Smart home getting dumber

[chuck (Triple Super Secret Pope)]

@NeilT

ETA: I should add it’s a really expensive system, involving crystallized kitty litter and automatic scrapers on the kitty box, but it could cost 10 times as much and I’d still think it was better than me cleaning kitty boxes.

Yeah, see, this is where our methodologies diverge a bit.

[Limey (Ray Ward)]

Holy Shit! Switchbot S10 on sale for $840 ($360 off).

SwitchBot S10 Robot Vacuum & Mop | Auto Refill & Drain – SwitchBot US

[Bench]

@Limey

Holy Shit! Switchbot S10 on sale for $840 ($360 off).

It’s actually $860 off, for a total price of $360. I just bought one.

[Limey (Ray Ward)]

Very excited to hear how it goes for you. The installation looks pretty simple - there are many YT videos on the subject - but a real person doing it is always a better benchmark.

[Bench]

@Limey

The installation looks pretty simple - there are many YT videos on the subject - but a real person doing it is always a better benchmark.

As always with my tech purchases, this is the other shoe very heavily dropping. I need a few days of you tube research to get comfortable even opening the box. And by that time, you tube will have subconsciously trained me to program the vacuum to carry out cat pogroms.

[JimR (Coach)]

@Bench

cat pogroms.

Priceless

[Limey (Ray Ward)]

@Limey

I have two cats, but I have heard bad things about litter robots; i.e. bad for the cats, not that the machines do not work as advertised. I scoop the box once a day, which doesn’t bother me and lets me keep an eye on their “functions”

To wit, I just scooped a turd so fat that I am surprised there weren’t teeth marks in the side of the litter box.

[GWAT]

Buy the Litter Robot from Whiskers. You fucking love stuff like this. It will enhance your Smart House…and your quality of life. I held out for years, rejecting the concept such devices. This one is completely legit. It beats the fuck out of fishing in a cat box with a slotted spatula. Do it.

[SidDithers]

+1, it’s awesome, I can’t imagine not having one. We have 3 cats and don’t have to scoop anything, just change out the tall kitchen bag once a week. And there’s an app that’ll tell you it’s time to change the trash bag. You can also buy an attachment that will automatically keep the litter at the necessary level. I love living in the future.

[chuck (Triple Super Secret Pope)]

@SidDithers

I love living in the future.

Otherwise known as “Limey’s house.”

[Lefty]

“in the middle of our street”

[Craig]

I also still use an analog system for cleaning catshit; I have a finely curated set of catshit tools that I can’t part with.

A few years ago I thought I could make a career of it and was well-entrenched in the batting order at the local cat shelter. But alas, a knee injury ended my professional ambitions.

We had this fat cat, Peaches, who was diabetic so we left her cage open during the night so she could roam her big ass around the shelter and get exercise. One morning I was cleaning her litter box and she came to see wtf I was doing. When I was done, I picked up Peaches with one arm and her litter box with the other. Peaches squirmed and my knees wobbled, and I went too far and tore my meniscus. I started physical therapy, hoping to avoid surgery, but then the pandemic hit and my catshit career fizzled.

Now I just labor away in the Denial League, dreaming about what may have been.

[NeilT (Neil Thomas)]

Another one lost to the IL.

[GWAT]

There will be no beautiful future until Limey gets a Litter Robot.

[Limey (Ray Ward)]

Ok, you lot have me intrigued.

How is it as far as pollution is concerned: litter, dust and noise?

[austro (Mark)]

Were your cats freaked out by it? How long did it take them to adapt to it?

We have a geriatricat who isn’t long for this world, and I won’t ask her to change her habits. But once she’s gone, if we introduce a kitten into a world where a Litter Robot is the only option, how likely are we to meet with success?

[Lefty]

Were they Stray Cats?

[moriarty]

Very good odds with a kitten, I think. They also have a 90-day return window if you or your cats don’t like it.

In my experience it does as good a job containing litter as a high-walled litter box. Not perfect, but nothing is.

My only complaint is the app. Sometimes it goes nuts and sends notifications rapid-fire if the tray needs emptying. I’ve woken up to 70+ notifications before. It’s rare but very annoying. It didn’t used to do this, but it’s about four years old now and I think something is messed up. I’d note that I have the Litter Robot 3, not the latest model. Hopefully the sensor is improved on the newer ones.

[das (david shive)]

More stories of Fat Cat Peaches and her cell mates may make us forget about the gut-wrenching loss last night.

I tore my meniscus (vertically and horizontally) simply kneeling down to do some bathroom tile work. Which sucks. I hope yours is doing better.

[Col.SphinxDrummond]

@das

I tore my meniscus (vertically and horizontally) simply kneeling down to do some bathroom tile work.

Ouch! Don’t let the Astros medical staff near your knee and you should be able to avoid amputation. I retired from doing tile work. Any kind of flooring. All that kneeling and crawling around on my hands and knees, it’s just too hard on my old frame.

ETA: hoping for a smooth and speedy recovery for you.