The one that buys back an hour a week · review
A mid-priced drum box with an ozone-ion deodorising system and the Smart Life app. It holds up to 9 litres of litter, runs at about 35 dB, and takes everything except crystal.
The bottom line A reasonable European mid-range box: wide litter compatibility, a washable drum and real safety sensing, at a price below the branded drums. The app is generic and the market coverage is the narrowest here.
A drum box with an app, sold at the lower end of the automatic range. Merax quotes about 35 dB of running noise, up to 9 litres of litter for two weeks or more, and a set of safety features that includes a child lock, four gravity sensors, infrared sensing and a delayed start after the cat leaves.
Tofu, bentonite, sodium-based, mixed — everything except crystal. That is a wider list than the PetPivot accepts and matches the PETKIT boxes, so in most households no change of bag is needed.
The listing leads with 65 litres. That is the drum, not the litter: the working quantity Merax gives is up to 9 litres. Both numbers are true and only one of them is useful, which is worth remembering when comparing this box against the 76 and 95-litre figures elsewhere on this page.
The whole drum is washable and comes apart without tools. On a machine that will eventually have something spilled inside it, that matters more than any app feature — a drum that cannot be taken to a sink is a drum that stays dirty.
We verified the reference on each market. It is listed in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, and was absent from both the US and UK stores when we checked — the narrowest coverage of the ten boxes here.
| Litter | Tofu, bentonite, sodium-based, mixed — all except crystal |
|---|---|
| Capacity | Up to 9 L of litter, stated as two weeks or more |
| Deodorising | Ozone-ion system, with the collection box closing automatically |
| Modes | Timed, automatic, manual |
| Noise | About 35 dB (Merax figure) |
| App | Smart Life, 2.4 GHz |
| Safety | Child lock, 4 gravity sensors, infrared sensors, delayed cleaning |
| Amazon reference | B0CL4RZG9D (identical on 4 markets) |
| EAN | 0197793021432 |
It is the drum volume, not the amount of litter it takes. Merax gives the working litter quantity separately as up to 9 litres, and that is the number that decides how often you top it up. Large stated volumes on this family of product almost always describe the empty chamber.
Merax describes an ozone-ion system that runs after each cleaning cycle. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on placement and ventilation exactly, and treat the room the box sits in as part of the installation — this is one specification where the manual is not optional reading.
Smart Life, over 2.4 GHz — a generic platform used by many connected devices rather than a PETKIT-style dedicated app. If you already run Smart Life, the box joins what you have. If not, expect a generic interface rather than a cat-specific one.
Open design · cats to 15 kg · 11 L waste · ≤50 dB
An open-topped drum box for cats that refuse enclosed machines, with the widest stated weight range here — up to 15 kg — and 6 infrared plus 4 weight sensors watching the cycle.
Best for: A large cat, or a nervous one that will not enter an enclosed machine — and a household that can put the box somewhere the litter scatter does not matter.
≈ £300 / 315 €
76 L drum · 7 L waste · 20 cm entry · cats 2–8 kg
The best-documented box on this page: PETKIT publishes the drum volume, the internal dimensions, the entry height, the cat weight range and the age limit. It takes any clumping litter except crystal.
Best for: A multi-cat household with adult cats between 2 and 8 kg, a hard floor, and no intention of changing litter type.
≈ 390 €
AI camera · multi-cat recognition · 8 L waste · 35–45 dB
The camera box: a 1080p wide-angle camera with night vision watches the drum, and PETKIT’s app identifies each cat by face and weight. The most expensive machine on this page, and the only one sold on what it sees.
Best for: A multi-cat household that genuinely needs to know which cat did what, and is willing to pay for a camera to answer it.
≈ 600 €
