Ergo Auto Pet Feeder – Full Review

Ergo Pet Feeder Review

Star rating: 3.5 | The Ergo Auto Pet feeder comes in 3 sizes: small, medium, and large. Each size is designed to feed different sized pets and consequently, it works distinctively with big or small size pellets, according to the feeder size.

IT COMES IN 3 SIZES

SMALL: The Ergo Auto Pet feeder small size has been designed for feeding pets that weight less than 10 pounds (0.45 kg.). It has a capacity to hold 5 pounds of dry food (2.26 kg.) and is designed to work with small kibbles, up to 3/8” diameter (0.95 cm.), being able to handle any shaped food.

MEDIUM: The Ergo medium size is made for feeding pets which weight is between 10 lbs. and 25 lbs. This Ergo feeder size has a capacity to hold up to 10 lbs. (4.5 kg.) of dry pellet food and it works with food pellet size up to 3/4″ diameter (2.22 cm.) and any shaped food.

LARGE: The large Auto Pet Feeder hopper holds up to 20 lbs. of dry pet food (9 kg.) and is designed to feed large pets weighing more than 25 lbs. The large Ergo feeder works with pellet size up to 7/8 inch diameter (2.22 cm.), and any shaped food.

FEATURES

• It controls your pet’s food intake, which is crucial to help your cat lose weight.
• It works with AC adapter and with batteries as a backup for programs.
• It dispenses up to 8 times a day, each meal with its own measurement of food.
• It has daylight saving feature
• Auger with over-molded metal and self-lubricating nylon prevents the unit from jamming and gives a smooth performance to the feeder.
• Small size dimensions: 10 x 10 x 19 inches ; 9 pounds (25 x 25 x 48 cm. / 4 kg. weight)
• Medium size dimensions: 10 x 10 x 23 inches ; 7 pounds (25 x 25 x 58.42 cm. /3.17 kg. weight)
• Large size dimensions: 10 x 10 x 26 inches ; 8 pounds (25 x 25 x 66 cm./3.62 kg. weight)
• 90 days warranty extendable for 2 years (has to be purchased apart)

HOW ERGO FEEDER WORKS

The Ergo Auto Pet feeder can be programmed to dispense several meals by day, up to 8 times, and each meal can be set with different amounts of food to be dispensed at a time (e.g. big breakfast and small dinner).

With the supplied digital timer you can customize a feeding schedule for your pet, for example, you can program the Ergo Auto Pet feeder to dispense only on weekends if you want. Plus, with the digital timer, you are able to set the feeder to release very little food, such as 5 or 6 kibbles to cups of food at a time.

The Ergo has a very thick cord to prevent your pets from chewing on it, with a flexible stainless tube sheath and coated with plastic.

The unit basically consists of a storage container, a bowl, and a digital timer. The feeder container and its base come pre-assembled to make the assembling task easier to the user.

Video How the Ergo Auto Pet Feeder works

(This is special thank you to “Oldseadad” for this video of his beautiful female cat, Sihimi)

IMPORTANT TIP:

If you are out for vacations, you may want to plug the auto feeder into a UPS system so this way it will continue to work in case of power outage. The battery option basically retains the programming of the unit but it does not make the feeder to keep dispensing food.

Pros and Cons of the Ergo Auto Pet Feeder

These pros and cons are the result of thousands of customer reviews which gives you a very complete idea what to expect from this unit:

PROS

• It has the ability to dispense up to 8 meals by day.
• It dispenses from some kibbles to cups of dry food at a time.
• Each meal portion can be adjusted differently according to your cat’s needs (e.g. big breakfast, small dinner)
• You can customize a feeding schedule for your cat (e.g. only weekends)
• It works with AC adapter and batteries on the timer to backup the programming in case of power outage.
• Long thick cord chewing proof
• Airtight screw system on the lid
• Timer supports a setting from seconds to minutes.
• The timer has an outlet so it can be connected to another device such as water fountain.

CONS

• The setup takes quite a time.
• Not user-friendly timer interface.
• The unit has to be disassembled to clean it.
• Screw lid gets stuck and it is hard to unscrew it.

CONCLUSION

According to customer reviews, it seems like the prior version of the Ergo Auto Pet Feeder had some flaws that were corrected in the new version but on the other hand, the old version lasted longer than the new version. Apparently, the new version is less reliable in operating and dispensing after some period of time.

Customers’ opinions are divided about how effective this automatic feeder is. About 55% of customers love the feeder and the rest don’t seem very satisfied.

BOTTOM LINE

Based on customers reviews this automatic pet feeder is not as desirable as other automatic feeders for this price range (over US$100).

√ However, the Ergo Pet Feeder will work for you if you fit these conditions (all together):

• If your cat does not manipulate things with its paws (to get food from the chute)
• If your cat is not obsessed with food
• If you are good at programming devices (it takes time at the beginning to learn the programming)
• If you don’t mind to disassemble the unit to clean it (parts are not easily detachable for cleaning)

x The feeder is not suitable in these cases:

• If your cat is smart enough to figure out how to get food with its paws (you can tell if your cat has manipulated things with its paws before)
• If you want a unit that is simple to program
• If you want a feeder that is fast and easy to clean