Bird lover feeder

I just set this up and added the device, a BF11 Bird Feeder with AI bird recognition. Was able to add the device to WiFi and link up to it with my phone quite easily. I also shared the device with my spouse and we’re both able to share the same device. The setup for sharing a device can be done by email, text, or by adding the shared person to your “My home”. I choose the later option, and it was a little tricky and cumbersome, but I was able to figure it out. The shared person must have the app installed and have set up an account first and must be added as a family member. I’m a little surprised at all the negative reviews, though time will tell. I have tried most all of the available functions (not the AI bird recognition) and it actually seems to work quite well. This is an ambitious product which integrates a lot of features and it hasn’t choked on anything yet. I have noticed some reviewers complained about not being able to change settings and getting an error message. The thing to remember is that this app is designed for multiple devices. You must click on the device where it says “Enter the device” before you can change its settings. I guess the app really shouldn’t give you the option to change those settings until you connect to the device. Overall, I’m quite impressed at this early stage with both the bird feeder device and the app. I’ll revisit this review and adjust my star rating accordingly after some more seat time with it.

The picture quality of the camera is good but the app itself is limited and poor quality. 1. Duplicate photos are saved in the feed, 3 or 4 copies in some cases. 2. The optional SD card contains saved photos that cannot be read independently on my Mac or any other device. When opening any of the jpg files on the card. The files are reported to be of unknown format (perhaps encrypted). There are also media files on the card containing video which can be converted to standard media formats using a utility called ffmpeg. 3. The detection of the SD card is erratic. Sometimes it is detected and sometimes not. Multiple cards have been tried. 4. Oftentimes I see the message ‘Server Error’ when accessing the content feed. Usually refreshing it two or three times will resolve it. It is not a problem related to networking. 5. Setting options using the settings dialog (e.g. notification alerts) will not usually be saved. Usually five attempts are required.

The user interface for this app is not intuitive and the features are limited. 1) You cannot identify birds from the motion detected pictures. You can only identify them from a live feed. 2) Only still photos are recorded from motion alerts. Not video. It appears you can only manually record video? 3) Navigating the app is confusing. There appears to be a global top-level interface with all the same features as the sub-level interface specific to the bird feeder. But if you try to make changes at the top level, it gives an error. I’m not even sure why this top-level configuration interface exists. 4) There are a ton of false motion alerts, even on the medium sensitivity setting. I’m talking hundreds. On low, the motion alerts never trigger. Even had a squirrel on the feeder with no alert. 5) The solar panel is on the same side as the camera. Therefore, to get sunlight on the panel, the camera must also face into the sun. I think this is what triggers the false motion alerts (cloud drifts to block sun, shadows being cast, brightness changes, etc). It’s a great idea, but the solar panel either needs to be detachable, or on the opposite side as the camera. The app needs a lot of work. The functions need to be imported.