Only had this for a couple days, will update this is time goes on. The setup of this connecting it to my router wasn't easy. I set it right next to my router and tried other places but it would always show less than a single bar of strength! It would not connect to the router. Went online to their website and hopped on the 24/7 chat support. They gave me instructions on how to hard reset the petcube and while it still only showed less than a single bar of strength, sitting right next to the router, it did finally connect. I don't know if maybe something got damaged in shipping? Will see how it works for the next few weeks. I mounted it to the wall and that was really easy to do with the included hardware.
The treats that come with the petcube one of my dogs really liked, the other not so much. So I tried the mini milkbones since that is what they both like. After testing it with those treats, it constantly jams, it just doesn't like that shape of treat. So I put the treats that came with it and they are right, the circular treats do work the best in this.
What I do LOVE about this is the 2 way audio, I get an update whenever one of them or both of my dogs are barking and I can hop on my phone and tell them to stop! When they do, I fling them some treats! :) Good way to help control that and reward them. It is taking my youngest dog some time to get used to this, but I'm sure he will. I have the alarm sound to go off when I connect to it to alert the boys that YES I can now see and talk to you and that is also good at getting their attention! I also really like that I can give control to family and/or friends to check in on them and give them treats also! That is a really nice feature! The night vision on the camera is pretty good, could be a little better for larger living rooms like mine as it doesn't show the entire room that well early in the morning when it is completely dark.
When you first get the petcube you automatically get free 30 days of cloud service where you can go back 10 days or more of videos, after that, the free service only gives you 4 hours unless you subscribe: 10 day video history for $10/month or 30 day history for $30/month. I do think that is a little excessive in price or maybe offer another tier to it like 5 day video history for $5/month, that I would probably pay for!
There are also 3 "care" settings that you can set the petcube to. "Awake" will give you notifications on your phone for sound and motion and will store them in your timeline. "Quiet" is basically the same as Awake but will not give you notifications, pretty much a silent mode. And "Sleep" and sleep is what I set it to when I'm back at home. It turns off detection and does not record events like the first two.
Looking forward to playing with it more and getting the "boys" used to it. Once they are, I'm sure this will be a hit! Will update as time goes on.
UDPATE 18 hours later: I am exchanging my petcube for another, should arrive on Monday (5 days from now) and I'm really hoping my issues was because of poor packaging/shipping because I really want to like this invention! Because of the low Wifi signal I have, even though its sitting 5 INCHES from my router! The video has become very fuzzy, unclear and pixelated. Also the speaker stopped working completely now. It isn't the greatest speaker in the world, but not working at all now after not even a day of use is unexceptable. Unless that is also an issue of the Wifi signal. Maybe a better internal antenna would help this box out! I'm really disappointed right now and hoping the replacement is 100 times better and I just happened to have received a defected product. Will update this when I receive it!
UPDATE 10/18/2017: Got a replacement, thanks amazon! It is a little better than the previous. For preparation, I even bought a new router, one that is a little more powerful and a little more range. The Wifi antennas on these things are garbage! Need to be looked at. Again, with a different petcube and new router right next to each other, barley got 1 bar of strength on setup! But I didn't have any issues connecting it this time. As far as the response below from petcube, my internet is NOT the problem, I have high speed at home, 60+mbps down and 5mbps up. The internet I'm hooked up to on my phone at work in on fiber and at over 100+mbps down and 100+mbps up, shouldn't have any issues at all with the video! With the replacement the video is better and the speaker works. The only problem with the speaker and microphone so close together on the petcube is you will get a lot of feedback and it almost makes it useless to use.
So I really want to give this 3 1/2 stars because I did receive a defective product, but while it is nice to see what my furbabies are doing and give them treats, there are still issues. The biggest being the poor Wifi antenna! I will mainly use it to keep an eye on them when I am at work and give them treats every so often! That is where this product shines! I am happy overall with my purchase.
Oh, I also found the PERFECT treats for this thing, treats that will never jam the machine and you get over double the amount for the same price of the wellness treats that come with petcube. Charlee Bear Dog Treats!! PERFECT! Charlee Bear Dog Treat, 32-Ounce, Liver/Cran
UPDATE: 11/16/2017: Not even one month later and the treat dispenser on my second unit randomly will stop working. It's not jammed with treats, it just stops working because unplugging the unit and back in will magically start working again for less than 5 - 10 times before it stops again. I contacted chat support yet again, was told to reset the unit like the first one I had, did that, same problem. Tried resetting it again, no change. So once again, only because I REALLY want to love this invention am I going to give it a 3rd shot! I bought another and returning this one. If the 3rd unit I get has problems, I'm done and will return for refund. Will update after time with the 3rd unit.
