CatGenie Cat Box Car-wash 120%
Review by Chris Maglio : Excellent, No-Maintenance Solution... Much Improved Over The Original

I have had 2 original Catgenies for about 3 years (I would recommend more than 1 Catgenie for any household that has more than 3 cats)... I was one of the first 100 or so owners of it. I had problems here and there over the years, but overall the original Catgenie has allowed me to take care of my 4 cats with my busy schedule and minimal effort. If I were to buy the first generation categnie over again I certainly would despite the problems I had with those units.Now Enter the Catgeine 120:I was part of the testing program for the new 120 unit. Petnovations sent me 1 unit awhile back to replace 1 of my original units. I recently sent this test unit back to receive one of the production 120 units. Since receiving the production unit 8 weeks ago I have not had any errors, not a single problem!About 4 weeks ago, I called Petnovations to upgrade my other original unit to the 120 under the upgrade program they are offering for original owners. This unit has had no problems in the weeks it has been installed as well.I only thought to post this today because I will be running my first "maintenance routine" on the one that is 8 weeks old. I set an 8 week recurring appointment in my outlook calender when I first got the 120 to make sure I remember to run the maintenance cycle every 2 months. I hope this new maintenance routine prevents me from having to do a thorough cleaning with the hose outside. This in itself is a major improvement over the original design. I always dreaded taking the original Catgenie outside to clean it out... now all I have to do is run a special cycle to "deep-clean" it every 2 months.Also, when my family comes to visit. They will be very happy that the new 120 unit has the "sleep" mode for 10 hours. My sister slept on the couch the last time they were here and the catgenie would wake her up at night when it ran. This should no longer be a problem.I am very happy with my 2 new 120 units and I wanted to share my experience with the new model in case anyone is considering upgrading or buying one for the first time. I understand these litter boxes are not for everyone, I am an engineer and feel I am able to deal with any problems that arise with new technology... but I feel Petnovations has come a long way with the Catgenie 120 and it is a very valuable and reliable product.I would like to note that I have not yet replaced the original 120 cartridge in the 8 weeks of ownership. I have it run on the automatic cat activation cycle. If 1 cartridge will continue to last me 2+ months, the cost of ownership on the 120 units will be much less than my original units (I used to run the original Catgenie 4 times a day, at 60 cycles that is only a 2 week lifespan of 1 cartridge). The Catgenie 120 cartridge has lasted me more than 4 times the length of the old cartridge!Now if they could only prevent the plastic granules from getting tracked out of the unit by the cats it would be a near-perfect solution (those things hurt under bare feet!), but I think this is something that has to be dealt with even owning a traditional litterbox.I would highly recommend the new Catgenie 120 to anyone, I have recommended the original Catgenie in the past to my coworkers and friends... and with the new units better price and performance it is a an easy recommendation to make.UPDATE 11/04/09:I am still extremely happy with both 120 units, I still have not heard a single error beep out of either one. They do their job every day and all I have to do is vacuum up the granules that get kicked out of the box. Since the last review I have completed a "deep-clean" cycle on both units, it is sooooooo much easier than the old catgenie where you had to take the entire box outside, take it apart, and scrub it down. Every 2 months I pour warm water into the bowl combined with a special cleaning solution packet and let it sit for 2 hours before letting the unit automatically drain it out. I found that taking an ordinary toilet bowl brush and LIGHTLY cleaning around the bowl and hopper during this cleaning helps make everything look brand new (Warning: The toilet brush may or may not be recommended by Petnovations, it is my own idea). Also, the 120 has proven much more economical than the original, the automatic cycle combined with the sleep cycle and the increased number of cleanings in each cartridge has helped tremendously. I have found each cartridge to be lasting me 2 months (the old catgenie I replaced the cartridge every 2 weeks). The savings alone were worth the upgrade, but I am also very pleasantly surprised by the increase in reliability.

CatGenie Cat Box Car-wash 120%
Review by Brian P. Pfeifer : Cat Genie 120

First I have to say I never owned one of the earlier versions. After reading they released a new version I thought hey, why not give it a try. Boy am I glad I did. It's only been a week and I cant say anything bad about this product. Unpacking was simple, everything was packed securely. It took less than five minutes to put together and wasn't too heavy to easily be moved around well assembled.

I placed the product in my basement bathroom. The water connection was quick and easy. The drain slipped right over the toilet. I was ready to go. As recommended by the manufacturer I ran a cycle to see how the unit work and I was amazed. I set the unit up at night and placed the litter box across the room from the unit to get my cat used to the area.

The next day my cat used the old littermaid in the new location, but did not go in the cat genie. I did not clean the old littermaid because it suggests this as a way to help your cats use the cat genie. I brought him in the bathroom and let him witness a cleaning cycle from start to finish. That following night after my cat had went to sleep I simply took the littermaid and placed it in a room that he could not get to. Sure enough he used the cat genie the next morning! He's maybe 8 years old so he's middle aged, and it took nothing at all for him to use this product.

