Bird Box Camera Worth £60 To Be Won From UK USB Toys & Gadgets.

Bird box cameras – especially nest box USB webcams  - have become the perfect birdwatchers gift since they came to fame in BBC’s Spring Watch a few years ago. This must have ‘toy’ for nature lovers allows you to sit back and watch as local bird life set up their nests and rear their chicks in your own garden in clear full colour. And here UK USB Toys & Gadgets and BirdBoxView (BBView) are giving you the chance to win the very box that I’m about to review - worth £60! 

Firstly a quick review of the usb camera box itself so you know what you could be winning! It’s worth noting here that the reviews that UK USB carries out on gadgets and toys are an honest genuine opinion on the products. If we think that something is not quite right (or we spot an issue other Amazon reviews have raised) we will tell you. Saying that I only try and bring you the good products to begin with, I  try and filter the stuff that is clearly rubbish and those products never make it onto print to begin with as I don’t see the point of wasting readers time.

UK based company BirdBoxView has supplied me with the Gardman Multi-Nest Box with a pre-installed USB webcam and 10m USB cable.  It feels solid, well made and durable enough to last you many a breeding season. The finish is a touch rustic but this only adds to its ‘natural’ look and feel.  

There is a couple of well placed screws should you need to get to the bird webcam which is attached under the roof, also a couple more screws hold the entry hole to aid cleaning (different size entrance holes can be chosen when ordering to suite differing species of birds).  The small plastic opaque ‘side window’ aids the low level LED’s give just enough light in to the box for there to be a nice clear image from the camera without disturbing the birds.

The usb cable is of good quality and has a rather unique small inline repeater/booster box to strengthen the USB signal to your computer (both mac and Windows are supported). The advantage of a USB webcam means you do not need a power source to your camera. Downloading extra camera capture software from the website was simple enough and i found it reasonably easy to work out how to use (VLC player). Worth noting that the USB Bird box camera seemed to work fine with several of my already installed programs that have the ability to pick up a webcam. The picture is certainly clear, sharp and colourful, unlike many digital cctv style cameras which tend to have full time strong LED's which can disturb the birds. With this system unplugging the usb webcam disables the low impact LED's inside the birds nesting box.

Although I did in fact hang the box in the garden to see how easy and sturdy it was (and it was both) I have not actually gone to the extent of it being tested in rain or nesting as I want to keep in good condition as a prize. This particular bird box and camera model has no reviews yet on amazon. However several other cctv nesting boxes supplied by Birdboxview have very good reviews of 4 stars or higher. It’s clear from Amazon reviews that the different boxes in the most part are of good quality (even those models which are lower in cost have an overall good rating). As with any product you can get the odd hiccup though. One buyer mentioned that his box roof leaked a bit and another complained that it didn’t seem well made (I personal feel that might be the ‘natural rustic’ finish mentioned earlier being misinterpreted). I will also point out that you of course need some way of getting the cable into your house, likely an open window. The USB repeater box is a little bit bigger than a standard USB plug so if you wanted to feed the cable through any small gaps keep this in mind.

One thing seems clear is that customer service and assistance given is important to Birdboxview. Very good email technical support (including youtube instruction videos), 60 day refund if totally unused and 60 days full refund with postal paid policy on any faulty or damaged parts means customer satisfaction is a top priority.  There's full detailed product, support details and spec here.

Final verdict: A great well made product with lots of telephone and online support with good returns policy. Would make a perfect gift for Father's Day or an avid birdwatcher! 

BBview supply eight different variations of their camera bird box  to suit different budgets from their Amazon store ranging from £34.99 to £89.99 which you can see below...

COMPETITION! 

How to enter:

1. Share the G+ or Facebook Post that sent you here & circle UK USB on G+  (So we can keep you upto date with new gadgets and more competition give-a-ways!)
2. Leave a comment here or on the G+ or FB post telling us where you are from and what kind of birds you would love to watch nesting with your bird box camera.

Competitions T&C
The winner will be chosen randomly from those that have carried out the two steps above.  Last date to enter 14/04/2014.  Winner pays postage fee of £4 towards shipping. If you came via FB and do not have a G+ profile just share the original FB post and drop a comment on this review page. Winner will be chosen from UK entrants.This review does contain affiliate links to Amazon.