Bird Buddy reviews and discussion

I absolutely LOVE my bird buddy. I’ve already bought a second to gift to my dad, and have plans to buy more in the future. 10/10 recommend - easy to use and set up, and the BEST notifications during your workday.

I am one of the early adopters of the Bird Buddy. While it was a while before I received the device, it was well worth the wait. I have experience thrilling views of my birds via the videos and photos it takes. I never knew that birds have tongues until I saw them in the close ups from the bird buddy! When I first got the device, there were quite a few quirks in the software, but many of the issues are now fixed and it is shaping up to be a great product. The developers are clearly dedicated to giving the end user a great experience and spend a lot of time listening and then creating upgrades that the user wants.

We were early kickstarter users. While the initial rollout was troublesome, my feeder is up and running and so much fun.

I'm obsessed with my Bird Buddy and have only great things to say about it! It works exactly the way it should, communication from the development team about updates and firmware are steady, and it's truly so much fun. My family loves it when a new species is identified at our feeder. We've even named a few of our "regulars" and look forward to seeing them every day.

What an experience! Started way off at the beginning when they were still in the testing face. The battery for the camera barely lasted a day. But the company kept on sending updates and explaining what they are working on. Battery life improved, birds kept coming and the AI was getting better and better! Thank you BirdBuddy, still enjoy my birds every day and get wait for the next fase and next new products. Highly recommend if you like your birds!

I was a backer and received my BirdBuddy in 2022. In fact I ordered a second one which I subsequently gave to my daughter last Christmas. It was so easy to set up. My daughter and I can see both feeders and share bird photos and videos. I have never had an issue with the App or the unit. Everything worked as was advertised and has continued to do so. Updates have always improved some aspect or the other. I attached a non-BirdBuddy solar charger, so I cannot make a comment on the BirdBuddy solar charger.

Was given this as a gift. Postcards (pictures) work sporadically. I have reached out to them, but their response is unsatisfactory in solving the problem.

Overall, just awful. If it worked consistently, it would be great. But it doesn't work consistently at all. At all. After a few months, it stopped working completely. There is no support "chat" you can use. No place to call. You have to create a ticket. I got a response that they were trying to increase their staff to respond to tickets but THAT IT WOULD BE OVER 7 DAYS FOR SOMEONE TO RESPOND. So then I go on their Facebook page to ask a question from other users about any tips to get it to work. My post was rejected and they told me TO OPEN A TICKET! I had to join a not official Bird Buddy group to get tips from other users about how to get the unit to work. I've tried what they suggested and so far no luck.

DO Not BUY! RETURN! PRODUCT AND CUSTOMER SERVICE IS TERRIBLE! Never was able to connect the camera to wifi. We use an Eero mesh system, which is pretty common. See response from customer support after multiple service requests and weeks of waiting on a response. Of course, we are well beyond any return window: "From our experience, Bird Buddy has trouble connecting to some mesh network setups and dual-band routers. At the moment, this still looks like we will only be able to address it comprehensively in one of the future firmware updates. Our engineers are aware of the problem and are working on a solution." So basically we are stuck with a cheap plastic bird feeder that cost $200+. Even if they one day fix the software, we would first have to connect the camera to the wifi to get the software update. But wait, the software in the camera is not compatible with our wifi, so how will we ever be able to connect to get the update??? I guess we can take it to someone else's house and connect there and then update the software, then remove the app and go home and do it all over again... BUT that is some time in the unknown future that they actually create software that works. And how will I know when that is??? DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY!

I ordered Bird Buddy as a Christmas gift. Was very excited when it arrived, as I know many reviewers had to wait a year to receive the unit. To state plainly - IT DOES NOT WORK. It was an expensive nothing. The customer support is nonexistent, and the fact that it sat under my Christmas tree means I missed the refund window. Does not work with mesh networks like eero either. To summarize…DO NOT BUY THIS Product, it is still in development and not ready for the real world.