The only suggestions I can offer that would be nice to be included in an update are:

- Allowing cat activation mode to be 24 hours; not on for 14 hours, off for 10. I've tried to set it to sleep when my cat sleeps, however, if you have multiple cats, I'm not sure they would sleep at the same time.

- Allowing a user to cancel a wash that was accidentally pressed. For example, well setting up cat activation on the unit I accidental hit the start button. I had to allow it to waste chemicals and go through a wash, even though it didn't have to. It would have been nice to just press start again or something right away and they cycle was canceled.

- Make the cat genie so the sides are as high as they are with the extenders. Well the side walls are only $20 when purchased directly from the manufacturer, it seems like just an easy way for them to get another $20 for the unit. I can't imagine the bowl keeping the litter in for any cat, no matter how calm they are as it is.

Overall I'm highly satisfied with the cat genie. It would be nice to have some sort of rewards program since you HAVE TO buy their products for the lifetime of the unit. Other than that... great job!

CatGenie Cat Box Car-wash 120%
Review by Hedwig Robinson "HRob" : A MUST for cat owners

First things first: I was a bit reluctant to try the CatGenie because of the mixed reviews of the first model. If I make a large purchase (anything over 50 bucks), I'm researching the HELL out of it first. Usually I check reviews from Amazon, Yahoo Shopping, Consumer Search, epinions, you name it. I live by this method - in the (almost) decade that I have been using the internet to aid in my product searches, I have not yet made a purchase that I regret. This goes triple for the CatGenie 120. They don't sell the older model anymore, which I think is good; I might have been tempted to save a few bucks, but I'm glad that I didn't. The 120 has given me no problems at all.A little background: I have 3 adult cats (two female, one male, all "fixed") and a smallish house (2 bedrooms - one I use as an office - and one bath), and not a ton of space, which means that the cat box 'thing' was always an issue. If I wasn't extra diligent in cleaning the cat boxes (three of them) at least once, but more often, twice a day, you knew it the minute that you opened the door. Short of getting rid of my cats, I didn't know what to do. I bought a litter maid, the cats hated it, and the clumps would get stuck in the rake. Switched to crystals, which did a good job at desiccating the poop, but it irritated my cat's paws. I didn't mind the pine pellets, but ended up with sawdust all over, and in particular between the boards of my hardwood floors, which I could never fully clean out, no matter how much I vacuumed. Considered the litter Robot, but you still have to use clumping litter, and if I'm dropping over 300 bucks for something, I don't like that I have to stick to my $45-month-for-litter habit, AND the litter still can get tracked, AND you still have to use plastic bags (environment, anyone?) AND not all the reviews were all that favorable. Enter the CatGenie. The price was somewhat steep, yes, but here is where my super internet sleuthing skills came in handy: you never have to purchase litter - it uses washable, recycled granules that are sanitized by the unit every time you run it, it costs less than the robot, and it hooks up to your water line, so you don't have to dispose of anything. You have the option to set it to run on a timer, do it manually (push a button and walk away), or set it to be cat-activated. I do mine manually, because with 3 cats, I like to be sure that none of the kitties is kept from using the box because it's in clean mode. But it's nice that the options are there. You can either hook it up to the toilet, or do what I did - hook it up to your laundry line. It comes with a T-shaped adaptor that makes this really easy. I don't have a basement, I have a laundry closet with a sink, so the waste just gets flushed out with the dirty laundry water. I have had my CatGenie 120 since July, and haven't had to purchase litter since, so my upfront costs are definitely evening out. It will have paid for itself in a few more months.Here are my pros and cons:PROS: no more litter (permanent granules) it sanitizes, so I'm not worried about the cats spreading germs no scooping no plastic bags or waste removal - everything is liquified by the unit and flushed into the sewer my cats took to it right away, and they dig in the granules just like they did with regular litter VERY easy to set up big enough to accommodate cat; not so bit as to take up too much roomCONS: the price upfront seemed a bit scary (but, as I mentioned, I haven't been shoveling out cash for litter) not ultra-silent, but since I have it set to manual, it doesn't go off when I'm not expecting it. you have to purchase refills of the sani-solution, but it's pretty economical, and each cartridge lasts for 2-3 months, depending on how often you run the unit.BOTTOM LINE: this is the best cat box out there. It's self-cleaning, super efficient, and clean. Definitely worth the money, and I recommend it.

