Trail Camera Reviews : trail camera review, infrared cameras

Moultrie Game Spy I-40 Infrared Digital Trail Camera

Trailcam — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 03:23:00 GMT

I wanted a camera that didn’t produce a visible flash. I have read many of the debates online about whether the visible flash spooks deer and I have talked to many friends who use flash cameras. Many of them feel the visible flash does spook deer. I reasoned that if the IR mode helped me photograph even one more buck on my farm that otherwise might have melted into the woodwork at the sight of the distant flash, it was worth the price.

I selected the Moultrie Game Spy I-40 Infrared unit primarily because it is affordable (around $230 - $240) and has a nice four mega-pixel camera. It takes regular photos during the day and IR flash photos at night. Moultrie advertised some other neat features that I wanted, such as long battery life, quick trigger time and a laser aim that makes aligning the camera a snap.

I ran six I-40s on my land for three months last fall and got many images of great bucks. This review will detail what I learned.

SPECIFICATIONS

The camera has many very useful features. First, as mentioned, it has an infrared flash. The camera still has to produce a flash, but the flash is infrared, not visible white light.

It has an infrared sensor that detects changes in temperature in order to trigger the shot. It is not supposed to trigger on branch or grass movement. I got a lot of images of grass, but it is possible that the way I had the cameras set up there was a temperature gradient between sun and shadow and that was causing the extraneous shots. Either way, it was a bit annoying but not a major issue.

Moultrie advertises a 150-day battery life on these cameras and I can’t dispute that number. I had them out for 90 days and all of the cameras still show roughly 75% battery charge.

The I-40 has a 50-foot flash rating. Again, I would have to say their number is conservative. I have shots of deer that are at least 50 feet away. The camera didn’t seem to trigger on these long range deer, but they certainly appeared in the shot when the camera triggered on closer deer. I am not sure from looking at my photos what the maximum sensor distance is for the camera to trigger, but I don’t see any that were much beyond about 15 to 20 feet.

The camera accepts SD cards and as inexpensive as these have become, the SD is definitely the route to go.

The I-40 has a cool feature in which it prints the date, temperature, time and moon phase on the images. This offers a great way to monitor activity versus these factors. I felt like the temperature reading was at least somewhat accurate. The rest, or course, were simply a function of your initial settings.

It has a video mode that I did not test.
The software is upgradeable and that fact proved to be beneficial later.
The camera is weather-resistant and airtight. I had no problems in this regard.
Operates on 6 D-cell batteries

NOTICEABLE GAME SPOOKING

I could tell from some of the photos I got that the sound of the shutter opening and closing was enough to alarm some of the deer. I got tons of photos of deer staring at the camera, so they must have heard something.

In a few cases, they looked noticeably tense, back on their heals, while in others they merely seem curious. Typically, the tense ones appeared to be older deer and even then, it was only a few. Overall, I would say that deer were not excessively alarmed by the camera. Most got used to the sound of the shutter quickly enough. In fact, I generally got multiple pictures of each buck on the corn pile even though I had the camera set for a one-minute delay. They may have been startled enough to look up, but most weren’t startled enough to leave.

THE QUALITY OF THE IMAGES

The daylight images look great, as you will see from some of the samples. In the Low Quality mode, you don’t degrade the image; you simply reduce its resolution. They still appear clear but you can’t enlarge them to look more closely at a sticker point, for example. That is why, if you are going to check the camera often, you should use the Enhanced or High Quality modes. On the upside, I was able to get huge numbers of these low-resolution images on a single 1 GB SD card, a tremendous advantage given the fact that I only checked the cameras every two weeks.

WHAT I LIKED

I liked the long battery life, and overall, I liked the quality of the photos. I am not a huge fan of the way the infrared flash images look because they appear washed out in many cases. Basically, they are black and white photos. Standard flash photos look much better but then you have the flash. If you like to blow up the photos from your trail camera and put them in a scrapbook or on your wall, you definitely don’t want infrared (unless you like black and white photos).

However, the overall clarity and sharpness of these images is definitely impressive enough to justify printing them out on paper. The daylight shots are gorgeous. Moultrie makes a conventional flash version of this camera, as well, for those who prefer the look of that format. Moultrie also makes a six mega-pixel version that would likely produce fantastic enlargements, suitable for poster size around the hunting camp.

I was set up to photograph over corn piles in order to better control the position of the deer so I never severely tested the camera’s quick trigger time, but I did test the battery life. During those three months, I never replaced a single battery. In fact, pulling all the units out of the box I keep them in, they are still showing roughly 75% battery charge. That is very impressive given how many photos of crows, deer, raccoons, cattle, ATV riders and turkeys I took. In fact, more than once I arrived to harvest my SD cards and had nearly 1,500 images on each.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE

The infrared I-40 took fine, useable pictures once it decided which mode to be in. Unfortunately, it had a hard time deciding that important status. At daybreak and dusk, presumably when the camera had to decide how to react to the light conditions, it produced unusable images. Very disappointing.

