Motion activated wildlife cams.

Any recommendations for a motion activated wildlife cam that capture bird activity?  looked online and there are a bewildering amount of choices.  I live 3 floors up and will be placing a feeding tary on my balcony.

Cheers.

  • I have 2 TOGUARD Upgraded Wildlife Camera WiFi Bluetooth 20MP 1296P Hunting Trail Camera with 120° Monitoring Angle with Motion Activated Night Infrared Vision Waterproof Outdoor Scouting Game Cameras which are amazing They are now £80 on amazon but I paid £60 in flash sale. If you want to see the videos, check out my youtube channel although the videos are mainly hedgehogs and mice. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.


    studio.youtube.com/.../upload

  • Many thanks. That looks just what I'm after.

    What is the battery life like with this cam?

    Cheers.

    Rich.
  • It says not to use rechargeable batteries but I do and it works fine. I would say I get 3 full days and hundreds of 3 min clips from a set of rechargeable batteries. My old camera was going through normal AA batteries at 8 a night but these new cameras are much better. I have 3 sets of rechargeable batteries so always have a set on charge. I have no idea why they say don't use rechargeable apart from the fact that when they are full, the camera tells me they are only at 85% - I recharge them at 20% but as I said that's hundreds of 3 min clips. You can get cheaper cameras of the same quality but this one has wifi so you can position it on your phone. You can also watch it live but it doesn't record if you are watching it live.
  • Rich I would go for rechargeable batteries, my old Bushnell uses 6 AA batteries but modern ones may use fewer.
  • Forgot to mention that you can do clips, stills or both and if the batteries get too low it diverts to taking stills only but that's never happened to me.
  • Hi Tony,

    My new cameras take 8 AA, so I think rechargeable is the way to go
  • Are there mains adaptors you can buy for this cam?
  • It's normally recommended to use Lithium batteries with trail cameras - they last longer and are less affected by the ambient temperature (but are expensive to purchase). Rechargeables have a lower voltage than normal batteries (typically 1.2v each rather than 1.5v) which is why they're not recommended (you're under-powering the circuitry).
    Several days' use from a set of batteries is pretty poor - I have a Browning trail camera where a set of Lithiums lasted more than 6 months (before the camera developed a fault!) and this is the sort of performance I'd expect (though the Browning is a standalone product, anything using Wifi will chew up batteries). It's probably worth looking at Naturespy or some other specialist trailcam suppliers for inspiration. They were certainly responsive in replacing my faulty camera a few months ago (always a good sign if a company is helpful when you have problems).
    If you're after a camera to watch feeders live, you'd probably be better off with a CCTV setup, hooked into a recorder and/or TV. A trailcam triggering constantly will give you potentially hundreds of video clips to sort through every day, which can quickly become a real chore. Easier to have one, longer recording you can fast forward through, clipping out any sections you want to keep.
    If you do go down the trailcam route and you're going to use it on your balcony, I'd definitely get one that can be externally powered, it will save you a lot of batteries & hassle in the long run
  • Correct WJ, 1.2 ver 1.5, I have two but they are down south and when i do manage to get down there I will be setting them up but if they are away from home I will connect an external rechargeable battery that has the correct voltage and will last a lot longer but this all depend on how large a card you can use in them not looked this up but will do when I am down there.