ELS PET Orbitie specs
| Brand | ELS PET |
|---|---|
| Mechanism | Tilting drum |
| Cat weight (automatic mode) | up to 21 lb. Tom's Guide lists 10–21 lb. We couldn't confirm a minimum from ELS PET. |
| Cats per box | The maker gives no number |
| Kittens & small cats | No minimum weight published that we could confirm; don't run it automatically for kittens. |
| Safety sensors | Weight, Infrared. Gravity (weight) and infrared safety sensors (Amazon listing). |
| Entrance during cleaning | Not confirmed by the maker or a named review |
| Litter | Clumping. Clumping litter. |
| Waste drawer | WIRED's bin filled about every other day with two cats. |
| Entry | 12 × 12 in. 12 × 12 in opening (WIRED, Amazon listing). |
| App / Wi-Fi | Yes (Wi-Fi (Orbitie app)) |
| Odor control | Bag-lined drawer under a 65 L orb. |
| Consumables | Drawstring bags (Tom's Guide's unit came with a four-month supply). |
| Warranty | Not stated on the listing — confirm before buying |
| Price tier | $ Budget (under $300). WIRED lists it at $260 (Nov 2026); a Walmart snapshot showed $289.99. |
- The Amazon listing (first listed February 2026) describes an Orbitie with a 12 in entry, app control and gravity plus infrared sensors. WIRED notes ELS PET calls this an improved version of an earlier, poorly reviewed box.
Running costs: with our defaults, consumables for one cat come to about $4.30 a month plus litter. See the full breakdown in the cost calculator.
Specs are compiled from manufacturer pages, Amazon listings and independent reviews and can change between production runs. Confirm the weight range and what's in the box on the Amazon page before buying.
We haven’t tested the ELS PET Orbitie ourselves. This review draws on WIRED, which tested two units with two cats, and on Tom’s Guide, which included the Orbitie in a four-box comparison. Specs come from the Amazon listing.
The Orbitie is a budget hooded globe: a 65 L orb that turns to sift clumps into a bag-lined drawer, with a generous 12 × 12 in opening, an app, and gravity (weight) plus infrared safety sensors. WIRED lists it at $260, and a Walmart snapshot showed $289.99. That makes it one of the cheapest enclosed self-cleaning boxes we cover. Check the price before you buy.
Who it’s for (and who should skip it)
It’s for budget buyers who want a hooded globe with a roomy entry and can accept some fiddling. WIRED’s two cats took to it almost at once, and Tom’s Guide found setup simple, with a supply of bags in the box.
Skip it if you want a box you can set up and forget. WIRED’s experience is the warning here: a faulty first unit and a replacement that needs monthly cleaning to stop grinding. Skip it for kittens and small cats as well, because ELS PET publishes no minimum weight we could find. If your budget stretches to about $390, the PETKIT PuraMax 2 is the safer buy. For about $250, the open-top Lesure is WIRED’s best budget pick.
How it cleans, and how safe it is
According to the Amazon listing, gravity (weight) and infrared safety sensors detect the cat. Whether the entry stays open through the whole cycle is not confirmed. Neither ELS PET nor a named review in our sources says so, and that matters for any enclosed rotating design. WIRED won’t recommend boxes that close completely during cycling. Watch the first cycles yourself before you leave the box running unattended.
The bigger gap is the minimum weight. We couldn’t confirm one from ELS PET. Tom’s Guide lists 10–21 lb, but that’s not a maker figure we could verify. Don’t run it automatically for kittens. Our cat safety checker will show what it can and can’t confirm for your cat.
WIRED also notes that ELS PET calls this an improved version of an earlier, poorly reviewed box. The current Amazon listing first appeared in February 2026. Tom’s Guide’s roundup was last updated in April 2025, so its unit may not match today’s exactly.
Living with it
The faulty first unit
WIRED’s first Orbitie was faulty and logged phantom cleaning alerts up to 36 times a day. WIRED went on to test a replacement, but the episode is worth remembering. Treat the first weeks as a trial and keep the box’s packaging. WIRED notes a 90-day money-back guarantee. For common symptoms and fixes, see our troubleshooting guide.
Grinding and maintenance
WIRED found litter got into the gears, causing grinding, and needed to take the box apart monthly to stop it. Plan for it.
Emptying
With two cats, WIRED’s bin filled about every other day. One cat will stretch that, but the drawer is the limiting factor. Tom’s Guide’s unit came with a four-month supply of bags.
Litter and app
It uses clumping litter. See best litter for self-cleaning litter boxes. The Orbitie app controls the box over Wi-Fi.
Running costs
The Orbitie takes drawstring bags. Our cost model uses Whisker’s $1-per-liner price as a stand-in at about one bag per cat per week, plus Dr. Elsey’s Ultra at $22.99 for 40 lb from Chewy, at 10 lb per cat per month.
That’s about $10 a month, or roughly $121 a year, for one cat. Over five years, with the box at $260, we estimate about $863 for one cat and about $1,466 for two. Treat the two-cat figure as a floor. If the bin fills every other day, as it did for WIRED, you’ll use far more than one bag per cat per week. Enter your own bag count and price in the cost calculator.
What you’ll need beyond the box
- Litter: Dr. Elsey’s Ultra unscented, 40 lb.
- Bags: generic drawstring bags once the included supply runs out. Measure the drawer first, since we couldn’t confirm a specific fit.
- Mat: a Gorilla Grip 35 × 23 in mat.
- Cleaning time: a monthly teardown, per WIRED.
We couldn’t confirm the Orbitie’s warranty term.
Bottom line
The Orbitie is a cheap way into a hooded globe, and the 12 × 12 in opening suits average cats. WIRED’s experience is the caution: a faulty first unit, a replacement that needs monthly cleaning to stop grinding, and a bin that fills fast with two cats. ELS PET also publishes no minimum cat weight we could find, and we couldn’t confirm that the entry stays open during cycling.
If you buy one, use the 90-day window to make sure yours works. If you can spend about $130 more, the PuraMax 2 is the safer choice. Compare options in best budget self-cleaning litter box, try the litter box matcher, or check the Orbitie price.
Litter and supplies for the ELS PET Orbitie
Litter, liners, odor refills and mats sold on Amazon that fit this box. Check the listing confirms your exact model before you buy.
- LitterDr. Elsey's Ultra unscented clumping clay cat litter, 40 lbCompatible, third-party
Unscented, hard-clumping, standard-weight clay: the type Whisker recommends and most globe and drum boxes are tuned for. Not for ScoopFree crystal trays. Check your box's sifter: PETKIT asks for granules under 0.5 in.
- Litter matGorilla Grip cat litter mat, 35 × 23 inUniversal fit
Big enough to catch scatter from most globe boxes; textured backing stays put.
- Litter matGorilla Grip cat litter mat, extra large, 40 × 28 inUniversal fit
The size we'd put under open-top boxes, which both WIRED and Tom's Guide found fling more litter.
- Litter matiPrimio jumbo cat litter trapper mat, 32 × 30 inUniversal fit
Honeycomb two-layer mat with a waterproof layer, for cats that kick litter far.
Compatibility checked November 2026. More in our litter and supplies guide.
