CATLINK Ultra Review

Verdict

The Ultra is CATLINK putting a camera and a health monitor into a $499 box, which is roughly $300 less than anyone else charges for the same idea. It watches each visit, identifies individual cats, and flags things like blood or soft stools in the waste — genuinely useful if you are managing a cat with a known condition. The 13 L drawer is among the largest here and CATLINK claims a lab-verified 98.55% odour removal. The catch is the same one every camera box carries: there is a lens pointed at your floor, and the footage goes to CATLINK.

Scores

Six categories, weighted toward the two that people actually buy these for. See the method.

• Cleaning 8.7

  How completely and reliably it clears waste on every cycle.

• Odor control 8.8

  Seal quality, filtration, and how the room smells after a week.

• Safety 8.7

  Sensor coverage, pinch protection, and behaviour when a cat re-enters.

• App 8.9

  Setup, connection reliability, and whether the data is actually useful.

• Maintenance 8.2

  How long a full clean takes and how well the unit comes apart.

• Value 8.4

  Purchase price plus consumables against what it delivers.

Cleaning

A 13 L waste drawer inside a 65 L interior. CATLINK states roughly 20 days between empties for a single cat, and that the included bag supply lasts about 1000 days on the same basis.

Odor control

CATLINK describes a five-stage system built around a C70 odour eliminator and a sealed HDPE waste bag, and claims 98.55% odour removal verified by independent lab testing. That is their figure, not ours, and we have not seen the test protocol.

Safety

CATLINK describes ten levels of protection, combining sensors, radar and the AI camera, with the globe halting the moment a cat comes near. They specifically warn against placing the unit on carpet, which interferes with the sensors — worth knowing before you buy.

Noise

CATLINK publishes no decibel figure for the Ultra and we have not measured one, so we are not printing a number.

Setup

CATLINK does not publish a setup time. The unit ships assembled enough to need only the drawer fitted and the app paired, and unusually for this category it will join either a 2.4 GHz or a 5 GHz network, which removes the single most common pairing failure.

App

This is where the money goes. The app identifies individual cats, builds daily and weekly health reports per cat, and flags waste that looks abnormal. It also carries live video and two-way audio. For a single healthy cat that is overkill; for a household managing a urinary condition across three cats it is the reason to buy this box.

Consumables

CATLINK HDPE waste bags, with a supply included that CATLINK says lasts about 1000 days for one cat. We have not established whether third-party bags fit, or sourced replacement pricing, so we are not publishing a running-cost figure.

Long-term cost

At $499 with an included bag supply measured in years rather than months, the early running cost is close to nothing. What we cannot yet tell you is what a refill costs once that supply runs out.

Specifications

What it costs to own

We have not yet sourced current consumable prices for this model from the manufacturer, so we are not publishing a running-cost figure. Purchase price is $499.

Alternatives

Or line them up field by field: CATLINK Ultra vs CATLINK Pro-X · CATLINK Ultra vs Neakasa M1 Plus · CATLINK Ultra vs Litter-Robot 3