GardePro A3 Wildlife Camera 24MP 1080P Trail Camera
GardePro A3 Wildlife Camera 24MP 1080P Trail Camera with H.264 Video 100ft Infrared Night Vision 0.1S Motion Activated Waterproof Cam for Garden Camera Trap and Outdoor Nature Wildlife Scouting
Technical Details
Capture Mode
Photo, Video, Photo then Video
Photo Quality
24MP, 16MP, 8MP, 4MP. Photo Burst: 1~5
Video Quality
1920×1080@30fps, 1080×720@30fps. Video Length: 3sec ~ 5min
Night Vision
36pcs high-performance 940nm infrared LEDs(without red spots). Range up to 100ft.
Motion Activated
3 motion sensors. 120° detection angle (central 60°, left side 30°, right side 30°). Both side motions are designed to detect motions then pre-activate the camera for faster detection speed. The cam takes pictures only when objects enter into the view of central sensor. Detection distance range up to 82ft.
2.31″ Color Screen; 6 x Operation Buttons; 1 x Power Switch; 1 x Mini USB Port; 1 x Regular SD Card Slot;, 1 x External Power Source Jack (12A/1A; 4.0×1.7mm plug); Tripod Base on the bottom (1/4-20).
Setup Requirements
8 AA 1.5V lithium or alkaline batteries (Not included), standard size class10 SD card (Not included, max capacity 128GB). Notes: Format your SD card in the camera before first use. Recommend using lithium batteries in cold weather. Rechargeable batteries are not recommended due to their low voltage. Recommend using lithium batteries in the cold weather to get the best performance.
Optical Lens
Large aperture f/1.6. Field of view: moderate 63 degrees, makes distant objects appear magnified.
Operation Temperature
-4~140°F / -20~60°C. IP66 Waterproof.
Operation Time
Programmable 00:00 – 23:59.
Info Strip
Date, Time, Moon Phase, Temperature
Time Lapse
Supported. Time-lapse Interval: 2sec ~ 24hour
Box Includes
1 x Trail Camera, 1 x Mounting Strap (6ft length x 1in width), 1 x Mini-USB Cord, 1 x Instruction Manual
Product Dimension
6.1 x 4.4 x 3.0 inches (highest x widest x thickest)
Notes
Recommend using high quality class10 SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card. The memory card itself might cause operation issues, once the camera operations look unexpected, please format SD card in your camera and try again.
Easy to follow instructions and easy to use. Great photos and videos from it. I’m using it to monitor my rescue hedgehogs and so far I’m happy with what I’m getting from it.
Definitely recommend
This camera is one of several we have had and this is proving to be the best so far. The videos are clear and the sound sensor picks up the foxes crunching their dog biscuits, the fountain tinkling, aeroplanes, owls in the distance, etc. etc. Very pleased pleased overall.
I use this to monitor garden wildlife but it has a secondary use as a well camouflaged security camera. Of course, it’s not a real time camera but better than nothing. Images are sharp, battery life is good (using rechargeable batteries). Recommended.
Nice camera, with excellent user interface.
The wide angle lens makes things small . Ours is set just 6 feet from the bird feeder. But picture quality is excellent. No complaints at all for the low price.
I am a 70yr old lady with a wildlife garden. This is the 2nd trail camera I have bought. I gave up with the first one because it was too complicated.
I decided to try again because I thought I had a badger! This camera is easy to use and takes excellent pictures and videos.
Not seen a badger but lots of small mammals, it picks up their eyes clearly in the dark, foxes , birds and local cats.
Downloads easily on apple and analogue, sound quality is also excellent.
I would recommend.
Purchased one, and within a matter of days, purchased a second – really quick and easy to set up – placed around 3ft up a tree, angled downward slightly and voila – one of the traps captured a fox, and it also captured another fox muscling in.
