Has your dog been dealing with some separation anxiety whenever you’re apart? Well, the product that I’m going to be reviewing today can probably help you with that. The Furbo is a great pet camera that has several features to help your dog (and you) deal better with being away from each other. You can even feed your dog treats with a swipe on the accompanying app, from wherever you are! Hopefully our Furbo pet cam review will take you closer to getting one of these for your home.

Let’s first take a look at what comes in the packaging.

Unpacking

Once you open the packaging, you’ll see four different items inside. First up is the dog camera itself and you may note that it has a little storage space for storing treats that you might want to feed your dog. The camera may seem a little small at first and you might wonder how it would stand up against your rambunctious pup, but not to worry as Furbo has been specially developed to withstand practically any dog of all sizes and energy levels. A fixed 3M double sided tape is available on the Furbo’s bottom to help you keep it secure. There’s also a tripod mounting socket available if you’d rather use that.

Next up is a 2m (7ft) USB cable and a power adaptor to plug it into a power source. Both 110v and 220v are supported, so that’s not going to be a problem. The Furbo does not need any batteries either.

Lastly, you’ll find the Quick Startup Guide to guide you in setting up the Furbo for your pet. It’s pretty informative and the instructions are clear enough to guide you through. It didn’t take me long at all to get everything set up.

Setting Up

Setting up the Furbo is actually quite easy and it can be done in three easy steps! Of course, you have the start guide to guide you through it, but I’ll tell you how it all works in a nutshell. First, you plug in the Furbo’s USB cord to a power outlet using the power adapter. After that, you just have to download the (free) app, which is available for both Android and iOS users. The last step is to connect the Furbo to your home’s Wi-Fi, and this is best done with the Furbo located near your router so that errors can be avoided while setting up.

The signal light has several different colors to tell you its status:

• White: Connected to a power source for the first time Green: During initial setup
• Purple: Furbo cannot or is not connected to the Wi-Fi
• Yellow: Connected to the Wi-Fi
• Blue: When you’re logged on to the app

It’s actually pretty nifty as your dog can discern the colors yellow and blue. This way, they will learn to associate the changing of the light color as a signal of when they can communicate with you on Furbo.

Video Quality

I love the Furbo’s video features. It’s a 120° wide angle camera that provides you ample coverage so that you can see your dog when they’re near the Furbo or even when they are standing quite some distance from it. Featuring 720p HD display, it’s really clear and you won’t miss any detail. You can opt for a lower quality video at 320p HD to save on internet data too. You can even zoom in up to 4x and it even has a night vision feature so you can watch your dog get settled for a nap in the dark.

Audio Quality

It has a two-way audio so that you can talk to your dog to help it calm down when it’s having a separation anxiety episode. The Furbo can also detect when your dog is barking and alerts you via phone notification (you can turn off these notifications if your dog’s an incessant barker). You can use the microphone to catch your dog’s attention and call it over to the Furbo (luring it in with a treat won’t hurt either) when it’s time to check in on how it’s doing.

That being said, the audio quality of the Furbo is decent at best. At the very least it can help provide your dog with some comfort when it hears your voice on the line.

Treat Tossing

We loved the treat tossing feature. It worked seamlessly every time, and we think it’s because we used smaller than average treats. It sometimes shot out two or three at a time, but our dogs loved scurrying around the room looking for all the treats.

Image credit: Furbo

How Did Other Reviewers Find It?

Furbo has its own fair share of both positive and negative reviews online. Most of the users love the convenience that it provides, being able to connect with their pets even when they’re away from home. There are a lot of stellar reviews for the product’s customer service, as they have helped many a user who’ve had troubles connecting the camera with their devices.

However, Furbo has also received some minor negative reviews, mainly on the unpredictability of the treat dispenser (sometimes it dispenses, sometimes it doesn’t and the number of treats that are released can vary in number). Some customers also mention the poor Wi-Fi connectivity of the camera but to be fair, Wi-Fi connectivity can simply be more reflective of the user’s internet connection rather than the Furbo’s issue. Those people sometimes found that even when the Furbo was practically in front of their Wi-Fi routers, it still disconnected.Read the reviews on Amazon

How Does The App Square Up?

What’s wonderful about the app is that you can get notifications for when your dog is upset and barking. You can immediately connect to the Furbo to calm your dog down when this happens, maybe even toss it a treat while you’re at it. The treat dispensing feature can be activated with just a simple swipe on the app, so it will be like you’re actually tossing the treats to your dog. The design of it is rather creative and adorable in this way!

Two users using the same account can also connect to the Furbo and see how their dogs are doing at any given time. In this way, family members can all experience being digitally connected with their dogs. You can even take photos and videos to share with friends and family, easily showcasing what your pets are up to when you’re not at home.

Do We Think It’s A Worthy Investment?

Definitely. While it has gotten some mixed reviews, the good ones still way outnumber the bad ones. This is a handy device to have at home especially when you’re going to be traveling and leaving your pets while you’re away. Or, you can use it day to day when you’re at the office and you miss your dog. Or perhaps you simply want to see what your inquisitive dog is up to when you’re not around.

The smart technology even tells you when your dog might need you with the barking notifications which I think it very useful. This is a really valuable investment as you can remain connected with your pet despite not being at home, and at the end of the day, it’s extremely beneficial for both of you.

What We Loved

• Night vision! You get to see your dog in the dark and even watch it deep in sleep
• You and your dog are both comforted by each other’s presence even from a distance
• Love the video quality – it’s very clear
• The app is very convenient to use
• The Facebook community shows a very lively and devoted group of Furbo lovers
• Barking alerts. When there’s a noise in the house you get a notification. There’s even a story in the Facebook group of a lady’s dog being saved from a fire!

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What We Didn’t Dig As Much

• Connecting can pose quite a problem, and it’s a pretty common complaint among other users
• The treat dispensing mechanism can a little unreliable at times, as mentioned by other users – You can overcome this by using the correct sized treats. Small ones work best
• The audio quality is a bit low. While your dog can hear your voice, it probably won’t understand what you’re actually saying to them over the microphone. It can be a little muffled that way.

Overall, if you treasure the security of feeling close to your dog or wanting to monitor your dog from a distance, the Furbo will prove to be a great investment. In fact, I often find myself wishing I found it earlier! I’m most impressed with its video quality and certainly find the app very user-friendly and helpful in connecting me with my dog. So what did you think of our Furbo pet cam review? Will you purchase one? Let us know in the comments or check out the reviews below.Read the reviews on Amazon