LOVING the feeder! Have been enjoying watching birds that have shown up as early as the day following the installation. The quality of pictures is amazing. One downside is that the small song birds we have like to jump INTO the tray to eat rather than sitting in the perch so we get many pictures and videos of their backs rather than their faces. Guess we need to provide them with a little training! 😂 Would greatly appreciate a tutorial on how to use the app. It has been through trial and error that we are figuring things out and I would hate to think I may be missing out on some features that it provides. What a great way to watch the birds!
I do like my BirdBuddy however the user experience is something I dread. I wish we could skip the “Postcard” and just view a feed of the visitors. When I go to check, my notifications are several dozen postcards. To have to click. Watch an animation. Then you are taken to another animation. Then you see a bird and have to press ignore. Then have to decide to keep or trash the image. Then you get another image of the same bird. It really has you engaging needlessly. It was fun the first time but that wears off quickly. The addition of a “back” button or “reveal all unopened postcards” would improve the experience. I want to give 5 stars but currently it feels tedious and like work to see the birds.
In my experience, the initial instructions were somewhat confusing. It seemed that the version of my BB software / firmware was not in sync with the online app info.
Once I got it updated, installed and sending postcards, it was time to charge the battery and when I did so and put the camera module back in the BB, there was a problem. I reported the problem through the bot option. It said I needed human help. Sounded good. That was 2 days ago. I received an email confirming they received my request for help yesterday. In the meantime, the email included “Please kindly allow up to 7 business days ……”. And now BB app says camera module is “Out of the feeder” when it is not, and it is magnet to magnet so not upside down. I have searched through troubleshooting articles for what to do when the app says Out of the feeder, but to no avail. So I wait. And wish there were better instructions or tutorials. (I am a retired technical procedures writer and know the importance of writing for the audience of the app/process)
Got our bird buddy up and running a few weeks ago and overall love it so far. A few minor changes and improvements would make it amazing. First, it should automatically power down the camera at night to save battery. Even with the solar roof, when it is busy with birds the battery life is not good enough. Second, the recognition of squirrels needs fixed. They always show up as a mystery visitor, they are obviously squirrels, fix the AI…Third, way too many clicks to ignore a visitor. With the before mentioned squirrel, make it auto to ignore them. Finally, building on the too many clicks, for birds I already have in my collection, I don’t want to get countless postcards of the same birds over and over. Add a toggle where you could pick only getting postcards from new or unknown visitors. All in all, great app and product, just needs streamlined a bit to be way better😀.
I received Birdbuddy as a gift from my son. It captured the first photo of a bird yesterday and it made my day! I got another notification of a different bird a bit later. The quality of the photos is incredible considering how close up the birds are. The video is my favorite though! I never knew how much work it was to get the seed out of the sunflower seed. To be able to watch the birds is really impressive! My son ordered the solar roof for it, but was notified it won’t be available until April. Keep up the great work!!
I got the feeder and it took a while to figure out how to set up the camera and connect it to my phone, but once it did I put it out in my yard. It took about two weeks of my bird buddy being out in my yard getting visitors before it started taking pictures. In those two weeks I felt a little impatient, but once it started taking pictures, all the waiting became worth it. Aside from very complicated set up, it’s an amazing thing! I can’t wait to see how this improves in the future, thank you for all your hard work! :)
I have gotten some really nice pictures. It really matters where you have it placed in terms of light. With all cameras, light matters. My first pic was my best. Also have seen pictures in community with awful backgrounds including garbage cans. Hilarious. Best to think about placement. I bought hot bird seed that squirrels don’t like but is safe for birds. It’s winter in the northeast and the cardinals and bluejays are big and don’t seem drawn to it. Too soon to really decide if I give it another star but it’s fun. Battery life is terrible. 2 days tops and $70 for a solar top is not ok. Also I made my pictures private and then decided to share a few in community but no way can I figure it out. So far pretty fun
The picture quality is great. The setup process is painful and often needs to be repeated and repeated to get it to work. Once you actually get it to work it seems so far much easier. However, it is cumbersome to use their app. No easy delete for pictures you don’t want. You cannot organize your pictures at all so you end up with a big mess of jumbled groups of pictures. There is no way to select a lot of pictures to delete so you must go through them one at a time to delete. If mistakenly pick the wrong species and you want to change a picture to another you cannot. The reveal animation for your new pictures is quite annoying after the zillionth time you see and hear it and there is no watt to skip it so it takes longer to reveal pictures. If you don’t keep up with them you will dread clearing them out as it will take forever. If they could get someone to make the app better then it would be more enjoyable. As it is, it is a chore.
The feeder fell from hook and cracked on my very first use. Also, the front plastic that holds the seed in won’t stay put and I had to tape it closed on the sides. The camera and photos are great but the feeder leaves much to be desired. The feeder is too small to accommodate woodpeckers apparently which are my favorite. I even put suet and peanuts in but none have landed on it. I have had it for 2 weeks and have woodpeckers on my other feeders (downy, flicker, red-bellied). The place where the birds land/perch is very smooth plastic and I am wondering if it is not easy for some birds to perch. The interface is a little cheesy/cutesy for my taste with animated birds telling you that you “have a postcard.” The app generally identifies birds correctly. I just think that for $200 it would be a sturdier feeder. It was a gift from my son and daughter in law. They were SO EXCITED to give it to me and they spent so much that I don’t want to tell them about it’s flaws.
I never thought that I would get so much pleasure from a bird feeder. My daughter and son-in-law gave this to us after observing our feeders in action. I installed close to a window in our main room and can fill it and recharge the battery through the window. I have been getting twenty or more pictures each day and finally know the names of all my frequent visitors. I have enjoyed the posts of other Bird Buddy owners through Facebook and Instagram and have learned even more there. For someone who did not think I wanted anything more this has been great. Definitely recommend
BP¥
Etroso
p.kb2
btest2
Bird Spy
Cherrycreeper
Njfeds
Sugasnaps
GreenHeronHolly
NW CT birder