My wife and I love this machine! We have three dogs that come running at the sound of our voices through the speaker. I am very impressed with the camera and how clear the picture is. Occasionally it does toss a couple extra treats but since the dogs are greedy it's never an issue. Circular shaped treats seem to work best and we've now started filling it with the dogs' normal kibble. A great added bonus is now I get to watch my kids trying to sneak in and out late at night. With the motion detection feature a notification will pop up and I can take a glance to see what's happening!
Another feature that we like is being able to share with family members, I have family on the other side of the world that can treat the dogs!
I've seen other reviews complaining about packaging and set-up; I have no idea what the issue is. Packaging was clean and sturdy and I was up and running in less than 10 minutes.
Let me start by saying that my two dogs had a pretty good life. They have each other, a yard they can access any time of day or night, and copious amounts of petting from a loving family. But after the first 72 hours with our new toy I can tell Petcube is about to make their (and our) days even better.
Packaging and Instructions: The packaging is nice and start up instructions are very straightforward. I had small difficulty getting the app to recognize my wifi, but after a few tries it worked out and has worked flawlessly ever since. Connecting to Alexa was not hard an seems to work AOK. Makes giving the dogs a treat from the comfort of my couch a simple task.
Functionality: Overall things re working smoothly. It throws only a few treats at a time, so even if I use it a multiple times per day it will not a calorie burden on my pups. The camera is nice and clear, and boost up quickly. The app design is good with the functionality you need and is pretty intuitive. I expect they will clean up some of the UX density over time.
Fun: Really fantastic. I love being able to peak into my home, call out and see my dogs run for the room licking up all of the treats. It brings me and my family many moments of joy during the day.
Added Bonus: Even though I thought it would be a device I only use while I’m away, I find myself using it just as much when at home. Dogs bring joy to my family and Petcube is there to record the action. It is set up in our family room and has already captured bunches of moments showing us all enjoying Petcube moments.
Nice job Petcube, I’m happy you’re here!
I had been looking to buy a camera or some security system to keep an eye on my dogs. I have one rescue, Greta, who has serious separation anxiety ever since we got her. We have two dogs now so that Greta's anxiety has lessened but with twice the dogs my house is often a mess when we go out. The dogs are at home sometimes 12 hours a day, and while it's not ideal, it's what we have to do. Now that I have the Petcube bites camera I am much more confident about leaving them home alone. I have gone out a few times now and it's great relief to know that the camera sends me notices whenever something happens, like the dogs barking or if they get too rowdy. I've turned on the two way voice mode a few times when I'm at dinner at it's calmed one of my dogs, Bernie, down whenever he starts to bark at neighbors outside of our door.
The treat function is great too, the dogs are still learning how to find the treats. One tip, when you get the treat bag don't dump the treats in like I did when I first got it. I hadn't realized that when treats pop out, so do all those little crumbs that are at the bottom of the bag. I've spent the past few days vacuuming up the crumbs from the treat bag that I dumped.
Overall I really like that I have this now. I was so paranoid about how the dogs would act while I was out of the house. I live in an apartment so my greatest fear is that the pups have been howling all day, but now that I can keep an eye on them, I feel 100% better. Also, the treat function keeps them happy and occupied while I'm away.
The voice mode is great too and doesn't sound robotic or anything. I had my husband sit in the living room while I went outside and turned on the 2 way voice mode and he said it sounded perfectly fine. My dogs both recognized my voice and even were able to follow commands.
Overall I'm happy I got this. It's better than a baby radio and just recording device since I can talk to my pets and give them treats!
Feature Product
- TREAT YOUR PET REMOTELY: Fling treats at varying distances or schedule automatic treating from the Petcube App. Compatible with a variety of dry, crunchy dog and cat treats. Up to 2lbs treat capacity. Wellness dog treats are included
- MONITOR 24/7 FROM YOUR PHONE: With Petcube Bites Wi-Fi pet cam, check on your pet day or night with clear 1080p HD video, 138° wide angle view, and night vision. See up close with 3x zoom. Get sound and motion alerts
- CHAT WITH YOUR PET: With two-way audio you can speak to your pets and hear them bark or meow back. Tell them you love them from anywhere
- FREE CLOUD VIDEO STORAGE: Rewind and replay the last 4 hours of video history recorded with no subscription required. Go back and see what you missed while you were gone. For multi-day 24/7 video history with pet care savings, Petcube Care subscriptions are available
- CONNECTIVITY REQUIREMENTS: 2.4GHz WiFi, iOS 9.3 and higher or Android 5.1 and higher. Compatible with Alexa
- AMAZON DASH REPLENISHMENT ENABLED: With Dash Replenishment, Petcube Bites will automatically reorder more treats when your dispenser is running low.
