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Date: | Wed, 3 Nov 2021 17:34:51 -0400 |
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We purchased an Arnia hive scale/monitor for the club's apiary as part of the Sentinel Apiary Program. Endless technical issues getting it to work, multiple trips back to an outyard just to press a reset button or change batteries. Batteries would not survive a Rhode Island winter so even the most basic measurement ("are the bees alive") became unavailable. Tech support did what they could but the time difference (they are UK based) meant a minimum day of lost data any time you needed an answer from them. They have apparently phased out the monitor we bought and I worry it won't be supported long (thankfully not my responsibility any more). When it worked it provided nice charts to use in discussions at our meetings or online. It was definitely cool (though in no real way helpful) to be 300+ miles away at EAS, check the hive monitor on my phone, and see that the hive swarmed. As a "sentinel" device it failed because you never know if the data generated is representative of hives generally in that area, or even if the data generated is reliable due to hardware issues, or if the data is reliable based on where the sensors were positioned at last check (this is a huge issue).
I tried a BeeBot after that in one of my own hives and found it even less impressive. Multiple hardware returns before I finally gave up and asked for a refund. I felt like in both cases I was being used as the beta test for devices that weren't truly ready for market. I think the main problem is that these devices are envisioned by tech people, not necessarily beekeepers.
I am contacted all the time by people who think their app or device is going to be the silver bullet to "save the bees." This technology will be economical and useable one day but I have not been wowed yet.
Scott Langlais
Johnston, RI
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