Sure Petcare SureFlap Microchip Pet Door Connect, RFID Collar Tag & Microchip Compatible, Mobile App Control, Hub - Installation Accessories Sold Separately - Install in Doors, Windows & Walls, White

I’ve been using Sureflap microchip catflaps and pet doors for over 11 years and install one whenever I move house as neighbouring cats always seem to find their way in to bully my little cat and eat all the nibbles. As I’ve just moved into my 5th house I think I’m fairly well qualified to comment on them now! Over the years I’ve moved from the cat flap to the pet door and upgraded to the hub version in December 2018. In my opinion, it’s worth every penny for the peace of mind it brings.Fitting & Trouble Shooting Metal DoorI do always get a handyman to fit the flap initially but Sure PetCare have made the process as easy as possible and the only issues we’ve encountered are when one of our doors had an inner metal panel invisible from the outside. Cutting through it to make the hole was a bit of a mare apparently and the range of the catflap needed to be adjusted as metal impedes the signal from the cats’ microchips to the unit. (The smaller of the cats was fine getting in and out but the microchip on the large cat was only picked up if he put his head in one particular position - he’s not the brightest of animals and spent ages miaowing away smacking it with his paw until he randomly got his head in the right place!)Sure PetCare Customer Services are absolutely amazing: they talked though the various steps to make sure the unit wasn’t faulty, diagnosed an issue with the metal door plate, sent me a Range Tester to work out the distance a microchip would work at and explained how to select different frequencies and which was best for metal. (The Range Tester has it’s own microchip and shows up as an extra pet on the app if you have the hub version.)The best tip I can give for fitting is to do EXACTLY as the manual suggests and make sure your pets’ microchips are being picked up by the door by gently coaxing them through it :-) BEFORE you fit the unit to the door. That way if there’s a problem with the door itself, you or your handyman won’t have wasted an hour fitting it. By the way... none of the cat flaps/pet doors I’ve ever had have been faulty - it’s just been a case of reading the manual properly, checking Sure’s on-line advice and videos or speaking direct to their Customer Services to trouble-shoot.Problem with flap shutting?One very persistent neighbour’s cat still managed to get through the pet door and it took me a while to work out why... Only the latches on the inside of the unit are fully extended when it’s in normal, unlocked mode so the outside latches remain retracted. In windy conditions I discovered that the door wasn’t shutting fully and a cunning cat was clearly clawing it open from the outside.I then realised that my large cat was coming through so slowly that the door didn’t swing shut fast enough to close properly which was having the same effect as the wind! I contacted Customer Services and within two days they’d sent me a heavier door along with full instructions on how to fit it. Problem solved. Again, I cannot rate this company highly enough - they really care about their customers and nothing is too much trouble.Poor Battery Life?I do find that the flaps are relatively heavy on batteries - 4 normal C batteries will last a few months - so we’ve now invested in rechargeable batteries. At one point we were only getting 2-3 weeks life from batteries but it turned out the flap sensors were dirty (very furry cat) so the flap thought there was a cat constantly there and kept clicking away madly. As soon as we cleaned the flap thoroughly and kept it free from fur and gunk the battery life improved dramatically. I think if your cats aren’t super fluffy and don’t traipse in every bit of the outdoors on their paws then you’ll find batteries last a lot longer.Lost the fittings?We’ve just moved house again (sigh) and, before we went, swopped our old non-hub linked pet door back in for the new owners who have 17 cats in their household! Got hole cut in back door of new house then realised we’d lost all the fixings. One panicky email to Customer Services and two days later a Jiffy bag with all new fixings arrived. All completely free. The only other company I’ve ever dealt with that approaches this level of service is Ikea.Problems connecting the Hub and App?I’ll admit I’ve cursed the set up a few times but the problem’s been our patchy wi-fi and dodgy internet provision rather than the Sure PetCare system itself. As the pet door connects to the hub via wi-fi, if you don’t have a strong, stable signal you’ll experience constant dropouts and mounting frustration. The hub’s hated red flashing ears will haunt your dreams! As other reviewers have pointed out, the hub itself needs to be physically connected to your router or wi-fi extender and won’t work just on wi-fi. I solved the issue by investing in a couple of BT’s Whole Home hub discs - wi-fi connection is now perfectly stable and I just love seeing those beautiful solid green ears (they flash green when a cat goes in or out). If we lose the internet completely the hub can throw a wobbly. If this happens just unplug it, wait a couple of minutes and plug back in. It can take a few minutes but the hub has always connected to the pet door again.I was also really worried that if the connection failed then the cats would be locked out but this certainly isn’t the case if the flap isn’t on curfew mode. I haven’t tested it to see what happens if it is on curfew mode so if you need your cats shut in or out at specific times you might want to do a bit more research...Not APPy?No, the app is not perfect - I’d like to use it in landscape format for a start! However, it is relatively new technology, updates are regularly released and I think it’s pretty good. I love the fact that I can see how much time each of my cats has spent in and out of the house each day and at what times of the day. It gives extra insights into their characters! You do need to appreciate that if a cat sneaks out of the house through a door or window then the system will still think it’s in the house as it hasn’t read the cat’s microchip going out - this means that the app is of limited use when you’re on holiday and want to check on your beloved cats. Unless the cat minder conscientiously checks and updates the cats’ status for you on the app (you can manually toggle it from Inside to Outside) you will never be certain if the information shown is correct. I don’t think this will matter to most people most of the time.Is it worth the cost?The basic pet door without hub capability is, without question, a great buy. As for the door and hub set-up... well I personally think it’s worth the high price (especially when you factor in Sure PetCare’s impeccable after-service) but it will depend on how soppy you are about your pets - I imagine it’s more satisfying to cat owners than dog owners. All cat lovers want to know what their poppets get up to when they’re not around. I definitely sleep more soundly at night knowing no neighbourhood cats can harass my cats in their own home any more - and it’s so much fun the next morning looking at where they were all night!

