Which version to buy, the refill that fits it, and two other pails.
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By Maggie CallahanUpdated
Worth it for one cat. Get the Standard and a Jumbo refill.
Holds about two weeks of clumps for one cat and takes the long Jumbo refill. The refills are the cost that lasts.
Holds about two weeks of clumps for one cat and takes the long Jumbo refill. The refills are the cost that lasts.
No special bags? Ubbi Pet Waste Pail · $59.97 as of Oct 24, 2:56 PM ET
One cat, a small apartment, and a trash can a room away from the litter box: that's the home the Litter Genie Standard is made for. It keeps the scooped clumps next to the box instead of in the kitchen trash: you drop them in, pull the handle, and empty it about every two weeks with one cat, for about $25. You'll keep buying its bags, though, about $4 a month on the long Jumbo refill, and a second cat fills it roughly twice as fast.
With two or three cats, the XL+ holds a week longer for the same routine. And if a pail that only takes one brand of bags puts you off, the Ubbi takes the kitchen bags you already buy.
Holds about two weeks of clumps for one cat and takes the long Jumbo refill. The refills are the cost that lasts.
The bigger pail, a week more than the Standard for one cat, with the 28-foot Jumbo refill in the box.
Tear-off bags on a roll instead of a tube of film you cut and knot, in a smaller pail that holds about a week.
Most homes with one cat need only the Standard. It sits beside the box, the scoop hangs on its side, and it takes both Square refills: the 14-foot Standard and the 28-foot Jumbo, which lasts twice as long and is the one to reorder. The Style pail holds the same 14 days and takes the same refills, in a different shape, at about the same price.
The XL+ is the Standard with more room, about three weeks of clumps for one cat, so a home with two or three cats isn't emptying it every few days. It takes the same Square refills and comes with a Jumbo. The older XL (no plus) doesn't take the Jumbo, so check the name on the pail before you reorder.
The Easy Roll trades the tube of film for tear-off bags on a roll. No cutting, no knot, but the pail holds about eight days for one cat, so you'll carry a bag out more often. The stainless Platinum is the same idea in steel, with a 12-bag starter roll.
| Holds, one cat | Up to 14 days in the Standard, 21 in the XL+, 8 in the Easy Roll, as the maker rates them |
|---|---|
| Refill that fits | Square refills (Standard 14 ft or Jumbo 28 ft) in the Standard and XL+; Easy Roll bags only in the Easy Roll |
| Refill life, one cat | Up to 2 months for the 14 ft Standard refill, up to 4 months for the 28 ft Jumbo |
| Refill cost | About $4 a month for one cat, on the Jumbo refill |
| How it closes | Drop the clumps through the lid, then pull the handle to shut them off below |
| In the box | The pail, one refill, a scoop and a scoop holder |
The Standard, the Style and the XL+ take the Square refills, a cartridge of continuous film that you pull down, knot at the bottom and cut off when the pail is full. The Jumbo is 28 feet, rated at up to four months for one cat, and the plain Standard refill is 14 feet, half of that. The Easy Roll and the Platinum take only Easy Roll bags, and the old XL takes the 14-foot refill but not the Jumbo.
Cheaper cartridges from other brands sit right next to them on Amazon, sold as fitting the Standard, Plus and XL+. Litter Genie says only its own Square refills are made for its pails. If you try one, buy a single pack before a box of six.
The refills are what people bring up first: the pail is cheap, and the film is the cost that comes back every few months. With two cats the Standard can fill in a week, which doubles the refill bill too.
Changing the first refill is fiddly. You have to find the end of the film, pull a foot of it through the middle, tie a knot and seat the ring under the lid. Once you've done it, the next one takes a minute.
On smell, the pail does what it promises as long as it's emptied. When a house with a Litter Genie starts to smell, it's usually the pail left past full, not the cat: empty it, start a fresh bag, and the smell leaves with the old one. Ordinary trash bags fit in a pinch, but they don't hold the smell the way the multi-layer film does.
| Pail | Holds, one cat | Bags | Opens with | About |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Litter Genie StandardThis review | Up to 14 days | Square refill | Lid, then handle | $25 |
| Litter Genie XL+This review | Up to 21 days | Square refill | Lid, then handle | $50 |
| Ubbi Pet Waste Pail | No day rating | Any kitchen bag | Lid with a lock | $60 |
| Litter Champ | No day rating (4 gal) | Its own liner | Foot pedal | $60 |
A steel pail with a locking lid that takes ordinary kitchen bags, so nothing to reorder from one brand.
A 4-gallon pail you open with a foot pedal, with a trap door and a sealed front door to empty it.
If the refills are the problem, buy the Ubbi instead. It's steel, it locks, and any kitchen bag goes in it, so there's nothing to reorder from one brand. You pay for that up front, at about $60. The Litter Champ is for a hands-free routine or a full house: you step on a pedal and the clumps drop through a spring-loaded trap door into a 4-gallon pail, then come out through a sealed door at the front. It uses its own continuous liner, like the Litter Genie.
If you'd rather not scoop at all, a robot box bags the clumps in its own drawer, and a pail beside it adds nothing. The best self-cleaning litter boxes, for one cat or fourThe Best Automatic Self-Cleaning Litter Boxes
For one cat in an apartment, yes: the clumps stay in a sealed bag a step from the box instead of in an open trash can in the kitchen, and at about $25 plus the Jumbo refill, it's an easy thing to try. It won't fix a box that already smells. That usually comes from the box or the litter, and the best cat litter for odor control or a bigger, easier-to-scoop litter box will do more. If the smell comes from a cat going next to the box rather than in it, cat litter and litter box problems, sorted one by one points to the right fix.
Close to it while the lid is shut and the bag isn't overfull. The film is several layers thick to hold the smell in, and the handle closes off what's below. What smells is a pail left past full, or a regular trash bag in place of the refill.
In the Standard, Style and XL+, a Square refill from another brand fits, though Litter Genie says only its own are made for the pail, and a regular trash bag works in a pinch with less smell control. If you'd rather use kitchen bags every time, a pail made for them, like the Ubbi, is the better buy.
The 28-foot Jumbo is rated at up to four months for one cat, and the 14-foot Standard refill at up to two. Two cats use it up about twice as fast.
Better if you'd rather not buy one brand of refills: the Ubbi is steel, it locks, and it takes ordinary kitchen bags. It costs more up front, about $60, and there's no refill bill after that. For one cat on a budget, the Litter Genie Standard is the cheaper start.
About every two weeks with one cat in the Standard, every three in the XL+ and every week in the Easy Roll, at the maker's figures. With two cats, plan on half of that.
At about $25, the Standard is an easy pail to try with one cat. What you keep paying for is the film, so reorder the 28-foot Jumbo: it's rated at up to four months a cartridge, and the first one is easiest to load at the kitchen table, before the pail goes next to the box.
