Sharing Handwritten Review of the Els Pet “Spaceship”

On an evening walk through Cobble Hill, Brooklyn on March 12, 2025, I happened across what appeared to be a large round plastic thing left out for the taking on the sidewalk. From a distance, I suspected that it was a cat litter box. My suspicions would prove to be correct on closer (but not too close) inspection. On the off-chance that there was any doubt, the responsible party for the free litter box placed a note on it. It is not uncommon to find notes on free stuff – I have documented notes on free chalkboards, free water, free desks, and perhaps most on point with respect to the subject of the instant inquiry, a free “hardly used” toilet. But the note on the free litter box was unlike the notes on the other free stuff I chronicled in these pages in that it was dramatically more verbose. This note provided a detailed account of why the litter box was left out for the taking, serving as a note of caution to anyone considering bringing it home to their cats.

As you can see in the photo, the note was so detailed that I dare say it was effectively a review of the litter box. I have published my own reviews in The New Leaf Journal, but today, for the first time ever, I publish someone else’s review. I present for your consideration an anonymous Cobble Hill resident’s review of the Els Pet “Spaceship.”

I quote the review below.

FREE!
*Please read*
This auto litterbox “works” but is a huge pain to clean + requires bi-weekly deep cleaning to not smell awful.
Use at your own risk (look up amazon reviews!) Maybe it will work for you?…
Brand: Els Pet “Spaceship”
Good luck!

Anonymous former Els Pet “Spaceship” owner

Thanks to the fact that the note included the name of the litter box, I was able to find it online without having to perform a reverse image search (see archived Els Pet “Spaceship” website).

There I learned that the list price is $589.99, but Els Pet was offering a $220 off coupon. Home Depot listed the “Spaceship” for $394.00 at the time of publication, leading me to suspect that the list price on the Els Pet website may be inflated to make the coupon look like a discount.

The “Spaceship” is not available on Amazon at the time of publication, but there is a product page. Below, you can see what the real Els Pet “Spaceship” looks like from my photograph.

While I do not know what the anonymous Cobble Hill reviewer paid for the so-called “self-cleaning” litter box, I suspect that we are talking something in the neighborhood of $400 at a minimum. Thus, the fact that he or she left this thing for free while warning people to exercise caution before taking it home is a starkly negative review in and of itself.

One reason I decided to post the review here other than thinking that re-posting an authentic hand-written product review seen on a Brooklyn sidewalk sounded like a fun project is because the negative review is informative. (It is certainly a better review than an SEO spam abomination review (see archived) I came across while searching for the official website.) Many good and bad reviews say little of substance. But this reviewer explained precisely why he or she found the “Spaceship” to be unsuitable for home use. The device touts itself as being “self-cleaning,” but the reviewer explains that these supposed self-cleaning properties did not extend to odor, and that reducing the olfactory offensiveness requires “bi-weekly deep cleaning,” which would seem to render nugatory the purported benefits of the “Spaceship’s” automated cleaning functionality.

The review does not touch on every point about the litter box. We can infer this person’s cat used it from the fact that it required manual intervention to deal with the smell (despite the fact that Els Pet’s website touts the box as “odor free”). The Els Pet product page features a corresponding mobile application for the “Spaceship,” which includes, among other things, “pet monitoring.” The review does not touch on this application, but I suppose that even if the viewer made use of the mobile application for, and I quote from the official website, “real-time data about your pet’s toilet routines,” we can infer that the benefits of feline privacy invasion did not overcome the thick miasma emanating from the “Spaceship.”

When I first saw what I thought was a litter box, I was curious whether it was one of the so-called “smart” ones. I had read an article not long before about social media claims that some of these litter boxes were potential death traps (see an example article in Daily Mail). Of course, the only claim of an actual cat death I see is attributed to someone on TikTok, so I take those claims with a grain of salt. But assuming arguendo these litter boxes are not deadly (I suppose one positive take-away from the negative “Spaceship” review is that the reviewer’s cat was able to use it regularly without dying a horrific death), I would be inclined to recommend against them for several reasons – one being that it seems obvious to me that some smell is going to collect in those things even if they manage to sort used kitty litter into bags. There is also the app issue. Just as I generally recommend against installing proprietary apps for well-established coffee chains, I strongly recommend against installing random apps from random litter box manufacturers.

Now let us turn to the Els Pet “Spaceship” specifically. I have no first-hand knowledge of the device. I do not have a cat at the moment, but if I did, I would not buy the “Spaceship” or any other so-called smart litter box. The hand-written review sounds reasonable, but that review prompted me to review the website, which I captured using the Wayback Machine (archived link). Not to be punny, but my assessment is that the website stinks in a way that would cause me to question the wisdom of giving whoever is behind it hundreds of dollars.

My first issue with the website is that it assaulted me with a roulette wheel pop-up telling me to click for a deal (mind that was after allowing scripts in uBlock Origin for the sake of science). That monstrosity is actually captured in the Wayback Machine snapshot I made. If I were actually shopping, I would have closed the site then and there.

The second thing I noticed was a “Mother’s Day Gift” banner on the side. This was notable because I saw this on May 16, 2025, five days after Mother’s Day.

Third, I noticed that this thing has a phone app – which I mentioned previously. I would recommend against installing litter box apps as a general matter, and I would especially recommend doing so here.

Fourth, the URL includes self-cleaning-cat-litter-box-toilet. I understand why they tacked on “toilet” at the end for SEO purposes, but I only understand insofar as I understand why people do things they should not. This reminded me of my 2021 review of a Chinese visual novel called LoveChoice. The game is charming, well-intentioned, and visually distinct – but it was hurt by a weak English translation. One of the issues I highlighted was where a character refers to a cat litter box as a toilet.

As I noted, it is not technically wrong, but it was an example of what could charitably be described as a replacement-level translation. The website touts the app (once again please do not download random litter box apps) as “provid[ing] real-time data about your pet’s toilet routines…” This too is odd — let us set aside the whole concept of real-time data about your cat’s litter box usage.

This should say cat’s litter box routines not pet’s toilet routines. It is a litter box for cats, not for dogs, Guinea pigs, raccoons, opossums, alligators, or ponies (the page uses “cat” and “pet” seemingly interchangeably with little rhyme or reason). Moreover, you can see a missing space between sentences in the above screenshot.

Taken together, I see many red flags here before considering the eloquent first-hand review I stumbled upon on an evening walk. On the off chance that someone may have read my analysis of the official website and thought “I need `real-time data about [my] [cat’s] toilet routines,’” I would suggest purchasing a normal litter box (you will save hundreds of dollars) and installing a hidden camera. To be sure, this will still be maximally privacy invasive for your cat, but you will not need to install a weird third-party proprietary app on your phone.

(Aside: I have overheard dog owners in Brooklyn talking excitedly to one another about their dogs’ bowel habits in the middle of sidewalks. I am inclined to doubt that kitty litter box habits inspire the same wide-eyed curiosity, but I have not yet conducted a survey. I will report back to you on the day not ending in -day.)

Of course, far be it from random people in Cobble Hill or random editors of independent writing websites to tell you what to do. The Els Pet “Spaceship” remains available online (albeit not on Amazon at the moment). The reviewer encouraged people who were considering a free one in Brooklyn to consult the online reviews. I would be more inclined to trust the detailed review I stumbled upon more than most online reviews, but perhaps there are some genuinely happy “Spaceship”-using felines and feline owners out there.