Fun product, terrible customer service

Great idea but 100 percent Bird Buddy did not live up to the expectations. 1st thing, it took over a year to ship. I literally forgot about it. 2nd, it took so ridiculously long to connect the camera to their app which is unacceptable and "amateur hour." 3rd, after having the Bird Buddy installed in my backyard fence for only 3 days, the only visitors I had were squirrels and not one single bird came by to enjoy a meal. Not to mention on the 3rd day, a squirrel easily was able to open the little back door thing where you put the feeder in and actually bit the USBC connection that powers the camera to the solar roof. I came outside to find the camera on the ground & the chord chewed up and completely severed... Lastly, their incompetent customer service notified me that my situation is not covered in their "warranty" so I couldn't get my money back... Bright side is at least the squirrels in my neighborhood are thriving.

I adore my bird buddy! Its a really fun new activity and it makes me and my kids spend more time in the backyard now. They are really enjoying this experience as well. I really like the fact that they keep going with new updates, so i am very excited for what is going to happen in the future and they have my full support. Thank you for such a lovely product and for inspiring people to get closer with nature and birdwatching! I feel like we all need a hobby like this, so refreshing. 😊

My feeder lost Bluetooth because of a dead battery. To get it back I had to delete the app. (Log out before doing this). Then I did a factory reset on the camera. Direction are on their website. Basically hold the button on the camera down and wait for the red blinking light to quit blinking. Fully charge the camera. I didn’t get a green light but just left it charging for 2 hours. Reinstall the app on your phone and log in using your email and pass word. Find the page for adding the feeder and then pair the feeder. Follow all onscreen instructions. Make sure you unplug the charger while pairing. Reinstall camera into the feeder and you should be all set. When I installed the app it had an update and seems to be a little more friendly to use. For some reason it would not pair until I uninstalled and reinstalled the app. I hope this helps you peeps that are having trouble getting it to repair.

Ordered on Kickstarter and it literally took years to come... It has now arrived and it is a plastic piece of nothing. It always disconnects or sleeps so if birds land on it they are never picked up and there photo is never taken. The software is severy lacking especially for the price.

Camera cannot be paired. Camera will not be taken back. Bad support. Many e-mails. No accommodation. Bad software.

the Bird Buddy App is abysmal. If they spent 1/10th of the time they spend on annoying graphics - on creating a decent functioning app- there would be something here to enjoy- so far its s $400 mistake.

Ordered January 2022, over a year ago. Still not had a shipping date. Various emails promising lots and offering excuses but nothing other than being down over $300 for the feeder and accessories.

After waiting a year to receive my unit, I’ve had nothing but a series of disappointments. The unit is difficult to set up. Battery life is very short. The instructions and FAQ are limited. Customer support is only by email and entails long weeks. I would never advise somebody to purchase.

A nightmare product. Literally the major part of days trying to get this to work. It was the gift from hell at Christmas. Initally I was able to set it up and pair Bird Buddy to my Bluetooth device (Android phone) but it took a couple of tries. I tested the live feed and worked fine. The app indicated "ready for birds" however I did not plan to set it up outside for several weeks. Did not take long for the battery to drain down to zero maybe 3 to 4 days and when I checked it again the app indicated "offline". I surmised once the battery drains it loses it's connection. Once it indicates " offline " forget getting it back online. For me after doing all their suggested fixes the only thing that worked was removing the camera from the app, deleting the Buddy device in Bluetooth settings, doing a factory reset of the camera, then logging out and back in, then setting the camera back up in the app to get it to pair with Bluetooth. Most recently January 26 I discovered that after 2 day it went from 100% charge to zero and again showing "offline" status ---- charging it back to 100% does nothing to restore "ready for birds" which is an indication of being online and connected and nothing short of what I described earlier will restore the connection. To make matters worse this time after following the camera setup and doing so correctly the app tells me "ready to receive birds". I then went to test the camera "live feed" and every time it would generate a message that said " Yikes something went wrong --- camera disconnected." Also sometimes it would give a message saying it was busy generating postcards and it will not allow access to the live feed when doing this. The trouble is I never received any post cards and the the live feed still does not work. I am convinced there is a problem with the product or the app or both. Tried to contact customer support and was given a link to a form to fill out that wanted the serial number from the camera (get your magnifier out) and the invoice # which i don't have as it was a gift. Honestly this has been one of the most frustrating products to set up and use. Some may have no issues but many are having major issues. My advice do not buy this until you read reviews from as many sources as you can that indicate overwhelming positive experience.