Might have to tweak the settings as the photos are just slightly blurry at night, but dawn pics are great. More than happy to recommend and will be ordering another couple in the not so distant future. Using with 128gb cards sdhx class 10 (Sandisk)
I wanted a replacement for my ‘Apecam’ which served me very well. In comparison the Gardepro A3 is larger & more robust with longer battery life. The videos are less memory size to the Apecam. I use the camera to record the wildlife in my garden at night especially the hedgehogs that I daily leave food for.
A very easy camera to set up and use, picture quality is good especially at night, video is nice and clear. Two main problems with the design:
(1) The battery compartment takes 8 AA batteries but the +ve end goes into a small depression which makes it VERY hard to get the batteries out unless you pull from the -ve end, which catches on the spring and risks damaging the contacts.
(2) The tripod attachment is on the battery compartment side not the lens side. The camera opens like a book, so once the camera is on the tripod you can’t open it to see exactly what the camera is seeing as the lens part swings away. You have to guess at the positioning, do a test photo, open it and check the photo, then rinse and repeat until you get it right. If the tripod attachment point was on the CAMERA half, you could swing the back open and set the camera up so much more easily.
Apart from that, it’s got decent battery life (one set of normal duracell AA’s lasted two weeks of motion detection video capture for 8 hours every night).
Works well. Have changed the batteries once or twice in 7 months, so ignore that grumblers about that – just make sure they’re decent quality. Pictures have been great. Could always be better, but hey, it’s quite cheap and it’s easy to use. I’m not broadcasting on Springwatch or anything. Very happy with it. Would recommend a tripod rather than the silly strap thing that they show it being attached to a tree with. Will blow over in a wind though.
I bought one of these cameras around 3 months ago and was fairly impressed with both the image and sound quality of the recordings. We regularly feed hedgehogs and foxes and have been successfully treating some foxes with Mange. The cameras enable us to see if the foxes are eating the prepared food and the state of them. None of the foxes are approachable and we only get them visiting in the early house so any other form of treatment is unrealistic.
The 2nd camera was bought to cover a separate area of the garden which was previously out of camera shot. I set the camera up just prior to a period of 4 weeks away overseas with work. Was very disappointed to return to all the video imagery pretty unwatchable, with loud distortion on the audio. Returning the camera for a refund so top marks for Amazon customer service as I’m out of the 30 day return window. Now considering buying the same type again and hope I was just unlucky, or throw the dice on another type. A shame because if I was rating the first one, it would have been 5 stars.
Please excuse the pile of crap at the top of the images. Currently building a garage and getting ready for a tip run.
I’ve had a couple of this type of camera before, so I can tell that the performance of this GardePro A3 is much better than the others I’ve had. In addition, being able to select when it switches on and off is really useful.
However, I’d like to ask the numpty who designed the case why he made it so that you’ve got to unplug the 12v power input to be able to open the case to retrieve the SD card? Oh, and when you unplug it you lose all the user settings. Also, why use a 4mm power socket when many easily available 12v power supplies use the more common 5.5mm plug?
I used one of my many redundant internet router power supplies I have to power it, which I’ve fitted with a 4mm plug (easily obtainable from a well-known auction site). Also, I’ve had to fit some rechargeable batteries to back up the settings every time I unplug the power lead to remove the SD card, thanks to the lack of thought at the design stage. How easy it would have been for the designers to allow the power supply to recharge the batteries, but no, that was too hard apparently.
Despite these glaring design errors, the camera produces excellent quality stills and video which still makes it worth 4 stars. Edit – I’ve now cut a slot in the case (see photo) which allows me to open the case without having to unplug the power cable. It works great.
An excellent camera let down by poor design choices
Easy to use good quality images when you have mastered navigating round the settings.
Good night time pics .we make excellent security camera but I use it for nature pictures.
Not had a similar camera before so I would say ideal starter kit.
