Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)So I previously had the plastic version of this PetSafe door. We used for several years and it served us well enough, although it probably ended up costing us hundreds in extra energy costs, but at least our cats could get to and from the screened in porch easily.
We had a new door installed during a recent home renovation and had to decide whether to keep the old plastic PetSafe or upgrade to something better. I looked around quite a bit, online and at local home improvement stores. To my surprise, I really didn't see anything better.
I decided to go ahead and order this Aluminum version, my logic being that an aluminum pet door was probably better than the plastic version I had. Right?
So was it better? Well, the plastic door insert that comes with this aluminum door is better because it has a small metal locking mechanism, so it is slightly more secure than the plastic insert of our previous version. I liked the tinted door flap, which makes it more difficult for people outside the door to see light from inside the house. That also seems to offer slightly better security. The aluminum frame is not really that ornate, however, with screws and metal bolts clearly visible. It looks reasonable once installed however.
The seal is about the same as the plastic version, but the magnet that keeps it in place is smaller. The stripping on the sides also pick up cat hair like crazy and really need to be cleaned daily. We didn't have this problem with the plastic version side stripping.
Others have mentioned this, but let me put this issue to rest: the plastic screws that ship with this product are completely unacceptable! These "screws" are what hold this door in place, and they are made out of plastic, for Pete's sake. And, being plastic, they perform exactly how one might expect plastic screws to perform. Your drill or screwdriver will strip the heads simply by screwing them in, and most likely, they are going to snap and break off if you ever have to take the door off. I tried taking this cat door off to paint the door, and had one break off completely, and the others were a serious pain to remove. Why were these plastic screws shipped with this product?
After a trip to the local hardware store, I found the correct metal screws and reinstalled the door without any trouble. With proper metal screws, the door can be installed much more securely with little worry about anything breaking or stripping if you need to remove it (or even installing it in the first place).
Don't buy this product unless you don't mind going to the hardware store and buying the proper mounting hardware yourself. At least the plastic screws that ship with this door give you something to hand the hardware handyman. "Excuse me, do you have any of these screws in metal?"
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