We bought the pet cube Play 2 so that our expert reviewer could thoroughly test and evaluate it. Read our full product review.
Making the most of the time you spend with your pets is a major concern for pet owners. Going to work also has its own needs, such as dealing with your pet’s food, water and well-being. Play 2 is made for those pet owners who can’t look away all day. The improved field of view and the recently added Alexa function make the amazing quality pet camera even better.
Design: The small device can be integrated anywhere
Play 2 has a sleek design that blends in with the rest of your home electronics. The reflective black plastic on the front hides fingerprints quite well, but the matte black plastic on the top gets stained easily. Unless someone gets close enough to read the word “Pet cube,” they’ll never know this little camera is marking you as pet-obsessed. Thanks to the Play 2’s large field of view and small size, it fits almost anywhere without being obtrusive.
Installation process: App-guided installation takes a few minutes
Pet cube Play 2 is so easy to install that it doesn’t even come with an instruction manual. The Pet cube app asks you to create an account and profiles for your pets, which can include their names, photos, and dates of birth if you know them. The app guides you through pairing Play 2 and your phone and establishing a Wi-Fi connection. The laser does not require any configuration, but can be recalibrated if necessary. Mine worked fine with the default calibration.
Video quality: Beautifully sharp image quality
I tested the Play 2 at home in the unforgiving Texas sun. The Pet cube Play 2, like its predecessor, records in 1080p. In daylight, the image quality is so good that I can see all the whiskers on the cat’s face. It’s a bit grainy at times, but there’s no better pet camera on the market. Even the wealthiest pet owners won’t pay for a camera that records in 4K resolution. Pets don’t do much at night, but with the laser I managed to get my pet to cooperate to test automatic night vision.
Performance: excellent performance in all areas
After all, no one chooses a pet camera just for the video quality. Fun videos are cute, but if they’re not encouraged, your pets probably won’t do anything more interesting than sleep or bark at the neighbors.
Pet cube’s Play 2 has an interactive laser for that purpose. When I tested it, I was lucky that my cat was already sleeping on the couch. I made a small noise to get his attention and then activated the laser. The laser moves across the floor in a jagged line, a non-gradient transition, but it didn’t seem to bother him at all. The Pet cube Play 2 can automatically start the laser to play with your pets to keep them entertained while you are away. After testing in several locations around my house, the only problem I had with the laser was when I tested it at a very large window. A Class 2 laser is not as powerful as a handheld laser pointer and thus cannot compete with daylight. This is an important safety consideration so that the laser will not damage your eyes or your pet’s eyes when operated automatically. As long as the laser shone in an area about 5 meters from the window, my pets could see it without any problem.
The Play 2 has added Alexa compatibility to its list of features, making it the first Alexa device to ever have it. I immediately started thinking about how to use Alexa specifically for pets and finally found it. I told Alexa to read an audiobook after I locked myself in the spare room for work. Normally my dog, an overprotective German shepherd, spends half the day barking at every closed car door, the neighbor’s dog and strangers as they pass the house.
Thanks to the white noise from the audiobook, he wasn’t bothered by all the unexpected sounds and slept peacefully for hours. Although the audio quality was a bit poor when I was using two-way audio to talk to my pets, it was all about the latency. The music was beautifully clear on Play 2. It’s definitely good enough to remain the only Alexa device in my house, and the pet cube skill in the Alexa app gives you access to new commands like.
Instead of relying on the likelihood that you’re pet is in the same room as the device, the Play 2 beeps when you watch your pets with the app. If that’s not enough to get attention, two-way audio should be. Whether or not they recognized my voice, both animals were curious enough to come and check out Play 2 when I called them. After a few plays, my pets would approach the device every time it rang.
App Support: Subscribers get nice benefits
When buying a rather expensive pet camera, no one wants to feel like they have to pay an extra monthly fee. Pet cube offers subscribers a lot of extra features to make the cost worthwhile. Subscriptions start at $ 3.99 per month and include bonuses like notifications, video history, auto save clips, and video downloads. At $ 8.25 per month, the plan covers an unlimited number of cameras and extends each device’s warranty to two years. Various services such as pet DNA kits, Wag! And Ollie box also offers discounts to subscribers. Offering the basic features of your pet camera to free users, but loading subscribers with so many extras is a good way to balance the needs of both.
Price: a syringe you won’t regret
However I look at it, the pet cube Play 2 is a blast. There are more expensive pet cameras on the market, but not many. If you just want a video camera to see your pet and make sure no one breaks, a security camera can do it for a lot less. You can add an automatic laser toy, but you wouldn’t spend close to $ 200 anyway. Expensive or cheaper, the Play 2 is good enough to justify the price if you want a gift for your pet and get one for yourself.
Pet cube Play 2 against Pewo Life Wi-Fi Camera
Pet cube Play 2 has a lot to offer, but there is an alternative that can save you a lot of money. The Pewo Life Wi-Fi Camera, which costs around $ 150 on Amazon, has the best pet features, like a snack dispenser and laser that cats love. Keeping this option accessible had to reduce the quality somewhere, so the clips are recorded at 720p resolution and there is no night vision. Pets don’t care about picture quality at all, so Pewo is a good choice if you just want to offer those treats and playtime while at work during the day. Pay a little extra for pet cube Play 2 if you want to share clips or need night vision.
Final judgement
pet cube Play 2 is first class in terms of features and price. Thanks to the crisp and clear recording quality, you can enjoy your pet’s play time even if you can’t be there all the time.