Neakasa M1 Open-Top Self-Cleaning Cat Litter Box

Works exceptionally well - but expensive and sophisticated – Up until the start of 2023 we have become the custodians of five rescue kittens/ cats – it’s a long story but basically, we were new cat owners and needed to navigate everything that was necessary. We had been relying on manually maintaining their litter boxes but that was a challenge so the option to automate the process was inviting. In November 2023 I signed-up as a backer for this product on Indiegogo for USD$334 (around AUD$500). We paid that in December and received our device in February 2024. While this was later than indicated at least it arrived! I can see now that RRP is USD$599, so almost AUD$1,000. At that current price I wouldn't buy one.

This is quite a large product. It shipped from China and came well-packed for the journey so arrived without any damage. It's very well built and seems sturdy. There was lots of cardboard packing and so a lot of waste to dispose.

Set-up was pretty easy and really just involved downloading the Neakasa app. Once the M1 was set-up and plugged-in there was a firmware update to download and install. That step just took a couple of minutes.

Our cats were used to enclosed litter bins so I wondered how they would react to an open-top one. I needn't have worried as the mostly took to it within a few days. We removed their old litter box about a week later.

I am currently using Aldi San-i-pet Clumping Cat Litter (bentonite) and this seems to work fine in the ScoopFree. There are proprietary waste bin liners that can be purchased (ours came with some included) but I find that K-Mart ones are almost the same size and work fine.

The device’s sensors pick-up when a cat has used it. It automatically runs a cleaning cycle and the delay can be set or adjusted in the app. You can force a clean by pressing the relevant button on front.

After three months it is still in regular use. Our five cats have access to it for up to 12 hours each day and it seems to be equally preferred to our other automatic litter box (a ScoopFree Clumping Self-Cleaning Litter Box valued at under AUD$400).

We generally clear the waste bin a once or twice a week and if it was the only device in use that would probably need to be every two to three days. If we had a single cat I imagine that it could easily last for a week. Both the device and the app alert you when the waste bin is full and it needs to be cleared.

Cleaning of the device is pretty easy and the instructions are clear and helpful. The waste screen can become clogged if the ‘business’ is messy.

The app is really useful and gives great information about the device and its status. You can check and calibrate the litter level, initiate a clean, or level the litter.

I'm not sure how well this will last. It's very high-tech (to the point of weighing each cat when they get in!) and I assume that repairs and parts may be impossible here in Australia. I'll wait and see.