Barn Owl Cameras- AVOID

[oxn939]

Picked up a Barn owl cellular camera in November '22 to keep an eye on a hunting property. Setup was fairly easy for both the camera and solar panel. Transmitted well for a month or two. Then it died randomly. They sent me another one in April '23.

Set that one up, and things were going great for a few months... until the same thing happened. It went from a 100% battery indication to 0% in one day. Then offline for weeks. Then I manually recharged the solar panel battery. Worked for another week or two and then it died again. Then this morning, it randomly started sending pictures again with a 100% battery indication.

I asked to return it and customer support said to kick rocks. So, I've got what appears to be a paperweight, as I'm certainly not paying a subscription fee for an inoperative camera to sit on a tree with the hope it may decide to start working.

Bottom line, both Barn Owl cameras I have received were junk. Avoid unless you want a game like the one they've had me playing.

 

[ceemee63]

I would rate my experience with Barn Owl as very poor. The first set of cameras (Range) would not work reliably due to little to no AT&T cell service in the area even though I entered my location info into their site that approved use there. They replaced these cameras with a different type (Reach), they take photos all the time of nothing. No movement, no people, no vehicles as I have they system set up to do. My cell bill is now over $100.00 for 30 days. These are not cheap cameras and while support has been in communication they system rates an F for reliability.

Their website stated average cell bill should be $12.00 per camera per month.

When I reached out regarding all the photos that were being taken I was initially told by support "Looks like the photos were spaces roughly 55 minutes apart which is a classic indicator of external interference. This may be caused by local electrical sources, heavy machinery, or cell phone tower maintenance/disruptions which are surprisingly common. I'll keep an eye on these two cameras and check them later today for improved performance." No follow up happened and the cameras kept taking photos all the time.

The next time I contacted support..."Unfortunately our camera are programmed to trigger on motion regardless of what caused the trigger, and we can't prevent the camera from transmitting an image based on the image contents with your cameras. This feature is available on the EdgeCam"

I was clear in ordering these that my need was to monitor for people and vehicles.

I would not recommend these to anyone.

 

[MNElkNut]

I have 4 TactaCam Reveals that I really like and it is a flat rate of $6? $8? per month for as many pictures as it sends. I would recommend them.

 

[buckbull]

I don't have cell service, at least reliable enough to use cell enabled cameras. I do have Starlink internet at my place and installed blink cameras for my cabin and a couple overlooking food plots and I'm very satisfied with their performance. A good option if you have internet available.

 

[oxn939]

I have 4 TactaCam Reveals that I really like and it is a flat rate of $6? $8? per month for as many pictures as it sends. I would recommend them.

Might have to check that out. Thanks for the tip!

 

[JulianAtBarnOwl]

Picked up a Barn owl cellular camera in November '22 to keep an eye on a hunting property. Setup was fairly easy for both the camera and solar panel. Transmitted well for a month or two. Then it died randomly. They sent me another one in April '23.

Set that one up, and things were going great for a few months... until the same thing happened. It went from a 100% battery indication to 0% in one day. Then offline for weeks. Then I manually recharged the solar panel battery. Worked for another week or two and then it died again. Then this morning, it randomly started sending pictures again with a 100% battery indication.

I asked to return it and customer support said to kick rocks. So, I've got what appears to be a paperweight, as I'm certainly not paying a subscription fee for an inoperative camera to sit on a tree with the hope it may decide to start working.

Bottom line, both Barn Owl cameras I have received were junk. Avoid unless you want a game like the one they've had me playing.



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Hello @oxn939, Julian here from Barn Owl Tech. I am the Head of Marketing here, based in Colorado Springs. Imagine my surprise when I was doing some searching about customer reviews of Barn Owl and found this forum. I was very disappointed to see this and to see how long it's been sitting here unanswered. First, my sincere apologies that we failed to meet your needs and respond appropriately.

I personally stand behind our equipment, especially with the big improvements we've made on our two latest models. I've worked hard to reshape our returns, warranties and exchange policies, as well as introduce a much more generous and clear set of billing plans. I'm not here to sell you anything and hope you've since found reliable solutions for your needs. However, should you ever want to consider us again in the future, you can send an email to [email protected] and mention this interaction. It will route to me and I would be happy to work with you personally on a new set up to test for free. Regardless, I wish you the best and look forward to any opportunities in the future to be of service.

Julian
Head of Marketing
Barn Owl Tech
Colorado Springs, CO

 

[JulianAtBarnOwl]

I would rate my experience with Barn Owl as very poor. The first set of cameras (Range) would not work reliably due to little to no AT&T cell service in the area even though I entered my location info into their site that approved use there. They replaced these cameras with a different type (Reach), they take photos all the time of nothing. No movement, no people, no vehicles as I have they system set up to do. My cell bill is now over $100.00 for 30 days. These are not cheap cameras and while support has been in communication they system rates an F for reliability.

Their website stated average cell bill should be $12.00 per camera per month.

When I reached out regarding all the photos that were being taken I was initially told by support "Looks like the photos were spaces roughly 55 minutes apart which is a classic indicator of external interference. This may be caused by local electrical sources, heavy machinery, or cell phone tower maintenance/disruptions which are surprisingly common. I'll keep an eye on these two cameras and check them later today for improved performance." No follow up happened and the cameras kept taking photos all the time.

The next time I contacted support..."Unfortunately our camera are programmed to trigger on motion regardless of what caused the trigger, and we can't prevent the camera from transmitting an image based on the image contents with your cameras. This feature is available on the EdgeCam"

I was clear in ordering these that my need was to monitor for people and vehicles.

I would not recommend these to anyone.

Hello @ceemee63. My name is Julian and I'm the head of marketing here over at Barn Owl. I found this thread recently and was disappointed to see that you've had such poor experience with our equipment and our company. It's not acceptable and I'm here to acknowledge the issues. We should have done better for you to solve your issues or refund you.

Here's an update that you might care about: we've vastly improved our equipment and have two great models that folks are finding reliable. Unfortunately, all trail cameras suffer from the same motion-trigger issues because of their PIR sensors. However, we've introduced a few features that help tremendously:
- ability to snooze a camera on demand for whatever period of time you want (this helps in the case of high activity going on that you don't care to record)
- ability to set up zone masking to have the camera ignore areas of the image and not send alerts
- new, much more generous billing plans. At the $15 a month plan, most users end up having way more data than needed, even when using the livestream feature and taking lots of photos and videos. We even have a new $25 a month plan that is a true unlimited plan. No requesting HD images, no limits on livestream or anything else.

I recognize the reasons you were really unsatisfied with your Barn Owl experience. Should you ever want to consider us again, start with an email to [email protected] and mention this post so it can route to me. I will personally handle getting you a free set up to try out. Of course, no worries if you no longer want to work with us.

Cheers,
Julian at Barn Owl

 

[JulianAtBarnOwl]

I have 4 TactaCam Reveals that I really like and it is a flat rate of $6? $8? per month for as many pictures as it sends. I would recommend them.

Hello @MNElkNut. Julian from Barn Owl Tech here. We have a lot of respect for our friendly competitors at Tactacam. They make great products. We also believe in our newest products and billing plans. Particularly on how generous the new Standard and Unlimited plans are. One of the nice things we offer that no one else does, is Barn Owl Care at the Standard and Unlimited levels. As long as you are on one of those plans, you get lifetime replacements and upgrades to your equipment. This means cameras out of warranty, theft, weather damage etc. You pay a small deductible and we take care of the rest.

Something to consider if you're ever interested in trying us out.

Cheers,
Julian at Barn Owl