EBO SE 2 FamilyBot Review: A Rolling Pet Camera That Needs Bare Floors

A fixed pet camera answers one question: is the cat on the sofa? A rolling robot answers a harder one: where did the cat go? That is the whole pitch of the EBO SE 2, and it is the reason to look at it instead of a $35 pan-and-tilt cam.

What you are paying for

The SE 2 is a small egg-shaped robot on two wheels. Enabot lists a 2K camera, night vision, two-way audio, 24/7 recording with motion alerts, and a built-in laser. A feather toy attachment and a play mode for pets come with it. The price is $159.99, down from $169.99, with a one-year warranty.

Two upgrades over the first EBO SE are worth knowing. The camera moves from 1080p to 2K, and the radio moves to Wi-Fi 6 with dual-band support. The maker claims a faster, smoother live drive from that radio. We cannot verify the percentages on the maker's page, and we would not plan around them. What matters is the stream lag that the first model was criticised for.

Driving it is the point, and the limit

The robot does not map your home and does not patrol by itself. You steer it from the app. For a cat owner that is a feature: you pick the room, roll up to the hallway, tip the laser on and watch the chase. For anyone who wanted a security camera that sweeps the house while they are out, it is the wrong tool.

An independent test of the first EBO SE found live streaming laggy when viewed away from home, and recordings that sometimes would not load. That reviewer also found the robot happier on hardwood or short carpet, and stuck on its back on a thick rug. The SE 2 is a newer machine, and we found no independent test of it yet, so treat the lag as a risk to check inside the return window.

Floors decide everything

Enabot quotes 6 mm of obstacle clearance and 9 cm of ground clearance. Six millimetres is a cable, a door track or a thin rug edge. It is not a shaggy rug, a high-pile bedroom carpet or a raised threshold. Nine centimetres of ground clearance means it can slide under many sofas and beds, which is where a cat hides, and it is also where a stuck robot is hardest to rescue.

The robot is described as self-righting, which helps after a tumble. It does not help if the rug is the problem.

Before you order, walk the route you would drive. If every room you care about has bare floor or a very low rug, the SE 2 will probably do the job. If your cat lives on a carpeted floor, a fixed camera on a shelf will serve you better and cost far less.

Laser play, with the usual cat rules

The laser is why a cat owner would pick this over a plain camera. Remote play with a laser and a feather toy is the maker's main pet feature, and it suits a cat that is bored while you are at work. The usual caution applies to any laser: end a session with a physical toy or a treat, so the cat has something to catch. That is common advice from pet behaviour writers, not a promise from the maker.

A dog owner gets less. The robot is small, and a large dog may simply push it over or chase it. We would not buy this for a dog.

What is missing

Enabot does not publish the battery capacity or run time for the SE 2 on its pages. One retailer lists the original SE at up to four hours per charge, which gives a rough idea, and the SE 2 docks itself, so you rarely hit empty. Storage details and any cloud plan are also not on the product page, which means you should read the app's terms before you buy. The first model used a swappable SD card with no subscription.

The store page also showed the robot out of stock when we looked, so check availability.

Verdict

The SE 2 is a fun and affordable robot for the right house, with the wrong house costing you $160. It does one thing a fixed camera cannot, which is move, and it pays for that with a weak climb and no automation. At 6.6 out of 10, we would recommend it to a cat owner with hard floors, who wants play as much as monitoring. Everyone else should buy a fixed camera and spend the difference on a good toy.