This is a replacement for connected pet flap bought a couple of years ago. Why? Because the original one had become so unreliable as to be useless. You buy a very expensive cat door so you have peace of mind, knowing whether your cats are in or out, seen recently or missing for a long time. When it works it works brilliantly. When it loses power (from fresh batteries) dozens of times a day there's something badly wrong. But this new one has been fine so far and it will continue to be reliable, right?Right?

I don't often write reviews, but thought I would for this. It is an excellent device.My original catflap from another manufacturer (PetPorte) stopped recognising my cat's chip a couple of years ago, and I've been waiting for a 'internet enabled' cat flap for a while. This one fits the bill. In addition to the cat flap, you need to buy the hub (currently about £50) to enable the cat flap to work with the mobile app.The hub needs to be connected by a wired ethernet lead to your router - that part is not wireless. The hub needs to be relatively close (manufacturer recommends no more than 10m) and ideally direct line-of-sight to the cat flap - that's the wireless bit. That may prove a limitation for some installations. Installation of the cat flap itself is relatively easy, although the hole required is larger than a 'standard' cat flap as it's designed to work for dogs as well. A top tip is to program your animals before you install the cat flap. A key benefit over my previous catflap (PetPorte) is that there is no 'porch' which sticks out and risks being broken.The app is a little basic currently and gives the occasional error (e.g. 'object reference not set') but it does work. I'm sure it will be improved in time. You receive notifications when your cat enters and leaves the house and can remotely lock and unlock the door and set a 'curfew' time whereby the cat can enter but cannot leave. In addition, you get an interesting page of 'stats' showing your cat's activity over the past week. Useful to monitor any change of behaviour.As others have mentioned, it would be good to have IFTTT and Alexa support, but that's a real 'nice to have' rather than an essential in my view.I'm looking forward to further SureFlap products that connect to the hub - a cat feeder would be great! After one week's use, I'd certainly recommend the SureFlap. My cat adapted to using it immediately and it's reassuring to get notifications on his comings and goings during the day.Recommended.

The pet flap works. But! We upgraded from the cat flap connect expecting the same functionality but with a larger entrance/exit. Wrong! We are so disappointed with it.With the cat flap, we can set options for all cats that use it. Keep one inside but let the others go in and in/out.This is NOT how this flap works. It can be open or closed for all cats/animals and it unfortunately has only ONE CURFEW available whereas the cat flap connected has four.I do not understand why this module should be so lacking in functios as the cat flap version.

Bought this product thinking that when they state that in curfew mode “authorised pets are only allowed to leave” this would allow our chipped cat out and not our unchipped kitten. Wrong. As far as I can tell It’s all cats leaving just at certain times. Wasted my time fitting it and now because I’ve opened and used the fittings unable to send back. Not the sellers fault just really misleading marketing from Sureflap.

This is a really good cat flap however if you are planning to get one get rechargeable batteries as even Duracell don't last 2 months.