German brand Technaxx who I have reviewed a number of their products such as the disco mobile car charger, and TX-SW6HR smartwatch to just name a few recently approached me to review their birdfeeder with additional birdcam the TX-165.

Now in the UK, over 3 million with a real increase since the recent lockdowns in the number of people who have a keen interest in birds with my father in law being a bird fan this product provided us with interest in how this device would work and would in enhance his overall bird watching experience. Now in the UK the most common bird you will see every day are as follows:  

  • Wren
  • Robin
  • Blackbird
  • Sparrow
  • Magpies
  • Pigeons

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First Impressions

Now the Technaxx TX-165 costs £100 via amazon and is reasonably priced when you compare it to the likes of the Green Feathers bird box with a camera that costs £115 or almost twice as expensive as the Ceyomur or GradePro wildlife cameras that are around the £50 mark. 

The key difference between the brands and the Technaxx is the TX-165 is not just a birdcam it’s also a birdfeeder which allows you to get some fantastic close-up shots as well as video footage and night shots. The key features of the birdcam are: 

  • Full HD 1080P footage
  • Slow-motion Video
  • Battery operated
  • 8 MP camera
  • TFT colour display
  • IP56 rated
  • Trigger time 3 seconds
  • Micro SD card up to 512MB

When unboxing the TX-165 we found it was nicely packed and came with everything we needed to assemble the birdcam below is what we found in the box:

  • Birdhouse with bird food container 
  • Camera
  • Mounting belt
  • 4x AA batteries
  • Micro USB cable
  • Railing Mount & Wall Mount

The Tx-165 can be mounted either by the clamp option or via the belt and screw option this allows you to mount it to a tree or in this review we put it on the fence as this is a prime spot for birds in my father in laws garden. In terms of size, the TX-165 comes in at 19L x 15.2W x 22.8H cm.

Design

The build of the birdcam is very solid and will last the elements due to that IP56 rating the only issue I found is the bird feeder section is not very large 150g and as a result, you may find you need to fill this up regularly so keep that in mind in terms of where you position it. You also have a removable birdbath which gets some great shots like the one below: 

Set up is very easy to do first up you need to insert the 4x AA batteries and the memory card which can be up to 512GB now just keep in mind the TX-165 does not come with a microSD card. This is an extra cost but you can pick these up for about £20 so it’s not a massive issue. Next up you will need to configure the camera section and the fact it has a TFT colour display this was very easy to do as on the front of the camera you have 6 buttons:

  • Up/Video button 
  • Down/ Photo button
  • OK/Shot button 
  • Menu button
  • Right button
  • Playback button

Setting up the date/time and recording options does not take that long at all and my father in law found using the menus in setting everything up to be a fairly easy process. Once set up you simply leave it to take pictures and video footage. The camera you are given is an 8MP camera with 1080P Full HD for when it’s time to film them lovely birds arriving to fest on your birdseed. You also have a built-in microphone but in testing, this was a bit pointless it did not pick anything up.

Camera Settings

The TX-165 comes with a series of features for both photo taking and video taking. For example, when taking pictures you can set the number of continuous shots from 1 shot up to 10 shots in a single session. In terms of video recording you have a number of different resolutions you can select from the standard 1920 x1080 default setting to any of the following:

  • 1280 x 720
  • 848 x 480
  • 720 x 480
  • 640 x 480

You can also adjust the video length from 3 seconds to 10 minutes per recording. You can also set up slow-motion video recording, audio recording and short lag feature which is the time in between videos are recorded this can be set from 5 seconds to 60 minutes apart. Last but not least and what was found to be the most useful setting is the sensitivity motion sensor this has 3 options:

  • Low – Distance – 0-0.20m
  • Middle- Distance- 0- 0.23m
  • High- Distance 0 – 0.26m 

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Performance

 

Taking A Photo

We have tested this device out for the last 2 weeks and still have it in the garden we found the camera to be very sensitive even on the lowest setting. We ended up with over 3000 pictures over 3 days but you will find you only have about 6 photos that are of excellent quality. The rest is just of the garden we are trying to figure out what is catching the sensor when no birds are in the garden. 

 

We also have an issue with an unwanted bird our friend Mr Pigeon causing the whole device to collapse due to the weight of the pigeon. We have moved the birdcam to a different part of the garden but the same issues occur this is a work in progress. The photos we did get are really good quality but what we found annoying was once the SD card was full you needed to manually reset the SD card to use it again.  Below is a sample of some of the shots we took during the day. 

 

Unfortunately, the night shots we got really did not prove to be successful we did not get any shots worth showing you but I guess in the early morning this could be a different matter. We will update this review once we have some night shots to show you. When using the camera at night you will have an infrared LED that will switch on automatically providing the right light for when taking photos or videos you can get a shot at a distance of 50cm without overexposure.

Video Footage

The bird-watching camera when using it to film comes with the following features: 

  • 1080P Full HD video resolution
  • PIR Sensor
  • Built-in Microphone
  • Normal or Slow Motion video options

In the set-up of the birdcam, we found to be getting regular error messages every time we tried to use the footage. Once we had figured out what the issue was, the video footage we got was quite good we still got some video footage of nothing in the garden as we are not sure what set off the sensor but the footage we did get was impressive.

Video edited on Kapwing

 Now a feature when recording footage we felt was quite interesting was the slow-motion video feature as when recording a bird like a blue tit which moves around quite quickly. The slow-motion feature you can get videos at 25FPS allowing you to get a clear view with tons of detail. 

The issue you will find when recording normal or slow-motion videos is when you have a series of videos recorded there is no way to combine all the bird videos together instead you get a number of short recordings some unwanted recordings as well as the recordings you do want. This results in your SD card space just being eaten up. 

An issue I did find was when I wanted to view the footage it is recorded in AVI format which needs to be converted to MP4 to be able to view the footage. So just remember to use an AVI to MP4 converter like FreeConvert.com which might annoy some users as you can’t view the footage right away.

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Improvements to be made

When speaking to my father in law he was happy with the overall set-up but mentioned one clear feature that would take this from a decent bird camera to an excellent option to consider is the use of an app.

We found it very annoying at times when we wanted to view footage or images and had to go and remove the SD card every time. If Technaxx had the use of an app we could view footage in live view, view recorded footage, remove unwanted footage all via the app. However the Technaxx TX-165 is missing that missing part of the jigsaw.  If they really wanted to take the potential app that am aware is in development to the next level. Is to be able to recognise what bird it was and maybe even provide a little information on it so you know what bird entered your garden at any one time.

Verdict

The Technaxx TX-165 offers a unique experience of being able to feed the birds but also get images & video that are clear and uninterrupted something the amateur bird watcher might not be able to experience. The body of the birdcam could be a little more robust especially when pigeons land on it. I would also like to see the battery life increase maybe the use of a rechargeable battery like what I have in my Ring doorbell might be a way to improve it.

They also need to improve the sensor as it seems to be a little to sensitive even at the lowest settings which results in photos that do not consist of any birds. As we mentioned earlier in the review out of 3000 images only 6 were worth the time and effort.  The lack of app really does make you question the price tag but am aware this could be introduced in the near feature. However, if you want that up and close experience with a bird in your garden that animal lovers will enjoy you can still enjoy the product from Technaxx but there is clearly room for improvement.

Product Rating: 

Design: 5.0 out of 5.0 stars5.0     

Camera Performance (Photos): 4.0 out of 5.0 stars

Camera Performance (Video): 4.0 out of 5.0 stars 

Value For Money: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars

 

Overall Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars     

                 

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