We have hedgehogs in our garden and we love to get the camera in in the morning to see what they’ve been up to it’s a great night vision camera good camera quality I just wished it carried on if they’re still there! Like once the 50 second (which is maximum time clip) finishes it doesn’t start again so you miss stuff and have to wait until next lot come along. But all in all this camera does a great job very easy to attach literally anywhere and we’re thinking about getting another one for the other side of the garde
I own 6 of these GardePro A3 trail cameras & I have found them to be very reliable. For security, I left two of my GardePro A3 cameras unattended at my holiday home in Brittany, France. They were left there over winter & were still working when I returned 7 months later. They had recorded lots of wildlife & a few trespassers too! My other GardePro A3 cameras I use for garden wildlife & home security & they have also worked very well.
The video & picture quality is very good &, just as importantly, the sound. I own several other brands of trail camera & most of them are not very reliable if left unattended for more than a few months. They tend to suffer from water ingress (which can drain the batteries), loss of time/date & very low sound levels. My GardePro A3 cameras do not seem to suffer from these problems.
I upload all of the videos & pictures from my trail cameras to YouTube & I have a playlists for my GardePro A3 cameras & other brands.
A fantastic community of animals, living in our back garden, revealed by this superb device. Every morning, I retrieve the memory card with about 50*10 second video clips. Some at night, some during the day all are crystal clear and fascinating. After 4 weeks, the batteries still show full. Excellent device has totally exceeded my expectations.
That camera overall seems good. The item was suppose to come with a USB cable but it didn’t so haven’t been able to explore this, just a booklet which is good.
Bought this camera to replace a failing unit from a competitor. Was a little apprehensive after some of the reviews, but very pleased. The failing unit tended to burn out in the centre of the picture and fall off rapidly towards the edges. This has a very good spread of light as can be seen on the attached video. Daytime quality is also very good. The camera is silent in operation unlike the unit it replaced which recorded the shutter operating sound. I am using rechargeable batteries which have now been in the camera for about 10 days with a recording schedule from 21:45 through to 05:30 and capturing between 30 and 80 clips per night. 3 PIR sensors allow the camera to prepare for the object before it gets to centre picture and a quick recovery time means you don’t miss much action. Very happy with it.
Still early days for this camera as I have only had it for a month, but the results to date are good. Easy to set up and play back videos on my laptop. Picture quality both day and night is excellent and the sound is also good. Had an Apeman previously and it packed up after two months and Apman wont replace it so stay well clear of them.
I left it in the woods about month and I set it up on the Standard settings, it took over 4,600 pictures in that time. There probably ways to set it up to reduced number but if you want to just set it and get it out there then fair enough.
I would say that the screen inside the camera is small (it has to be) so when you bring it back my advice would be to put it on your main computer and go through it. So you can see in more detail.
I’ve only tried it once out there hoping to do it again soon. Just Gotta be lucky where you put the camera.
Having purchased a cheaper brand that failed within two weeks we have been using two of these for the last three months with excellent results. The menu is straightfoward, but you need to carefully consider what settings you prefer and it can be a bit trial and error. The main purpose of our cameras is to see what our various hedgehog visitors get up to and we have some amazing clips. The camera can be a bit battery hungry (depending on activity) so rechargeables are recommended.
A very easy to use camera for a first time user. Clear easy to use instructions. Batteries last a long while (if they are not cheap ones).
SD card easy to format.
Strap is a little shorter than expected but still good enough for tying to a post or smaller tree trunk.
Picture is clear although if subject is being nosey (like the birds in my garden) and gets within a foot of the camera, the picture is a little out of focus.
Sensors pick up movement from a good distance. Works well from a window as no distortion caused by window pane.
Easy to download from SD card.
If you’ve had a trail camera before then this is possibly not for you. The view is only 60deg, it does not have auto focus or Wi-Fi access.
This wildlife camera really works well. Good quality images and videos. I’m using rechargeable batteries with 10 sec videos and 3 burst images with operating hours 8pm to 8am and I check it every 3 days – plenty of battery life every time.
