Amazon links:
👍 👍Birdfy feeder: amzn.to/3EX1y8l
👍 👍Bird Seed: amzn.to/3IR3JeO
👍 👍WYZE Cam V3 used to record the Birdfy feeder outdoors: amzn.to/3mw8aUY
Netvue’s help forum: forums.netvue.com/
My Blog post for more info: www.hometechdiy.com/netvue-bir...
Today we are reviewing a birdfeeder but they added a wifi security camera so you can watch birds up close on your mobile device. It will even send you notifications when there is activity at the feeder.The app can identify types of birds and let you know which species is currently at your feeder. Anyways let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The feeder is called Birdfy and from a company called Netvue. It costs about $250 American.
I have some footage to show but this video is more about the features this devices offers, technical specs, how it works and its limitations.
Unboxing:
1. 5-volt DC solar panel. The camera in the feeder is battery operated and the solar panel will help keep the battery power levels topped up. It’s super thin but very sturdy with a 3-meter-long cable (almost 10 feet).
2. A Velcro strap to attached the feeder to a tree or some surface you don’t want to damage with screws. It kind of looks like a belt. I attach the feeder to myself, my truck’s wheel and then a tree and fence post.
3. A drill template.
4. This is the mount itself. Very sturdy piece of metal here.
5. A tripod connector. It seems too small for my tripods.
6. User manual, which is very well written and walks you through all the setup and install steps in multiple languages.
7. The Cover to protect the food from rain and to give a little shade.
8. Here we have the perch for the birdies to stand on while they enjoy their snack.
9. Pretty impressive mounting screws. I’ll probably use my own, but this is some heavy-duty hardware.
10. There are slits in the bottom of the feeder to allow any rain water to drain, so your bird feeder doesn’t turn into a bird bath. This will also allow airflow so the food will have an opportunity to dry once the rain stops.
11. The back half of the feeder works as a hopper and holds the bird food.
12. Right in the middle of the feeder, we have the camera which can tilt to allow access to the micro-SD card slot on top. We also have the reset button and a power button.
13. The port that we’ll be using to charge the camera is on the back of the feeder which connects through to the back on the camera.
14. Still, on the back here, we have the WiFi antenna. Remember, this camera only supports the 2.4GHz frequency. The antenna looks pretty beefy but actually feels a little cheap, in comparison to the rest of the device, which feel super sturdy. We do our range test here and see how this camera performs at 300ft (just over 90m) away from my WiFi access point. The image was pretty pixelated at this point, and I see a weak WiFi message, but still pretty impressive. Make sure to test your install location before mounting the camera in its permanent location.
15. Water test: I’m going to throw a bucket of water on this camera to see how it stands up. I normally end with this test just in case I destroy the camera.
16. Camera specs: It’s an HD camera that captures pictures and video in 1080p resolution and a horizontal viewing angle of 135 degrees, which is pretty wide, in fact, so wide that we’ll see some distortion and vignetting on the corners.
17. The status light and I show what each means.
18. Above the light we have a mic hole for listening to the birds or any surrounding sounds.
19. There is a speaker so you can talk back to the birds.
20. On the camera face we have a mini flash light.
21. Here we talk about the PIR sensor and uses very little electricity. The camera is actually off most of the time to save power. The camera is only turned on when you access it through the app or when motion is detected through the PIR sensor.
22. The camera also has an alarm feature: demo here.
23. I’d also like to make a note about the camera’s operating temperatures. The high is 50 degrees C or 122F. The low is -10 degrees C or 14F.
24. Next I connect the camera to the USB cable and allow it to charge fully.
25. Lastly, I install the cover and the perch.
Alright folks, that covers everything I learned about this birdfeeder and the camera’s specification to date. I continue to gather some pretty awesome and up-close footage and learn all about the Netvue app. The Birdfy feeder has a lot of exciting options. I love the quality and think it’s very well designed and constructed. I can’t wait to share the footage from a bunch of locations and review with you the app and its challenges.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Birdfy
01:18 Unboxing
06:03 Wi-Fi Range
06:43 Water Test
07:06 Camera Features & Specs
11:49 Final Thoughts