A Look at the Samsung Pet Cam
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I’ve been working from home for so long that I actually have anxiety about leaving the house. I worry about how my pets are doing at home. Are they sleeping? Getting into the garbage? Eating through a wall? (Yes, it’s happened). Are my cats getting along okay in the enclosure? Is Fedex going to deliver a package and cause an uproar (which may result in my dog eating through said wall)?
While these may not be problems for the “average” pet owner, I know that many of my readers experience this same type of anxiety. It impacts travel arrangements, work schedules, visiting friends and relatives, and even just leaving pets with a sitter.
Samsung has addressed my anxiety (and that of millions of others of pet parents) with the Samsung Pet Cam Wifi Video Pet Monitor. Read on to learn more about the pet cam – just in time for the stressful holidays when you have to leave your pets home alone once in awhile.
The Samsung PetCam WiFi Video Pet Monitor
Here’s a look at the many features of the Samsung Pet Cam and a few videos we captured of our cats…
[note style=”5″ icon=”yes” class=”template-style”]Disclosure: We received a camera for review. This has not influenced our review – the opinions expressed above are our own. We use affiliate links where possible. Thank you for using these to help us keep our site free from cluttering ads![/note]Setup
Setup is ridiculously simple (as long as you know your router password, which I unfortunately forgot). The app is very smooth running and once you have it set up (just follow the quick start guide for the fastest and easiest step-by-step setup). Their SmartConnect feature provides automatic network configuration so you don’t have to struggle with IP addresses or other nonsense.
You can relocate the camera anywhere in the home just by unplugging it and moving it around. You will need a power source wherever you set up your camera, but it comes with a long cord to make that easy. Move it from the front door to the dog mud room, the back door or the yard. Once it’s installed on your wireless router, you’re ready to roll wherever you have a wireless signal in the house.
The app is simple to download and doesn’t utilize a lot of battery power. You can log in to one or more cameras from a very simple mobile app (Android or iTunes). We use an iPad and a Samsung S4 phone to check our cameras.
Night Vision
The night vision is phenomenal and my most favorite function… See the video for yourself. When we set it up in the outdoor enclosure, it picked up every movement (even wind) and allowed us to even identify each of our black cats, at night! This camera is great for use in low-light situations. This is an example of what happens at twilight (right before feeding time) in our enclosure:
The click you hear is when I took a picture from my phone app, which downloads to your phone and/or uploads to picassa under a private setting.
So, if you’re watching your dog at night with only a hall light on, you’ll be able to pick up details of what’s happening. Video is vibrant and the color reproduction is very accurate. You will have a solid visual up to 20 feet away even in the dark. Here is an example of our night vision of the cat enclosure.At the time this is filmed, it’s pitch black outside and we cannot even see our hands in front of our face. There is no flash or lighting on the camera, it’s all done through sensors, so you can be sure you won’t disturb the animals. This is a great option if you are trying to discover what type of wildlife is crossing through your yard at night.
Auto Detection
Your camera will switch on and notify you as soon as it detects movement. We love this feature. If you have a dog you’re worried about but you have to be at work, your phone will alert you when he moves to the doggie door. If you have a delivery at the front door, your phone will notify you. We did see a couple of times where it failed to notify, but after adjusting the sensitivity level (very simple to do on the phone app), we got everything as it happened.
Clarity
We thought the picture was great both indoor and outdoor, in light and dark situations. At one point, we couldn’t see our hand in front of our face because it was so dark out, but from my phone app, I was able to make out the individual identities of my black cats. That’s impressive, as far as I’m concerned…
Two-Way Talk
Don’t like what your dog or cat is doing? You can tell your pets to get off the couch or praise them for great behavior while you’re away from home! This is a great feature if you need to call your dogs in from outdoors or stop them from rushing the door during deliveries. It’s as though you’re right in the house with them!
Upload to YouTube or Picassa for Future Viewing
You have the option to automatically upload your video to YouTube under a Private setting, so you can check it out when you get home. Or, if anything happened while you were away, you have a record of it. You can also use this feature to share events with friends and family. It uploads in 30-second intervals which makes it nice to review. You don’t have to go through hours of viewing to see a specific event.
Locations & Multiple Cams
Changing the view is as easy as picking up the camera and changing location. If you choose to utilize multiple cams, you can assign each a name and switch between them on your phone. It’s as easy as clicking a button! You can assign each camera a name and switch between them very easily. You can run up to 10 cameras on one device (although we only tried it with one). This is a fantastic feature for larger homes or animals who need to stay separated from one another, or those with large yards. We also love the ease in setting up. I saw some reviews on Amazon that said it was difficult to set up, but I can honestly say I’ve had no problems and have relocated the camera to several locations.
No Power Drain
Normally when you set up multiple wireless devices in the home, you can begin to experience a power drain on your connection. But, since Samsung uses Peer-to-Peer technology, your video only streams when an event occurs or when you connect to the video to check on things. We also noticed that the app itself is very user-friendly and does not drain your phone or iPad. Of course, you’ll use more battery power each time you log in, but it certainly isn’t as bad of a drain as what I expected! I use more battery power with my GPS tracker function than I do with this app.
Pricing
I think the biggest benefit is affordable pricing. While cameras of this caliber can get pricey, the Pet Monitor comes in at a low $149 and includes a 12-month warranty.
Any Drawbacks?
The only complaint we have is that we can’t manually adjust the camera from the phone app. But, we found with the angle and clarity of pictures that it wasn’t necessary to adjust at all.
Conclusion
In all, we couldn’t be happier with our camera and plan on adding to our camera collection soon. This is really a fantastic tool for any household and it works with pets, kids, or sitters. It’s reliable, compact and we didn’t have a single problem using ours (other than the password debacle). We were able to get a clear connection on our phones (Samsung), our iPad and our computer system (even remotely).
[note style=”5″ type=”danger” icon=”yes” class=”template-style”]UPDATE: As of August, 2015 we have run this camera indoors and outdoors nearly 14 hours a day. It’s still working great. While it does run a bit hot, we still love the camera. [/note]