The I-40 has a standard photo mode for daylight images and an infrared flash for nighttime images. When it tries to take infrared flash photos during low light daytime conditions the images are completely blown out. They are pure white. Entirely overexposed. It leaves you wondering what deer came in at these prime times and left before the I-40 got a readable photo of the animal.

I called Moultrie to report the problem and to test their customer service. It was a Monday morning and they reported that they receive high call volumes on Mondays. The recording advised me to call back mid-week. I didn’t need the information in two days, I needed it at that time. I guess I would simply shuffle someone else into that position as needed to keep the wait time low. So I waited. I spent one about 7 minutes on hold before I got the technician, not at all out of line given I have spent 40 minutes before trying to get the right technician at AT&T. No wonder I changed my long distance service. Anyway, back to the I-40.

After explaining the problem, the very polite technician directed me to their website where I found and downloaded the necessary firmware updates. She assured me that the software update would fix that problem 99% of the time. The process was simple. I went to the page displaying the I-40, clicked on the software update link and then followed the directions.

After erasing the SD card in the camera, I connected a USB cord between the camera and my computer so I could copy the files (you must upgrade two files) to the camera’s SD card. It is a simple drag and drop process. After placing the files on the card, I then went through the menu and updated the software as detailed on the website. It is a painless and well-explained process.

Of course, the big question is whether this fixed the problem. I have not had the opportunity to get the cameras back in action but from the assurances of the technician it sounds like they are well aware of this problem and have addressed it with the software upgrade.

CONCLUSIONS

For the price, I think this is a great camera. I don’t need to see beautiful photos so I am fine with the infrared mode, I just want to know what is living on my farm and where, so I know where to concentrate my efforts and this camera will give me everything I need along those lines. It has a huge battery life, plenty of juice to last me an entire season, so I see no reason (assuming the over-exposure problem is solved) not to buy this camera. I give it a big thumbs up.

Predator Evolution Digital Trail Camera

Trailcam — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:35:00 GMT

With the advent of digital cameras and their increase in popularity it wasn’t long before the first digital trail cameras hit the market. Over the past several few years we’ve seen and used a lot of trail cameras that weren’t worth the packaging they were shipped in. At one time it basically got to the point where we had so many problems and issues with trail cameras that we nearly stopped using them altogether. We’ve had constant battery issues, confusing set-ups, and countless wasted trips into the field to retrieve cameras that hadn’t even been working. Anyone who has been through this painstaking process can surely relate.

When we first heard about the Predator Evolution camera the touch screen user interface was what caught our eye. While we work in front of computers and use technology on a daily if not hourly basis when it comes to trail cameras and anything we bring into the field; simplicity is king. We don’t want to read a complicated instruction manual in order to use a trail camera. In the past, some of us had actually written cheat sheets to use in the field when trying to set up certain cameras. This isn't exactly fun.

We’ve now been using our Predator Evolution cameras for the past few months and will give you the straight forward product review that you deserve. After all, that is what Trailcam.com is all about. Providing straight forward, unbiased opinions of trail cameras and trail camera accesssories to help you, the consumer, make better purchasing decisions.

Overall Design and Impressions

The guts of the Evolution are housed inside of a compact and waterproof polycarbonate case. This is the same material they use to make bullet-proof glass! The case is very similar to many of the high quality camera cases that are used by professional photographers to protect their camera equipment. The Evolution's case is unbreakable and won’t crack like many of the other trail cameras that use a cheaper ABS plastic housing. When you are paying good money for a trail camera the last thing you want is for the case to break or crack, allowing moisture into the unit which can destroy the electronics. Speaking of which, all electronics in the Evolution are tightly packed behind the LCD screen with only a single visible “On-Off” switch visible when the case is open. The entire unit is very small in size, which we love. Big, bulky, heavy cameras are not only a bigger pain to carry around the woods but also present a larger target for deer, and theives, to spot.

The Evolution has one of the most impressive fit and finishes of any camera we’ve seen or used. From the touch screen to the large secure latch this camera has been built right. Our only real complaint is the storage of the batteries. Predator uses a battery pack that holds 10 AA batteries. This is somewhat loose inside of the provided holding area and could be improved, but it works fine as-is.

The user interface of the Predator Evolution is extremely easy to use and well designed. The only problems we encountered were during cold conditions when the screen became slow and at times almost unresponsive.

Setup & Ease of Use

When we first received our Predator Evolution trail camera we opened the owner's manual, and found very little information about how to use the camera. We loaded it with batteries, turned the unit on (with the very simple “on-off” switch), and quickly realized why. It has quite simply some of the easiest and most straight forward controls we’ve ever seen. The first time we had ever seen, used, or turned the camera on we had it completely set up in a matter of 2 minutes. It was beyond simple and actually enjoyable to set up, unlike many of the cameras we've tested over the years.

