Netvue Birdfy Review: Our 6-Month Test and Verdict

Netvue Birdfy Review At A Glance

Build Quality: 4/5

Crafted by a company known for security cameras, Netvue cleverly morphed their tech into a robust bird feeder cam that also functions as a security camera. It’s sturdy enough to host even a heavy dove or two, and cleverly designed for easy seed refilling with a weather-resistant demeanor that laughs in the face of the elements. A little more function over form, perhaps, but who’s watching the feeder when there are birds to see?

Easy Set-Up: 4/5

Forget the nightmare of assembling that last piece of flat-pack furniture; setting up the Birdfy is a breeze. A few snaps here and there, and voilà—you’re ready to roll. Whether you’re mounting it on a mighty oak, a fence, or even a tripod, Birdfy’s got you covered with multiple setup options. Though, a heads-up, Mac users might hit a snag with SD card compatibility – more on that later.

User-Friendly App: 3.5/5

Once everything’s assembled and charged, the real fun begins. The Birdfy app might initially challenge your inner tech guru, but once you get used to the interface, you’ll be flipping through bird vids like a pro. It’s not the slickest interface, but it gets the job done with customization settings galore, from recording sensitivity to a nifty night mode.

Battery Life: 5/5

The Birdfy’s battery is the marathon runner of the bird feeder world—long-lasting and reliable. Even with the feeder’s camera catching every flutter and peck, recharges are few and far between. And if you’re feeling green, hook it up to the optional solar panel for an endless energy supply.

Image & Video Quality: 3.5/5

While Birdfy won’t be winning any film awards for its footage, the 1080p wide-angle lens captures the essence of backyard birding with gusto. Sure, there’s a bit of edge distortion and the occasional compression artifact, but it delivers where it counts: bringing you closer to your feathered friends.

Ease of Use: 4.5/5

From the straightforward setup to navigating the app’s quirks, the Birdfy is pretty user-friendly. Adjusting settings, swapping out the SD card, and keeping the feeder clean is as easy as pie—birdseed pie, that is!

In-Depth Details After 6 Months of Testing

Design and Durability

LOVE: So simple, sturdy and easy to set up and take down when needed.

DON’T LOVE: There are a lot of nooks and crannies so proper cleaning takes time.

Netvue, known for its solid security cameras, has smartly ventured into the birding world by adding one of these cameras into a top-notch feeder. This fusion has turned the Birdfy into one of the standout choices for those of us keen on keeping an eye on our backyard birds.

Constructed from tough, weather-resistant materials, the Birdfy can handle anything from petite sparrows to plump doves with ease.

Setting it up is a breeze, and you’ll find refilling it just as straightforward, thanks to its flip-up lid.

Plus, its overhanging roof does a great job of keeping the seeds dry during rain showers.

While the design is more about function than fashion, it’s not a big deal for us.

The built-in camera can be tilted to get the perfect viewing angle, making it feel like you’re right there with the birds. We popped in a micro SD card, and voila, we could record all the visits from our feathered friends directly on the device.

We went a bit further and tried out the Pro Perch version too, which includes a wider perch and some handy add-ons like a nectar reservoir for hummingbirds, turning it into a hummingbird feeder, and even a suet holder—talk about a bird buffet!

And for anyone not wanting to worry about battery life, there’s an optional solar panel that keeps the Birdfy powered up.

There are a couple of small snags, though. The feeder’s all-in-one design makes it a bit of a puzzle to clean thoroughly, but thankfully, it’s easy to take down from its mount for a quick wash.

The generous seed tray does mean more frequent refills of bird food, but seeing more birds flitting in and out is definitely worth it. You can also get a seed guard to help minimize mess and waste.

We missed having a simple way to hang it directly from a hook, but we got creative and slung it up in a spare macrame plant hanger, which actually turned into a fun solution—the chickadees and crossbills seem to think it’s their new upgraded playground!

For anyone concerned about keeping up with the Joneses, Birdfy also offers some sleeker models, like one with a bamboo finish that’s sure to impress.

