Pet cameras have become an increasingly popular way for pet owners to monitor their furry friends from afar. Two of the top options on the market are the WaggleCam and the Furbo 360° Dog Camera. Both offer HD video quality, two-way audio, treat dispensing features, motion alerts, night vision and easy connectivity. But they have some key differences when it comes to camera capabilities, smart alerts, storage options and more.
What is WaggleCam?
The WaggleCam provides 1080p HD resolution with a wide-angle 360-degree lens that gives you to monitor pets on your home. It allows real-time video streaming and two-way audio communication directly through the mobile app so you can see, hear, and even speak to pets.
The Waggle camera comes equipped with infrared night vision, motion alerts and has fun treat tossing capabilities so you can fling treats via the app to reward or entertain your pet when you're away.
What is Furbo 360° Dog Camera?
The Furbo 360° Dog Camera features a 1080p HD camera with smooth pan capabilities for full 360-degree coverage of your room with no blind spots. It also provides a 4x digital zoom feature to focus in on activity and comes with vivid color night vision for better visibility in low light versus standard black and white modes.
Like the Waggle, Furbo supports two-way audio, motion alerts and treat tossing through its app. Unique to Furbo is a proprietary Barking Sensor that can differentiate real bark sounds over just background noises for smarter notifications.
Key Differences
While fairly similar in core functionality, there are some key differences that set the Waggle and Furbo cameras apart:
- Field of View: Waggle gives a 360-degree bird's eye view, Furbo offers rotational 360-degree coverage
- Alerts: Waggle has general sound/motion detection, Furbo features custom Barking Alerts and extra alerts with subscription
- Storage: Waggle provides 24-hours or 7-days video history, Furbo's is 24-hours standard but more with subscription
- Vision: Waggle's night vision feature offers both customizable color night vision and black-and-white infrared modes, Furbo night vision renders scenes in vivid color.
- Apps: Mobile apps have slight variations in treat settings and playback functionality
- Privacy: Waggle stores recordings locally on an SD card, eliminating the need for cloud storage. This ensures your data remains private and secure. But Furbo stores recordings in the cloud, which may raise privacy concerns for some users.
In essence, Waggle delivers reliable basics for video history, alerts and treat access at an affordable cost while Furbo steps up monitoring capabilities for more discerning pet parents.
Which Pet Camera Should I Buy?
For most pet owners needing standard remote monitoring with video playback and live viewing, interactive treat dispensers, and basic motion alerts, the more budget-friendly Waggle Pet Camera does the job very well.
However, for pet owners who want next-level monitoring with smart bark alerts, emergency notifications, color night vision and longer access to cloud video recordings, the Furbo Dog Camera is a good option. The addition of Furbo's subscription service unlocks 24/7 emergency alerts for the ultimate peace of mind.
I have had both these pet cameras, and I don’t find the extra price tag of Furbo Dog Camera justifying the price difference. You will be able to access all the basic features that you want from Waggle Pet Camera and that is more than enough for an average pet owner.
Final Words
When investing in an interactive pet camera, the Waggle and Furbo models represent two excellent yet distinct choices. With customizable treat tossing, crisp HD streaming, two-way chat, effective night vision and seamless mobile connectivity with each, you can stay connected to your pets from anywhere.
Out of these two options, I recommend WaggleCam. It offers value for the amount you spend.