4K Outdoor Trail Camera Camo with Battery IP66

Great economical camera with just one tiny flaw...

I purchased this camera to monitor my property against human intruders. As I have no access to wifi or power on my property, stealth and a self-contained design are of the utmost importance in my application. The camera design is stealthy with a camouflage khaki pattern allowing it to blend into tbe background from a distance but this pattern is printed only on the front surface. The sides and back are black. For complete stealth against humans it would need to be further camouflaged with foliage or other coverings. It comes supplied with a screw-in mounting, a strap for tying to poles or trees and it can also happily sit unsupported on a flat surface. In addition to the strap slots, there are two holes that enable securing of the unit with rope or wire. It is easy to open and seems like it will last for some time although the manual does warn it is best not to position it in full sunlight so it remains to be seen how it will fare as far as UV resilience is concerned. The camera is moderately easy to set up and there is an instruction manual in the box and available online. I could not find a website for NEXTECH themselves, which is disappointing, but Jaycar does have great after sales support so I'm not too worried. There are a wide variety of features including still photo, time lapse and video recording. For security you can set an optional PIN code. To keep your prank-pulling mates or kids out, it will probably do the job but will be of limited use if the unit is stolen, since there is no wifi or other means of locating it. The PIN simply renders the unit useless to the thief. Just remember that when turning the unit on, you must enter the PIN code (if enabled) before it will function. Video can be recorded directly from the setup menu as well as normal operations and can be played back on the integrated colour screen. This could be useful for identifying the footage captured, e.g. identifying the location and other details or even for use with a clapboard if editing it into social media videos or documentary work. The video length when triggered by the motion detection PIR can be set from 10 seconds to 3 minutes long. Video quality can be adjusted from 740P up to 4K to extend capacity of the card or to increase the quality. There is a USB-C connection (cable supplied) which allows reviewing, saving and deletion of data from the camera to a computer without having to remove the card, which is very handy, and the files are AVI format, suitable for Windows Media Player and almost all other players. The camera is powered by 8 x AA batteries and can also be plugged in to run from an external weather-protected plug, being 6 volt 2 amp DC supply (not included). The camera can video in greyscale at night via a bank of infrared LEDs and this is the only issue I can see with the unit. The IR LEDs glow with a steady pale red light at night when the unit is triggered in video mode. While this is unlikely to disturb wildlife, it could give away the location of the camera to a human intruder. I see this as a significant risk factor when using it for security so I have deducted one star. I have not been able to find a way to turn off the IR function or the IR LEDs. This means that nighttime theft or vandalism is a risk even for anyone wanting it purely for daytime security in locations where there might be people skulking around at night. All in all, as a wilflife camera it seems a nice solid unit and fairly stress-free to learn. As a security camera, it needs to be carefully positioned and may need further camouflaging so as not to give away its location to intruders or passersby.

Good, well priced trail camera

I bought this about 2 months ago to monitor pests inside a warehouse. I was wary of how well it would work, as I had used a similar camera about 10 years ago, and it was bad on batteries and died, but this has been really good so far. I still have 4 bars of battery life and it has recorded approximately 400 events. I have a photo and 10 seconds of video setting. The only issue I have noticed is that there must be a couple of seconds delay from detecting movement and starting to record, as I have quite a few videos and photos of nothing. But this is covering a close up area where a mouse could come and go past the camera very quickly. But image quality is good for this purpose, I am planning on buying a couple more.

Good game camera

It works well, the photos are clear, and it was easy to set up. It has been through several significant winter storms with gale force winds, driven rain, and sub zero temperatures with no issues. It has confirmed suspicions that there was a feral cat and other pests and the photos suggest where to place a cage trap.

Id go for the next one up..

Brought 1 month ago, not covert leds i can clearly see them, chews through batterys on video capture 1080p,even photos , im using about 8 heavy duty everready batterys every 1 to 2 weeks which is silly... and thats photo mode