Crown Majestic Diamond Series V3 Dog Automatic Pet Feeder

**************UPDATE: I just have to say, I bought 2 of these in late 2014, which is what the review is based on, and I am happy to report that in October 2019, one of them is still working at 100% and still being used and loved by my fur babes (the other one got overtaken by ants and had to be thrown out last year...dang ants!)If this is not testimony to how amazing these are, I don't know what is!! I am looking to replace my other one, and will most likely be buying another one of these babies! :-) *****************I bought 2 of these after massive amounts of research on different automatic pet feeders. Even the top selling ones here on amazon have a lot of complaints for things like not functioning properly (spewing out food when its not scheduled, not spewing out food at all etc). I happened to stumble upon the Crown Majestic brand in a google search of pet feeders, went to their website and was sold. They are a family company (I believe), and really do want their customers to be happy- and listen to feedback and concerns regarding issues with the product. For example, there is a little note inside the box when you are setting up the feeder stating that if you have a pet who lays by the feeder all day and has figured out how to get more food out of the chute, you can email them, and they will send you a little adapter piece- at no charge- to make it more difficult for the animal to stick their chubby paws up there. I do have to say, I never understood why they didn't just add that part to the machine to begin with, but at least they do make it available to people (for free) if that becomes an issue. Luckily for me (knock on wood), my 2 little food-obsessed kitties haven't messed around with sticking their paws up there (one is still a little afraid of the noise it makes when the food comes down the chute, and wont eat until its quiet again- but they both dart into the kitchen as soon as they hear that first little sound haha).I chose this feeder over the others for a few reasons.1) It is very well made, and easy to set up2) it has the automatic water refiller attached , so if you leave the pets for a day or two, they have plenty of water available.3) It can be battery operated, OR you can use the included plug-in cord. This for me was a big one. There was only 1 other feeder I saw that had this option, and it was terribly designed. I have 1 running on battery power, and one plugged in. I have had these for at least 2 1/2 months, and so far have not had a problem with either shutting off on me, which is amazing, because you want something dependable that will feed your pet EVERY time. I feel so much less stressed about getting home from work late (I work 12hr shifts as an ICU nurse), or staying out overnight, knowing that my cats will be fed. Prior to buying these, I would have to leave big bowls of food out, which my chubby one would eat very quickly, and then they wouldn't have much food to get them through the rest of the day/night, and I always felt really awful. This feeder takes all of that away. To me, that is worth more than gold!4) You can program it to feed as little as a 1/4cup at a time, and can program it for once a day, or several times a day. It is very workable. You can also adjust it to some extent for the kibble size.I started out using only one, to make sure I like it and it worked well before I opened the other. After a few days, I was so impressed and in love, I opened the other, and they have been working fabulously ever since! I love the extra bit of freedom it gives me not having to 'feed' them all the time, and I love the fact that if I have an issue with one ( or both), I will be able to get in touch with the company easily and that they will actually respond and try to help. Mostly though, I LOVE LOVE LOVE that I'm not getting many 4am wake-up calls anymore (or more so 2 cats literally walking all over me, licking/biting my nose...you all know how it goes haha)!! That alone makes these feeders sooooooo #worthit!!If you have cats or dogs and are looking for an automatic feeder, this is the one! I never write reviews, but these have been so great that I want more people to know how great they are... you will not be disappointed! :-)

We just received our new kibble dispenser today and so we have not had it long enough to properly review it. Needless to say we will be updating this review in the near future. However I was involved in an email exchange with Crown Majestic Products, and I was so impressed with the outcome that I wanted to add that to the review. Now is as good a time as any as customer service is a separate issue from the product as far as I am concerned.We bought this kibble dispenser based purely on the strength of the reviews and its price point. I had been researching many different dispensers and none of them sounded particularly promising. If I had to sum up my research in general on all Kibble dispensers, it would be that they all seem to be made very cheaply. Most of them may actually work ok if not for the poor quality of construction. Reviews on the Crown Majestic Products V3 however looked promising. 