Although this product had mixed reviews, I decided to try it anyway. It has worked flawlessly for the two months or so that I have had it. I would not recommend this for a larger animal unless you are willing to fill it up every few days. The portion size cups that drop the food are far too small for a large animal portion size or the size of their kibble. I have a cat so the kibble is very small and it works well. Each portion is about a tablespoon.
My only true complaint, which isn't too bad, would be that while programming the unit, the digital face is hard to read. I did not find it overly difficult to program, but make sure you keep the instructions. The recorded voice is a nice little addition, but it is very quiet -This may be a good thing the first feeding is at 6:30am. I had an issue opening the top to fill it with food the first time. It took much more force than I expected and I was worried about breaking it. It opened much easier subsequently.
It does look a bit goofy, but that was obvious before I bought it.
Positives: Nice that it is plug-in or battery option. I opted to plug it in. Having the batteries go out while I may be away could be horrible and a risk I'm not willing to take. It also is a help with its 4 servings a day. Since I work, it can spread out her food throughout the day. It has helped perfectly for the reason I bought it in the 1st place: My cat acts more like a dog when it comes to food and she was a pain when she wanted me to feed her, which was all the time (like 6:30 in the morning!). Now she just acts all lovey until she hears the food drop. Funny how she forgets how much she loves me when she hears her food ;)
*Note: I just found all my reviews on my Amazon account. This one from 2019"¦ It's now December of 2023 and this feeder has continued to work flawlessly! Yes, I have an dorky looking cat feeder, but it has worked like a champ and I, and my food obsessed cat love it.

Bought exactly the same brand since I'm familiar with it.
Easy to set up. The top might be difficult for some to take off. This new feeder top fits more tightly than the last.
I have no problems with it. Just an observation.

I was looking for an affordable and reliable automatic feeder for my cat and this has worked great for us so far (it has been about 1 month). A few things about setting it up are confusing, but it is very simple and low-maintenance after that. I really like the ability to set meal size, meal time, and which meals are on/off independently. The included instructions are not terrible and it holds quite a bit of food (maybe a month's worth for my cat).

A couple of tips:
- The portion setting is a little confusing to figure out initially. I recommend putting the measuring cup you normally use for a serving into the bowl and manually dispensing portions until it is filled. Keep track of how many portions it takes to fill and then divide a day's worth of portions into how ever many meals you want to feed.
- The top of the feeder is a little difficult to remove (particularly when the feeder is empty); I recommend sitting and holding the base between your legs (or having someone else hold it) and twisting the top half of the spherical section with both hands.
- The only setting the feeder will remember after a power loss is your (optional) voice recording, so you will want to install 3 D batteries (not included) as backup before you leave for any extended period of time.
- If you live in a smaller place and/or feed your pet near your bedroom, you probably won't want to set it to dispense food overnight, as it is a little loud.
- This feeder can only dispense dry food, so if you are also feeding wet food, you will need to adjust the portion sizes of the automatic meals and/or turn a meal off to account for the extra food.

Effective and economic (compared to other options) automatic dry food cat feeder! Easy to understand and program, runs off batteries or included USB and wall plug. Optional sound recording to alert pets, easy to fill and holds a lot of food. Easy portion sizes, can do 1 which is like a snack all the way up to 39 which I'm not sure what you would need that for but that's cool. Has low battery alert sign to let you know when to change, fairly easy to clean all though I wish it was a little easier to take apart but it works well. I got 2 for my cats to feed while I'm at work and to help curb some of the meow meow meow feed me at all hours of day and night. Works well, cats respond to it. Although i watch my cats on a camera and it seems my skinny cat and my fat cat have made a deal the fat one gets all the food..... or the skinny one is afraid of the fat cat.... but the feeder works well. Only thing is maybe if the power went out and stayed out for a bit you might lose your settings and miss a feeding but it's easily reset. 4 meals so I somewhat split up my animals meals so the skinny one has a chance to eat they get 1/2 their portion at 6 am and the other half at 7 am and likewise at pm so the skinny one has a chance to eat before fatty comes over and steals food. I've had them for a while and it says batteries usually last a year. My cats can't break in and even when they rub on them etc it doesn't affect the feeder. One of mine broke I think from fat cat smashing his head on it or potentially water from the fountain next to it and they promptly sent me a brand new one 2 days later free after contacting them here on amazon. I would definitely order from them again if I have more cats or recommend them to cat owners! I also have a cat mate wet food feeder which I love as well.

First off. Get it.
Three years ago I got two of these automatic feeders. This year I got my 3rd. One of the feeders finally stopped working. Now this wasn't due to anything the makers did. I'm sure they weren't thinking a cat would figure out, if they were to move the propeller blades inside the machine. They'd get food. Well mine did. Anyways, I am happy with my purchase. There's four meal times that you can manually set. And also the machine does have an optional setting for recording your voice to call your fur babies. The machine has come in handy with the hectic schedule my husband and I have. If you work night shift and need to sleep during the day. A nice snack in the afternoon, should give you some extra space. 😉