Ergo Outdoor Pet/Pond Feeder, Large

I love my feeder and had the medium one for for 6 years before the motor stopped working. I just received my second feeder and upgraded to the large. I do agree with several customers about the plastic chutes breaking. The raccoons broke my chute, but I was able to buy another one from Ergo. I use the feeder to feed my large Koi, and the raccoons were able to reach into the short chute and pull out the food, and could emptied it in one night. So, I attached a 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe using PVC cement to the chute to extend it about 6 inches. I had to put silicone around it to make it water proof, since there were some gaps. The raccoons can no longer reach in a take the food.The timer is not waterproof, I ended up buying an outdoor timer, like what you would use for Christmas light, (bought it at Home Depot) and it was easy to program. Yes, the feeder is not perfect, but it is the best one available. It's not fully waterproof either, the raccoons ended up shredding the waterproof cover that comes with it. Well, I just put a 5 gal. Home Depot bucket over the top of my medium feeder, and sat a rock on top, fixed that problem. Over all the feeder looks nice, but what I have to do to it to keep out the critters, well lets just say it worth it not to have to go out in the yard and feed my 60 large hungry Koi 5-6 times a day. I love it. You just have to work through a few minor issues. No one has told me about another affordable Koi feeder, so I will continue to buy Ergo Feeders. It would be nice if Ergo could make the whole unit waterproof, which means without a removable nylon cover.

I have depended on this item for years and when it works, it is terrific. We could plan on a machine lasting a year and order another replacement ahead of time. But when it doesn't last... There is one metal part that breaks pretty consistently on nearly every machine, the one and only weld. Then there are problems that come up with the timer not working as it should. Then there are the loose broken parts inside the damaged shipping box that come into question. What I blame for many of the problems with the machine is the way it is packaged for shipment. Not so much the machine. It is all alone to shift and get smashed inside a paper box and gets broken enroute. That is not the fault of the customer who gets a broken machine that doesn't last like it is suppose to. So what happens? You spend your money and order another one sooner than you should have to. I contacted the company I bought the last one from and they replaced the bottom portion of the faulty machine but shipped it in yet another paper box with no styrofoam that would assure better shipment so the shipping box top had a hole smashed over the metal bar and the plastic base was broken. I was offered a return of $15. I paid hard earned money for a brand new machine that works, not two broken ones and a $15 refund offer. The machine does its job if it isn't already broken when you receive it.

I bought this 1 week before a vacation to feed 5 outdoor cats. (I have a large covered pen for them that is heated in the winter and provides protection from storms/rain). I assembled the feeder then tested it with a small amount of food which worked fine. This thing is mostly plastic with just a few metal parts to stir the food. It comes with a common timer normally used for lights. I programmed it, filled it full of food and put it out for the night.The next morning there was no food dispensed at all. I dumped the food out and discovered that the auger had jammed and a small metal piece had broken loose. I called the company and they sent me a replacement but could not get it to me before we left for vacation. ( I had to line up several different people to come feed the cats)The replacement arrived, I assembled it, plugged it in the timer and filled it with just a few cups of food.(Cheaper food with smaller pieces) It worked ok. I put a few more cups of food in it and it worked fine overnight. I then filled it about 1/2 full of food. The next morning, I discovered that it had broke again, exactly the same as the first time. Apparently even though it is advertised as a professional model, it cannot work with a full bucket of food. Very upsetting for a unit that cost almost $300. I am returning this product and looking for something else. I need something that delivers food versus gravity fed to make sure that other animals don't eat it all in one day.

I use this product to dispense cat food down a PVC pipe and into a food dish underneath our back porch. (We have two cats that live under there.). This is the third one of these products I've had - far better then other battery powered dispensers I've tried. I like them very much. Biggest issue - when the discharge tube backs up it can strip the gears in the dispensing auger drive. I have not found any way to fix that and the unit will no longer dispense - so I buy another one.

We received the Ergo pond feeder on time from Amazon, but the timer was broken. We had a little bit of a problem when we called the manufacturer trying to assure them that we did not break it. We did resolve the problem and they sent us a new timer and so far it works perfectly. We have three cats and travel a lot so the ability to set the portions and the time of day they are fed is a real bonus. So far --so good! I would recommened this product, but I do think that the timer should be an outdoor timer--which it is not. Most people do not order these for inside use.

I love the product as its the only drop feeder I can find . It does need to be made with more sturdy plastic.

I would like to give this feeder a five star rating but the chute where the food comes out of is plastic . This is a bad idea if you are feeding a big dog. Mine chewed it off trying to get additional food to come out. So I had to order and install another one. This time I used three radiator clamps to encircle the chute--problem solved.My dog cannot chew metal. Ergo needs to manufacture the chute out of metal to take care of this situation from the get go!!!