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Is the Furbo 360° Dog Camera Worth the Hype? Here's My 3-Year Review
- Carly Thomas
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Affiliate disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through my links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I genuinely use and love.
If you've been researching for a pet camera and keep landing on Furbo in your search results, you're in the right place. I've been using Furbo cameras for over three years, across different models, in a home with three pets. I have thoughts. A lot of them. This is my full, honest review of the Furbo 360° Dog Camera: What it does well, where it falls short, and whether the Furbo Nanny subscription is actually worth it.
Quick Verdict: Yes, I think the Furbo 360° Dog Camera is worth it for anxious pet parents, multi-pet homes, and anyone who wants treat tossing, alerts, and 360° coverage in one camera. Best for: multi-pet homes, anxious pet parents, barky dogs, pet parents who travel Not best for: people who only want basic live-view monitoring with no subscription |
Who Is the Furbo Dog Camera For?
Before we get into the details, let me be upfront: Furbo is not the right fit for everyone. But it is a near-perfect fit for 99.9% of pet parents.
You'll love Furbo if you:
Have multiple pets and want to know which one is doing what
Deal with a dog who has separation anxiety or excessive barking
Work long hours or travel, and want instant notifications, not just a live feed you check in on
Want a camera that can actually do something (like toss a treat) rather than just watch passively
Have a larger room and want pan coverage without buying five cameras
You might not need it if you have one very chill pet, you're rarely away from home, or you're not looking to spend anything on a subscription service.
What Is the Furbo 360° Dog Camera?
The Furbo 360° is a smart pet camera designed specifically for dog (and cat) owners. It's not just a webcam, it's a two-way audio device, treat tosser, and AI-powered pet monitoring system all in one. It connects to your home WiFi and lets you check in, talk to your pets, and toss treats through the Furbo app on your phone.
Here's a quick look at what the Furbo 360° does:
360° rotating camera that pans to follow your pet
Treat tossing via the app
Two-way audio so you can talk to (and hear) your pets
1080p HD video with night vision
AI-powered smart alerts including barking detection, person detection, and with a subscription, individual Pet ID
"Calm My Pet" feature that plays soothing music for anxious dogs (or barky ones like mine LOL)
Alarm detection that alerts you if a smoke or CO alarm goes off in your home
The Furbo 360° is available on Amazon and is their flagship model for homes that need wide-angle, autonomous coverage.
My Honest Furbo Experience: Three Years In
The Furbo Cameras I Actually Own
I want to be real with you here: I am a Furbo person. I have the Furbo 360° Dog Camera, the Furbo 360° Cat Camera, the Furbo Mini, and the Furbo Mini 360. They're scattered throughout my house. I have three pets: Widget (my mini aussie), Olive (my calico cat), and Sprout (my Siberian cat), and I used to be so anxious when leaving the house because I didn't know what they were doing when I wasn't home. Furbo changed that.
What I Love About Furbo
Pet ID is a game changer for multi-pet homes. Most cameras just send you a notification that says "pet detected." Furbo's Pet ID feature identifies which pet is on camera and sends you an alert specific to that animal. As someone with three very different pets with very different needs, this matters so much. Knowing it's Olive who's puking on the carpet vs. Widget who's barking because someone needs to go and let him outside ASAP before something bad happens...
The "Calm My Pet" feature has Pavloved my dog into good behavior. This is my favorite Furbo story and I tell it to everyone. Widget has completely conditioned himself: he knows that when the Furbo plays calming music, a treat is coming next. So now when he starts barking and the music plays, he stops barking and plants himself in front of the camera, waiting. We essentially trained him through the camera. It's equal parts hilarious and genius.
The alarm detection feature could genuinely save lives. I don't think people talk about this one enough in Furbo reviews. One day I was away from home and got an alert on my phone showing a siren icon: Furbo had detected an alarm going off. My fiancé had burned bacon and set off the smoke detector. I knew about it within seconds. But in a real emergency, that kind of instant notification while your pets are home alone could be the difference between a tragedy and a rescue. That feature alone justifies the camera for me!
It also caught me breaking a plate. Oops. I dropped a plate in the kitchen, and Furbo sent me a notification that it had detected the sound of glass breaking. This would be a helpful notification if it were a pet that was doing the glass breaking.
The panning feature means fewer cameras overall. With a rotating 360° view, one Furbo camera can cover a whole room instead of needing two or three static cameras to get full coverage. That's saved me money and clutter.
WiFi connectivity has never been an issue. In three years, I have not once had a connectivity or signal issue with any of my Furbo cameras. They just work.
What I Don't Love About Furbo
It stares at the walls occasionally. When a pet walks out of frame, the 360° camera tries to follow them, which is great in theory. But if the pet walks toward a wall and the camera tries to track them, it can end up recording the wall for a bit before reorienting itself. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, you can miss a few seconds of what your pet is actually doing. For most people, this is a minor annoyance; if you're monitoring a pet with a health condition, it's worth noting.
The Pet AI gets it wrong sometimes. Furbo's Pet ID is smart, but it's not perfect. It has misidentified my pets, especially early on. The good news is that it learns quickly! The more it sees your pets, the more accurate it gets. But if you're expecting flawless accuracy from day one, temper those expectations slightly.
Subscriptions are a fact of life with Furbo. The Furbo Nanny subscription unlocks most of the features that make Furbo worth it: Pet ID, smart alerts, activity tracking, and more. If you're looking for a Furbo dog camera without a subscription, you can still use basic live view and treat tossing, but you'll miss a lot of what makes Furbo stand out. Personally, I think the Furbo Nanny subscription is worth every penny, even though I hate having yet another monthly subscription. It's one I've never considered canceling.
Final Verdict: Should I Buy the Furbo 360° Dog Camera?
Three years. Multiple cameras. Three pets. I have used Furbo enough to give you a real answer.
Yes. Buy it.
But as an anxious pet parent who worries about her fur kids when she's away, Furbo has given me more peace of mind than any other single purchase I've made for my home. The Pet ID, the alarm alerts, the treat tossing, the two-way audio, all of it adds up to something that feels less like a camera and more like a pet care system!
If you're a multi-pet household, it's especially worth it. And if you have a barky dog? Get it immediately and let the treat-tossing Pavlov experiment begin. 😂
If you’re already comparing pet cameras, this is the one I’ve personally used for 3 years and would buy again.
Furbo FAQ: Answering Your Questions About Furbo
Is Furbo worth it for people with multiple pets?
Yes, especially because of Pet ID. Most cameras alert you that "a pet" is detected. Furbo tells you which pet, which matters a lot when different animals have different routines, needs, or problem behaviors.
What's included in the Furbo Nanny subscription?
The Furbo subscription unlocks features like Pet ID, smart activity alerts, barking history, and alarm detection. Without it you get basic live viewing and treat tossing. Most users find the subscription worth it once they see how much richer the experience is with AI-powered alerts turned on.
Can Furbo work without the subscription?
Yes, but in a limited way. Live view, two-way talk, and treat tossing all work without a subscription. The smarter features like Pet ID, activity notifications, alarm sounds, require a Furbo Nanny plan.
How does Furbo's treat-tossing work?
Through the Furbo app, you tap a button, and the camera physically launches a treat. You load the treats into the top of the camera beforehand. It works with most small to medium-sized treats.
Does Furbo work with cats?
Yes! Furbo makes a dedicated Furbo 360° Cat Camera, and the standard models also work well with cats. Pet ID can be trained to recognize cats, and the motion tracking works for cats, too. (Speaking from personal experience with Olive and Sprout.)
