Sureflap RFID cat flap–Revisited

February 26th, 2011 3 Comments »

You may remember this featuring on my blog way back in March 2009 (click here for the old post). It is a cat flap (obviously) which cleverly keeps itself locked unless it detects your cat trying to go through, and it only unlocks when it senses your cat’s microchip. Well, we’ve had it installed for nearly two years now so I felt it was time to give you an update on how it has performed.

We are only on the second set of batteries since installation which is excellent. I expect I’ll need to change them soon given the precedence set by the first set, but 12 months out of a few AAs can’t be sniffed at.

The cat flap still works perfectly, and I’ve not found any other cats slipping through uninvited – Tinkerbell can come and go as she pleases. I do have to clean it every month just to make sure the sensor doesn’t get too covered in mud – it’s only stopped working once ever because of that, and it was due to almost a year of build-up.

Anyway, to summarise, go get this cat flap and have your vet microchip your cat. It’s brilliant and I can’t recommend it highly enough – it’s certainly much better than any of the other ‘collar tag’ based ones you can buy in the shops, and it doesn’t have the massive sticking out balcony sensor that the main rival Pet Porte has. Incidentally, I’d suggest you be wary of the Internet forums discussing which cat flap (Sureflap vs. Pet Porte) is the best – a lot of the different users writing about how bad the Sureflap is and how amazing the Pet Porte is seem to have very similar writing styles and like to recommend the Pet Porte using marketing-style snips from the product web site – it’s possibly a devious marketing plan or could be pure coincidence, either way I’d recommend the Sure Flap: It’s cheaper, the batteries last ages, it’s reliable, it looks like a normal cat flap and has a nice low profile. It doesn’t have quite the feature range of the Pet Porte, for example it doesn’t have a light sensor to detect night-time, and if you really need to power it off the mains you’d be better off with the Pet Porte – but that will set you back a bit more cash. In the interest of equality, I’ve included a link to the Pet Porte on the right here so you can choose to ignore my opinions and make up your own mind!


2009 Gadget Rundown

December 30th, 2009 1 Comment »

Despite me initially thinking this had been a relatively slow year for gadgets, as I look back it seems I have purchased quite a few. There have been a number of none-physical gadgets in the form of software, as well as a record number of feline related ones and gadgets for my family and not me.. so here are my top 5 gadgets of 2009:

#5: Sony PSP-3000
Yup, I gave in a purchased another games console. This one has been very useful in ways I hadn’t considered when I purchased it. Aside from a quick Ridge Racer session to pass 5 minutes now and then, I’ve taken it to Berlin where it acted as a video player. I’ve also put training videos on it to watch so I can do a bit of learning on the go, it can remote control my PS3 allowing me to watch TV using the Sony PlayTV gadget which is nice but doesn’t make the top 5(although there’s issues there I won’t go in to), it works as a Skype phone and is generally quite cool just to hold and look at! The whole thing is protected by the excellent invisibleSHIELD which is the best screen / device protector ever and is highly recommended – it only misses out on the top 5 as it’s a bit boring.

#4: Balance Bike
Poppy absolutely loves her balance bike. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it since I bought it, but she is now able to push herself along at great speed and even lean in to her turns as you would on a proper bike. I don’t think it will be too long before she is able to ride a proper bike – but we’ll give that a little while longer yet.

#3: Sureflap RFID Catflap
Yup, I purchased a cat flap which can read the microchip in the back of my cat’s neck. And it really does work very well. Since I fitted it earlier this year, it is only on it’s second set of batteries so looks like it eats a set every 6 months which is pretty decent. It looks just like a normal cat flap with no sticky-out porch thing like the Pet-Porte cat flap and has prevented other moggies from entering my garage. Sadly my cat still hasn’t got over her little ‘wee’ problem so is banished to the garage until I can work something out, but at least her life is cosy since I gave her the Petnap Heated Cat Bed.

#2: Toyota Celica
Mmmmm, nice shiny silver car with shiny alloys and a nice low profile. Mmmmm. 5 months in to my new 4-wheeled toy and I’m not bored of it yet.

#1: Windows 7
Of course it is… Microsoft Windows 7 is my favourite “gadget” of the year. It’s given my laptop a new lease of life and my desktop an excuse for the 4GB of RAM I wanted. I’ve had next to no issues with it and to coin an Apple phrase… it just works. Coupled with Windows Home Server backing my machines up every night and providing a centralised storage, switching between my Windows 7 machines is seamless – offline files work perfectly for my documents on my laptop, and the integration of Windows Live with my personal domains means I have my very own Windows Live Mail domain integrated with my desktops. Windows 7…. come on you Mac boys, you know you like it really!

So, that’s it. Sadly not quite making the top 5 this year were the practical but boring Enviro-Light LED Spotlight bulbs from last week, Vicky’s Sony Reader Touch which I think is good, but haven’t used it much myself what with it being full of boring old classic novels. The digital Digital Photo Frames I was given for my birthday are still in use – one of which is permanently switched on on my desk at work. The Heatmiser Digital Touchscreen Thermostat is still going and works just fine - I do wish I’d gone for the one which also controls the hot water and expended the effort in extending the wiring for that but never mind, maybe in 2010. Oh yes, and the Steam Powered Wallpaper Remover is in its box in my garage waiting for me to be bothered with decorating the spare room – I’m working on the bathrooms at the moment so the spare room can wait.

Flapalicious

March 28th, 2009 1 Comment »

Gadget time! This time it’s the feline related Sureflap RFID cat flap.

sureflap

What’s so special about this cat flap? WT@ is RFID I hear you say? Well I shall tell you.. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) can be thought of a replacement for a bar code – a miniature micro-chip that emits a unique code when stimulated by a special reader device.. however where it differs from a bar code is that it is contact-less and doesn’t require line-of-sight to be read. So you can embed a microchip inside something. Many shop security systems use RFID tags to prevent theft, and so does the Oyster card that many London travellers should be familiar with. Tinkerbell has a microchip embedded in the back of her neck between her shoulder blades and this cat flap can detect and read it. If any other cat attempts to get through the cat flap, regardless of whether they also have a microchip, the flap will not open.. Tinkerbell’s identification number is hopefully unique! This so far seems to work a lot better than the last techie cat flap I purchased (a Staywell electromagnetic one) which needed a special dongle to be attached to her collar, and is certainly better than the cat flap that I replaced today (a Staywell passive magnetic flap) which didn’t even let Tinks in with the special collar dongle.

All the effort with that flap is however wasted unless I fitted a second flap allowing her to actually get out of the house and in to the garage where the Sureflap is. So I got a bog standard Staywell one from Argos and spent the afternoon drilling out a hole for it to go in. I’m hoping that all of this effort will reduce our cat litter bill and more importantly reduce the smell that fills the house every morning. She has used both flaps so I know she can get through both ways – now the next step will be to see if she’ll go through without being pushed from behind…..

staywell