Automatic Litterbox Central

To give some background I owned the Older model that I will refer to as the 60 for 3 years prior to buying the new model 120 this past September. Keep in mind I LOVED my 60 wash unit. Was it perfect NO... did I have issues YES... was it worth the issues vs using the old rake system... YES. The main reason I upgraded was because I wanted the Cat Activation feature. It provided me several benefits:

1. I have 2 cats... the one cat (that ironically is very tiny) manages to stink up the whole house when she goes.... she had a tendency to use the cat genie as soon as it was done washing. This means the poop would sit there for 5 to 7 hours before washing!
2. The 60 wash cartridges only lasted me about 14 days. I had set my unit to wash 2 times a day, but because of the one cat we would have to throw in extra cycles on a regular basis. We go on vacation quite often for more then 14 days... and I did not like having to worry about someone remembering to swap out the cartridge... and god help them if they do swap it and there is an error.
3. When I set the unit to 4 washes a day there were many times I would see the unit run when no cat had used it.


The other factor was the cost of operation... this one is not too compelling for me as I had a reset device. In September I decided to buy the 120 from Costco. I have been using the unit for 6 months. The first cartridge lasted me 4 months. The second one has been in for 2 and is still showing 100% on the LED. This brings the cost of ownership WAY down over the 60. Running the math for me (if you do not have a reset device):

Old Unit: 1 cartridge lasted 20 days. In one year I would use 18 cartridges. This puts the cost per year at: $234 (buying 3 packs of 60 not including shipping)

NEW Unit: 1 cartridge lasts 4 months! In one year I will use 3. This puts the cost per year at: $69 (buying 2 packs of the 120 not including shipping)

In Sanisolution alone it pays for itself.

Other experiences over the past 6 months:

The unit has run flawlessly since hook up (watch this I will come home to a 2 beep error). I have not had to deal with any errors or issues. I have done one maintenance was with the unit using the powder. This is a bit of a pain, but not as much of a pain as breaking the whole unit down! Not to mention... some day they will release the maintenance cartridges that will eliminate the current boiling water process.

I am VERY happy with the upgrade. As a testament... I would rather pay the $70 a year in Sanisoluton.. then use the OLD unit with the reset device.

Is the unit perfect... NO... I sill would like to see some changes and upgrades.

1. I do not know if there is any way to solve the cooked poo issue... but it is better with the new rake that came out on the later 60s and new 120s
2. I would like an LCD screen that gives more details on: Number of washes, where in the wash cycle the unit is, time and wash frequency readout.
3. I would like to have more wash options: Deep wash... poop scoop and flush with no water in bowl... ect.

To sum up I would say...I would not recommend the 60 wash to people that are not technically inclined and not willing to fix things... the 120 I think is much more reliable and advanced and will work for most people.

I'm just about to wrap up 2 weeks with the 120. It worked out of the box and I haven't seen a problem yet with my two cats, using Cat Activation. The CG 120 replaced a Littermaid Elite that we used for almost 4 years. The Littermaid wasn't perfect for sure but was more sanitary than scooping a conventional litterbox manually.

I'm kind of amazed at the hassle people seem to be willing to go through to refill and reset cartridges. Two 120 cartridges are available directly from CatGenie for less than $40 total. I also received a 'maintenance cartridge' which is supposed to be used every 90 days and lasts for 4 uses (1 year).

My primary issue is that I'd like to defeat the 10 hour 'sleep' time for Cat Activation and I called the company and asked them to put it on my wish list for the future, but I forgot to ask if there will be a way to update the software in the processing unit.