BSK
Well-Known Member
Most of my cameras are Browning units (primarily the HP4s and HP5s), but I also tried two GardePro A60 4K cameras. After using these two A60 cameras, here are my impressions:
Pros
* trigger distance - these cameras have insanely long trigger distances. Over open areas like food plots, I regularly get deer triggering the camera at 140+ feet from the camera. And I mean every day I get triggers at that distance.
* trigger speed - especially when using the side sensors, I'm getting virtually instantaneous triggers. The side sensors (pointing out at sharp angles) power the system up and get it ready to trigger when the sensors pick up a deer walking towards the center sensor. This allows the camera to trigger almost instantaneous once the deer finally triggers the main central sensor. Even on running deer, I often get video starting with the nose of the deer entering the frame.
* flash distance - Night-time illumination (black flash) is crazy far. Far more than any brand of camera I've used. I can make out of a deer is a buck or doe, and relative size of a buck's rack at 150 feet at night. And there is far less "black out" at the edges of the image frame compared to other long-range flash cams.
* image quality - the Sony imager in these cams takes the most superior still image and video quality of any trail-cam I've used.
* video sound - the microphones on these cameras are the best I've experienced. I can hear deer walking in the leaves, and the most subtle of deer vocalizations from a long way off.
* price and battery cost - at $117, these cameras were cheap compared to the $189 I'm used to paying for top-of-the-line Brownings. Battery life using Energizer lithiums appears to be almost as good as the Brownings, and I suspect I could run the A60s for 6 months on a single set of batteries, even though I'm collecting all video (which eats batteries much faster than still images).
Cons
* Interface - I found the in-camera menu a bit clunky, but fairly straight forward. Not much of a learning curve. However, I also found the cameras don't like SD Cards that were not formatted in the camera itself. The units will usually say a card can't be read and must be formatted internal to the camera before it can use/read it.
* internal viewing screen - similar to all other trail-cameras that have the entire front of the unit (including the camera) as part of the front door, when you open the unit, the camera swings around with the door. This means that when setting up a camera, you cannot check the exact alignment without closing the front door (where you can no longer see the viewing screen). This is a major hassle when setting up a camera in a new location. To check the camera's exact alignment you have to turn it on, shut the door, wait until it's ready to trigger, trigger the camera, turn it off, remove the SD Card, and put the SD Card in a reader/viewer to see how the camera is aligned. I MUCH prefer cameras where the camera is NOT part of the front door, so when the door is open during set-up you can see through the internal viewer how you have it aligned.
* triggers - and this is a biggy, but I absolutely know these units miss triggers, and possibly a fair number of them. I know of multiple situations where a person walked in front of the camera or drove an ATV in front of one of the cameras and they did not trigger. I watched deer walk in front of the camera - just 20 feet away at a slow pace - and the cameras did not trigger. For the life of me, I can't find a common situation that causes missed triggers. I still get a lot of videos from these units, but I've witnessed them missing triggers. How much are they missing? I have no idea (but I'll try testing them against a Browning strapped to the same tree), but looking at weekly video counts compared to Brownings in similar set-ups, I would suspect these cameras are missing between 15 and 20% of potential triggers.
Conclusions
Due to the missed triggers, I've been debating whether I will still use them. The answer is, I probably will. In fact, I will probably buy two more of them. However, I will limit these cameras to the locations where they really shine - pointed across large openings, especially food plots. These locations - wide open spaces with very high deer activity - are where these cameras work best. Their extremely long trigger distance and night illumination make them ideal for these locations. And in the highest deer traffic areas of a property, missing 15-20% of triggers may not be a huge detriment. However, I will not be using them in the most critical of locations, such as on traditional scrapes, where missing a trigger might be extremely detrimental to the accuracy of a census.
Pros
* trigger distance - these cameras have insanely long trigger distances. Over open areas like food plots, I regularly get deer triggering the camera at 140+ feet from the camera. And I mean every day I get triggers at that distance.
* trigger speed - especially when using the side sensors, I'm getting virtually instantaneous triggers. The side sensors (pointing out at sharp angles) power the system up and get it ready to trigger when the sensors pick up a deer walking towards the center sensor. This allows the camera to trigger almost instantaneous once the deer finally triggers the main central sensor. Even on running deer, I often get video starting with the nose of the deer entering the frame.
* flash distance - Night-time illumination (black flash) is crazy far. Far more than any brand of camera I've used. I can make out of a deer is a buck or doe, and relative size of a buck's rack at 150 feet at night. And there is far less "black out" at the edges of the image frame compared to other long-range flash cams.
* image quality - the Sony imager in these cams takes the most superior still image and video quality of any trail-cam I've used.
* video sound - the microphones on these cameras are the best I've experienced. I can hear deer walking in the leaves, and the most subtle of deer vocalizations from a long way off.
* price and battery cost - at $117, these cameras were cheap compared to the $189 I'm used to paying for top-of-the-line Brownings. Battery life using Energizer lithiums appears to be almost as good as the Brownings, and I suspect I could run the A60s for 6 months on a single set of batteries, even though I'm collecting all video (which eats batteries much faster than still images).
Cons
* Interface - I found the in-camera menu a bit clunky, but fairly straight forward. Not much of a learning curve. However, I also found the cameras don't like SD Cards that were not formatted in the camera itself. The units will usually say a card can't be read and must be formatted internal to the camera before it can use/read it.
* internal viewing screen - similar to all other trail-cameras that have the entire front of the unit (including the camera) as part of the front door, when you open the unit, the camera swings around with the door. This means that when setting up a camera, you cannot check the exact alignment without closing the front door (where you can no longer see the viewing screen). This is a major hassle when setting up a camera in a new location. To check the camera's exact alignment you have to turn it on, shut the door, wait until it's ready to trigger, trigger the camera, turn it off, remove the SD Card, and put the SD Card in a reader/viewer to see how the camera is aligned. I MUCH prefer cameras where the camera is NOT part of the front door, so when the door is open during set-up you can see through the internal viewer how you have it aligned.
* triggers - and this is a biggy, but I absolutely know these units miss triggers, and possibly a fair number of them. I know of multiple situations where a person walked in front of the camera or drove an ATV in front of one of the cameras and they did not trigger. I watched deer walk in front of the camera - just 20 feet away at a slow pace - and the cameras did not trigger. For the life of me, I can't find a common situation that causes missed triggers. I still get a lot of videos from these units, but I've witnessed them missing triggers. How much are they missing? I have no idea (but I'll try testing them against a Browning strapped to the same tree), but looking at weekly video counts compared to Brownings in similar set-ups, I would suspect these cameras are missing between 15 and 20% of potential triggers.
Conclusions
Due to the missed triggers, I've been debating whether I will still use them. The answer is, I probably will. In fact, I will probably buy two more of them. However, I will limit these cameras to the locations where they really shine - pointed across large openings, especially food plots. These locations - wide open spaces with very high deer activity - are where these cameras work best. Their extremely long trigger distance and night illumination make them ideal for these locations. And in the highest deer traffic areas of a property, missing 15-20% of triggers may not be a huge detriment. However, I will not be using them in the most critical of locations, such as on traditional scrapes, where missing a trigger might be extremely detrimental to the accuracy of a census.
