone to not collecting all of the droppings and then air drying it, smelling up the whole house. Cleaning it was also a huge and disgusting pain in the ass when it got clogged up.
The Litter Robot 4 is significantly better. It's quiet, easy to refill, cycles quickly, and with the newer firmwares being put out, is less prone to false positives with its sensors. The only iffy thing is still the full Litter drawing sensor saying the drawer is more full than it really is, but it's a minor annoyance.
I’d rather the litter drawer report more full than it is, rather than less.
But I’m really just curious if any particular model of self-cleaning litter box is any good - even by itself, without any “smart” features.
So..... this isn't a smart litterbox, it's just self-cleaning. It doesn't have Home Assistant integration or anything, but I've had decent success with this:
https://www.petsafe.com/product/scoopfree-smart-self-cleaning-litter-box/
Pay the $50 ransom to get the "reusable" plastic litter tray thing and make sure you buy the larger crystal cat litter like this(don't use clay, paper, the fine powdery dusty non-clumping, or anything else, it WILL clog up). This ends up a little cheaper than Petsafe's disposable trays.
I have 2 with 2 cats. Mine gets stuck maybe once every 2-3 weeks, which I'm personally fine with, but scooping around the sifter works fine. Plus it's open top, so if your cats hate enclosed areas...
I eventually plan to make mine smart by tapping into the sensor that detects when cats use the litter box with an ESP8266 to track how often my cats use it but it's on the eternal project pile.