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SETUP
Setup was pretty easy. It is important that you have a strong wi-fi signal where you are planning to install the camera because if it has a weak signal, it will have choppy video. The app will warn you if the signal is too weak when you set the camera up. In our case, we just couldn't get a strong enough signal where we needed it, so we had to have a network line run out to the cat building and a wireless access point added. Once this was installed and working, setup went very smoothly. The free app walks you through setup and is well designed. No complaints about the setup process.
One thing that the app didn't seem to make real clear is that you will need to calibrate the laser once you have the Petcube installed and configured. This is to ensure that the laser dot tracks accurately when you are playing laser chase with the cats. The calibration process is simple...it puts laser dots on random parts of the room and you tap on your phone where you see them.
Note that unlike the Petcube Bites, this camera does NOT mount to the wall. In fact, the power cord comes out of the back and prevents it from sitting closer than an inch from the wall. If you are planning to wall mount it like we did, you will need to install a small (5"x5") shelf. Otherwise you will need to place it on a bookcase or other horizontal surface out of reach of the cat or dog.
USE
I think that most people purchase Petcubes so they can monitor their pets when they are away from home, but we wanted to use it to get more exposure for our adoptable cats. Our cat adoptions have been very slow and we have tried various ways to get more people to interact with them. What a great idea this turned out to be!
We shared our cameras to the public (again, using the free app on a phone) and right away people started using it to watch and interact with the cats. Since we installed the first Petcube, our cat adoption rates have gone way up, and most of that can be attributed to the camera. The app will alert you when someone starts playing with it (also configurable - you can set which notifications you want to receive or none at all) and we are amazed at how many people all over the world are watching and playing with our cats.
Pretty soon the cats learned the sound that the Petcube makes when someone connects (again, configurable) and jump up ready to play as soon as they hear it.
Night vision works well (see video) and is in black & white the way most night vision is.
Video is fairly smooth and sharp...plenty sharp for cell phones or tablets which is what users will be connecting with. Once it was set up, it has reliably stayed up and running. When it has been powered off on occasion, it always comes back up and back online as soon as it is plugged back in.
Mornings are reserved for cleaning at the shelter and we really didn't like the idea of people being able to connect and watch us cleaning and medicating animals, or overhearing our conversations. Luckily the app has that covered. I set a schedule that allows people to connect only after we open for the day and shuts it off at midnight so the cats won't be disturbed during the night. We also set it to not share sound so we don't have to worry about people overhearing business discussions or discussions with potential adopters when they are in the room with the camera.
WISH LIST
Although this is a great product, there are some things about the app that could be improved.
It would be nice if more than one person could watch at a time, even if only one at a time could control the laser. This would probably result in a wider audience for us. Not a concern if you are just checking up on the cats or dogs at home, but a really big deal when it is being used as a way to get animals adopted.
One big thing that I wish it had is the ability to easily share the live camera on Facebook or other social media and on our web site as an embedded video. It is possible to do a Facebook Live Feed from the camera with the iPhone app, but not with the Android one. It would be nice if there were some way to easily embed the videos automatically at regular intervals during the day since only people who install the app can see or use the camera.
Another problem we have run into with sharing our camera is that there is no way to just post a link and have it open the app or prompt to install it if it isn't. We have had to resort to posting step by step instructions for installing the app, creating an account, and finding us in the directory. When people have trouble, we end up having to provide support through Facebook comments. I'm sure a lot of people have given up because it is just too many steps to try something out.
SUMMARY
This is a great product and does everything we wanted it to do. Hopefully in the near future some changes can be made to make sharing easier, but for the price it offers a lot of functionality and for the home user, I can't think of anything that could be improved. The cats love it and people love to play with them from wherever they are. It has improved our adoption rate and gained a following from people who otherwise wouldn't have even known who we were. I recommend this product.
