REVIEW – I have lived in Florida almost my entire life. As with most states, we have a plethora of bird species. I have had a love/hate relationship with most of them. Cardinals – love them. Seagulls – hate them. Hummingbirds – fascinated by them. Woodpeckers – despise them. Eagles & hawks – in awe of them. See what I mean? One thing that has intrigued me about birds is nest building and raising their young. The HZVEN BH01 Birdhouse with Camera and WiFi connectivity would hopefully scratch that itch and give me a bird’s eye view of a new family in the making.
What is it?
The HZVEN BH01 Birdhouse with Camera and WiFi connectivity is a traditional wooden birdhouse with a modern technology twist. The birdhouse comes with a 3MP camera that can be used to look in on the residents of the birdhouse after they move in. Sounds creepy, but it should be fascinating to watch the nesting and hatching of birds. The camera connects to an app through your WiFi connection and allows you to see what is going on in there, as well as, receive alerts when something moves inside the birdhouse.
What’s included?
- Birdhouse
- 3MP Camera with magnetic base
- Preinstalled 32Gb memory card
- 16-foot (4.8-meters) USB-C power cord
- .5A power adapter
- Hardware for mounting
- Instructions
Tech specs
Click to expand
- Dimensions: 6.9 x 8.4 x 12.8 inches (17.5 x 21 x 32.5 cm)
- Material: Cedar and other woods, plexiglass “windows”, metal camera mount
- Camera: 2K Resolution, 3MP sensor, and night vision
- Proximity: IR sensor
- Memory: Included 32Gb memory card. Can support up to 128Gb cards
- Connectivity: 2.4Ghz WiFi and Bluetooth
- Power: USB-C connector to .5A power adapter
- Weight: About 3.5 pounds (1.5 kg)
Design and features
The HZVEN BH01 Birdhouse with Camera is a very cute and well-built wooden birdhouse. The exterior is fully painted and protected from the elements.
The “roof” has cedar shingles and looks very nice. This roof should last many seasons. I suspect you can reapply some wood protector like Thompson’s wood sealer each year if the shingles get worn from the rain and sun.
One side of the birdhouse has a hinge and can be opened for camera installation for cleaning after a new brood has hatched and moved on. It has a simple twist latch to secure this side from being opened by unwanted intruders.
The floor of the birdhouse has small drainage gaps in the corners in case any water gets inside. This should keep the inside from rotting from moisture, and also keep the hatchlings dry when that time comes.
Each side has a small round “window” covered with plexiglass. This allows just enough light in for the residents and the mounted camera.
The HZVEN BH01 Birdhouse’s camera is a rather large outdoor camera that mounts with some very strong magnets to a steel plate inside the birdhouse. I shook the house after installing the camera and it did not move, so the magnets should be more than sufficient to hold in place for a very long time.
The camera is powered via a 16-foot (4.8 meters) USB-C cable that goes to a .5A power adapter. On the opposite side from the hinged side, there is a small hole that the power cord for the camera passes through. See the Installation & Setup section for details on configuring the camera to my home WiFi network.
The power adapter is a typical .5A adapter that comes with a myriad of devices. Since this is an outside product, I wasn’t sure if the power adapter was rated for outside usage. The instructions do not say either way.
The camera will take photos and video when motion is detected, as well as, notify you via the Tris Home app. The photos and video will be stored on the included 32Gb memory card until the card is filled up, and then older files get deleted. There is a way in the app to save these photos and videos to your phone.
In the app, I set up motion detection for the camera to notify me if any movement in the birdhouse is detected. At first, I was receiving all kinds of notifications when shadows would cross the opening in the front of the birdhouse. A few tweaks to the settings in the app fixed this and the notifications have been reduced to a manageable level.
One option from Tris Home is a cloud storage account to store videos the camera takes when it detects movement. I thought the cloud storage plan was a little expensive and did not sign up for it.
The photos and videos are very clear and do include sound. I’ve yet to have any birds move in as of the writing of this review. If and when the birdhouse receives its first occupants, I will update the review with the photos and videos the camera captures.
Installation & Setup
Installing the birdhouse was easy enough. The included hardware (anchors and screws) is great for concrete or wood walls. My home has vinyl siding and wood walls under that. I chose to just use a single outdoor 2” screw to hang the birdhouse.
The included 16-foot (metric) power cable is ample length to reach a power plug on the outside of a home, but I didn’t trust the power adapter to be used outside. I ended up drilling a hole through my wall into my garage and routed the power cord through the wall into the birdhouse.
Configuring the camera was a little tedious. After installing the mobile app, Tris Home, the setup took a lot longer than I had hoped.
The app uses Bluetooth to initially communicate with the camera and to set up the WiFi connection to my home network. Where I chose to hang the birdhouse, my WiFi router is about 35 feet away from the camera, yet the camera could not “see” my WiFi network. My phone and computer inside the garage have no issues there.
I ended up having to dig out an old WiFi router and set it up as a repeater to my router in my office. Once the camera could get a good WiFi signal, the connectivity has been pretty good.
One day, for some unknown reason, the camera lost connection to the WiFi network. I reset the camera according to the instructions, but it just would not reconnect. I had to delete the camera from the app and start over. This involved climbing up to the birdhouse, pressing the reset switch for a few seconds, and walking through the setup as I did from the start. Ever since then, the connection has been solid and reliable.
What I like about the HZVEN BH01 Birdhouse with Camera
- Very well made
- Extremely easy to hang
- Motion detection and notifications are flawless
What needs to be improved?
- WiFi Connectivity is weak and tedious
- The camera is quite large for such a small space
- The power cable connection on the back of the camera is in a bad place
Final thoughts
The HZVEN BH01 Birdhouse with Camera is a very well-made and good-looking birdhouse. The fact that it has a camera with motion detection is a very big plus. I can’t wait for the first avian residents to move in and begin their family. The photos and videos will be something to cherish with my family for a long time.
Price: $44.99
Where to buy: Amazon (Save 15% with code: 2MBN99FZ expires 8/22/2024)
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by HZVEN. HZVEN did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
