I had a litter maid, hated it.  Don't bother.   It was a peice of
junk.

cumbersome and fussy gadgets, they are. mine worked for a couple of months,
then one day decided to keep cycling...every five minutes, cat or not.
(because i work away from home with no one to stay with cats, i would turn
it off when i left, turn it on when i got home, so it wasn't like it was
getting over taxed)

darn hard to keep clean too...tracks and opticals had to be kept free of
debris, etc etc.

then i got a Deaf cat, and such a devise is ill-advised with any sort of
disability. Deaf cats in particular (probably not your problem, but...)
because they cannot hear the motor if a malfunction should occur and because
they are inordinatly attracted to anything that moves would be poor
candidates for littermaid.

needless to say, it went to the dump.

Get the AC adapter (or from RatShack or whatever) as the other poster
suggested.

The "max fill line" is really that, put in _slightly more_ than that and the
thing will jam.

The tracks on mine have worked great for 2 years, same with the cabling.

The teeth on the rake may break off after time, reducing it's functionality
somewhat.

It's noisy.

The bins are sort of hard to get out, and you usually end up mussing your
hands.  Keep your face directed away, as the plastic will "spring" and
sometimes scatter bits of litter when you pull on the bin.

Bins are not as readily available as one might like.  Get several boxes at a
time (should you choose to keep the unit).

The timer is reset every time there is motion.  Therefore, any cat or person
(deaf or not) should not have to tangle with the rake.  Though it could use
two sensors, not just one in the center.

Rake tines are fairly wide apart, so bits of debris will remain, it still
needs attention... though less frequently than a regular box.

Cleaning is easy to do with a dustpan.  Just scoop out litter and replace
with fresh.  Or just top it off.

No sticking to the bottom has occured on mine. (TidyCat brand litter)

Some cats may make a mess mussing litter around, likewise if they habitually
use one corner the litter balance will get out of whack, causing the jamming
condition. (Partial cycle, followed by an abort reset, followed by a partial
cycle, etc.)

Those are my observations.  I would probably purchase one based on my
experience. (Mine came with a cat.)

Thank you to all who have taken the time to reply to this.  You all have
given me a lot to think about.  I guess if they were a little cheaper, it
wouldn't be such a big investment and I would be tempted to take a chance.
I think for now, I will just pass on it and see if they make a better one
down the road.
Thank you to all of you!!
Shirley

I had one. The motor died after 6 months. I'll never buy one again. I spent
more time unclogging it than I do cleaning my regular cat box.

I bought one, the smaller "Litter Maid" about 2 months ago. My cat cubs
were quite young, so we didn't use it for about a fortnight in case it
scared them.

It worked brilliantly for about 2 weeks - and when it does work, it's very
convenient indeed. It keeps the smell down, especially in hot weather, so
you don't get a nasty smell when you come home from work.

The one I had stopped working all the time after the first fortnight, and
stopped working altogether after that. I've returned it. I don't know if
it's this unit in particular, but I do share some of the concerns raised
about a lot of it being rather flimsy.

I am going to get it replaced by the company I bought it from, and will
see how it goes. If it does work, I'll definitely stick with it.

Amanda