The Coolest Pieces of Gear We Tested This Week

I never in my life thought I’d be writing an endorsement of a litter box. Then again, I never thought I’d be living with two cats. But when someone left two six-week old Siamese kittens in a cardboard box on the sidewalk, it was impossible not to take them in. My biggest concern, really, was the odor from the litter box they’d need. Not long after adopting them, though, I stumbled on the Litter-Robot. It is, frankly, a life savior.

It automatically senses when one of the cats uses it, then self-cleans itself by rotating. All it requires as far as maintenance is occasionally refilling it with litter and swapping out the trash bags in the bottom, which collect the used litter. Sure, the new Robot-Litter 3 is WiFi enabled, allowing you to track when the drawer is full, but for me it’s easy enough just to clean it out every two or three days and add more litter.

It’s not full-proof, of course. There have been times when two cats going in and out confuses the weight-sensing mechanism on the bottom, causing it to stop and reset without cleaning. But it’s a far better hiccup than having cats kick dirty litter all over the floor.

Trust me, I’m fully aware of how strange it is to endorse a litter box, especially a $500 one. But sometimes in life, the things that make the everyday inconveniences disappear (or at least make them quicker and easier) are the coolest things of all—and the Litter Robot is definitely one of them. —Ryan Krogh, Features Editor

[$499; litter-robot.com]

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