PetcubeReviews of petcube.com

I have a petcube bites, which I've had for about 3.5 years now. The actual camera captures a wide field of view, works extremely well in the dark, and the motion detection is quite responsive. The treat dispensing is poor, as sometimes the treat gets stuck, it makes a noise that can scare a dog, and the precision of the dispenser leaves a lot to be desired. Anyone crating their dog might get 1/3 of the treats into the cage. The biggest drawback to the product is the software. I have set this up in four different locations, and not once has the process been simple. It often involves multiple device resets and deleting the camera from my profile and re-adding. I have contacted petcube's tech support for help connecting on two of these occasions, including the most recent set-up. During this recent set-up, tech support had to delete the camera on their end before I could connect, even though I had removed the camera on my end. In addition, when I view my dog with the camera and disconnect, the camera in the app almost always shows as offline, and I have to go into camera settings to trigger it to show online again--not a dealbreaker but annoying. I found I would often lose connection after watching for a minute or so, and then wanting to go back and reconnect to watch again would require the short, but inconvenient workaround. Finally, the updates seem to come on suddenly with no warning and even on a strong internet connection can take a very long time to apply, all the while you cannot use the camera. If you are away, you only find out the camera is updating when you go to check on your pet and the camera is unavailable. All in all, I would recommend the camera, but would advise to check and see if they've improved the treat dispenser in the new iteration, if treat dispensing is a strong consideration for you. If treat dispensing is not important, I'd probably recommend a different version than the bites, assuming the camera functionality is the same across the models. The software experience has been bad for me, but tech support is good and responsive, so if you budget for a frustrating hour setting up the device, for the most part, you'll be smooth sailing afterwards.

I ordered the Petcube Lite subscription deal where you get the camera for free but agree to a 1 year subscription. I had been using a Canary camera with a treat and train on my dog until I saw Petcube and Furbo advertisements. I really wanted the ability to dispense treats remotely and the Treat and Train only gives you the option to dispense treats at set time periods. I got the camera really fast and signed up for the subscription. PROS: 1. Camera picture is really clear and has night mode. Less blurry than my Canary and more responsive. Almost too responsive. 2. Shipping was really fast 3. The camera is super easy to set up and connect to Wifi. 4. Easy to move the camera around the house or to alternate locations 2. The subscription deal is a great way to try out the camera at a budget price. CONS: 1. The camera lens is on the bottom of the unit so unless it's placed on the edge of the the table, you see a lot of table in the shot. You can't flip it over or put it on it's side due to the treat dispenser. 2. The treat dispenser doesn't dispense consistently. I would say it get stuck and fails about 25% of the time. I bought the treats that were recommended for the device by Petcube and it still isn't consistent. 3. If you crate your dog, the treat dispenser will be fairly useless. I tried positioning it in many different ways around the crate but the dispensing isn't consistent and often the treat would miss the crate or fly past it. I fixed this issue by putting a tube over the dispensing hole with molding puddy and it worked great to direct the treat into the crate. The camera has to be right up on the crate though but I can usually see most of the crate. 4. The app is a little confusing and some things don't work. For instance, you are supposed to have an ability to time some dispensing but it doesn't seem to be happening. I also tried to invite users (my partner and some dog sitters) from the app and they never got the invite. So I had to just email them separately and ask them to download the app. 5. The Wifi connection isn't awesome. It's in the same room as my router and I have fiber so the speed shouldn't be the issue and all my other Wifi devices work fine. I find it goes offline easily- though i can usually get it to connect at some point. I will admit, I had this same issue with my Canary camera so not sure if that technology is still not great or if cameras are just incompatible with my router...

The Petcube, as a camera does what it needs to do well, the app however is pretty bad. It continues to redirect you to the browser which is full of pop up deals and is difficult to navigate when you need to take action on an app notification (new firmware). The setup process for the camera (via the app) is intuitive but it can fail and not provide a clear answer why to which you need to power cycle and disconnect/reconnect. If the app was more clear and easier to use, i would raise the stars to 4 or 5

*RATING HAS BEEN UPDATED FROM 1 TO 3 STARS* Petcube sent me a new camera following my negative review. Don't anticipate the same issue to happen again with new device. Original: Received a camera that has had intermittent connectivity issues from the beginning. Repeat lengthy instructions to “fix” the issue would fix it for a while until the unit finally stopped connecting altogether. When I explained this they again blamed my WiFi connection which is fine for all other wireless devices and cameras in my house. Weren’t interested in sending me a replacement so I finally just threw it in the trash and bought a competitor brand camera which has worked great from day one in the exact same spot.

UPDATE: Customer service has been very responsive via email. My cameras is now back online but I still have problems with it. It doesn't capture all of the movement and it shuts off on it's own (while I think it's recording). It's still ridiculous troubleshooting via email instructions. The reps are very polite though. If it weren't for them (Marina and Chad), I would have rated "Bad". My camera stopped working and customer service is only available by email which takes at least 36 hours to get a response. When Chad responded to my first email, I replied immediately and of course no response back, yet and it's been almost 24 hours again. I begged for someone to call me while I'm at home to troubleshoot but of course no call or response. If they do respond today via email, it will be a waste of time bcus I don't carry my camera to work! The audio also sucks too, the static sound scares my pets. The camera I purchased on amazon for $35 is much, much better.

I think it is strange there is no Power Button. A button would be preferred to just unplugging the device in order to take it offline. Also, the sound quality could be improved.

We just received this camera and the biggest pro for this item is the set up. The set up does not take long at all. Plug in the cube, download the app and connect! The camera has a fish eye lense that provides a wide area of view. The quality of the video is not as sharp as other cameras such as the Nest but good enough to view your fur baby. The camera is compact which provides ease of storage when you don’t need it. You can also leave it out and it isn’t an eye sore. Based on further use of the camera, the video connection takes a long time and the sound is poor quality.

Product was easy to set up. Unfortunately the video has been glitchy. Much more than expected since the product is pretty expensive. The actual product is very nice feeling and looking; however, what you get for the price for the video quality doesn't match. We wanted to love the product and give it 5 stars but the quality of the video and how glitchy it is makes it hard to do so.