Description
Petcube Bites is the most innovative Wi-Fi pet camera with treat dispenser. It lets you see, talk, toss treats, and reward your pet remotely. From the app on your phone, monitor your cat or dog in clear 1080p HD video and night vision, toss treats Angry Birds-style, say hello using 2-way audio, and get motion and sound alerts to make sure your pet and home are safe. Petcube Bites is the only treat camera that is Alexa and DRS enabled, so you can go hands free and never run out of treats to play with your pet.
I received camera in 2 days. It was in a nice package that had everything laid out. It was easy to follow the directions. I downloaded the petcube app on my iphone and was able to view the room almost immediately.
Since I have small cats, I decided to place it on the floor. I received a notification on my iphone when it was activated by a motion and there was a short video. Unfortunately, the unit came with dog treats and I did not have the correct size treats available to try that. However, you can easily order treats from Petcube using the app and they are reasonably priced. I saw on the app that you can remotely send a treat and select the distance. The video is in color during daylight and it records in the dark in black and white.
The audio is also totally cool. The cats were so funny looking at it while hearing my voice. I thought it was also interesting to see the cats roaming around in the middle of the night.
I would definitely recommend this. The video is high quality and encompasses the entire room. You can easily record or snap a still shot from your phone. See the photo attached I took of my 3 cats.
So far this is working great! I've used pet cameras in the past, mostly while on vacation to check up on my two cats, but it was a little disappointing when they were sleeping in the other room. With the petcube bites they've quickly learned the sound it makes when the treats come out, so they come right up to the camera. The dispensing mechanism seems pretty safe. I have one curious cat who likes to stick his paws into everything, but the launcher mechanism just has a soft plate that moves forward quickly, so there's nothing to get his paw stuck in. The top lid looks sturdy and cat-proof too. It holds a large amount of treats, and launches out 2-5 small bite sized treats at once. I feel like it's entertaining for my cats too, to chase the treats when they come out. Connecting it to my wifi was super easy and fast with my Android phone. So far I haven't had even any brief connectivity issues. Overall a really solid product.
PetCube Review
I purchased my PetCube Bites camera because I wanted a pet camera for a while, I needed something in my pets’ lives that could get them off the couch while I’m not home (even for a min), and I like things that work with Alexa! After a few weeks with it, PetCube Bites does not disappoint! I love seeing what my pets are doing (or not doing... lazy babies) when I am not home.
Camera - The camera is great! The videos were so clear, even at night with the night vision!
Treats - The treat flinging is fun for my pets and has always worked! Maybe a treat won’t make it past the ledge, but nothing has been stuck in the machine! WOOT!
2-way Audio - I love being able to watch my pets while I’m not home and talk to them through the 2-way audio! My dog used to ignore me. Now she leaves the room when I talk. hahahaha
Set-up - The set-up took a little finagling. I just reset the box and then it worked fine. If you have any issues, just reset it. Don’t spend an hour trying to argue with it, like I did.
Size - It’s large. The dimensions are there for me to see, so I knew what I was buying. Now that I have it, I don’t even notice it, but it was a little shocking at first. The treats have to be stored somewhere, so it obviously makes sense.
Customer Support - At first I couldn’t get Alexa and the Petcube to communicate, so I reached out to Support and they were fantastic! They gave me a few simple steps to try and were superb to deal with!
I treat my pets like the children I don’t have yet, and I am glad that I have this pet cam in my life.
So far we had this pet monitor for over a week and it‘s working better than advertised. We work 10 hours days so having a way to interact and watch our Boston Terrier during the day give us guilt-free piece of mind. Although not technically weatherproof, we setup our unit on our Patio BBQ where it is safe from the elements. It didn’t take our Boston Terrier long to figure out when he hears the motor ramp up, it’s time for a yummy treat (see photo) He is now obsessed with the unit. Even when we bring it inside, he sits by it waiting for a treat. He is very food-driven so Bites made for a good match versus a security monitor.
Install is very basic. Download app, pair with wifi and your live. We use regular kibble and have audio and motion alert notifications sent to our phone app via cloud storage.
It is my second product from Petcube (first one was Petcube Play, with laser & camera) and we with Coco love it even more! It is really fun to check what Coco is doing during the day and treat her with some tasty snacks. And I love its stylish and sleek design, looks really beautiful in our living room!
The quality of camera is fine for me. Whenever Coco is doing something fun I record her through Petcube app and share on Facebook or just keep private for memories :).
I didn't have any issues with set up, it is pretty straightforward and they have include quite detailed manual. Petcube Bites comes with the small pack of treats from Wellness so you could try how it works right away or you can use your own treats... if they are smaller than 1 inch they will fit.
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