Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased this Cat Genie 120 in October of 2010, and after the fairly simple installation of hooking the splitter to the Laundry Cold Water supply and the drain hook to the Laundry Drain, it has been working near flawlessly for 2 years. I have had to on ONE occasion take the entire thing apart due to a clog. I will admit that it is quite gross if you have to do this, however not as bad as I was expecting based on other reviews elsewhere. Once I cleaned the entire unit, put it back together all was well again. Yes, if your cat's poo is not firm, it can get broken into smaller pieces that get missed by the scoop, and when heat dried, can stink up the place, but that is fairly rare if you feed your cats quality dry food. Both of my cats are older (10 and 11 years old) and they both took to it well. The 11 year old is more finicky, so if it isn't clean enough for him, he will just poop on the rubber mat sitting next to it, which I then either scoop into the cat genie, or flush it if it is too hard to be processed (if it sat over night or two before I noticed it). I put my setting on automatic, and it cleans about 4 times per day for 30 minutes each cycle. The cats don't seem to mind waiting and my finicky cat actually likes to wait until just after the cycle is complete, so he can poop in a comfy bed of toasty litter granules. I have never called customer service, so I cannot attest to their quality, but the instructions have most everything you would need in them, if you can read, you should have no issues. The one thing I must say that has made everything work flawlessly and keep it running smoothly is the maintenance cartridge, I use it every other month and it cleans very well!! After my initial issue taking the thing apart, I used the cartridge religiously every 8 weeks and no issues since! The only maintenance needed otherwise is occasionally is cleaning the water sensor, which I do when I do the maintenance cartridge. It is very simple to lift the motor up, pull out the sensor and put in the clean one. (They provide a spare, so I rotate them to allow me to do a simple lift and change motion. Then I clean (rinse) the dirty one and have it ready for the next time. As far as supplies, if you use the cartridge for automatic use, you get about 240 washes, which for me-equates to about two months for a $22 cartridge, then another $25 every 8 months for the maintenance cartridge. The granules do get tracks out and are a nuisance, but I found that with all litter, as nothing can stop litter from getting stuck in kitty feet. But I use a $20 box of litter about every 3 months. So if you do the math... That is roughly $21 a month to run (not including water and electricity, which is negligible). $21 a month total (for two cats!)!! I will gladly pay $21 to not have to deal with kitty poo more than once per year- and if you like to travel, its a life saver without needing a kitty-sitter! I have a 1-gallon water bottle/bowl and same for food, so I can leave for 2 weeks without worry! But I know they miss the attention, so I usually leave a few dollars on my AppleTV iTunes account and tell my friends they can have a movie on me if they go to my house and watch it with the kitties!!