All in all, whether you’re a casual backyard bird watcher or a seasoned birder, the Birdfy brings a whole new level of interaction to bird feeding.

Installation & Setup

LOVE: The setup is quick and easy, with multiple mounting options to fit your space.

DON’T LOVE: Mac users might face issues with SD card compatibility.

Assembling the Birdfy feeder is straightforward. Just a few easy steps and you’re all set.

Here’s the rundown: Start by charging the camera.

Once it’s ready, insert a micro SD card into the slot.

Next, download and launch the app on your mobile device, switch on the camera, and follow the easy steps the app provides to connect everything.

Now, it’s time to choose where your feeder will live.

You’ve got plenty of mounting options: a Velcro strap, screws for a wall bracket, or a tripod mount, so you can find the perfect spot whether it’s against a wall, on a fence, or freestanding.

Heads up to the Mac users—there’s a small hiccup with compatibility we’ll address in a moment, but it’s nothing too troubling.

Finally, make sure to adjust the camera angle. This lets you capture the best view of the birds visiting your feeder, ensuring you don’t miss any delightful moments.

Navigating the App

LOVE: The app offers plenty of customization and control features.

DON’T LOVE: The user interface can be a bit clunky and unintuitive at first.

Navigating the Birdfy app is pretty straightforward. You can download and set it up without much fuss. To get started, the app will show you a QR code to scan with the camera, kicking off the pairing process.

Admittedly, the app’s interface might feel a bit clunky and not the most intuitive at first glance. It does require a bit of exploration to get familiar with where everything is—from checking out your latest videos to monitoring the battery level.

But hang in there! Once you get the hang of it, using the app becomes second nature. You’ll be flipping through settings and tweaking options like a pro in no time.

The app offers several customization features to tailor your experience:

• Decide how often the camera records, adjusting the sensitivity to movement.
• Choose what triggers a recording—whether it’s any movement, or more specific categories like animals, pets, or just birds.
• Set up a sleep schedule to help conserve battery life, among other handy tweaks.

Beyond managing your settings and reviewing footage, the app has some nifty extras in the live view mode. You can start recording, snap a photo, or even trigger an alarm, light, or use the microphone.

Thinking of using these to deter pests? We tried scaring off a Douglas squirrel with the alarm and lights, but let’s just say, he wasn’t too bothered by our efforts!

So, if you’re curious and patient enough to explore all its features, you’ll likely enjoy what the Birdfy app brings to your birdwatching setup.

Mac Users – A Heads Up

Just a little heads up for my fellow Mac users out there—there’s a quirky hiccup with the Birdfy when it comes to the micro SD card. The card is formatted in a way that doesn’t play nice with Macs, and despite reaching out to tech support, I couldn’t get this resolved. There’s a player you can download to try and fix it, but alas, that gave me an error too.

So, what’s the workaround? Well, the Birdfy app itself is pretty handy here. It lets you preview the video clips directly—meaning you don’t need to shuffle the SD card between the feeder and your computer just to see what you’ve captured. All clips are saved in the app for 30 days.

Here’s how you can save those clips if you want to keep them longer:

1. Open the Birdfy app on your mobile device.
2. Head over to notifications (look for the bell icon on the Birdfy camera screen).
3. Tap on the video clip you want to save.
4. When it loads, hit the “Share” icon.
5. From there, you can save the video directly to your phone, airdrop it to your MacBook, or upload it to Google Drive or another storage solution of your choice.

I gave this method a whirl without using an SD card in the camera at all, and it worked like a charm.

So if you’re okay with not having an SD card backup and just handling everything via the app, you should be all set!

Recording Videos With the Birdfy Smart Bird Feeder

LOVE: The 1080p wide-angle camera captures clear clips, with a field of view wide enough to see multiple birds at the feeder at once.

DON’T LOVE: It isn’t perfectly crisp, and can be a bit pixelated or artifact-y especially with dim or contrasting light.

The Birdfy sports a 1080p wide-angle camera that springs into action with motion detection. When a bird lands at your feeder, it starts recording a 20-second video clip using the birdfy feeder AI recognition software.

