Cat watch Ultrasonic Deterrent

I didn’t expect this to work, having tried several other cat deterrents without success. Most days we were plagued by local cats using our lawn as a toilet. But two months on from installing our first two of these there has still not been a single turd on the grass. Amazing! I bought two more and now have one at each corner of the lawn. I changed the first set of batteries early, as a precaution, after about six weeks. They seem expensive for what they are - presumably the cost includes a charitable contribution - and the set-up is a little fiddly (grease on the terminals and anti-fog coating inside the sensor screen. One needed immediate replacement (its range was too short) but that happened promptly without quibble. But overall these have been an excellent purchase - worth the cost. So far they have performed as promised and I am very pleased.

Worked for a while; and appeared good. Then despite all new Duracell batteries, and testing all new batteries, was unable to get it working. Was stored away for winter, as wondered if the cold was an issue, but on retrying this week with new batteries, and testing batteries yet again, did not work. Could not cover any radius at all. Really needed this too work, bought specifically for cats, as do not want to disturb wildlife. In saying that, other reviewers appear to have got good use from this deterrent over some time. And if working well, and positioned in a danger zone, is a positive move for the birds.

Initially worked but with a very short range (it would detect me at 1 metre not 12 metres), if it struggles to detect me how would it detect a cat?. After 2 days I checked it again and it wouldn't detect me at all. I tried the specified battery test which failed. Went out and bought a brand new Duracell 9V battery and installed. It switched on and beeped as its supposed to then failed the battery test again. If it worked I don't know how long it would last in the rain as the battery door and switch, although on the underside are not weather resistant and they should be for £57. I can get solar lights for a few pounds with weather resistant switches on them. Disappointed as I wanted to protect birds using my garden feeders but this falls in the category of expensive junk.

Definitely works, although the batteries need replacing quite frequently - we're going to invest in a battery charging station and rechargeable batteries because of this. Has drastically reduced the amount of cat faeces deposited in our garden by the neighbour's cats, who previously treated our garden as the neighbourhood toilet - pretty disgusting and annoying considering we do not own any cats ourselves, yet had to keep clearing up after them! God-knows what they were feeding them too, since what was left was truly revolting. However, thankfully these devices have made our lives much easier! They are expensive compared to similar products from other manufacturers, but we went with these because they are the only ones certified by the RSPB as not being harmful to any other species - we didn't want to harm birds or the resident hedgehog. They do work, but like I said make sure you replace the batteries when they fail, otherwise the cats will just continue being a nuisance. Also, be aware that you may need to wait a week or two before you see improvement, AND remember that they need a direct line of sight in order to be effective - shrubs/trees/structures will block them.

It looks as though it deters the blackbirds as well as the cats. The detection range is significantly less than specified. However within that range it seems to be quite effective at deterring cats. I should say that I bought two of these devices. I bought the 2nd after the first seemed to be quite effective at deterring cats from entering the drive (a distance of only about 3.5m). At that time I gave the device a glowing 5* report. When I bought the 2nd I placed it in the garden itself, but facing the house wall. It could only detect me for a distance of up to 3m. Replacing the (new) batteries with more expensive ones increased the range to about 3.5m. However, pointing the device away from the wall increased the detection range to about 5m. Perhaps the apparent range shortfall (from the quoted range of 12m) is partly because I am colder than a cat, though my larger size should partly compensate for that. I presume that the effect of the wall was due to it being a large warm surface. My other concern is that the birds that land on the ground (notably blackbirds) stopped coming, for the fortnight or so whilst the device was in use, but returned about a week after I removed it. I now plan to conduct further tests to see whether this is just a coincidence or whether the devices deter birds.