300+ reviews at the time of purchase, 4 stars, the right price range, and with that we bought one. It was only later that I returned specifically to read the 1 and 2 star reviews. I tend not to give TOO much credence to 1 and 2 star reviews, or at least I tend to read them all with a critical eye. Still, I do like to read them because sometimes, genuine complaints are flagged. That was the case with the V3. Two complaints were made perfectly clear by many folks. There "APPEARS" to be an issue with this product, (The V3) feeding small disc or pill sized kibble. This is down to design. The other was how the Batteries fit into the equation, being both AC and DC operated. The complaint was that the batteries were not really a backup to the AC power. It was more a situation of “Either Or”. You use AC or you use DC, but you don’t use both together. These concerns came up so many times that I was inclined to send an email to the manufacturer to ask some questions.To My utter amazement, I not only got a reply but I got a PROMPT reply that precisely answered my questions, as opposed to a canned form letter. There was a real person at the other end of the line, READING my emails, and responding in real conversation. This folks is something that needs to be mentioned and applauded. At this point, I am so pleased with getting a prompt respectful reply that I could almost not even care about the product. Congrats to Crown Majestic Products for putting customer service first.The reply contained a reasonable explanation for both complaints. Apparently, the previous version of this Kibble dispenser was built as “Either AC Or DC, but not both”. However the version we are talking about today (the V3) is an updated version and the batteries function as a proper backup. You can use either AC alone, Or DC alone, or in tandem with the batteries as a backup to the AC. So with regards at least to THIS version, that is no longer a valid complaint. GREAT!The Next issue was this complaint about the product not properly feeding kibble. Part of the answer I think I was able to get on my own by reading. Unless I am mistaken, it seems that there are two settings. One setting is for the amount of kibble you wish to dispense, ¼ cup, ½ cup and so on. But there is also another adjustment that you tune for the size of the kibble you feed. Apparently many people don’t know about this because they have not taken the time to read the instructions. This appears to be such an issue that there was a “Special Note” contained in the confirmation email I received when I placed my order. But on top of this, it also appears, as explained in the email exchange I had with Crown Majestic Products that the V3 was NOT DESIGNED to handle the small disc shaped / pill shaped kibble. This smaller kibble will jam the product. I also received a reasonable explanation as to why this should be the case. Turns out that once upon a time, the animal feed industry used to produce kibble in a form factor between .25 and .75 inches. Thus the V3 was designed to feed that average size of kibble. But the times they are a changing and the animal feed industry has generally shifted to this new smaller disc shaped kibble instead. To that end, Crown Majestic Products has developed a new Kibble dispenser designed to handle this new form factor. I am told that it will become available in the near future. Great!It turns out that the V3 may not work with the kibble we feed, as it is the small disc / pill shaped variety. However, I cannot say that I didn’t know this ahead of time. The information was out there and the company was very forthcoming about it all. Had I of done even just a few more minutes of research, I would have known this and I may not have ordered this unit. Still, I have it now and I intend to find out if it works or not. That brings me to the most astounding part of the email exchange. Unbidden by us, Crown Majestic offered to make the purchase right. I won’t give specific details as such matters are between Crown and the customer. But I can report that I am feeling very positive about this transaction.Product aside, I only WISH that more companies provided the level of customer service that I received with Crown Majestic Products. I wish they made more products that I could buy in my normal everyday life. Unfortunately, I only need just so many Kibble dispensers. I think a little research and realistic expectations on the consumers part goes along way when purchasing anything. At least with this one product, the information does not seem hard to come by, and the company appears more than willing to explain both the good and the bad about their own products. The V3 may not be for everyone based largely on the type of Kibble you feed. But the vast majority of the other reports concerning quality seem to be pretty good. $75 is a lot of money to a lot of folks, me included. I encourage you to call or email the company (Crown Majestic Products) if you have any concerns or questions. They pointed me in the right direction. If they don’t have the Kibble dispenser you think you need, maybe the next version will be a better fit. If nothing else, they have earned my respect and potentially my future business for their outstanding customer service. Thank you Crown Majestic Products.Future Product Update: Coming soon!