Bird enthusiasts now have a much cheaper way to spy on local wildlife. The company behind the popular smart feeders has just released a trio of new devices, highlighted by the $100 Birdbuddy Nook. This marks the lowest price point the company has ever offered for its hardware, undercutting the outgoing $339 Birdbuddy Pro Solar that these new gadgets officially replace.
Alongside the base Nook, buyers can pick up a $160 solar-roofed version of the Nook or opt for the larger $220 Birdbuddy Home model. The Home design accommodates bigger birds with a more open perch layout and a six-cup seed capacity, a noticeable bump from the older Pro's 3.8 cups. All three units feature upgraded 2K HDR cameras with a wider 135-degree field of view, replacing the previous 122-degree optics, and introduce manual support for both portrait and landscape viewing modes.
Under the hood, connectivity and performance have also shifted. The Home model adds support for faster 5GHz Wi-Fi alongside standard 2.4GHz connections, offering quicker phone pairing and faster wake-up times. Meanwhile, the budget-friendly Nook sticks exclusively to 2.4GHz Wi-Fi and matches the smaller 3.8-cup seed capacity. Both hardware tiers include free manual AI bird identification for over 11,000 species, while an optional $70 annual premium subscription unlocks automated recognition, custom naming, and unlimited AI-driven bird facts.
Despite the steep price drops and optical upgrades, the redesign introduces a few compromises. Users must now detach and bring indoors the entire feeder unit to recharge the battery, as the camera module is no longer removable. Reviewers have also noted that vertical video crops are slightly narrower and less vibrant than past generations, though manually rotating the camera into landscape mode unlocks a much wider horizontal frame than the older Pro ever allowed.
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