Coolfly Aura Undercuts Birdbuddy Pro at $290 as Review Favors Its Battery Life, Wider View
Updated
Updated · The Verge · May 27
Coolfly Aura Undercuts Birdbuddy Pro at $290 as Review Favors Its Battery Life, Wider View
1 articles · Updated · The Verge · May 27
$290 Aura by Coolfly beat the $339 solar Birdbuddy Pro on price, battery life and field of view in The Verge’s hands-on comparison, though the reviewer still called Birdbuddy the more polished overall pick.
Two built-in solar panels kept Aura fully charged for nearly two months, while the Birdbuddy in the same yard needed three recharges; Aura also loaded livestreams more reliably and captured more visits.
A side-mounted 4MP camera with a 150-degree lens gave Aura a wider, more natural scene and a larger platform for bigger birds, plus local microSD storage and subscription-free higher-resolution video.
Birdbuddy still led on image quality, AI accuracy and app experience, with crisper footage, longer free clip storage and a more curated feed, while Aura’s app was cluttered and sometimes recorded empty-feeder openings.
The review framed the choice as breadth versus polish, with Birdbuddy 2 due later this year at $200 with a larger hopper and wider field of view.
With Birdbuddy 2 moving its AI behind a paywall, is the era of free smart bird identification already ending?
Do smart feeders' curated close-ups make us better birders, or do we lose the bigger backyard picture?