Ever wondered about the secret life of your pets – what shenanigans ensue while you’re away? While we are sure your pets’ antics are not going to be as comedically disastrous as the animated film, wily animals will always find a way to cause a ruckus.
View this project by Zenith Arc
Before you come home to find your sofa or shoes becoming the next chew toy or scratching post, it’s time to look into pet cameras! But which one works best? We got Serene, fellow homeowner and proud pet owner, to put two to the test.
Pawbo vs. SmartPaw: Which works best?
First, a quick run-down of the features and their price points:
Pawbo
• Two-way Talk: Hear and speak with your pets
• Multiple Users: Share with up to 8 users online simultaneously
• 130 wide angle: Captures every single moment in 720 HD
• Instant Sharing: Capture moments and share pictures instantly on social media
• Laser Pointer: Entertain your pet manually or set on automatic when away
• Treat Dispenser: With multiple ringtone notifications, built-in storage tray and treat help train pets to respond and encourage good behaviour
• Price: $299.60
SmartPaw
• Two-way Talk: Hear and speak with your pets
• Multiple Users: Share with up to 5 users online simultaneously
• 110 wide angle: Complete with the ability to pan-tilt horizontally (355 degrees) and vertically (90 degrees)
• Dual Storage: Supports both cloud storage and micro SD
• Monitor in the Dark: Equipped with night vision and smart IR-cut filter
• Auto Tracking: Track your pet’s movement
• Price: $69.90
Both cameras come with one year warranty.
1. Set Up
Here’s how the two cameras fared when Serene installed them:
| Product | Pawbo | SmartPaw |
| Connectivity | Relatively easy as set up is similar to other cameras in the market. | Wi-Fi network required manual input, instead of the usual auto-detection. |
| Placement | Placed on the furthest corner of the room to capture the widest angle and to enable the snack dispenser. | Due to the wide-angled lens it was placed on the floor. |
| App set up | User-friendly but tougher to navigate – icons were used in place of individual functions. | App has a notification prompt to signal sound or motion detected by the camera. |
| App Performance | Slow and closes automatically at times. | More stable and practical but has frequent pop-up advertisements for video recording cloud services. |
SmartPaw Set Up
2. Two-way talk
Pawbo
Serene (S): The sound quality is slightly muffled. Unfortunately, the further I am from the camera, the more the app lags, prompting it to shut down automatically at times. One other thing of note: the “press to speak” button doesn’t always work.
SmartPaw
S: Though the sound quality is almost similar to the Pawbo camera, SmartPaw's talk function in the app is more stable, less laggy and more sensitive. The pets could hear me even when I'm outdoors conducting the test! However, when I try to record their response on the app, I’m unable to hear myself over the camera speaker.
3. Multiple Best Friends Function
Pawbo
S: Though it seems to have good security, I can’t deny that it was a very frustrating process. Pawbo’s camera required a password for new users to access it but it wasn’t provided, which is why I think I didn't manage to test this feature completely.
SmartPaw
S: I used another phone to test this out. All I really needed was to install the app on the borrowed phone and key in the same login details. It’s really easy to navigate even with 2 others connected to the camera!
4. Special Features
Pawbo
S: The in-app sharing functions worked like a dream – sharing my videos on social media was easy and it’s definitely a plus point since SmartPaw only has screenshots and recording functions that have to be shared manually.
Louie's reaction to the laser pointer
Although there’s the laser pointer (a feature missing from the SmartPaw camera), buttons to activate it only works on occasion. My dogs showed little to no interest in it too but that could just be a dog thing [laughs].
Kimmi's reaction to the laser pointer
Unfortunately, the treat dispenser was faulty and didn’t work. I wrote in to the Pawbo customer service but didn’t manage to receive much help on their end.
SmartPaw
S: I didn’t manage to try out the free 1-month Amazon Cloud Storage seeing as I didn’t use any storage function but it’s a definite perk since the Pawbo Pet camera doesn't have this feature.
I managed to monitor my dogs through the night too thanks to the night vision function. It was reasonably visible but it wasn't something I really needed as I leave some of the lights on.
The 110 wide angle captured most of my room which is great since I can keep an eye on both my dogs. SmartPaw’s camera was also able to detect both sound and motion of my pets. Don’t place it close to rotating fans though – the camera will only detect that instead of your pets’ movements.
Overall...
S: The SmartPaw camera is better value for money since it’s more functional. Though Pawbo has some interesting features, its performance falls below expectations.
Pawbo
| Pros | Cons |
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SmartPaw
| Pros | Cons |
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Need smart pet accessories to go with your new pet camera? Check out SmartPaw's extensive range!
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