My advice is to buy nothing from AliExpress or Temu.
Disagree, if you need a custom big machine made, there are some really good people on AliExpress.
I have had a couple of customized CNC machines custom built for a fraction of the price it would have cost to have it done over here. Even with the shipping costs it came out cheaper. And the people were really helpful, they use machines like mine all the time so they know their stuff. They offered really good advice and were excited to work with me. It’s a bit butt clenching to fork over a lot of cash and hope a big ass pallet shows up 4 months later, but they’ve come through for me every time. YMMV.
Temu on the other hand can fuck off. It’s just a scam site like Wish.
I mean yeah thats how it works if you outsource your work to low wage, low work safety countries. And the result is that the machine shop near you goes bankrupt and you are now dependent on large corporations that can wipe out whole business segments on a whim. Sometimes you just dont have a choice, but if you do, dont buy cheap stuff from far away or big corpos.
Yeah, nah, I’m not gonna pay 10x the price for a knockoff arduino from a local seller that just buys it from AliExpress anyway. There’s no better place to get electronic components and modules without bankrupting yourself
I can give Ali a pass for niche things, but Temu is straight up junk. The problem is when these cheaper products permeate everything while being pushed as high end. Etsy is basically useless now because of this. Almost everything on there is an overpriced knockoff.
None of this is necessarily AliExpress’ or Temu’s fault though. It’s just what happens in a capitalist system.
Yeah, AliExpress is the baby version of the wholesale platform Alibaba, and they’re now a big enough company to also have their own cloud provider. Temu, Wish and Shein are all trash.
i used to buy plenty from aliexpress. its generally pretty damn good.
I mean… yeah.
This should not need specific mention. But it’s good that these warning exists, anyways. But it’s also kinda obvious, you’re ordering from Aliexpress/Temu. It’s like those shitty china cat fountains that run the 220V line into the water basin and convert the power there. Because hey, why only fry your pet a little…
Most people are used to devices being at least somewhat safe. They don’t expect devices they buy from a large online retailer to be that bad. A flaw here and there, sure, but basically a 100% chance of death? Yeah, that’s not exactly to expect.
The problem is this automatic litter box was bought from Amazon, which was being resold from Aliexpress. People have some level of trust in Amazon. Misplaced trust I would say, as it becomes littered with sketchy 3rd party sellers who have no responsibility to their customers.
The detail that negative reviews warning of the danger kept getting removed or edited is really sinister
Thanks for sharing! Not all people are aware of the possible dangers and I believe we tend to assume things are safe nowadays.
Thanks for the heads up, OP, but has anyone used one of the “authentic” version of these? Worth the money or nah? I’ve always been curious but can’t justify spending that much money on a litter box.
I wanted one but the automatic ones are WAY out of my price range, so I got an Omega Paw Roll’ N Clean that I absolutely LOVE!
It makes taking care of litter almost completely effortless at a fraction of the price of the robot ones and it’s economical to use too:
You just put clumping litter in, roll it to deposit the refuse into the handy drawer, roll it back to put the clean litter back in, and empty the drawer.
It takes me mere seconds a day to clean up after two adult cats, and it’s cheap enough to buy and use that I can afford to give them that GOOD kitty kibble without neglecting their sanitary needs!
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Omega Paw, except as a thoroughly satisfied customer 😁
The rolling ones are the way to go. Saves enough time for the price, no way I could justify the cost of the fully automatic ones.
The advice I’ve always heard is that if you can do it yourself, it’s always better. Animals can’t tell you that they’re sick, so every bit of info you can get on how they’re doing is important. Having the machine automatically clean the litter box deprives you of that option.
With that being said, a clean litterbox is also really important. I plan on getting a couple of cats in the next 5 years after I’ve gotten my shit together (cats and incredibly messy houses don’t mix), and I will probably get an automatic litter box because I don’t want my depressive episodes to result in my cats being miserable. As this post shows, you should do your research. Find a litter box that has been endorsed by multiple unrelated reviewers if possible. Some of these boxes are dangerous, and many of them are kinda worthless.
The video in the OP was recommended to me a few days ago and was my introduction to this whole fiasco. This person has done a ton of reviews and has a couple of boxes he’d recommend.
EDIT: I literally linked to the video in the OP… I thought it was the video from one of the people who had a cat die.
Yup, I have a Litter Robot 4 and we love it. It saves a ton on little costs, but was a massive upfront cost.
Easier to travel and the litter stay clean, it’s always clean for the cats and they love it. We’re big fans.
Keeping itself clean while we’re gone is such a huge benefit. We have three cats and finding people to care for them used to be a pain in the ass. Now we have the Litter Robot and a couple of automatic feeders so we can leave for days at a time and the cats barely notice we’re gone.
I had no end up trouble with my Litter Robot 3. So much I ended up just throwing the whole thing away.
I have a litter robot 3 and it’s great. It was costly but I’ve probably already made a significant amount back on litter cost. The cats took some time to get used to it and one of them refused without adding a set of steps to get in but all in all they seem happy 18months later.
I tried two different ones. First dudn’t function (defective unit). 2nd worked but no so great for my cats. Our large male urinates a lot, so the bag needed replacement after about a day and a half. And it was WAY more difficult to clean inside the thing (big drum shaped inside thing) than just a simple catbox was.
I watched this yesterday. It came just in time, because I was eyeballing those exact boxes on Amazon. I was so mortified I nearly cried. Coming home to (or even hearing) something like that happen because I wanted to save more time would have broken me. I would have never forgiven myself.
Edit: I ended up buying one that rotates sideways instead. Only reason I’m updating it is because someone in the video was like, “I believe in a cats self preservation to save them.” My cat, who is afraid of heavy rain, runs to the litter box to watch, making it stop and start because she keeps poking her head in. She absolutely would have been caught. Even scaredy cats get curious.
They were previously removed from amazon but I guess they’re back being sold by a different company… ☠️
I edited the title to reflect this.
There were only a few from no-name sellers, and I was only looking at them for price. But maybe they’ve been pulled with the extra attention?
Just gotta get a reputable brand. I recently got a Popur X5 and it’s been real nice.
Yeah, that’s the plan. I’m still interested in them, but God it was scary to realize I almost bought that.
I have two Litter Robots and I love them. I spend 5 minutes a week cleaning cat boxes which is as simple as pulling the garbage bag out of the tray and putting in a new one. And every time the cats go in there, it’s clean.
Expensive but worth it. They aren’t perfect, but I haven’t found anything better.
Just saw this video earlier today. Heartbreaking. I hope the online retailers respond and take action to get these things off the market. The design is just inherently dangerous.
Imo a litter genie is the way to go. Have to scoop it yourself but at least it’s convenient
