I was curious to try a self cleaning litter box.. and being crazy about the scent of our home i was cautiously curious. 
My cat took to it fully within about a week. I left out his old one just in case he didn’t take to it as fast - and he used it twice at the beginning. 
It takes a special kind of litter which is pretty much the same cost as what we were paying previously with our traditional litter box. 
The rake does scoop a good amount of litter so we are changing the trays around the same time we’d dump the entire (old) litter box. 
The crystals absorb the urine.. so the odor is masked. 
I do try to stir the liter 1x a day but empty tray of feces  about 1x a week.
Overall - so much more ease then a traditional litter box. I’m not stressed out hoping my cat has enough of a clean spot to use to go to the bathroom. 
FYI- it does take up a good bit of space.