Showing posts with label outdoors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label outdoors. Show all posts

9/02/2011

Perky Pet 5110PP Fortress® Breakaway Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder Review

Perky Pet 5110PP Fortress® Breakaway Squirrel Proof Bird Feeder
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This is a poorly designed, low quality feeder. The spring mechanisms on the perches appear to be too tight. In the "collapsed" position a small open gap remains at the top of the feed portals and the perches still sit at an angle. Consequently, the squirrels can easily gain access to the seed by using the perches on both sides to distribute their weight and then insert their paws through the small openings. The squirrels in my yard only needed minutes to figure out this design flaw. However, true to their tenacious nature, they were not satisfied with getting one or two seeds at a time. Their next objective was to rid themselves of the obstacle between them and the "Mother Load". Thanks to the poor quality of this feeder, that wasn't hard for them to achieve. Two days after I put up this feeder, the squirrels ripped the sliding cover off of one side of the feeder and emptied its contents. I managed to snap the piece back into place only to have them do it again the next day, and the feeder was once again empty within hours.
In retrospect, I should have recognized this as a bad design before I even made the purchase. The design of the Perky Pet feeder isn't even appropriate for birds as the perches force the birds to face each other at the feeding stations, which encourage fights. On the rare occasions I didn't have a squirrel hanging from this feeder, I never saw more than one bird using it. In contrast, my Brome Squirrel Buster Classic feeder (filled with the same seed) attracts several birds at a time. I wanted a similar feeder with a larger seed capacity and I thought I was getting a good deal with this feeder. I was wrong. Don't waste your money.


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8/07/2011

Heath Outdoor Products HB-1 Squirrel Baffle Review

Heath Outdoor Products HB-1 Squirrel Baffle
Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
This squirrel baffle is just about as cheap as they come here on Amazon. (The best and cheapest ones can be found either at a local Tractor Supply company, or at the Tractor Supply website). Its not quite as big or effective as either a squirrel deterrent or protection from the weather as a dome style, but it is certainly far better than nothing. (And a whole lot cheaper). The problem with the basic design of this baffle is the swing away system it employs. The same ineffective system that is unfortunately employed in a lot of squirrel baffles. Even ones a lot more expensive than this one. The theory behind it is that the squirrel will lay down its paw on top of it with its full weight, slip off, and then fall to the ground as the baffle swings out of the way. Unfortunately this is one of those times when something sounds most logical in theory, but is a total bust in actual practice. Squirrels very quickly figure out the baffles rational and set out to defeat it. That is to say, they just come to learn to hang their feet from above and use the baffles swing away design to their advantage by it moving freely out of their way. Just about everyone that has a bird feeder then sees the usual result. A squirrel hanging down from above upside down feasting on and spilling your expensive seed. This baffle can be made far more effective by a simple redesign. Just unscrew the two hooks that merge in the middle of the dome from above and underneath and screw in a lock nut so it is flush with the baffle on top and below. Then screw the hooks back in. The swing away design is then defeated and the baffle will remain stiff and very hard for the squirrel to move out of the way with his body due to the counterweight of the feeder underneath. Also, installing the nut stiffens the baffle sufficiently enough to prevent it from being tossed around by the wind as some other reviewers have mentioned. Trust me, it is very simple to do and it makes this very reasonably priced baffle most effective indeed. I recommend this baffle if you're on a budget and desire something that works very well with the simple modification described above. Order several at once to make the shipping charge worth it...

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