Petcube Bites 2 Lite Review: A Cheap Treat Camera With Catches

Treat cameras sell one feeling: you are at your desk, the dog is on the sofa, and one tap sends a biscuit across the room. The Petcube Bites 2 Lite delivers that for $79.99, and the price is the whole case for it. The rest of this review is about what that price leaves out, starting with a correction to how it gets pitched.

The Alexa question first

Buyers often assume any Bites camera doubles as an Alexa speaker. The standard Bites 2 does. The Lite does not. Petcube's own page and the reviewers we read agree: Alexa is not built in, and the Lite works with Alexa devices you already own. If you have an Echo in the living room, you can wire it up. If you wanted the camera itself to answer, you are looking at the wrong model, and the price gap between the two is exactly that feature.

Set up the Petcube account with an email login if Alexa matters. One reviewer found the other sign-in options are not offered when you link the skill.

What you get for $79.99

The camera shoots 1080p with automatic night vision, a 160 degree lens and 8x digital zoom. That wide lens matters more than the resolution. The camera is fixed, with no pan or tilt motor, so a wide view is the only way to cover a room from one spot. It is also one less part to fail.

Two-way audio runs through the Petcube app. The treat dispenser takes dry, crunchy treats an inch or smaller, ideally round, with three inserts to limit how many fly out at once. The bin holds up to 1.5 lb, detaches, and Petcube says it survives the dishwasher up to 130°F.

Size is worth noting: 5.7 x 3 x 10.6 inches, so it is tall for a shelf camera.

Where independent testers found friction

None of these is a deal breaker alone. Together they describe a device that rewards patience.

• The toss is strong. Reviewers say treats can fly across the room even on the shortest of the three distance settings, and soft or crumbly treats get squashed.

• Stability. The body is light plastic. One tester watched a retriever nose it over backwards.

• Sensor errors. Some users report the app calling a full bin empty, and one reviewer's app failed to see treats several times.

• Start-up lag. Video can take a few seconds to open, and audio sometimes turns robotic on weak connections.

• 2.4 GHz only. Petcube lists Android 7.1.2 or newer and iOS 14 or newer, and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi. A router that merges both bands into one name can make setup fiddly.

We would not put this in a home with a large, boisterous dog and a low coffee table. Mount it with the included kit instead, which is the intended answer to the tipping problem.

The subscription is where the real price sits

Live viewing is free. Everything you would want to review later is not.

On the product page, Petcube Care is $9.99 a month and adds 24/7 livestreaming, 3-day video history, Smart Alerts, 30-second clips, Daily Diary videos and a web interface. Petcube also sells a Care Bundle that pairs a camera with the plan from $5.99 a month. Check the terms before you pick one: the bundle is a different deal from buying the camera alone, and prices on a sale-heavy store change often.

Run the numbers over two years. A $79.99 camera plus the $9.99 plan is about $320. Skip the plan and you keep the price, but you lose clips, history and alerts, which is most of what a camera is for when you are not looking at it.

Who should buy it

Buy it for a cat or a small to medium dog that you want to check on and reward from work, if your Wi-Fi supports 2.4 GHz and you are happy to use live view only. Think twice for a skittish pet: reviewers describe a fairly loud mechanical toss that can startle sensitive animals.

Skip it if you need Alexa in the camera, if you want a pan-and-tilt view, or if you want weeks of recorded history without a monthly fee. Skip it for a heavy dog that treats a light plastic body as a toy.

Verdict

A fair product at a fair price, with a correction to its own pitch. We rate it 7.1: strong on the room coverage and the price of entry, held back by the Alexa gap, the Wi-Fi band and a plan that costs more than a tenth of the camera each month.