What could be improved? Not that much. Perhaps two strap attachment positions instead of one, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity would possibly make it easier, but it does exactly what it says it will.
This is one of the most user friendly pieces of technical equipment I’ve come across in terms of setting up and operating. Used for discovering wildlife after dark in the garden it certainly performs very well indeed.
I have five cameras that are a bit dated now as they record in .AVI format. I decided to upgrade to MP4 format and chose this camera as it seemed good value for money and did just that. I was pleasantly surprised at the improvement in the clarity and quality of the video recording both day and night mode.
Buy with confidence.
Very simple to set up as it follows a logical process.
The quality of the pictures both day and night is incredible – especially for the price.
I can’t comment on the battery life as I’ve only just starting using it.
Excellent daytime still images and video footage. Night video and still images quality is poor.
Good battery life. Sadly dissapointed the item was returned.
Set up the card and camera and ready to go. Easy to follow instructions. Definitely waterproof. This hedghog video was captured on first attempt. Very pleased with this purchase.
This is a very good, value for money, garden video camera. It is easy to operate and gives a good nighttime picture.
One very important point is the after-sales service. I had this camera for about six months when it let water in. Within a week of contacting the company I had received a replacement camera. This to me is very good service and reassuring that if anything goes wrong, someone is listening.
I bought two of these to track wildlife on my partner’s farm. Easy to set up. Clear instructions included. Day and night videos are clear. It has detected creatures ranging from deer to mouse. Very good battery life-two weeks near continuous working and battery indicator still reads full.
This is very well built and extremely sturdy. It stood up to someone giving it a kicking. It is very easy to set up and the instructions are clear and well written. The pictures have a tendency to be over-exposed but they are acceptable and I am very pleased with the camera.
I wanted to find out who or what was emptying a bird feeder each night, and thanks to this I have some very clear pics of a badger. The minimum focus is about 3metres which is fine for large animals but not so good for small ones. (closeup lens are available and work well). Battery life can be extended by using an external battery. The camera has the ability to go up to 32mp so a good sized sd card is advised I got over 30 minutes of video on a 32gig card at 16mp. Remember to reset the time and date after you change the batteries as it goes to a default setting. Update, I set the camera up to record 30 second video clips using a motorcycle battery as power source, I got 957 video clips for a total of 29.7gb so about 7/8 hours recording on a 32 gig card.
I bought this camera for security to cover my driveway and garage. I’ve had the camera in operation for 4 days now and after a few positioning and settings tweaks I’m very impressed with the camera. It’s relatively easy to set up and the night and day photos and videos are good quality. I am currently using Duracell batteries and after 4 days of 24/7 operation the battery indicator shows them as still on full.
I was super impressed at first and got some lovely videos of my resident hedgehogs. One thing to note is that you need to double check the time before you set the switch to on, as I have had a few times when I have found the date and time has reverted to the original setting. (It was my fault, but you do need to set the time and then each time you replace batteries, you need to reset the menu. (I used rechargeable batteries and to be honest Im very impressed considering the camera was very cold. They have not needed charging after a week’s use.)
I did have an issue in my second week when it rained and then it was freezing cold. the camera leaked in water and the lens and sensors were fogged up and so I had to return it as this shouldn’t have happened. I liked the camera though and found it easy to use, so i have risked a second purchase (sadly 11 more than my original purchase though) So far so good.
Im very pleased with it , even though i had the water issue and fingers crossed that i continue to love it. Seeing my resident hogs each morning is a joy.
Decent images though not up to the quality of my Browning camera. If you are going to use rechargeable batteries, which by the way are not recommended I have found that Panasonic eneloop pro batteries last a few nights taking about 10 videos at 1080 resolution. For the money, you can’t really go wrong with this purchase.
I love this gadget as I am an avid explorer of what my garden life is upto and friends gardens. Even the wormery cops it!
