Vinguys Smart Bird Feeder review

Source: [Amazon.co.uk]

Truly Smart or just away with the Birds?

A Smart Bird Feeder, which dispenses bird food, and films/notifies you when birds are feeding. Allowing you to capture, save and share both video and photos.

Specs

2.5K HD Camera (Captures clear bird pictures and videos)

Colour Night Vision (See birds in colour even at night)

Bird Identification (AI identify 11000+ bird species)

Real – Time Notification (Instantly notify you of coming birds)

IP66 Waterproof (Withstands most weather conditions)

Solar Charger (Provide continuous eco-friendly energy)

Included in the box

Bird Smart Feeder, Camera, Solar Panel, Jelly Holder, Fruit forks, mounting kit and manual.

Source: [Amazon.co.uk]

Manufactured by

Tris Vision Technology based in China. They offer monitoring security software that can work with front-end devices such as robots, bullets, or intelligent devices such as doorbells and door locks.

Targeted at

Anyone with a keen interest in the birds that occupy their garden and not just reserved for serious bird watchers.

Design

The Vinguys Smart Bird Feeder is available in either a matte plastic green or blue finish. The unit I have is green, which is much preferable to the blue and blends more naturally into a garden environment. But only the birds know if this makes any difference to them! It is a shame a faux wood finish is not offered, as this would look much better outside. The Smart Bird Feeder appears very well built and is made of a hard robust plastic which indicates it will cope with the elements of garden life. It comes in a well-designed box, which not only gives lots of useful information on the product’s functionality and specs, but also has example pictures of 12 different bird species on the side, to give a small insight into its claim to be able to identify 11000+ species with its AI software.

It is easy to put together, with everything simply clicking into place. You have options to add a jelly/water container or fruit spikes to the Smart Bird Feeder (All included), depending on what types of food you want to offer your birds. Once built, the unit has a container to fill up with seeds, which surrounds the built-in camera. This gradually disperses into a feeding tray as it is consumed. Finally, there is a protruding platform for the birds to land on and peck away at their gratefully received feast.

The platform that attaches to the main unit, comes in orange and normally I would say this provides a nice contrast to a green unit, but I for one would much prefer a consistent colour across all parts. If fully green it would then blend better into the trees and foliage surrounding it. A minor gripe, but those that are particular about the synthetic products they display in their gardens, may be put off. There is a reason most non-smart bird tables are finished in wood.

The only other complaint about its design, is the USB-C charging cable that is attached to the camera to charge when required, be that by mains charging or using the included solar panel. This cable can be slightly tucked away and is not something you can see from afar or on any footage you review, but it would have looked much neater if this would have been built into the unit in a way that it was not visible. There is also no USB-C cable or plug included to attach to the device if charging from the mains. This always divides opinions between those that think we do not need more cables and plugs in the world vs. those that find it an inconvenience that this is not included. I fall into the former category.

Up and Running

Once built, it advises you to fully charge before the first use, which can take a long time, so I recommend doing this overnight. This full charge lasted for 3 weeks or so for me, but this will vary depending on how much you use the device and the settings you apply. If you have room and can put up with the eye sore of attaching the included large solar panel, this will provide a minimal maintenance way to keep your device charged and active.

Setting up the software to run the device is straight forward, and involves, as is common now, downloading an app (The Tris Home app is available via PlayStore or The App Store) and registering an account. Once you have navigated all the steps that the app guides you through, you are finally ready to install the device in your garden.

You have options to mount the device using screws or fasten to a tree for example, using the included ties, which is a less permanent solution. All this is clearly explained both in the manual and useful “how to videos” within the app. I chose to simply screw it to the front of my existing bird table, as this was the easiest installation option, provided the best height and was in an area already populated by many birds. Once fixed in place, it is sturdy and should survive any fierce winds without issue.

Performance

Once you have completed the set-up, is that effort worthwhile in how it then performs its two primary functions?

Well yes and no. As a simple feeding station for the stars of the show, it nails it, the Smart Bird Feeder is stable and secure for the many bird visits I witnessed and there is ample room for more than one bird to visit at a time, while the gradual release of food works perfectly. In that sense it has been a popular addition to our garden and if birds did reviews, I believe top marks would be awarded!

