Birdfy

My husband got me this as a present last Christmas (2024) with the special Christmas package that included the solar panel. Yes. It took FOREVER to get it all to work together properly as it wouldn’t connect (and makes very loud noises while trying to do so). Anyway. It was great while it lasted. First, I lost the pin that holds the perch on, no problem, they sent a new one. Then, the antenna broke off, because crows and squirrels don’t care. On both of these occasions, when I contacted Netvue, I had to go through the runaround over and over again with some chat agent and send photo after photo. I mean….for a pin? So all and all it worked for maybe five months (I had it down most of the summer as I was out of town). I just put it back up and it worked for about a week. Then. It didn’t. The camera just stopped working altogether. Back to the chat for help. I spent about a week going back and forth with someone named ‘Maui’ until it was proven that the camera was, indeed, dead. The chat person said she’d send the problem up to the next level. Later, I got an email saying that a brand new one was on its way and a tracking number would be sent. This began in mid-October. I still have never received a tracking number and I CERTAINLY never received a replacement. I am still using it as a bird feeder, but if you actually want one with a camera that will work for more than five months, TRY SOMETHING ELSE.

As much as I love my smart feeder, this app leaves a lot to be desired. - First. I feel like the fact that you cannot use the AI service on iOS should be better advertised or at least made clear somewhere. I received my first Birdfy feeder as a gift and that was a main factor in them deciding on this one. - the overall app layout is confusing in how you save the photos and collections and kind of a hot mess. You have to load and reload multiple pages to go back farther than 8 videos in the same day, and if you click on one and go back then than progress is lost. This could be a much cleaner video timeline/daily thumbnails setup. - it is generally very slow to load live and my camera is set up very close to the wifi. - I’d love to be able to save a still from the videos to the photo collection. You get a video and photo of each bird but the photo is usually them in motion, head down, etc. The videos have some good moments that should be able to be saved instead of a blurry photo of just their tail feather.

We’ve had our feeder up for about two weeks. So far, it’s been great. We LOVE the fact Netvue’s new feeder is environmentally conscious and Earth friendly. It’s made of natural bamboo and is an excellent addition to the line of bird feeders they offer. You get the same features such as the live- streaming and a SD slot to give you more memory capability but you also get two very LARGE bird seed reservoirs and a complimentary artificial intelligence (AI) subscription which my Hummer feeder unfortunately did not come with. The bamboo feeder itself is heavy, so be aware. It’s heftier than the plastic Hummer or any of the other plastic feeders out there. Make sure you secure it well! Installation was fine as the directions are clear and self-explanatory. You have to attach the perch extension but that just gives your birds more room. It even came with the small screw driver, for convenience. The Bamboo feeder came well packaged so no damage during shipment and it arrived fairly quickly. We use our feeders as added protection to our backyard for unwanted (human) intruders but seeing the animals come in at night is extremely cool! We would definitely recommend Netvue’s new Bamboo feeder to any avid birdwatcher or someone who loves nature in general. It is solidly built and very user friendly.