Bird Buddy reviews and discussion

I gave this company funding to develop the product - the deal being you would get a unit whene it went to market. Which of course has never happened. They then went to market with discounted product - cheaper than the product funded by people like me - a supporter. I have never received my product but this company is selling them on the market - judging by reviews they get theirs. They claim to have shpped thens of thousands. Great! So dishonest to take money from people so thy can develop the product, but then never deliver.

Easy setup, good App, poor WIFI, and the biggest challenge is the battery life - 2-3 days without solar roof.

It’s been a long time in development, but if I’m being honest, this was the least painful long term project I’ve ever backed on a crowdfunding site. The team communicated well, answered questions, engaged with the community, and was honest about delays. The finished product in my opinion was worth the wait. As soon as I opened the shipping box I was greeted with a very nice looking retail box. It looks fantastic, and houses the unit very well. For me, setup was a breeze. I’m using iOS and I had no issues at all setting the feeder up, getting it connected to my wifi, and then using the app to connect to the feeder. Within a day I had gotten my first postcard showing that the feeder had a visitor! It’s getting colder where I’m at, so I’m not seeing as many birds out and about, but I look forward to seeing what it sees in the spring!

Bird Buddy is one of those unique and first of its kind product which makes it particularly hard to review as you have nothing to compare it to. What makes it even harder is that it is a connected device that will likely keep receiving updates for the foreseeable future so my current experience is likely not going to apply to people in a a few months time. I might come back and give it an updated review if I remember to do so, but for now, here are my thoughts. Overall: Bird Buddy is beautiful and well built. It feels sturdy. The accessories they offer are practical and to their job well, though the fence mount is not ideal. Most importantly, the photos it takes are GORGEOUS! I noticed another reviewer here saying that they should put a wall on either side of the tray to prevent birds from coming in from the sides but I don't think that would be a good idea as that would block out light and hurt the photos that do get through. There's something to be said about Bird Buddy being too smart for it's own good as it filters out photos it doesn't think you'll like which means that you probably get less photos than you'd want, but this is one of those things that I expect to improve with time as they get customer feedback and adjust. The AI works surprisingly well as it correctly identifies what feels like more than 90% of the images. When it fails, you can kind of understand why. I've now had my Bird Buddy for over two weeks and I have to say that patience is important with this product. More so than with probably any other smart home device (if you can call it that). Birds take time to get used to it and start visiting frequently enough for you to start getting your first photos. As mentioned, it doesn't send you all photos of all bird visits but does some artificial intelligence magic in the background to determine which ones are worth your time. It might work better for some than others. Works really well for me. But I'm the kind of person that doesn't want to get 100 notifications a day and would rather just get the good photos come through every now and again. The app: I love it! It's not perfect but it really does the job well to start. There's so much more that they could do with it though and I can't wait to see them add new things over time. My main gripe is that I can't easily swipe through images but have to go back for each image and then into the next one. But overall a solid experience. Battery life: Bird Buddy sent me an email that the device will be doing a lot of data gathering for a period and that this will temporarily negatively impact battery life. Right now it's pretty terrible to be honest. Lasts probably around 3 to 4 days depending on how many birds are visiting. Connectivity: While it's only 2.4GHz, the range is surprisingly good. Mine says that it has low signal strength where I have it placed but it works just fine. Seed capacity: Not great not terrible. I honestly thought that it would take in less but would still love to see it have a larger container. Accessories: Not knowing how I'd want to mount it I just went ahead and purchased all accessories they offered. I ended up using the wall mount as the fence mount is too flexible and can't reliably support a fully loaded Bird Buddy on the kind of railing that I have. Solar works really well when there's sun out there but mostly useless if it's overcast. Packaging: High quality and really well designed. Lends itself well as a gift as it looks so enticing. Conclusion: I have to say that for a first of it's kind product from a company that didn't exist a few years ago, Bird Buddy is surprisingly good. I give it 4 stars because it's definitely not perfect and has room for improvement but I can't help but not be excited every time I receive a notification from my Bird Buddy. What's here is already great!

Yes there was a really long delay. I get it. The company I work for saw many of the same issues. My gripe is not with the delay but with the design. I received mine a couple days ago. It is now hanging outside with the other feeders. A few birds have landed on it but due to the front flat piece, the birds prefer landing on the side edges. Unfortunately, the camera does not catch birds landing on the edge only directly in front of it. So for these past few days, I have yet to receive any postcards. It’s just a very expensive outdoor ornament. I had also purchased the fence post mount. I got it installed, but it did not feel stable when I put the bird buddy in it. It was too top heavy. That didn’t last long at all when my boyfriend tried installing it. When trying to tighten the strap around the fence, it snapped and is not longer able to be used. Again, more waste of money. *sigh* I cannot recommend this product. If you REALLY want one. I’d recommend to wait for version 2. But for now, save your money.

