We feed a stray cat that lives outside our house (refuses to live indoors, so feeder, when used is outdoors).
When we go away we like to know he is still fed without relying on neighbours, with this feeder we can still give him his food and see him when he eats. The video and picture images that come through on my phone are really clear. The motion sensor pickups really well, so much so that we have had to angle the feeder away from the road slightly to stop picking up every car that goes by. (The feeder is placed outside when needed under cover to protect from the elements)
Setup was faulty straight forward I had set my phone to 2.4g on my WiFi connection as the unit works on that. Once connection is established ( I used the QR code in the instruction book which was easy), you can then return to using 5g for your phone. Bluetooth also needs activating your phone as part of the connection process. Note that although the unit also holds 3 “d” cell batteries that these are only a backup in case of power cut and will not work the WiFi on the unit, presumably they just provide enough for the feeder to keep its feeding schedule.
It holds 4 litres of food which is more than enough for us. There is a low food warning that comes through on your phone if the hopper gets low on kibble. Inside the hopper is also a rubber cap below which is a micro memory card slot for video recording. You can do manual videos and photos direct from your phone as well. The app is very easy to use after a bit of s play with it. I found setting the feeding schedule very easy. There are various notification options and whilst the instruction book does not cover these it is easy enough to play around with the options to see what they do. If in doubt get a teenager to help you!🙂
The adapter power lead is a good length and we can plug in on a worktop and easily reach the floor.
Night vision allows 24 hour viewing.
There is also options to “talk” to your cat directly from the as well as prerecording messages that play automatically at feeding times. The microphone pick is very good ( we can hear conversations on the front of our property!)
As you can see from the images there is more than one cat using the feeder. We thought we had one stay but we now know there are 3 neighbours cats visiting to check if our stay has left anything! It also shows us anyone at our door, similar to one of those video door bells but not so obvious! And of course we can converse with callers using the microphone function the app.
The unit comes apart very easily for cleaning
There is a little compartment the hopper lid to place a sachet of silica gel to keep the food dry, this will need to be changed regularly.
I will point out that we use it outdoors for a couple of days at a time but there is nothing in the instructions to say it is suitable for outside use so do so at your own risk. Like I say I have mine under cover where it cannot get wet or splashed and the plug is connected inside the house.
All in all this is a big thumbs up from me. We had the makers non wifi or camera feeder before this one which did its job well enough but so much nicer to see who is using the feeder and in my view this is a lot easier to program.