Cat MateElite Microchip Cat Flap W/ Timer Control

+Big enough for my 18lbs cats to comfortable get thru (tried other doors that were so small they had to squeeze their bootys through uncomfortably, not good for their body image ;)+the locking mechinism locks door *BOTH* directions at once from *inside* the flap. If you have not tried other doors, you may not understand HOW IMPORTANT THIS DIFFERENCE IS FROM OTHER DOORS. My youngest learn how to lift the flap on 3 other $100+ doors in less than a week to escape. Rendering them all useless. He'd push down the lock and lift the flap with his other paw. He has tried his darndest with this one, attacked it full force, but has not defeated in in the two months Ive owned it.+the timer function is amazing. i set "IN only" from 10pm-6am. Wont let cats out, but will let them in if they are out. My cats are lined up at 5:50 am every morning waiting for it to open lol.+the id tags hang from their usual collars with their metal tags and i have a large tracker on two of them. the door has never had a problem registering the tag.+the door tells you which cats are in/out and it's based on which way the door swings open. i was worried if i let them out through our front door, and they came in through the catdoor this function would be out of sync. Does not get fooled. It knows which direction the cat is moving and registers as such.+the locking mechanism IS loud- but my cats dont care, they got used the noise in a few days. Now its a sign that the door is ready to push open. I like it because i can hear when they leave and enter from most places in my house, kinda like a kitty doorbell.It will take a little bit for the cat and if you are like me who skims directions- the human- to realize the door must be pressed in once to unlock, then they can press the door again to go through. It took maybe two weeks for my cats to *fully* figure this out and they are already catdoor trained. There is a training mode you can start with that turns this off I believe. The extra effort in training was well worth the extra functionality of this door.Bottom line, i love it & triple cat approved. Ended my long search for cat door that actually works.

Let's start with what really matters most. Does the cat flap work as claimed / required? To which the answer has to be a resounding NO.Details will vary but the basic function everyone needs from a cat flap is the provision of a doorway through which your cat(s) and only your cat(s) can travel. You may have several cats and want different ingress and egress policies for them. You way want to control the time(s) of day the flap is operational. You may like to know if a cat is one side or another of the doorway. But all of those requirements are of no import if the cat flap does not actually lock/unlock according to the rule(s) you have set.And that's where the Cat Mate Elite Super Selective Cat Flap fails abysmally. Unless you have set the flap to what the manufacturer terms "training mode", which leaves the flap completely unlocked, the flap's default state should be locked. As in anything and in particular any animal other than your cat(s) pushing against it will be unable to open it.Some of the time that's what this cat flap does. Some of the time it does not. When it does not, just gently pushing against the flap from either side results in the flap opening. Hello raccoon. Welcome to my home. Come wreak havoc and crap all over the place because this Cat Mate Elite Super Selective Cat Flap let you in.It's a real shame the manufacturer has done such a poor job of building a flap with RFID technology that is sensitive enough to read embedded chips (in your cat). Their less expensive Cat Mate Elite I.D. Disc Cat Flap that only works with collar mounted rfid tags works really well. (I have one and it's been doing what it should for several years). I understand that reading embedded chips is more challenging - smaller size means less power in returned transmissions which is generally handled in commercial RFID systems by using more powerful transmitters and/or more sensitive receiving antennas. More power isn't really an option for battery powered transmitters if battery life is to be acceptable. It would appear also that conservation of battery life is the main reason your cat has to push against the cat flap door before it will unlock as pushing the door activates the RF transmitter.A more sensitive antenna is, I believe, the reason behind the longer exit tunnel built into the Cat Mate Elite Super Selective Cat Flap. That exit tunnel is really disliked by my cat and, I would guess, by many other cats since the manufacturer is at pains the emphasise that the tunnel should not be cut off or trimmed.However, arcane discussions of how the RFID setup is configured has nothing to do with whether the flat operates correctly. In the case of the Cat Mate Elite Super Selective Cat Flap it simply does not. No ifs, ands or buts. It just does not do what it is supposed to.(Foot note: the flap I am reviewing was purchased from chewy.com - a great bunch of people. They replaced the first flap I purchased - probably at their expense - when I found it always let my cat out as in never locked from the inside. The replacement I am now reviewing appeared to work initially and was in use for a while. I'm now rather suspecting it never worked correctly at all but I just happened to test it at times the door was locked.)

I needed a electric cat door that locks and requires a microchip tag to exit and enter. This one is the best one out there, has more features and cost less. We have wildlife and stray cats that sneak in and eat all our cats food. This door is big enough that our cats do not struggle or have to try and squeeze in with effort. I originally bought a much more expensive brand, Sure Flap dual microchip. It was way too small and the tunnel was too long and it didn't have many features at all, and although my cats used it, they struggled, the click sound didn't bother them but it was louder than this one. This Cat Mate door is very good. Our cats have no problem using it and it has the feature of seeing which cat is out or in and how long they've been out. I can toggle it locked at night without having to remove a cover to get to the controls like the other one. The click sound is much quieter than the other one and it locks both directions, meaning a cunning animal can't lift the flap or push it to get in. It is well designed. I have a sliding patio door and had the regular cat door insert. I just removed the flap from it and drilled 2 holes to install it. The space above the new door was open so I slid the white plastic cover that came with the cat door insert down, and on the outside stuck Styrofoam in the cavity to insulate it. The tunnel on the Cate Mate is much shorter than on the Sure Flap so it's easier for the cats to use. Everything about the Cate Mate is better and it was quite a bit cheaper. The build quality is very good too. Very satisfied with this company. The Flap is about 1 inch larger than the Sure Flap. I highly recommend.