We tested Xiaomi’s smart feeder and drinker

Where is the limit of the smart home? We probably won’t be happy until every aspect of our daily lives can be easily controlled by mobile, and it reaches the loved ones who live with us.

[Xiaomi a la conquista del hogar con una batidora inteligente “revolucionaria” y aspiradoras]

I mean, of course, our pets. Although it may seem exaggerated, the truth is that the Internet of Things has the potential to make their lives easier and healthier, as I have been able to verify with the latest Xiaomi devices: a smart drinker and dispenser that can be controlled with your mobile.

The smart charger

To begin with, the Xiaomi Smart Pet Feeder It is a smart feeder, designed to serve food to our dog or cat and manage their food consumption from anywhere and at any time.

In practice, this device consists of a storage tray, where we will put the food, and a lower tray. At the bottom of the container is a dispenser that opens to drop the grain as we have configured it. It is an extremely simple device, but at the same time it offers many possibilities.

The idea of ​​this device is that we fill the inner tank with the food that our pet usually eats; afterwards, we can determine the quantity available in the lower bin. Everything is well thought out: the tray is made of metal to prevent the formation of odors, and the food is stored inside stay cool and dry thanks to an integrated filter, which you have to change every month. We can fill the tray just by pressing the top button (although it only releases a small amount of food at a time), but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Where we really discover the potential of this device is when we connect it to our local network and use Xiaomi’s Mi Home app; then we will find a variety of options to adapt the feeder to the needs of our pet.

For example, one of the most useful functions is the one that allows plan food, releasing a preset amount of food throughout the day at certain times. This is extremely useful if our animal has a special diet (for example, if it is neutered) or if we simply want to control its weight. We can also check the number of servings and the grams that have been dispensed, thanks to the precision of the dispenser which allows to release exactly the right amount of beans; Or we can directly open the dispenser from the app.

I particularly liked that this device no need internet to work once it is configured. This means you can go to work without worrying about a power outage, as it will continue to drop off food at the right time; although obviously, power outages are another story.

On paper, everything looks good, but I knew from the start that I couldn’t do this article on my own, so I called on my special assistant for the occasion, César. My cat is a bit special, I guess like all cats; He does not like changes and he keeps us as slaves to his designs. I was therefore pessimistic and I did not think that I was going to accept a mechanical tome to fulfill the role that I assumed until then.

That’s why it was a pleasant surprise when César started eating directly from the dispenser tray without having to do anything. He usually likes his food bowl to be relatively full and gets upset if he runs out of food, so I left some food in the bowl first, and that was enough for him to accept this new place to eat. I didn’t expect it, and it will surely have helped a lot that the bowl is made of stainless steel food grade 304, to prevent the formation of odors.

In Caesar’s case, there’s no need to keep him on a diet, but even so a feeder like this can be very useful, simply because you don’t have to change his food bowl every day. , since the internal reservoir has a 1.8 kg food capacity. Of course, there can be none, I think; Xiaomi details the exact size and shape of the stream on the official page, but basically it should be round or oval in shape. That’s a shame, because that means it’s not compatible with other types of food, like fish or star-shaped prizes, for example.

The Xiaomi Smart Pet Food Feeder can be a great help in controlling our pet’s diet, and even if we are not, just being able to control the amount of food and keep the food fresh can already be a great advantage.

This device is priced at 129.99 dollars. However, on the occasion of Black Friday it is possible to find it much cheaper, for only 99.99 dollars.

• Buy Xiaomi Smart Pet Food Feeder on Amazon

The smart drinker

The second device in Xiaomi’s smart pet line is a waterer, the Xiaomi Smart Pet Fountain, and it can be even more useful than the charger for many people. And it is that water is one of the great concerns of any friend of pets; The water should always be clean, never stagnant, and particular attention should be paid to odors. If we do not take these considerations into account, we may find that our animal does not drink anything, no matter how much it affects its health.

Personally, water has always been one of my biggest concerns with Cesar, who always asked me to put freshly served water for him to drink. Suddenly, I was very skeptical about this device, much more than the feeder, and I was afraid of not even being able to take a picture of the cat drinking.

And it’s true that, at first, adaptation is difficult. We are facing a fountain that solves the problem of stagnant water constantly moving it in a continuous cycle. The lower compartment is filled with water to the mark, and when running, the water pump creates a jet that partially fills the upper tray. In this way, the water is oxygenated by movement.

My fears with this device were that it was going to make a lot of noise or worse, that it was going to get water all over the room. Luckily, both of these fears were unfounded and Xiaomi designed this device well. The water pump is completely silent, to the point that it is not heard at night; and there’s no splashing, thanks to the way the water comes out and also the design of the top tray itself.

None of this impressed Caesar, who initially did not approach the source. It was a little disappointing, as the fountain essentially became a decorative accessory for the living room; but little by little he realized that he could drink there without danger.

After two weeks, Caesar is already drinking sporadically from the Xiaomi smart fountain. We rarely catch him, but at least we know he’s drinking. It seems the first time was the hardest, and once she realized it was cool, clean water, she was open to the idea; although it still asks for water from time to time. It was important to choose the right place, and in fact we changed him and since then he drinks more times.

I think one of the reasons Cesar accepted this water cooler is one of its star functions: the integrated water filter. The problem with a fountain will always be that it is out in the open, gathering dust and dirt as the day goes on; in this sense, the fact that this device has its own water filter is important, even if you already use normally filtered water.

The Mi Home app will notify you with a notification when it’s time to change the filter, as well as checking the water levels in case it needs to be refilled and cleaning the device from time to time. Another interesting detail of the application is the possibility of enable “smart mode”which moves water intermittently, stopping for 10 minutes.

The Xiaomi Smart Pet Fountain is an option to take into account if we have problems getting our pet to drink; Perhaps the problem you are having is a lack of fresh, clean water. It is priced at 79.99 dollars, but on the occasion of Black Friday it can be obtained for 57.23 dollars. In addition, the package of the two devices costs only 147.50 dollars within the framework of this offer.

• Buy Xiaomi Smart Pet Fountain on Amazon

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