NETVUE by Birdfy Smart Bird Feeder with Camera Solar Powered, Auto Bird Video Capture & Motion Detection, Renewable Upgraded Bamboo Wood, Ideal Gift

I am very excited about our new Birdfy Bamboo Feeder. We have had an older Birdfy feeder for about a year and have enjoyed watching the local birds come and enjoy it, while being able to get the different birds identified within the app. My daughter particularly loves when they do something silly and loves scrolling and looking for fun videos.The bamboo feeder is big, sturdy and much better looking. I like the fact that it has 2 separate seed bins, if you want to separate your seeds. There seems to be a lot more room for seeds and thus far, the video quality seems great.I am also excited to have solar for this feeder. The old one would run out of battery and just sit idle for weeks before I noticed it. And where I placed it, it wasn't easy to run a power cable to recharge it. Maybe there was a way to get a warning notification in the app, but I never found it (nor did I look very hard). But with solar, this should no longer be a problem.A few minor negatives to be aware of - since this is so big, it's also a bit heavier than the old one, and thus requires a bit more planning for mounting it. It comes with lots of mounting equipment, so that's great. But the obvious place for me to mount it was right on a squirrel super-highway, and they had a field day last time I did that. So I had to be a bit more creative this time.I had a few problems getting it set up initially, but once I allowed the app to access my location, it went smoothly. The updated app is more intuitive than before. But be aware that this will only work on 2.4GHz wifi networks.I noted that other reviews mention the quality and how it seems to fall apart once exposed to the elements. I am surprised about that, as it feels like good materials and seems to be already stained to reduce weathering. I will monitor that and update this if it seems to be a problem.

The media could not be loaded. This is the first smart birdfeeder I purchased. I purchased the Birdfy Bamboo feeder over a year ago and immediately became addicted. It is well built and the app to view close up videos and photos is user friendly with many improvements over time. The AI subscription is helpful and improving. As I mentioned, smart bird feeders is quickly addictive and I have added a total of now 19 Birdfy products, feeders, stand alone cameras, humming bird feeders, nest boxes and most recently a bird bath. The best thing about these products is the excellent customer service - they are available to help with any issues you may have through email, a phone call, live chat. This bamboo feeder worked flawlessly for over a year and then just stopped - it would not charge and would not turn on. Birdfy support walked me through a number of trouble shooting steps and when that didn’t work, they quickly sent me a new replacement feeder. I cannot recommend this product or this company enough. You will love the ability to watch and identify birds and other wild life close up. But one warning, if you start with one, it’s hard to stop adding to your collection.

Edit: Netvue/Birdfy support reached out based on the review and worked to try to help over a year later, unprompted. They sent a newer version of the product as a replacement to test out. It seems very similar and I suspect the bamboo will have similar issues, so I would STRONGLY suggest if you purchase this to use something to help keep squirrels and other non-birds out. Our "broken" one was still functional, albeit beat up after a year. Moving this review from 2 start to 4 stars for the product and customer support and the notion that a $30 anti-squirrel purchase in addition would resolve the biggest problem I encountered.Original Review:The feeder is really nice looking and very easy to setupand install. It includes mounting hardware for a pole or to a flat surface which is really nice. The camera and app are really nice and easy to use and work pretty darn well for identifying the birds that come to it. It definitely works much better if the camera is facing against the sun, otherwise it gets pretty washed out and misidentifies.The construction is really a problem. We wanted the bamboo version because it's sustainably made versus the plastic versions, but the black paint on the top faded with sun and snow and was scuffed off by landing birds within the first week. The front bamboo door which covers the camera housing was ripped off and broken by squirrels who were upset that I left the feeder nearly empty one day. I tried to glue it back together, but the laminated bamboo and rods that don't go all the way through make it pretty impossible to fix with the same materials. It works fine without the front camera door, but I don't think it will last a full year, especially if the squirrels keep getting to it.Bummed and wouldn't purchase it again, but would probably get one of the plastic feeders.Pros:- Easy to install and setup, for both the feeder and software/app- Looks really nice out of the box- Two separate compartments make it neat to have two types of seed/feedCons:- Laminated bamboo is very poor durability- Pricey, especially given durability