These clips get saved directly to a micro SD card and are also sent to the app, making it easy to review, sort, and share right from your mobile device.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by notifications, you can fine-tune what triggers the recording.

Firstly, you can change the amount of time the camera takes a break between recordings, so you can minimize how many recordings you get from the same visitor.

Adjustments are possible from zero up to one hour. Initially, we had it set to every two minutes, but that had our phones buzzing non-stop, so we extended it to every five minutes to catch our breath.

This is a contrast to the Bird Buddy feeder, which only alerts you when it deems an image or video particularly noteworthy—less frequent but potentially more interesting notifications.

Secondly, the Motion Alert Filter allows you to select from all motions, or just specific ones like pets, animals, or birds. This feature isn’t flawless, but it gives you some control over what you capture.

For those who like to dive deeper into the world of smart bird feeders, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of top picks with camera features.

When you’re in the live stream on the app, snapping a photo is as simple as tapping the camera icon. This saves a 1280px image directly to your phone, handy for when you want to capture a moment without video.

Birdfy’s Photo and Video Quality

LOVE: The wide field of view captures plenty of bird action and offers an immersive experience.

DON’T LOVE: Some edge distortion and lower quality overall, especially in certain lighting conditions.

If you’re eager to get a closer look at your backyard birds but aren’t aiming for cinema-quality footage, the video and image quality of the Birdfy should suit you just fine.

The camera boasts a wide field of view, which is mostly fantastic—it captures nearly all the hustle and bustle at the feeder, giving you a front-row seat to the action. You can see the whole body of most birds perched near the center, which really immerses you in the birdwatching experience.

However, this wide angle comes with a few drawbacks. There’s a bit of edge distortion, common with wide lenses, and birds that perch at the far ends might appear tinier in the frame.

Also, the video quality can falter under certain conditions like early morning or late evening low light, showing some chromatic aberration and compression artifacts that might not look great on larger screens.

The video quality is decent on small devices but might not hold up as well on your computer screen—something to consider if you’re comparing it with something like the Bird Buddy, which delivers sharper details.

The photos, captured at 1280px, can seem a bit grainy—more like stills snipped from a video than actual high-quality photographs.

Despite these quirks, the visual output from the Birdfy is more than adequate for casual birdwatchers. It’s great for anyone just looking to enjoy a closer view of their feathered visitors and perhaps share some cool snapshots with friends. So, if your main joy is simply watching your local birds flit in and out of view, the Birdfy absolutely fits the bill.

Using Birdfy’s AI to Identify Bird Species

LOVE: It’s a quick and handy way to get a species name for visitors.

DON’T LOVE: It’s not free, and not always accurate.

Think of the Birdfy’s AI as having an ornithologist in your pocket—always on standby to help you figure out whether that speedy visitor was a Nuthatch or a Sparrow. However, it’s not foolproof. In our tests, it correctly identified birds about 70% of the time.

This makes the AI a great jumping-off point for using a field guide to confirm your feathered guests. There’s actually a silver lining to its imperfections—it nudges you to sharpen your own bird identification skills by paying attention to things like field markings and differences between similar species.

The AI model includes a lifetime subscription to AI recognition, while the Birdfy Feeder Lite model offers a 7-day trial, with the option to upgrade to a monthly subscription.

Now, to be a bit critical, it seems odd that not every model comes with the AI included. It’s not cutting-edge technology, so why not make it a standard feature? For novice birders, being able to identify visitors with a quick glance and a bit of help from the AI can enhance the learning curve.

And really, since the AI isn’t flawless, you’ll want to double-check any AI-suggested species with a field guide anyway. So, it feels a bit annoying to pay extra for an AI feature that isn’t spot on all the time.

If you prefer not to pay for the subscription but still want some AI assistance, you can use Netvue’s free AI identifier. I tried it out by uploading a screenshot from my Birdfy video, and it nailed the identification.

