The idea behind this pet feeder is good but the design is poor
357425
The idea behind this pet feeder is good but the design is poor. First of all, there is no on/off switch. I purchased this to use for my cats when I'm gone for a few days, not as a daily feeder. The only way to use it as such is to totally empty the bin, turn it upside down, and take the batteries out after each use. Once the batteries have been removed, it has to be totally reprogrammed again. The bowl attachment is also poorly designed and difficult to remove for storage. The programming screen looks as though the feeder has been previously used and I regret that I did not return the item. For the price, it is not worth it and I would not recommend it.
637548
We have another feeder of the same basic style by this same company which we rate 5 stars.  This particular version though is 1 star.  The 5 star version sits on a pole and you can remove the top and the "distribution baffle" (for lack of a better term) and easily wipe out and clean the feeder.  This version requires that you undo all four nuts and remove the bottom to clean it out.  It's just not convenient.  Droll Yankee makes a tube feeder that solves this problem by having the top lid force the hanger back into the tube so it is secure.  (Hard to explain that in print, but their system is definitely much, much better for cleaning.)

All feeders accumulate dust, feed bits, etc. and need to be cleaned.  This feeder needs some redesign to make it easier to do this.  As I said, the other version that sits on a pole is just about perfect.
3942472
At first, I thought this item was terrific, but I quickly saw the flaws in the design. 1) This fountain requires the pump to be running in order to access any water, which means if power goes off, no water will be available to your pet. A better design would be one that has the reservoir on top, not bottom so that if power goes out there is no water available for your pet. 2) Also, the small holes in the water dish become plugged if any food falls into it (even small food). If your pet has food in their mouth when they drink their water or if the food bowl is used, the holes are easily plugged. 3) I was willing to overlook these issues, but about 6 weeks after receiving this, the pump stopped pumping! The light still works, but no water pumps. Due to issue #1, I cannot even use it as a water bowl. Now the small food dish is acting as the water bowl. This has a 1-year warranty, so now I need to find out how to use that. Hopefully won't be an issue since I no longer have the box.
3444228
I have 5 of these and they work decent. You do have to play around with the settings and measure the food amounts to get it right as the measurements are off a bit and each is different. One thing that has been an issue is the on/off switch is on the bottom so if a piece of food gets under the feeder and the dog moves it around it will turn off. While we were gone for a week this happened to one of our dogs and he was not fed for 8 feedings. :(  He lost a lot of weight. Another thing is you should have this on the outside of a kennel or build a box around it or something if you have very food motivated dogs which we do so the feeders can't even be where they can get to it since it is plastic it is no match for our large breed dogs that will destroy anything for food. One of the dogs got to one of the feeders and knocked it over and got the lid off (which is very easy to do because that is a poor design) and ate several pounds of food and cost me over $1k in an emergency vet visit for a stomach pump and 24 hours care there. So again if you have any kind of very food motivated dog they will destroy these plastic feeders. We have put them up on a shelf and piped the food down to a bowl and seems to work so far. Some other good things about it is the battery life seems to last a very long time. I have had mine months now and still not had to replace a battery. Holds a lot of food so it's nice if you have to leave your dogs for a week or so and they will not run out of food. It would be nice if they would redesign it in a metal version too so the dogs can't destroy the bowls or the food holder.
3743534
Great idea, poor design.  The white knob to control the water flow is too easy to pull out.  Our dogs have already destroyed this part.  Works ok still.
2587743
This is a cute feeder but it's terrible functionality!  First the entire thing is plastic - I thought the bottle was glass which is why I got it.  It does come apart well and all of it is easy to clean.  It will not fill up the lower reservoir unless you tip it until it spills out the feeder holes.  So every so many days I have to go around and tip all the feeders otherwise the birds quit feeding on them because there is no food in the bottom.  We get tons of hummingbirds and added these 3 feeders to the 3 we already had (PerkyPet).  Wish I had spent more money and had gotten 3 more of the original ones I had.
1968428
I have two feeders in my backyard and they will not touch this one.  This is a bad design and you should choose a different saucer shaped feeder with good reviews.  I am taking mine back to Menards today.
3743749
The idea is fantastic but the execution of the idea was not the best. I thought this would be a great feeder for my dog, however the 5 quart bowl sat so loosely in the black area, it shuffled back and fourth while my dog ate and scared my dog. For the cost of this, I chose the return it although a few modifications could have been made to make the bowl fit and make less noise... they really are costly.
2510706
This is generally a pretty good deer feeder, but there are some obvious design problems relating to the container.  The electronics and dispersion mechanism work well and are easy to use.  My complaints have to do with the canister, which rusts rapidly.  The bottom is flat, which prevents the last of the contents from being used effectively.  The canister is also difficult to open and close, because the handle gets in the way.  Also, a raccoon very quickly learned how to open the lid, and we had to tie it down with wire, which makes it even harder to fill.  I think we will have to make our own container and install the dispersion device onto something of our own design.  An ideal design would be a stainless steel or other rust-resistant canister with a funnel-shaped bottom, and a lid which is secure but easy to open when the device is hanging.
15007
Poor design, the recesses are too deep and too narrow that the dog was barely able to get the food out and just ended up tipping it over in frustration. And he has a thin long nose so I don't know how this works for other dogs. Going back to our old bowl now.
467394
My two boys each got a ferret this spring. I saw these and thought they would really enjoy them to take their ferrets with them sometimes. It is a nice idea, the backpacks but there are some flaws in the design. First, if you have it on your back with your pet in it the pack with collapse a little. If you set them down in it, which you will if your traveling, it collapses a lot around your pet. I had to sew dowrods into the front to keep them from collapsing on the ferrets. Also, one of the packs already is having the problem of the zipper not keeping the top closed. It is a good idea and my boys love them but, they should make them with more thought and better quality.
573258
This is a great idea but my dogs don't like it.
4970843
I have had this feeder for about 2 years. (Not sure if I bought this one or what appears to be the identical one from Hiatt Mfg.) It is not "squirrel proof." I've tried various strategies. None has worked. I haven't give up yet, but the prospect of success is looking bleak.

