I was hesitant after reading other reviews, but needed to try something. I found it worked great. you have to read the reviews and understand that the item doesn't tell time, it works by hours. If you put it on 12 hours @ 11:00pm, then it's going to open @11:00am. That was the only mistake that I made. I didn't turn it on until 8:00pm for 24 hours and my cat is use to getting fed in the morning. I do need to buy another one, so I can feed twice a day, when I go away for more than two days.