Who has never dreamed of offering the ultimate to their pet? We wanted to test the Litter-Robot 4 connected litter to check if this kind of device is really worth it.
When we received the proposal to test the Litter-Robot 4 brand in our mailbox, we were obviously a little curious. Such a machine which seems straight to come from the future and marketed from 898 euros in France to welcome the excrement of our dear feline, there is something to laugh. But as we do not judge without having tried beforehand, we agreed to lend ourselves to the game and to receive a copy of the last Litter-Robot 4.
The ideal opportunity to check if a connected litter is really useful, easy to set up, and especially if it is worth its rather high price. The response in our Litch Wobot 4 test from Whisker.
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A design that takes up a little space
Let’s start with the elephant in the middle of the room: the size of the Litter-Robot 4. Let’s not go a dead hand: the object is very imposing. To install it within our home, we had to review the organization of some of our furniture so that the litter can remain accessible to our cat and that it is not in the passage either. Exit therefore the Tancarville (and yes, we say Tancarville) and hello to the Litter-Robot 4 which will now rush into a dedicated space of our bathroom.
With a width of 56 cm and a height of 75 cm, it is difficult to replace your traditional litter with the Litter-Robot 4 if you do not have a dedicated corner. This is perhaps the biggest defect in the machine: its size and its height makes it difficult to install within certain homes. So check that you have enough space at home before you buy.
However, the weight of the litter-robot 4 is not as high as you might think. Mostly plastic, the connected litter wants to be quite simple to transport. We do not say that it is ready to follow us on vacation, but its installation is not very complicated, whether at the hardware level and software.
A surprisingly easy installation and operation
Such a machine has something to worry about its installation. The latter finally turned out to be rather simple: once the Liter-Robot 4 placed in the desired place, just plug it into to start it. The rest of the installation is to be followed on a dedicated application. Called Whisker, the latter is pretty well thought out (but we will come back to this later).
The Litter-Robot 4 has a few buttons located on its upper edge, but they are quite rarely used. Once the litter has been connected to your WiFi network (via the dedicated application), all you have to do is add agglomerating or balls with sufficiently small to be sorted by the machine. For the purposes of this test, we will go through agglomerating. A small charcoal filter can also be placed in the machine in order to avoid bad odors, but it will be necessary to replace it from time to time. Once all this has been in place, the machine will then launch a first test cycle.
During a cycle, the Litter-Robot 4 will turn on itself by dropping the big deposits in a dedicated tank. This therefore allows the litter to be always clean after the passage of your feline. This is where we are going to introduce the main character of this test: our Moon cat.
Moon’s first steps towards the Litter-Robot 4 are clearly not convincing. It will depend a lot on the curiosity and courage of your cat to go towards new objects. This is why we decide, after 2 days without use, to place Moon directly in the Litter-Robot 4 to tell him to use it (at 900 euros per litter, she has rather interest). She finally adopted it completely and now uses it frequently. However, we recommend keeping the old litter next to the litter while it is transitioned.
Whenever your cat makes a passage in the Litter-Robot 4, the connected litter is set automatically. To be sure not to activate with your cat inside, the device is provided with a precise scale which detects your choice and its average weight. If you already know the latter, it is always possible to specify in the application.
The waste thus recovered by the litter-box 4 is stored in its base that you will have to empty from time to time (on average once every two weeks). The litter automatically detects when your cat has finished using the device and waits a few minutes before self-cleaning. And now, we went around the basics of the Litch 4!
A practical application and easy to configure
The Whisker application is mandatory to configure the Litter-Box 4, but you don’t necessarily need it later. In particular, it allows you to connect your litter to the WiFi network and follow the cycles carried out, provide information on your cat or follow the capacity of the waste bin.
As for the first point, the application warns you each time it makes a cycle. This makes it possible to ensure its proper functioning (but also to know the frequency to which your cat uses it). It is also possible to fill in the profiles of your cat (s) with in particular their weights so that the litter-box 4 ensures that it does not launch a cycle by detecting the weights informed. The balance is quite precise, but we do not recommend using the device if you have a kitten that could be too light to be detected (and which would, anyway, find it difficult to go inside).
The biggest advantage of the application remains the monitoring of the waste tank and the sending of a notification when the latter begins to be too full. At this point, you just have to pull the lower part of the Litter-Box 4 to discover the tank, empty it and put a new bag there. A breeze that will only take you a few seconds!
In addition to these basic functions, the application also offers other slightly more advanced options. It is notably possible to select the waiting time to launch a cycle after the passage of a cat or to launch the options of the litter (like a cycle for example) directly from the application.
Note that the application can also be shared with other members of your home (or if your strange entourage really wants to know when your cat passes in its litter). To do this, simply share the identifiers of your Whisker account with them.
Our conclusion to the Litch 4 test 4
Pleasant surprise that this test of the litter-box 4. While we were leaving with a few a-prori on the subject, it is clear that the device is satisfactory on a daily basis. No more shovel pickups and the permanent need to clean your cat’s litter: the litter-box takes care of (almost) everything.
Its price remains high enough for a product that does not have cameras to monitor the cat. Many accessories are however available on the Whisker site (stairs, floor mats …) for those who would like to push the experience. If your cat’s health is an important point for you, but you are tired of collecting its excrement, the purchase of such a device can be a good idea, without being essential.