My cat's been acting bored lately. At least according to Google. Stuff like chasing her tail, not using her litter box, yowling at nothing, etc. So I looked online for something to keep her entertained. There's loads of these automated laser pointer toys out there but if you pay attention to the reviews, most break within a month or two.
I bought this one because the reviews were overwhelmingly good. I was tempted to get a different unit because it had a cool geometric housing, but in the end, reliability wins. It doesn't matter how cool something works if it breaks down right away.
It runs on three AAA batteries. I'm not about to use disposables of course so I bought another 4 pack of Kentli rechargeable lithium ion AAAs. It's frustrating it uses an odd number because that leaves me with a single loose battery. Nothing I know of runs on a single AAA. Oh well.
Here's the unit itself. My cat's calm for a change since it's turned off. She loses her hairy little mind when it's turned on. It does move a little too fast for her to reliably track, and could stand to be a little bit brighter. It auto shuts off after 5 minutes which is too short, and there's no remote control so I have to get up each time to push the button. Definitely room for improvement.
The laser gimbal assembly. You can see a red dot on the cloudy grey plastic which my cat sometimes fixates on instead of the dot on the ground, but hey, as long as she's entertained. I wonder if eventually she'll figure out that the two are causally connected.
The mounting system. It uses three screws, but I pounded in three small nails so it mounts firmly but is still easily removable. The bracket can be detatched though and it comes with an optional suction cup in case you'd rather mount it to a window, the fridge, a smooth wall, etc.
Here she is playing with it. Like I said it drives her insane until she exhausts herself. Then she just loafs around, watching the laser move this way and that, silently cursing it. Plotting for her next big attempt to catch the damned thing and wondering who is behind it all. (Meh heh heh)
It was $22.22 and imo worth every penny. I don't have as much time to play with my cat as I'd like, and sitting there with a toy mouse on the end of a string manually moving it about gets tedious fast. This gadget will keep my cat entertained and out of my hair for long periods. Basically the same reason modern parents give tablets to their children.
Stay Cozy!