simplehuman 58L Sensor Can review

A 58-liter stainless sensor can with an adaptive motion sensor and voice control. It suits one person specifically: someone who has already owned a cheap sensor can, hated the way the lid closed on their hand, and is prepared to pay to fix exactly that.

It ranks first in our touchless roundup for that reason and no other. If you have never owned a sensor can, we would honestly suggest starting with something cheaper and finding out whether you like the category before spending this much.

#	Product	Best for	Price
01	simplehuman 58L Sensor CanThe touchless can that gets the sensor right — it reads how long you are standing there rather than running a fixed timer.	Best touchless overall	Check price on Amazon #ad How we make money

The gap in that table matters: simplehuman does not publish a battery cycle figure, and Ninestars — at a fraction of the price — does. That is a fair criticism of the more expensive product, and we are not going to estimate a number on simplehuman's behalf.

Almost every sensor can under the premium tier runs a fixed timer: the lid opens on detection and closes a set number of seconds later, whatever you are doing. That is the mechanism behind the single most common complaint in the category — the lid shutting on your hand while you scrape a plate.

simplehuman's sensor keeps checking. While it can still see you, the lid stays up; the close timer starts when you step back. In use this is the difference between a can you stop thinking about and one you notice every day, and it is genuinely hard to appreciate until you have lived with the bad version. The physics of why fixed timers behave that way.

Voice control ("open can") is the second feature and it is more useful than it sounds, though not for the reason the marketing suggests. It is not about laziness — it is for the moment when both hands are occupied with something you cannot put down, which in a kitchen happens several times a week. It is still a duplicate of a working sensor, so treat it as a bonus rather than a reason to buy.

The price, plainly. This is several times the cost of a sensor can that does the same primary job. You are buying one behavior — the adaptive timing — plus a finish. If the closing-on-your-hand problem does not bother you, there is nothing else here worth this money.

No published battery figure, which is a real omission at this price when a much cheaper competitor publishes one. It also has no documented AC adapter option, so unlike iTouchless you cannot eliminate the consumable.

Fifty-eight liters is large. It is over 15 gallons, noticeably bigger than the 13-gallon American default, and a large can that takes three days to fill smells worse than a smaller one emptied daily. Buy this size because you genuinely fill it, not because more is better. Sizing by emptying habit.

And it is still a sensor can, with all the category's structural disadvantages: a motor, a board, a gasket and a battery compartment, none of which a step can has. Adaptive timing does not make the electronics last longer. When they fail.

The iTouchless 13 Gallon SensorCan is the sensible first sensor can: standard bags, a carbon filter built into the lid, and an optional AC adapter. The Ninestars DZT-50-9 publishes the only battery figure in the category and has a manual hold-open mode, which addresses half of what the adaptive sensor fixes for a fraction of the price.

Best touchless value

iTouchless 13 Gallon SensorCan with AbsorbX Odor Filter

The touchless can that ships with a carbon filter in the lid and takes ordinary 13-gallon bags, at a fraction of the premium price.

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Best battery life

Ninestars DZT-50-9 13.2 Gallon Motion Sensor Trash Can

The sensor can with the best published battery figure in the category: about 10,000 cycles on three C cells.

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If you want the adaptive sensor but sort recycling, the 58L Sensor Recycler is the same can with two compartments — see the recycler roundup. And if this all sounds like a lot of mechanism for a trash can, that is a reasonable conclusion: the premium question in full.