I use them occasionally, but felt that longterm they are a terrible eco option, plastic and non-compostable, so only use them for travel crates or emergency crates now, or to protect the area under the litter try in case of overshoot (whre they generally last months).
Have you looked at pellets? We've just swapped to straw pellets as wood pellets make Odin snuffle, and they are amazing! Incredibly absorbent, clean, smell quite nice. Very cost effective. Can either use them dry as pellets (in which case put an inch or so in and change a lot less frequently, no smell and stays clean on top), or dampened and expanded as a soft bedding depending on what you prefer.