Friday, March 29, 2024

WOpet DO1 treat tosser and food dispenser review

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The definition of a smart home varies from person to person. For some people it means a fully automated house with schedules, routines, and a whole array of connected devices. For others, it’s more simple.

Some are content with a few, seemingly random products that provide a bit of convenience. Items in this space that come to mind are smart speakers, door locks, and various cameras. They don’t have to be the same brand; it’s not critical that talk to each other.

The WOpet DO1 is an example of something that home owners might appreciate having on its own. However, it gets better if tied to an existing smart home, particularly one with Amazon Alexa. At least in theory.

What is the WOpet DO1?

It’s part pet feeder, part treat dispenser, and part security camera. It’s the sort of device you’d have in your home if you’re prone to spoiling your pets or like to check on them when traveling.

Sitting about ten inches tall, the DO1 is a cylindrical unit around 6-inches in diameter. The front-facing section has an HD camera with night vision, a microphone, status light, manual feeding button, and opening for dispensing treats. The right “side” has a USB port with a cable that’s about four feet long.

The bottom of the unit has four suction cups to help secure and stabilize the dispenser. Up top is a lid which can be easily removed to add more treats.

Setup

The process of taking the DO1 out of the box and getting it set up is short and sweet, and amounts to about five minutes. You’ll plug it in, install the app on your phone, and pair the dispenser to your network. We appreciated the simplicity and the ease; the app walks users through it with just a couple of steps.

Usage

Once you’ve got the feeder in place, you can immediately access the camera through your app. Indeed, we found it works well as an extra set of eyes in the home. You can’t really schedule any recording or snapshots but it’s nice to dip in for a live view.

The app gives users the option to snap photos, record video clips, and listen in or communicate with the feeder. Simply speak into your phone and your pet will immediately hear you.

The videos and pictures you record are accessible in the apps directory or your phone’s media folders and can be shared with others.

The hole for the dispenser itself is a decent size and can spit out treats about the size of a gumball (or smaller). We’ve played with a number of different snacks for our dogs and found it has a pretty strong push. Smaller items, like dog or cat food will likely drop 2-3 pieces and spit them out a few feet.

There’s a fun noise that accompanies feeding which calls to mind the sound of someone tossing something out the window in an old cartoon. We imagine that your pet will eventually learn the noise and come running to the dispenser.

The food hopper holds about one half liter, or what we figured to be a typical bag of dog or cat treats. If we were to make a recommendation here, we suggest a softer treat instead of a dry one. Why? Because the force of shooting out the treat might break more fragile snacks.

Conclusion

Priced about $150, the DO1 does not come cheaply. Then again, you’re looking at about $100 for a decent automated pet feeder. The camera capabilities and two-way communication don’t come standard with these types of products so we are somewhat forgiving.

The WOpet website doesn’t really do the brand justice. Pictures are almost universally not to scale and poorly photoshopped; some of the language is poorly translated to English or misspelled. Don’t let that discourage you, though.

We like the build quality of the DO1 treat dispenser and it comes with a fair amount of interesting features. As pet owners, it’s nice to pop in on them when we’re away just to see how things are going.

The camera is as good as any others in the price point and does a decent job of detail and color. We expected a half-baked attempt at the photo and video component and came away pleased with it. Placed near the dog bowls we can get interesting photos of our beloved animals without disturbing them.

When it comes to dispensing treats, there’s a fair amount of power behind it. We typically saw them get about 3-4 feet with the occasional one going further. Our dogs seemed to enjoy the unit and weren’t shy from the cartoon-like sound or the motorized noise.

We’ve yet to figure out how to integrate the WOpet DO1 with Amazon Alexa so that’s a little discouraging. Not so much because we want to shoot treats at our pet without lifting a finger, but because we’d like to see the camera or communicate with the dispenser. We’ll update this review if/when we better understand that component.

The WOpet is a brand we’re not all familiar with and we imagine most readers aren’t either. On the other hand, how many names do you recognize in that space? For what it’s worth, WOpet is recognized under the Amazon’s Choice for one of its other products, a traditional pet feeder.

If you’re concerned about a potential gamble, rest assured knowing there’s a one year warranty for the WOpet DO1.

Availability

You can learn more about the WOpet DO1 at the brand’s website where it’s also available for purchase. Currently priced at $150, readers can save 10% by using the discount code of LUCKY10 at checkout. This brings the price to just $134.96.

Alternatively, you can also buy the WOpet DO1 at Amazon as it’s listed at $139.95 at the time of publication.

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