But it is the smart camera and AI software that is its USP and for which it needs to be judged. When I left it operational in the garden, patiently anticipating the first visitor, there was little activity for a day or so. Maybe the poor weather at the time played a part, or the birds were just cautious of something new. However, the following day I received the first notification of a bird present on the Smart Bird Feeder, all in recorded sharp UHD resolution on my phone, it was worth the wait. Seeing the bird feed up close on video, (Correctly identified as a garden robin on this occasion) and then being able to share that footage to other interested bird lovers was impressively done and exceeded initial expectations.

The image provided is clear, colourful and a wide shot, be it during the day or at night with integrated night vision. One thing I experienced though, which is something to bear in mind, is potential shadows which can impact visibility negatively, depending on where it is housed and the time of day. You can also alter the resolution recorded between SD, FHD and UHD.

To say that was as good as it got, would be unfair, as the weeks that followed provided many varied videos, be it of birds feeding, interacting, or purely strutting for the camera (Or that is how it seemed!) the clever software identified multiple birds, although we counted only around 5 distinct species that visited our garden, so it is impossible to evaluate the claim of being able to identify 11000+. However, over time the impressive identification software started to faulter. For example, at times showing its impressive accuracy in correctly identifying a pigeon from only the most fleeting on camera visits, only to then identify the same pigeon differently on multiple additional visits that same day.

Over time this continued to happen with other species, identifying a bluetit as a garden robin on one other occasion. While I did not expect perfection, these misidentifications happened enough to start to dilute the enjoyment after a while. As this identification function is the standout reason to buy this product, vs. using a cheaper smart outdoor camera attached to a bird table, which would provide almost all other functionality.

One improvement that would be a nice feature, would be the remote opening and closing of the food access point. This would allow those away from home a lot, to control the amount of food released, so that it lasts longer for the birds that need it. Similar to devices that do this for home pets.

Options and Settings

Within the app, it lists all the birds it has identified (Called ‘Loitering detections’) ,settings to adapt to your requirements and a detailed FAQ/Support page (With video guides and multiple contact choices, which was good to see)

Regarding the videos recorded, you have the following options:

Live feed

You can drop in and view live video of the Smart Bird Feeder, and record or capture the images, which you can then save within the app, locally on your device or share with others as you would normally. You can also choose to share remote access to the whole device, where you can control what level of access you allow.

Recorded

You can set up when to record motion, for how long and to what level of sensitivity. However, to go back and view these past events, you will need to either record to an SD card which this device supports or pay for one of the various cloud storage options. These start at £3.99 a month for 7 days’ worth of storage. Without, you can still get notified of detections but just see a static image.

The app could be a lot better, it is a bit clunky, needs more colour and lacks useful information. Some kind of dashboard showing your most frequent birds/most popular feeding times etc…would really enhance the user interface. As is, it is a bit bland, it does what it needs to and does it well but reflects the sort of UI you would expect when managing smart plugs and not birds.

It has Alexa and Google smart assistant integration, so for example you can ask an Echo show to display the Smart Bird Feeder live camera feed at any time. I was unable to assess this though, as linking the Tris skill in the Alexa app kept returning an error.

There are other products available at a comparable price point, which look better and have much more inventive apps. The Bird Buddy Pro to name one, where the app shows bird notifications in a colourful postcard format and even allows you to name your favourite birds and track their return visits. A simple function, but one that would especially be good if you are introducing children to the wonders of nature. I am sure allowing them to give birds nicknames would increase their fun and extend interest.

Conclusion

If you tailor your expectations and have an avid ongoing interest in monitoring the birds who reside in your garden, this product does a good if not perfect job of providing the visual insights you need. The build is high quality and once you become familiar with the interface and using it the best way that suits your requirements, it becomes integrated into your smart gadgets like any other.

Is it worth the RRP of £249? Definitely not and at the current best online price of £129.99 plus the cloud storage costs if you opt for that too, it is still far from a good deal. Depending on your circumstances, it may be better to just go outside and enjoy nature with your own eyes and resist another step towards a world of technology that glues us to our screens. That may be unfair, given watching nature in any way provides a positive and welcome change from less educational scrolling.

But if I were to give the last word to the birds, they would probably tweet

“Make your Perchase elsewhere”

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