The squirrels' strategies: 1. They will leap from the side and grab hold of the cage. When they're on the cage, the push their head/nose between the bars to get at the seeds. The bottom part of the grid doesn't allow the squirrels to put their head/nose in very far, but they're able to get it in enough to feed. 2. They will climb down the 20-gauge wire to the top of the cage; from there, they use their front paws to grab hold of the edge of the roof, and slip down to the cage area. Then, they employ Strategy #1.

Grackles grab hold of the bottom of the cage and push their long beaks in to feed on the seeds.

The design successfully prevents a squirrel or larger bird from feeding from within, and it certainly prevents easy or irritation-free dining. But it is not squirrel or grackle proof.

I think the feeder is well made. However, I gave it only 2 stars because my decision to buy it was based on the advertising that it was "squirrel proof."

After reading one of the other reviews, I'll try the shepherd's hook, tape and baffles.
2937180
I like it because it lets me provide three different feed to the birds.

I dislike it because, from my last use of it, a raccoon was able to break the pole supporting the feeder due the rusting at the base where the pole entered the ground tube socket.  I modified this new feeder to permit a stronger steel pole that I was able to purchase at Home Depot.

I also dislike it because the tabs on the feeder tubes were not strong enough to prevent the racoon from partially unhooking one due to the weight placed on that side.  The raccoon was able to bypass the squirrell shield apparently by leaping up 5 feet to grasp the base of the feeder.  I was able to straighten the base and use gorrilla glue to permanently fasten the tabs to the feeder base.
2755848
Well, I understand that its not the bird-feeders fault that I do not have any birds feeding from my bird-feeder, but there are some negative elements to the design.

1. The black lining on the front of the bird-feeder where they would stand fell off the instant I stepped of the latter.

2. The suction cups did not go on easily

3. Seems to be only big enough for birds like finches.

not a bad product, just needs a few changes.
1052725
This is a clever design, that is not well executed. The parts are stapled and unevenly pinned together, and the thin rails the birds (and squirrels) will perch on to feed is held on by four unevenly spaced thin pins. One rail is warped away from the base, and I expect that without additional fasteners, it will rip or split within a season. The roof is held on by gravity, and is slid up the rope in order to fill the feeder with seeds.
572713
We have two cats and were hoping that instead of filling their bowls daily, this feeder would be sufficient for at least a good 3-5 days.  Well it's great that it can hold so much cat food but the bowl they eat out of is poorly designed.  The minute they start eating from it, be prepared to pick up a lot of cat food that gets tossed out of the bowl.