Review: Eufy Pet Camera D605

I'm gonna let the cat out of the bag. Eufy advertises its Pet Camera as a dog camera, with features like Doggy Diary and bark alerts. I don't own a dog. I used it to spy on my two cats while on vacation and on nights out, luring them into view with the promise of treats. 

It detected them just fine, even if it did refer to them as dogs. If my cats could read, they wouldn't like that. I really don't know why Eufy didn't just use the catchall term pet instead of “dog” to be more inclusive, but it doesn't really matter. This is an excellent way to keep an eye on your fluffy friends when they're home alone. 

This pet camera is just as capable and easy to control as Eufy's other security cameras, any of which you can use to monitor your pets. But this one, like other specific pet cameras, has features designed for our furry friends. 

The biggest reason to spring for one of these is that they can dispense treats when you're not home. Just fill the reservoir with treats and use the app on your phone to shoot them while you're away. With Eufy's model, dispensing is more like slingshotting them across the room, so keep that in mind when choosing between the three levels of ejection intensity—I have accidentally launched them directly onto my cat's chest, though this didn't deter my food-motivated felines from sitting in front of the camera and waiting for treats.

When I pulled the Eufy Pet Camera out of the closet before I went on vacation, a few months after I first used it, my cat Huxley immediately recognized it and assumed his position in front of it. His eagerness got the best of his sister Eely-Rue too, which meant I frequently got up-close views of both my cats as they inspected the treat hole in the body of the camera.

The camera has an anti-clog design to keep treats flinging, and I didn't have any issue with them getting stuck. Eufy says you should use treats between 6 and 16 millimeters in size, and it doesn't recommend breaking apart larger treats. For cat treats, that's no issue, but if you have a larger dog who loves something like a Milk-Bone, you may need to find something smaller. 

It holds a good amount of treats—after four days away, it was only about a quarter empty. Naturally, you're only giving a few treats per day, not a full meal. The reservoir measures just over 4 inches tall, while the entire camera body sits about 9.5 inches tall. It's a big boi that won't blend as easily into your bookshelf as other cameras might.

The treat holder comes out easily and can go right in the dishwasher (insert praying hands emoji here). The lid seals tightly, so a rambunctious dog shouldn't be able to crack it open and devour them all. You'd need a really strong, determined dog to knock it over hard enough in just the right way.

Within the device settings in the Eufy Pet app, you can choose to have the camera make a squeaky toy noise before dispensing the treats, or you can record up to three of your own commands, like calling their name. This is a really cute feature, especially if you're going to be gone for more than a day, so your pet can hear your voice. Speaking of, as with most cameras, there is two-way audio if you want to dissuade them from ripping up your shoes.

The Eufy Pet Camera's 1080p sensor offers clear clips anywhere from 15 seconds to two minutes in length, and in its live view, you can manually pan side to side, 270 degrees. It has 16 gigabytes of storage built in, which I very much appreciate in a camera. I don't want to have to pay an additional monthly fee, especially for something that already costs $200.

A handful of clips were labeled as “Dog Selfies.” Most were of my cats getting close to the camera, but a few weren't of anything at all. (I suspect we have a ghost pet.) My favorite feature, however, was the daily diary notifications I got while away. These “Doggy Diaries” are one-minute-long, sped-up highlight reels of that day's antics. It was nice to see an overview while I sat in a hotel. I even got to watch them puke on the rug at super speed. What else can a cat lady ask for?

Eufy says its smart AI can alert you to your dog pooping on the floor or even licking its paws, so you can be aware of potential illnesses. I didn't get these types of alerts with my cats, even when Huxley puked. There are also barking alerts, which can help you catch a puppy in distress or maybe even thwart potential intruders.

This is a minor nitpick, but I don't like that the camera needs to be plugged in just so you can view video history when you're back home; you can see all the clips there in the app, but there's no playback until the camera is back online. I also don't love that this Eufy camera requires the Eufy Pet app (iOS, Google Play), which is different from the app required for all other Eufy devices. That means if you already use other Eufy products, you'll need to use yet another app. For a smart-home brand that sells video doorbells, baby monitors, and even smart scales, you'd think it'd make more sense to have everything in one place for a cohesive ecosystem. 

There are other pet cameras out there. We've tested and liked Furbo's Dog Camera, which is $30 less, and we also like the Petcube Bites 2 ($249). Neither have cameras that pan, though, which gives you a little more versatility with the Eufy. Then again, it's worth remembering the recent glitch that granted Eufy customers the ability to view the cameras of other users (a bug that has since been resolved).