Birdfy’s free AI tool is a solid way to test the accuracy of the system and see if you like using it before committing to the full version. So, if you’re not keen on extra subscriptions, opting for the Lite model might be your best bet. However, if you want the easiest route with no fuss, the full AI model with lifetime access might just be worth it.

Battery Performance and Maintenance: Longevity Meets Convenience

LOVE: The battery life is impressive, lasting up to 4 months with moderate use.

DON’T LOVE: Charging the battery takes a long time—up to 14 hours.

The battery life on the Birdfy is nothing short of impressive. It’s equipped with a robust 5200mAh battery that the company claims can last up to six months on a single charge, assuming you’re only recording about ten videos a day.

Realistically, you’re likely to capture more activity than just 10 clips a day, especially during the busy seasons. Even so, the battery just goes and goes.

We used it heavily, with dozens upon dozens of clips each day, and it still lasted several months before needing an over-night recharge.

The camera also offers a smart feature to extend battery life further: a sleep schedule. Most birds aren’t hitting the feeders in the dead of night, so setting your Birdfy to snooze after dark saves power. Sure, you might miss the odd nocturnal critter like a curious raccoon, but we’re here for the birds, right?

The trade-off for such lasting power is recharge time. Topping off the battery can take up to 14 hours, so it’s a bit of a slow process. If you want to keep things effortless, you can hook up the optional solar panel to keep the battery charged without ever removing it—definitely a plus for the set-it-and-forget-it crowd.

All in all, despite a few quirks, using the Birdfy has been a fantastic addition to our backyard birdwatching. It’s made our birding experience more engaging and a lot less high-maintenance.

Our Overall Impression

LOVE: The Birdfy enhances backyard birdwatching with interactive and engaging features.

DON’T LOVE: The AI isn’t always accurate, and the image quality could be better.

Using this smart bird feeder, the Netvue Birdfy, has truly spiced up our backyard birdwatching. It turns every visit from our avian pals into an interactive event, making the whole experience more lively and engaging.

Sure, it’s got a few quirks—like a somewhat clunky app interface and an AI that doesn’t always hit the mark. But once you get the hang of navigating its features, those small gripes fade into the background pretty quickly.

The standout battery life and the thrill of capturing detailed close-ups of our bird visitors easily make up for any initial frustrations and the less-than-perfect image quality. For anyone looking to get a closer look at the bird world without diving into professional gear, the Birdfy is a stellar pick.

More than just a piece of tech, investing in a Birdfy is about capturing moments of joy, connecting deeper with nature, and gaining insights into the birdlife around your home. Whether you stick with the free AI or opt for the full lifetime subscription, the Birdfy is an upgrade for backyard birdwatching.

Is the Netvue Birdfy the Right Choice for You?

Deciding whether the Netvue Birdfy is the right choice for your birdwatching needs boils down to what you value most in a bird feeder.

If you’re looking for a feeder that not only nourishes your local birds but also enhances your understanding and enjoyment of them through interactive technology, Birdfy might be perfect for you.

It offers solid build quality, dependable battery life, and smart features like AI-driven bird identification. While it may have a few quirks, such as an app interface that takes some getting used to and a camera that doesn’t always match professional quality, the overall functionality makes it a compelling choice for both novice and seasoned bird enthusiasts.

If you appreciate tech that brings nature closer and adds a layer of fun and education to your birdwatching, the Birdfy could very well be your next outdoor addition.

FAQs

Does Netvue Birdfy require a subscription?

No, the Netvue Birdfy does not require a subscription to function. However, for advanced AI features and additional storage options, there are subscription plans available.

What app do I use for Netvue Birdfy?

The Netvue app is used for the Netvue Birdfy. It’s available for download on both Android and iOS devices.

What is the difference between Birdfy and Birdfy Lite?

The main difference is that Birdfy comes with a lifetime subscription to the AI recognition features, while Birdfy Lite includes a 7-day trial for these features, after which you can opt for a monthly subscription.

Does Netvue Birdfy come with an SD card?

No, the Netvue Birdfy does not come with an SD card included. You will need to purchase a micro SD card separately to use the local storage feature.