Cat Toy Interactive Automatic, Motion Activated Laser Toy for Indoor Cats/Dogs/Kitten/Kitty, USB Rechargeable, Auto On/Off, Fast and Slow Random Pattern, Silent Pet Laser Pointer Toy (P08)

Pleasantly surprised
I was skeptical that my cats would go for this automated laser toy, but the longer we have it out and on standby, the more they seem to play with it and more of the cats are starting to engage. I have several cats and at first they were put off by two things: this was not a laser i was holding so what the heck is it? and, what is that soft but noticeable mechanical sound coming from the thing moving the laser? My cats are curious (i.e., easily distracted) while some are downright pixilated. So, I decided to address them both at once: I cut a small square of carpeting to set between the toy and the table/cabinet top to muffle the mechanical sound. Once the already not very loud mechanical sound was dealt with, they seemed not to care that it was a laser not held by me. But i sat with them the first few times I ran it so they would have positive association with it.They now engage, even my old cranky Trixie (13yo) and her sister, my chubby Kaos (actively on a weightloss plan with which this is nicely helping). I would say, several of the cats really love this little thing. They just walk by, the motion sensor notices them and activates the laser motion, and voila, kitty attack mode activated!It’s also quite fun to watch them play in cycles, trading off like tag team wrestling with the red-dot. Sometimes they just wear it out and we have to recharge. So i bought another one, allowing one to charge while the other is in use.Bottom line:* The cats like it, though it took a few days for them to warm up to it.* Fairly quiet movement, even on slow, they enjoy.* Pattern movement keeps them engaged and works for them.* Allows them to entertain themselves while I’m doing other chores. Since I’m there with them, i can give encouraging feedback so it feels interactive for us all.* Good battery life. quick charging.* Daily hunting/playing, helping my senior to lose weight and regain her kitten playfulness, while also giving my big boy enough of a challenge that he is less needy overall.* Has been lowering the late night zoomies because they are more active during the day.Worth the cost, highly recommend.

Surprised it broke
From all appearances this is a well designed product. Worked as advertised, with good battery life and entertainment value for all parties involved. Of course the Cat knocked it off it’s perch (about 3ft in height) and the LED popped out of the mount, insert sad face emoji here. With most products in this category I though it was destined for the bin. However, with a bit of patience the lense cover could be removed and the LED repositioned.Yup $30 is a lot to pay for a cat toy, but if you do this one was designed and manufactured by a team of professional engineers.

Good. Not great, but good.
The Pros:It has pretty good battery life. It can run for hours straight on a single charge. I haven’t timed it, but I’ve watched it run for at least 3-4 hours at night before the kids finally get tired and go take a nap, (it auto powers down into standby after 20 minutes of no movement being sensed), and if I forget to charge it again that night, it can usually get through another night before the low battery indicator starts going off (the “ears” begin flashing red to let you know).I also like that it has versatile mounting options. It comes with the stand which is pictured, and also a vertical surface mounting option which can even be attached to a window to hang the toy via a suction cup, which is also included.It charges via a standard USB-C interface, so charging times aren’t too lengthy and any USB-C cable you’ve got handy works with it, so I found that useful.The Cons:It has only two speeds. And the slow speed is really too slow to remain engaging regardless of mounting height, but the fast is a little too fast unless it’s sitting very close to the floor and the beam can’t travel more than maybe an 18″ ellipse.It has one travel patten, an ellipse. And while it will reverse direction periodically (clockwise/counterclockwise), it is always the same pattern and there is no randomness to where it will be at any given time, and the critters pick up on this fact fairly quickly. After a while they realize that they have no effect on it, and they just lay back and watch it turn it’s endless circles in the same place at all times. When this happens, if I change mounting location and height of the toy, it can usually repique their interest for a bit, but with no random element to the movement, they always figure out that it’s not reacting to them at all, and they get bored and wander off.In summary: It’s good for what it is, because I have definitely seen worse products than this one by far. If nothing else, the quality of the batteries and materials used in its construction are far above average, (in my humble opinion, at least). But with a little more programming and an augmented laser gearing assembly, this good product could easily be a GREAT product.