Let me be clear, this thing is great. I love it, and my list of pros/cons are almost entirely pros, but there are a few things I think prospective buyers should be aware of. Still, lets start with the pros: First, there's less day-to-day work. You can go days, even a week, without touching it at all. Granted, when I do clean it, there's a good deal of work involved, but I can go three weeks without cleaning it, and when I do I run 95% of it through the dishwasher. When it comes down to it, I'd rather work at it for 20 minutes once every 2-3 weeks than for 4 minutes every day - two in the morning and two in the evening, plus time to wash the bowl when it's filmy. Speaking of which: There's cleaner water for the cats. For us, water dishes get filmy and disgusting after less than a day, but my Drinkwell takes over two weeks to get to that state. I think this has contributed to the problem we had with one of our cats drinking out of our water glasses. I think she disliked her stale water so much she'd look for fresh water elsewhere. We also had to keep our toilet seats down, which tells you how fresh she thought her bowl water was... Overall there's less mess. This might be a cat-specific thing, but one of ours, when drinking from a bowl, would lap the water up and over the side, splashing water everywhere. We have nearly zero problems with that now, even when she dips her paw in the water and licks it :) Those are the pros I can think of. Unfortunately I have a list of cons, but mixed in are some general tips I've learned while using the fountain: I don't know what people are thinking when they say that this fountain is quiet. It just isn't. First, I don't know what does it, but about half the time, the whole thing buzzes. This is a combination of the motor and the plastic plate on the top. First, the motor can't be helped. I even received a free replacement from Drinkwell, and it vibrated just as much. This vibration causes the plastic plate on the top of the fountain to vibrate and, depending on how it's seated, it buzzes like crazy, creating a very loud sound. This could have easily be solved by making the plate ever so slightly heavier. I also think that if you put the fountain on a hard surface, it has a greater tendency to buzz from vibration. I would try the Drinkwell mat, but it seems they've neglected to create one for users who keep a reservoir attached. Also noisy is the sound of the water. It seems no matter what setting I put the flow on, it sounds like what you'd think a water fountain would sound like. This isn't what you'd expect, though, when you see the protrusion in the middle of the bowl that's clearly there to reduce the sound/splash of the falling water. I eventually attached my fountain to an X10 switch so that when we're watching TV I can turn it off. Lastly, as I indicated, there's a flow setting for the water. I admit, at certain low flow levels, the sound of the falling water is not as loud. However, there's a trade-off. I've found that if you keep the water at the highest possible flow, the time between cleanings is greatly extended. On the lowest flow setting, the water starts getting gross after around 12 days. On the highest setting, that period seems to grow to over 22 days. I've left it at the highest setting for my own convenience :) My last complaint is about the motor: apparently Drinkwell is a sadistic company, because removing the motor on my unit in order to clean it is one of the most painful chores I do around my home. I HATE it! It's impossible to get your finger into the little groove they've "provided" for you, and every time I remove it I feel like I'm either going to break my finger, the fountain, or both. Putting the thing back in is no easy task either! Ugh. So there's my review. Sorry for the length :)