Love the different settings and where it can be easily attached.
Great pictures night or day. The definitions are impressive, even at longer distances. State of the art at affordable prices. I will buy another soon. I don’t like instructions very much but found these ok and after a few hours and first attempts, understood how to use it. It was easy then.
Great trail camera. Best to format SD Card in a PC or Mac before ‘formatting’ in camera so as to avoid the odd error. Very reliable trail camera. Good results. Seems waterproof as specified.
I use these cameras for videoing wildlife in my garden, mainly in the dark of foxes and hedgehogs. This camera does an adequate job, although the sounds leaves a lot to be desired – as it is on a lot of these cameras (sadly).
I have tried quite a lot of these cameras and had to send most of them back due to the simple fact they did not work properly. This one however, does a good job and I am happy with it.
We’ve been feeding hedgehogs with proper hedgehog food and discovered they had set up home in our shed. We made some little rooms for them out of boxes and left the camera overnight. The next day we saw lots of activity, comings and goings and hedgehogs eating the food we’d provided and entering and exiting the little box houses. As hedgehogs are in danger of extinction, this is lovely to see.
This is a great nature camera, well made, easy to set up and take great photos and videos
I have been using nature cameras just in our garden for a while now and it is surprising what sort of animals and creatures you have visit’s through out the night,
We live on a main road right next too a round about, with heavy lorries going past through out the night, but still get a mixture of animals
The main one is a couple of cats that seem too be out all night
Then we have a lovely looking female fox, but unfortunately haven’t captured it on this camera yet , a little bit shy at the moment
The thing I am mostly trying too capture again is the quite large Otter that paid us a visit late one evening
but have only captured it on our other camera and I can’t submit a second video
This is a must, go and put a camera in your garden and you will be surprised what visitors you have popping round at night
First class product, in fact I am going to order another one too replace my older one , then I can have one in the front and one in the back
This is an update of our garden visitors, having been very impressed with the A3 camera I have invested in an other one as I was very impressed with the shutter speed
The motion detector is very sensitive and quickly takes a photo after being activated and if you have the settings set for camera and video like we have the camera then take’s a video straight away for the length of time you have set it for ( 30/60 sec ) or more,
We set the new camera up in our front garden and on the first night our little elusive fox appeared, and it looked like she was not alone as could just see another pair of eyes in the bushes, so could be a mate or cub will have to wait and see ( quite exciting) living on a main road,
We all so have a pond in our back garden and have had a regular visit from a heron so I’m going to set the other A3 camera up to get him on this video, haven’t seen him this year yet but he will appear at some time as he likes our goldfish
I find putting camera’s out in the garden very interesting and think you should all have one
A little more expensive than others available but worth the extra because of the ability to understand the menus that are in plane English and not pidgin English us the quality of the screen is much better than cheaper knock offs.
This is a great garden camera, it’s substantial and feels robust, easy to set up.
If I am being picky I would like a battery life indicator on the strap line across the bottom of the pictures and videos, the information here tells me everything else I need to know, time of day, temperature, but not how much life there is left in the batteries.
Otherwise, so far, all is good. Picture quality in daylight is superb, haven’t had time to assess night time use.
I’m still playing around with the settings to increase the amount of wildlife captured rather than grasses and branches moving…
All in all, a good camera.
I purchased this camera to see what was digging up my front garden. I thought is was a badger but turned out to be a fox. The pictures were clear and the video worked well. The set up was easy to do.
Very happy with product . It is not suitable for rechargeable 1.2v nihm as they will not last long.( Not enough voltage) . I bought from Batterystation 8 Doublepow aa 1.5 battery’s. and they last for 3 weeks
24 hours a day.
Easy to use camera for capturing wildlife day or night. Our one has an annoying buzzing noise at the start of each video clip but the video and photo quality is good enough.
Very pleased with this camera and amazed that the picture quality is so good on both still & video, day or night. Very easy to use and brilliant range of photo options.
