I tried the Litter Maid, but cleaning the rake, which tended to get clumped up, was harder than just scooping a regular litterbox. Wondering if this would be any better?

There was a thread recently about automated litter boxes, that talked about a new kind that I personally found intriguing. The person who started the thread, I think actually bought one and is happy with it. You might want to look into it.

pkguy, there is no wet poo to scoop so I'm not sure what you mean - the whole point to the catgenie is that the machine fully takes care of all discharge so all you have to do is flush (if you've hooked up to the toilet).

I do have some comments though from our cats use of the machine:
- Urine is typically the BIG smell with traditional boxes, but that is not an issue with the catgenie since that drains away immediately. However, unless your cat has allergies, I would strongly recommend that you always use the scented litter because the poop smell is pretty strong - using the hood might reduce/confine the smell better.
- Having said that about the poo smell, keep that in mind if you are using a washroom hookup. The smaller size of the room will make the smell more intense. We have an extra washer hookup in our mechanical room, with direct discharge into the sewer, and we find this to be the optimal setup.
- We greatly minimized the poo smell by adding Arm & Hammer scented baking soda to the litter after each cycle. I don't even notice it anymore.
- I haven't used the auto cycling and prefer the manual cycle since it's just a push of the button to start, and I can ensure the cats are sleeping when it's on so they don't get spooked. When I get home from work, I go downstairs and sweep up any litter kicked out, dump it back in, push the "start" button, and walk away. How easy is that?
- Both of our 4 year old cats adapted to this very very easily. And my enormous male who is usually afraid of his own shadow, pooped in it not even 5 mins after we had it set up lol
- The base is a very generous size, which I worried about since one of my cats is huge! He's been able to maneuver around in it though with no problems at all.

That's all I can think of for now. But if you have any questions, let me know and I'll answer as best I can.

For the ultimate in convenience for those of us who are lazy, you can add a Roomba to the mix to sweep up the litter, and you'll pretty much never have to do anything with your cats' litter box again. :)