Countering your anecdotal evidence with some of my own: it works fine for many, many cats. Even if the success rate is <100%, it's worth doing.
Can you be sure? I've read before how cats learn to adapt to this very easily. Just because the bell is tingling when you're around and the cat doesn't care, doesn't mean it hinders its hunting.
Or just keep them inside which is 100% successful as well
Re:The Killer Cats Are Winning
by ElCapitanMarkla on Wednesday October 12, 2016 @09:34AM
(#12692625)
If your going to keep a cat inside all the time, then you shouldn't own one.
My cat who died a couple of years ago at the age of 16 had a bell on his collar all his life. I couldn't pick that bell up without it tinkling but Radar could walk from one end of the house to the other, including the stairs, without a sound. Also when hunting he did most of it by waiting for his prey to get close enough so that any noise from the bell was simply the last sound they heard.
For a while he used to sit on the roof and catch bats