Petzi Treat Cam Review: Pet Parent and Dog Approved

 

Review of Petzi Treat Cam

Petzi Treat Cam does it the best – plain and simple. Originally crowdfunded on Indiegogo, Petzila introduced a great interactive pet camera and treat dispenser combo. In this Petzi Treat Cam review we’ll give you everything you need to know about the pet cam, and why it landed a spot on our list of best pet cams. We also interviewed Petzila’s CEO, David Clark, to get the inside scoop on the pet camera. From packaging and design to features and performance, this walk through will make your buying decision easy. Let’s get started.

Design & Unboxing

Inside the nicely-packed box you’ll find the Petzi Treat Cam, a 6 foot AC power adapter, universal mounting kit and rubber feet, quick start guide, and sample treats. The longer power adapter is excellent so you can place it up on a higher shelf while still being able to reach a power outlet. If you trust your dog to not chew it, you can even mount it on the wall (note: we opted to place it on a shelf for this review). Our first impressions were this must be easy to set up (simply plug it in and download the app), and the camera itself seems of high quality.

When holding the camera, everything feels solid and well-made. The rounded edges and flat backside allow you to mount it on the wall without having prominent areas to chew/destroy. In the middle of the device is the camera, and at the bottom you will see the speaker for sound as well as the treat dispenser.

Setup

Setting up your Petzi Treat Cam is incredibly easy. Setup is also very similar to the Pawbo Pet Camera. The basic steps include plugging in the camera, filling it with treats, downloading the app, and pairing the camera to your WiFi internet connection. We were able to set up the Petzi Treat Cam within minutes. If you encounter any issues with installation, check out Petzi’s support page for more information including this Getting Started Guide.

Features

At first glance, the Petzi camera may just look like a simple treat dispenser. However the full list of interactive features really let you see, speak, capture photos, and dispense treats to your pets. More importantly, they all perform well.

Video quality

The resolution on the Petzi video camera pulls in 30fps with a 720p HD wide angle lens. The quality of this camera outperforms that of the PetChatz Greet and Treat Camera, which does not have HD video. When using the Petzi camera, we were surprised with how well it actually looked. There was very little lag and we had the camera pretty far away from our wireless router.

Yes, the Petzi Treat Cam has night vision! The Pawbo, Petcube, and PetChatz do not have night vision on their dog cameras, so Petzi really stepped up their game with this camera. Personally, when we leave our dog home at night we also leave a light on. In this case, night vision isn’t always completely necessary. However the night vision camera still improves the quality even if you leave a small lamp or night light on.

Sound Quality

Sound quality worked surprisingly well. When you first use the camera, the voice quality and volume may be low. We simply opened the Petzi application from our smartphone and changed the volume settings.

Treat Dispenser

The Petzi treat dispenser can be accessed by removing the outer white cover, as shown below:

Once the cover is open, you will see a compartment at the top of the camera to insert treats. Toss a few treats in and place the whtie cover back on and you’re ready to go. Petzi recommends only using dry dog treats that are less than 1″ in size. Mini milk bones work great or even dry dog food. Our dog has various food allergies so being able to use your own treats (instead of a specific kind) is a huge plus.

As for the performance of Petzi’s treat dispenser, it works great (once your dog is used to the noise). Our dog can be jumpy and nervous at times, so the unexpected noises when the treat dispenser starts working made her jump. The treats also get launched a lot further than expected. If you have it up on a shelf or TV stand, they can get launched about 5 feet from the camera. Check out the video of our dog’s first reaction to Petzi, we found it hilarious (she’s much more used to it now and we use it on a regular basis).

Petzi Social Network

Another interesting and fun feature is the Petzi Social Network. While you’re in the Petzi app, you can snap a picture of your dog or cat while away from the house and share it online with other Petzi users. You can also save the photo to your mobile device and upload it to other social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Smartphone App

The Petzi app is available for both iOS (Apple App store) and Android devices. We tested using the Android app and everything worked smoothly. While in the app, you have the following controls:

• Sound effect / notification: this can be used to train your dog or cat to come to the camera when they hear the sound.
• Snap a photo: photos can be saved directly to your device or uploaded onto the social platform.
• Treat dispenser: with one tap of the button you can send treats to your pet
• Voice: click the microphone icon and your pets can hear you talk
• Settings: voice volume controls can be changed

Tech Specs & Requirements

The Petzi camera model number used in this review is PET0025-USA. The camera weighs 1lb., 14oz. and the dimensions are 8 ¾” x 5 ½” x 8 ¾”. The Petzi smartphone app works with both iOS (7.0 or above) and Android (4.0 or above). Since this camera uses WiFi, it also uses a secured WPA/WPA2 802.11b/g/n connection. A 1 year warranty is also included.

Bottom Line

	THE GOOD: Simple and easy to use Setup took minutes Treat dispenser Social Sharing directly from app Night vision	THE BAD: No Motion Alerts
Definitely worth it!	View Discount on Amazon