We ordered bird buddy via Kickstarter over 2 years ago. Time passed, essentially we forgot we even ordered it. My gripe about this unit, however, isn’t due to the massive production delay. The unit just plain doesn’t work and customer service doesn’t seem to care. We finally were notified about shipment well over 2 years after we put our money down. Christmas in October!! Sweet!! The unit arrived and the setup was pretty easy. That said, some major design flaws were readily evident. 1. The feed door is cheap and narrow. Period. It will break, and it makes it darn near impossible to fill without the proprietary fill cup. 2. The camera is positioned to prominently capture the roofline. Why you would design a unit and aim the camera to capture the roof is beyond me, but it’s an elementary level design flaw. 3. The app allows zero information apart from battery level and a wi-fi signal level (which isn’t accurate). 4. It doesn’t have a 5Ghz radio receiver. This is a massive oversight. 5. Battery life is awful. You will charge your battery at least 3 times before the birds consume your seed. 6. The post mounting bracket is a proprietary size—it doesn’t allow you to do anything other than buy their mount or cobble something together in your shop to mount it. So, back to setup. Got the camera charged (it took several hours, which is sad considering how short a charge lasts), and get it set up. Put it on our feeder stands and immediately get 2 postcards. Sweet! Then…… nothing. The camera says it is “ready for birds” and their are birds ALL OVER IT. Nothing. For two days. Cue first customer service email. The suggestion to fix my problem is “find an area with a stronger signal”. Soooo… pull the bird buddy down, move closer to house, make sure it’s fully charged, and once again, covered in birds. Interesting birds. Nothing. For two days. Continue discussion with bird buddy “signal needs to be under -50dbm”. Welllll, that’s great, but you can’t monitor that anywhere in the app. So, move the bird buddy yet closer to the house (it’s now within 20 feet of a Netgear Orbi router and still only has a “medium” signal). Customer service says “the AI algorithm decides what is interesting and decides to take a photo and make a postcard”. For the next several days we witness several birds on the feeder at once, rare birds on the feeder, birds displaying funny behavior on the feeder (hanging from the roof), and bird buddy sent only one postcard (coincidentally after resetting the unit we immediately got one postcard and then no more). So, after one week of ownership I have recharged the battery 4 times, refilled the feeder once, repositioned the feeder 3 times, witnessed hundreds of birds using the feeder, and only gotten 3 postcards. Customer service is no longer responding to requests for further troubleshooting help. We decided to spend a couple hundred dollars on a bird feeder to support a company that promised to make our bird watching more fun and interactive. All it has been is an expensive seed holder. I would avoid buying this product until they address the major design flaws, poor battery life, and awful wi-fi receiver.

To the skeptics out there - it’s not a scam. Look into kickstarter campaigns and how they work. Early kickstarters are on the ground floor by helping fund the project. Naturally with that - it’s a process. We purchased and watched the development through the lifecycle of the project. I’ve learned so much about supply chain and manufacturing and the many challenges of being an inventor. I’m proud of my support of this project but yes, it takes patience and like anything, there are joys and disappointments along the way! If you’re passionate and patient and see your $ as support to someone’s dream and as an opportunity to enjoy the experience - ups AND downs! Vs. just wanting the end product NOW, (then sure, wait a few more years once the production cycle ends) it’s been absolutely amazing. I’ll happily continue to support the Bird Buddy team as it’s been an amazing ride. If you love Shark Tank, this gives supporters an inside look at what it takes. It’s not for the weak at heart. Neither is being a business owner, entrepreneur, or inventor. This allows those of us who find a company’s vision inline with our own passion - for us, it’s BIRDS - the rest is just bonus footage with one heck of a Birds Eye view on watching an idea come to life. I’m appreciative of the wonderful communication of the Bird Buddy team who allowed US to help them in this journey. As a business student now MBA - I leaned a great deal during this journey. For what, $237 ?!?! - it’s been worth EVERY penny. The end product, which is scheduled to arrive for me next month, is just a bonus. Sorry you missed out on that experience- but find another kickstarter project that aligns with your interests and maybe you’ll get to see the magic as so many of us have had with this one. 🕊️🦅🦆🦜

I got mine in the mail today and just could not wait. The box is so clean, just what I expected.The instructions that come with the box seem pretty straightforward. I’ll set it up and report on my experience.

I don’t have mine yet, but I’ve been hearing a lot of positive feedback from the people who got theirs already. It’s making me super stoked to get mine. Come on Bird Buddy, hope I’m next in line! 🙏

Bird Buddy is legit. I don’t get why people are so upset. This is what happens with crowdfunding projects. The reason I love birdbuddy is because they’ve been transparent with their communication. Their FB group is constantly flooded with new updates, I know where we are in the process and when I’ll be receiving my very own birdbuddy. Not long now!

Y’all be smart. Buy a ring doorbell and make a birdhouse. Sure beats waiting 10 years for a overpriced item.

This like many others have said seems to be a scam. Still have not received mine either. There's MANY MANY more individuals who have not received their feeder, than those who have received it. Peter Monn surprisingly has picked up this story/scam. If you're looking to find out a bit about your purchase that you have not yet received or are considering purchasing this bird feeder, watch his vlog about it first prior to making your decision. Like another buyer has said...it's a wonderful idea! I mean who else has thought of a smart bird feeder?! It's ingenious! Hopefully we receive our products and we are ALL proven wrong! Come on 'Bird Buddy' please follow through on your offer to your current clientele before taking on new clients/customers and sales!❤️

I ordered a $262+ bird feeder on a kickstarter Mar2022 and I still haven't received it yet. I understand covid 19 (China was hit bad) and it was a big set back for everyone, but it's still ridiculous that they are still are trying to sell more orders by opening "secret stashes" of pre promised orders. 09/06/22 I sent an email to bird buddy and I was notified the next day with a shipping date of Nov 22. I hope it gets here before Christmas.

I ordered this smart bird feeder several months ago, but never received it. From all the comments I've read on Facebook, this seems to be a common issue. In fact, it's hard to find anyone who has actually received their Bird Buddy. It's a total scam; avoid at all costs!