I own a couple of these little cameras and I plan to buy more.
pros: Small, great day and night pictures, easy to set up, they work out of the box, nice price.
Cons: No burst mode (one picture per trigger),not the best trigger time in the market, battery life is ok but could be better(last from 1000-1200 pictures or a couple of months).
I have owned alot different cameras and this one is the best I have used.
All around its a great camera for the money.
Wildgame Innovations 6.0 Mega Pixel Digital Game Scouting Camera With Infrared Flash and Realtree CamoI got this camera for use in our outbuildings to see what was getting into the junk we had stored out there. It worked excellently. The IR night pictures are clear and sharp, and easy to download. I found I could take my netbook out and download the pictures through the port in the bottom without disturbing the camera.
The product does exactly what it says it would
This is my first trail cam so I have nothing to campare it to but......It seems to be a little slow on the trigger at times. I get quite a few pictures with nothing in them but the grass and trees. I tried the video mode and that is amazing. Uses a little more battery than stills but that is to be expected. Overall I am happy with the purcahse.
NOTE: This cameras provided software works only on Microsoft Windows Platforms. Software is not compatible with Linix or Macintosh operating systems. Image files created on SD media cards in JPEG format can be read by most any computer / card reader.
The camera comes in a non-resealable, clear, blister pack container ( making hard to return if necessary) that's kinda tough to open. You have to cut your way in with a knife. Be careful not to cut the USB cable, bungies or to scratch the CD.
At first glance this camera was smaller than I expected. I was surprised, but pleased with its' compact size. It's about the size of a box of baking soda. The camera is painted in a matte surface, greenish, nature camo scheme, making it unobtrusive in the wild. It feels very solid when handling. A CD with computer "drivers", 2 small bungies and a USB connector cable is included in the package along with a printed basic instruction manual. Warranty states 1 year coverage. You must register the camera with a postcard.
The unit hinges on the left side with a full length hinge and snaps closed with a large, single plastic snap type clip. This clip is somewhat un-handy when the unit is mounted on a tree. In order to release it, the camera must be lifted up some to get at it.
The camera body is sealed around the outer edges by a rather small (thin) O ring seal that looks barely up to the task. A bit of Vaseline or ArmorAll on it might be a good idea.
Upon opening, the left side holds the camera mechanism and LCD controls. The right side is the battery chamber for the required 8 - AA type batteries. I used Duracells in mine. Putting in the batteries is a no-brainer. There is a short, rather delicate looking wire at the top connecting the battery power to the camera. I could see that breaking off pretty easily... be careful.
The camera controls are displayed in a smallish LCD screen about 2 1/4" x 2 1/2 inches. The various controls are displayed in extremely TINY characters. If you have problems seeing tiny type or small images you may have a problem here. Break out the reading glasses! There is NO image review function.
The controls are straight forward. It's pretty simple to program the various functions. RTM
One thing I don't like about this camera is the 30 second minimum delay between still images. I suppose this was programmed to prevent duplicate photos from being taken and to save memory card space, but I would rather that there were more options and the user was left to select the delay desired.
My preference would be to have a 5 or 10 second delay available. Thirty seconds delay may be fine on a feed plot, feeder or an area with a controlled lure or bait, but on a trail it is too long. An animal or person or whatever can move an awfully long distance in 30 seconds. Just try walking for a full 30 seconds ... see how far you get.
The sensor seems very good at picking up movement or IR signatures. Even small animals like birds or squirrels will trip the camera. It's the long delay between exposures that prevents the camera from achieving its' potential. Yes, a shorter delay may result in many more "junk" or duplicate photos, but it could also result in many more "good" photos too. To have success with this camera you must point it in line with the anticipated line of travel to allow the trigger and 30 second delay time to shoot more than one image. If placed where game pass mostly across the lens you will get very few good photos. Probably heads & butts.
A part of all this is the capacity of the card you use and how often you check your cam. My card holds 2500 images and I check the cam weekly. I alternate memory cards with each visit and really don't care how many images I throw away. I only care about how many good ones I get! I'll gladly delete 80 marginal photos to get one really good one.
The camera does not have a lens hood. You must be careful to position it with the sun in back for daylight use to avoid "washouts" at low sun angles, as well as possible lens flare. Positioning the unit with a slight "tilt down" will also help prevent exposure problems. In daylight, including too much sky in the scene can throw off the exposure system and cause underexposure of your target animal (dark pictures). You could also fabricate a type of lens shade for it if necessary.