The huge 3 1/2 inch touch screen does what it was designed to do. It puts all of the information in a very organized list. You can very simply access all the functions and settings by scrolling through the options with the arrows located at the bottom of the screen, and by using “Enter”. Every function and/or setting is very simple to understand and clearly spelled out for the user. Even someone who has never set up a trail camera in their life should be able to figure this camera out in a matter of minutes.

When looking at the ease of use of a camera the most important thing we want to know when we're walking away is that it is working properly and we won’t return to find an empty card. There's not many things in the November woods that can send us off into a furious tyraid than checking a trail camera that we've had over a hot scrape for the past 7 days only to find out it hasn't been working. And believe me, we've had this happen more times than we'd care to admit (and I'm sure we're not the only ones). The Predator Evolution does what it’s supposed to, with very little possibility of not turning it on or not setting it up correctly. When you flip the switch to the "On" position there is no further action needed to make sure this camera is going to take photos. Simply close the case and walk away.

Functionality

The Evolution allows the user to choose between video clips or still photos. The video is a great feature for those who are looking to get the best possible look at an animal from multiple angles. However, beware that this camera is extremely sensitive so you may end up with video clips of birds, squirrels, raccoons, and other small animals as well. Also, if you are going to use this camera in video mode your best success will come in areas where your quarry is in a stationary position for a few moments. Places like food plots, mineral sites, scrapes, and wallows work the best.

Images and video are stored on either a Compact Flash card or mini-USB drive. Both formats work well and for those of you who may have a stash of Compact Flash cards already this shouldn't be a problem. However, we would like to see added functionality for accepting more widely-used memory sticks such as SD in the future. Compact Flash cards seem to be getting harder and harded to come by, and certainly aren't coming down in price. The cheapest card we could find at a local retail store was $45 for a 2.0 GB card, compared to $25 for a 2.0 GB SD card.

The Evolution is an infrared nighttime illuminating camera. This means there is no white flash for your night time photos or video clips which could potentially scare game. We’re not going into any further detail regarding the infrared other than it works great. Distance is good, anything within pretty much 15-20 feet is illuminated very well. Beyond that, like any other camera, it has its limitations.

Picture Quality

The picture quality and video quality of the Predator is probably middle of the road. We’ve seen higher quality photos from different systems, but this isn’t something we always consider a top priority. Generally speaking, we're not blowing our images up and making posters out of them. We are using them to gather information on what types of animals are on a particular piece of ground. The images and video we’ve gotten through our Predator cameras are good, but could certainly be improved on. Infrared images are occassionally washed out and excessively grainy. It would be nice to see this improved in future product releases.

Still photos from the Evolution are 2.0 megapixel color images during the day, and 1.3 megapixel black and white images at night.

Trigger Speed

The trigger speed of the unit is excellent. It’s as fast or faster than any other trail camera we’ve used. Predator advertises a trigger speed .15 of a second and although we have not gotten our stopwatches out and tested this, it certainly seems fast to us. It also has an adjustable sensitivity level from 1 to 9 depending on the size of the game you're after, and the conditions that you're using the camera in. This is a nice feature to have because we have set up cameras in certain areas where a blowing leaf or corn stalk has used up both our memory card and batteries before it could take any real pictures.

Battery Life

Although battery life could certainly be improved upon, the interchangeable battery pack is handy for quick changes in the field. Here you can also see the rubber o-ring on the inside of the case that creates the water tight seal when closed.

Battery life of the unit is OK, but could certainly be improved. Like most of the trail cameras on the market when the cold hits the life of the batteries go downhill fast. In warm weather we have had units last for up to a month. In cold weather the length of operation drops dramatically, sometimes lasting only a few days. The Predator is not nearly as bad as some units we've tested and with the use of rechargeable batteries it’s manageable, however this is one area we would like to see improved in the future. AA batteries are not exactly cheap so if you have multiple units and it gets cold things can get expensive in a hurry. Especially when you're chewing through 10 AA batteries at a time.

Mounting and Security

The Evolution uses a separate mounting bracket that is secured to the tree first and then the camera is placed on the bracket. This is a great little feature that not many other companies have thought of. A heavy duty mounting pin is then put through the rear of the camera unit to mount it onto the bracket. Predator offers additional mounting brackets for additional functionality and versatility.

In order to secure your camera Predator offers a cable locking mechanism and also features a 4 digit security code which makes the camera effectively worthless should anyone steal it. Trail camera theft is an unfortunate reality in today's woods and it's nice to know the guys at Predator are doing their best to help prevent it.

Final Thoughts

Of all the cameras we’ve seen and used, we believe that the user-friendliness of the Predator Evolution makes it an excellent choice for anyone. It has some great features that go beyond many other similarly priced cameras out there and because of the great touch screen interface we believe it is a hard trail camera to beat.

Please keep in mind that the Predator Evolution has many features and benefits that we haven’t even gotten into. This review has been based on the features that are important to us. For additional detailed information regarding the complete functionality of the Predator camera, check out their website: http://www.predatortrailcams.com/