CatGenie Cat Box Car-wash 120%
Review by Danbucks "-DC" : An outstanding concept, which delivers far more than the 1st generation

First, I must admit I am hooked on this product, despite all of the many problems I USED to have with the 1st generation (see my 3 star review for the 1st generation, Cat Genie [60]) - try it, being forewarned that it might require a bit of effort up front, depending on your hook up connection, and the cats' affinity for using the unit.However - at least so far - the integrated Genie 120 has few, if any, real problems left.It is a true, self-cleaning box, unlike every other box on the market. ... for me, the ability to go on short vacations without worrying about or asking someone, to change litter, is a godsend.They spend a lot of documentation on cat acclimation. For me, it was no problem.One by one, they fixed some of the core problems of the older design, some I received over time on the old unit, and all (plus a few more) come on the Genie 120:-improved Hopper (if your cat eats things like plastic, the old unit would clog: the new unit won't)-improved Claw (the old one had a ridiculously small pin holding the whole thing together: no surprise, under heat and water, it snaps in two after about a year_-cartridges that might actually be environmentally friendly now (the old ones had chips, contacts... and lasted for a shorter time). The new ones are - well almost ...- just a bag and shell.-scraper to help keep bone sediment from collecting and "growing" inside the basin-allegedly, improved Genie Eyes.-allegedly, improved litter bowl (i.e. over time, the older unit quickly lost a good "seal" between the bowl and rim, allowing tons of granules to fall into the bowl, and gum up the whole works) ... the new one still pops a few through, but I think it's much better-allegedly, no need to "service" (i.e. nasty complete disassembly and clean of the unit) several times a year: instead, you just drop in a clean cartridge or the same from a bag several times a year.For those super sensitive to smell, there is no way around the fact that, once in a blue moon, this design will of course miss a few remains ... which means they reach the drying cycle, which generates a most unpleasant smell that most of the negative reviews on the old unit reference.However, this is rare, esp. with the new "Cat" mode (in this mode, the unit will clean 10 min. after use ... and more frequently, but with less detergent) ... which translates into an almost always, far cleaner bowl.Customer service is hit and miss: if you reach someone, they are usually well informed and very helpful (this comes from someone who knows the unit better than most tech. service personal at this point). Other days, it's nothing but a black hole into the answering machine.Still not the holy grail of litter boxes, but I am hard pressed to think of any other automatic unit that comes as close.

CatGenie Cat Box Car-wash 120%
Review by Kyran Connelly : The 120 is even better

About two years ago, I purchased a CatGenie and then wrote the following review:

"Over the more than 40 years that I've owned cats, the one aspect of cat ownership that always bothered me was the problem of the litter pan. I've tried all the so called solutions - clumping, dumping, sifting - you name it. But always with the same result - a smelly, dirty, disgusting mess. If the cats themselves hadn't been such a pleasure I would have never tolerated what amounted to the constant need to handle raw sewage in my home.

About 10 years ago I thought that I had discovered a real solution when a product called the Littermaid came out. It promised to electronically rake the waste into a sealed container - ready for easy disposal. The ads were very convincing - then I bought one. It did nothing more than exacerbate the problem. Waste stuck to the rake. Pieces of waste were left in the pan. The smell was just as bad. In short, an expensive non solution.

So, you can imagine that when a friend told me about something called the CatGenie I was more than a little skeptical. But since this person has never steered me wrong on anything else, I decided to give it a try. AM I GLAD I DID! This thing is amazing. ALL the waste is removed. It is then liquefied and flushed out of the unit AND OUT OF MY HOME! The permanent litter like granules are washed in a number of washing cycles and then they're dried for the next use. I can set it to run at designated times (the middle of the night, for example) or I can run it manually whenever I want. The only maintenance that's required is the replacement of the cleaning solution about once a month or so - and that's a lot cheaper than buying litter.

My three cats took to it right away and they actually seem to enjoy watching it when it's in action. The hookup was idiot proof. It had to be because, believe me, I'm no handyman.

What else can I say. This IS the solution. It's not inexpensive but, given the myriad of problems that it solves so effortlessly, it's worth many times the price to me. It's not just some Rube Goldberg gadget like so many other so called litter solutions - it's almost like having another 21st century appliance to do that job that none of us really wants to face every day.

I give it an unqualified recommendation. Get one as soon as you can - you won't be sorry."

Now, the model 120 is available and, given that I have multiple cats, I decided to get the new model to add to my existing CatGenie. They say that it's hard to improve on perfection - and my original CatGenie was, I thought, close to perfect - but the 120 has accomplished that improvement. The solution dispenser is better, the overall "look" of the unit is more pleasing and, like any new generation of a fine appliance, it simply works - it does very well what it was designed to do - seamlessly and with no hassle. If you own a cat (or, like me,cats) and you haven't gotten the CatGenie yet, shame on you and what are you waiting for? If you've got the older model - yes - the upgrade is worth it. It's 2009 folks - stop playing in cat waste.