The supplied bungies are adequate for attachment to a tree or fence post but obviously they provide no security. The attachment points on the camera are quite small. If security is a an issue ... you'll probably have to invest in locking cables and a security box of some type.
CAMERA IN USE
The fixed focus lens seems to focus best at about 10 feet to infinity. Mount it solidly. Full resololution stills open in Photoshop at 17 megabytes.
My first tests were in my basement with the lights on. With the camera set to 30 second delay, it had no problem sensing me and my movements and recording images to the card. Images were reasonably sharp but sort of grainy looking ... not surprised. These 6MP images were nowhere near the same image quality of my traditional 6MP digital still camera, so don't get your "quality" hopes up too high. This is no Canon or Nikon. I've seen 3MP still cameras that took pictures as good. This is NOT a high end camera imaging sensor and .. hey ... it's only a hundred bucks, So let's not be too critical.
The next test was in the snowy outdoors in cold, bright daylight at my bird feeder. The camera easily recorded me walking away, some birds flitting about and a squirrel or two. Nothing remarkable. All the snow on the ground caused a bit of image washout in the really bright areas. These snowy images were, at best, mediocre. The camera seems designed to capture "mid tone" colors best (makes sense). Greens, tans, brown and natural colors seem to record normally. Bright snow scenes are a bit more difficult for this cam to record well.
Next it went out to the hedgerow, affixed to a tree, where deer are known to pass and stop regularly. I have a salt lick nearby. The camera was set on 30 second delay for night sensing, IR exposure only. That first rainy night it took seven images. Considering the rainy weather, they were OK.
Several days later a little band of about 8 doe came to the camera. In this session the camera made 43 images. There are several of these images in the customer images section so you can see the night IR image quality you can expect from this camera. Properly set up, both the still and the video images are very good at night. On fresh batteries the IR flash is good for 25 feet or so. As the batteries wear down, the flash intensity also goes down. Cold will affect your batteries and results.
I've included a daylight test image of me at the camera and a few of the camera itself. I'll post some additional images as the weather get better and I can experiment more with it.
If you need a camera with "burst" mode or short shooting intervals, look elsewhere .. or use the video function. Count on spending more money for it.
The memory card was easy to read on my ASUS computer. No problem.
So far, I like it. Every time I visit the camera, it's a bit like opening a surprise package. You never know what you are going to get!
When the weather warms and large game become more active, I will have some better sample images.
Update: 02/23/11
My standard fresh Duracells are not giving very long life in the cold ... 50 to 60 stills and about 130 movies so far and they are about shot. The weather has been mostly 10-30 degrees at night and up to 60 degrees in the two weeks of use. On a cold night (20s) after the 5th or 6th movie, I can see the intensity of the IR light going down some.
GOOD BATTERIES ARE VERY IMPORTANT for good results! My next battery set will be these: Energizer AA Ultimate Photo Lithium Battery 24 Battery Bundle. Called e2 batteries. Claims are for 8 times the standard battery life and they are less affected by cold weather. Amazon reviewers had many good comments about them. Search it.
Camera is functioning well. So far I am pleased with the both the stills and movies.
My video samples may be seen on (YouTube). Search "WGI - X6c Trail Cam".
UPDATE: 5/16/2011
Camera is still working well. The lithium batteries worked well but I don't feel represent sufficient value. I'm now using mass purchase standard Duracells. They last pretty well in warmer weather. Make no mistake ... nighttime videos do use up the batteries faster but that setting also gives the best chance of a decent capture. Still frame capture is pretty hit or miss due to the somewhat slow trigger and 30 second delay. It all depends on your site set up. I wish the shot delay was only 15 seconds instead of 30 seconds.
As far as the quality ... I'm fine with it. At under a hundred bucks it's a pretty good value. Take time to read & UNDERSTAND the settings.
At under 100 bucks now, I'd say try it. I'm having fun with mine.
UPDATE: 8/29/2011
After giving it the summer off I replaced the batteries and put it back on site. First night captured over 20 stills of decent quality showing the nice big buck I had seen in daylight!
In my use I've found that it gives the best image if you can get your target from about 15 feet away. This yields a good image size on a deer. Night shots tend to blur easily. Stop them with corn or salt lick and they will be sharp. Battery life is decent in warm weather. A cheap set will give 250 - 300 stills. About 150 videos (in my experience). Cold weather much less.
As far as the six megapixels ...maybe they are there but I have seen 3MP standard still cameras that take better pictures. I think the camera is a decent value at under a hundred bucks. Just don't expect Canon quality from it. - Wildlife Camera - Photography - Trail Cam - Game Camera'
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