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📂 **Category**: Gear,Gear / Buying Guides,Gear / Products / Smart Home,Buying Guide
📌 **What You’ll Learn**:
Compare our picks
Others have been tested
Photo: Molly Higgins
Enabot Rola PetPal Robot Pet Companion for $229 (without attachments): This rolling pet camera has the best intentions, but the sometimes confusing app makes the bundled pet camera/toy/feeder a bit unpredictable. Through the app, you can watch your pets on the security camera and drive the robot around, pressing buttons to do tricks and distribute treats. You can watch live camera feeds from the app, but you can also schedule recordings, which can be viewed via cloud playback, and it’s a 30-second “day in the life” collection. The robot is also supposed to detect any abnormal movement or sounds, such as barking or broken glass, and send a time-stamped smart alert to the owner while he or she is away from home. With AI-powered pet recognition, the robot can also take a photo of your pet, but the AI features were unreliable.
Photo: Molly Higgins
Petcube camera for $32: This simple and compact camera doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, but it’s a great price for being a reliable basic pet camera. Like others in the Petcube lineup, it has a 1080p HD camera, night vision, and two-way audio. It sits on a hinge and can move up and down, with the option to flip the video stream within the app if you want to place it horizontally. You’ll need the brand’s subscription sponsorship plan to get any features beyond live streaming. You can set a “motion zone” to only receive notifications in a specific area, and you can link your phone’s location to the app, so you’ll be alerted more often when you’re away. You can also share your camera feed with others so they can watch remotely and select only certain times you want to share. This camera is basic, but it has a high-quality camera and advanced extras that make it a steal at this price.
Photo: Molly Higgins
Catit Pixi Smart Mouse Camera for $75: This cutie looks like a little mouse with oversized magnetic feet that attach to a metal stand, and the mouse legs hinge so you can adjust the camera height and angle. It’s cute but expensive for what it is — the lens doesn’t move and requires a microSD card for video footage beyond live streaming (with an SD card, you can scroll through video to see what’s going on from days gone by, record live footage, and save photos and videos to your smartphone’s camera roll). Although it was difficult to pinpoint exactly what time you were looking at when reviewing footage, video streaming can be slow, and there were connection issues a few times. It’s expensive at this price point due to its (lack of) capabilities.
Photo: Molly Higgins
Closer Pets TreatView with Pet Camera for $100: This solid pet camera features HD camera, two-way communication, motion detection, built-in memory card, and one cup storage for food or treats, which can be scheduled or served randomly. The video stream was always crystal clear, although the audio was a bit slow and difficult to hear well. The treatment portions were huge, with large handfuls of food being dispensed even on the lowest setting. The dispensing beep was so annoying, my pets were afraid of it, and there was no way to silence it. Due to the placement of the food dispenser, the camera angle is low, making it difficult to see the area you wanted. This is a durable pet camera whose additional features become a liability rather than an asset.
Keeping the above criteria in mind, I looked for security cameras that had additional pet-friendly features. I set up each camera individually, noting any difficulty or issues with initial setup, Wi-Fi configuration, and speed and reliability of the camera feed. I tested each camera for at least a week (much longer) in various places around my house and thoroughly tested the additional features available on most cameras, such as scheduled feedings, food distribution, playtime, and scheduled recordings, and noted no issues. Over the course of months of testing, I went out of town several times and relied entirely on these cameras to keep an eye on my kids, I mean cats.
So, is there truly The difference between surveillance cameras and pet cameras? Kind of
Security cameras enable you to keep an eye on your home (and your pet) while you’re away, but pet cameras often have some pet-specific features, such as distributing treats or the ability to interact with your pet via two-way speaker. These cameras with special features can help relieve common problems like separation anxiety or boredom. For example, the Enabot Rola PetPal Robot Pet Companion has attachments so you can give your pet a treat remotely or engage in “playtime.”
This doesn’t mean you can’t use a security camera as a pet camera, but like any other smart home device that connects to a Wi-Fi network, there’s a chance it could be hacked and put your privacy at risk. Make sure your Wi-Fi password is strong, set up two-factor authentication using the camera app, and it’s not a bad idea to keep it turned off when you’re at home, as an extra precaution.
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