Only problem is that it is not easy to switch the camera on. The slide switch off/on/set is quite small and it is difficult to stop it in the middle especially when the camera is in position.
Apart from that it is excellent value and is highly recommended.
Only had this for 2 days but already captured great videos of our garden at night. Product easy to set up. Rained hard for last two nights and product was waterproof. Bring it indoors, wipe off rain and no evidence of water ingress. I switch this on at dusk and off at daybreak, batteries seems to last well so far. After only 2 day’s use, I would recommend.
There’s plenty of other decent quality reviews here, so I won’t repeat them. I’ve been using this for a few days, and here’s the things I’ve noted:
– battery life is good (Amazon basics rechargeable)
– I had to use one Eneloops battery in the bottom-most position, since the Amazon basics “button” end was too low profile to reliably make a connection
– menus are straightforward
– waterproofing is good, and the case is strong
– I used a 64Gb integral ultima SDXC card without problems
– focusing is set at infinity. This unfortunately means that objects closer than about 2m blur. So this camera is not good for close-up work (see in my video where I was trying to get birds at a feeder close by: you can see the pigeons are crystal clear, there’s a touch of blurring on the central feeder about 1.8m away, and leaves are really blurry)
– image and video quality is okay: like a modest camera phone rather than a dSLR
– IR is powerful at night for quite a distance
I’ve had this for a little over two weeks now to photograph the wildlife in my garden and am certainly pleased with it.
Sadly the wildlife in my garden appears to be limited to a couple of squabbling hedgehogs and a cat’s bum (it seems to delight on mooning my camera), and I’m stull hoping for a fox (aren’t we all) but it has been a pleasant insight into nocturnal wildlife activities in suburbia.
Technically it is sensitive enough and the video (especially the night footage in IR) is clear and of good quality. The camera is easily dazzled by motion sensitive security lights though, so if possible site the camera away from them (or expect a few shots that look like fog), but that is a fault of modern gardens and not the camera.
Overall I’m certainly glad that I purchased it and recommend it for anyone looking to do a bit of amateur Springwatch (other nature programmes are available……but they are seldom as good 😉 ).
A very sold and waterproof camera which is easy to use due to its excellent menu system. I have used it in my garden for 4 days now and I am pleased with the resulting images and video. On the first night I discovered it had recorded a Woodcock, a bird I have never seen before, feasting on worms and bugs on our lawn before it was unfortunately disturbed by a local cat – the IR video quality was very good.
Daytime images are crisp and clear and although I am still experimenting with this camera I think it is a great piece of kit and I am currently enjoying this purchase.
Pros – solid build, strong locking clips, decent colour screen and intuitive interface, good qulaity sound and picture
Cons
night film length limited to 30 seconds. This is NOT mentioned in the spec on the product page, so take note. I complained to Amazon, as limiting night film to 30 seconds is not something I would expect. Day film can be 5 mins length.
Batteries cannot be removed without a screwdriver or similar – once they are in place, you can’t get them out with fingers alone.
Cannot use rechargables – even a fully charged set of Amazon rechargable batteries will not even power the camera up. So expect to rip thorugh the alkaine bateries OR buy an external 12v power supply.
We have used this device now for a couple of weeks and obtained some excellent results both day and night.
However there are some shortfalls in its overall design, usability and performance you might want to consider.
We consider this camera as its relatively simple to operate, gets good results, that we are able to live with its faults and it is good enough for the ad-hoc surveillance that we require.
We are quoting performance from our ‘in the field’ actual results.
We were using a new camera, a new set of rechargable batteries and a new 32Gb class 10 SD card. We set up for instant (0 seconds) motion high sensitivity detection with 5 minute recording of 1080p MP4 video with audio and side motion sensors on.
We know rechargeables are not recommended by the seller but they have worked well so far and, considering the performance of them so far, we are glad we decided to use them on estimated cost alone. We think that non-rechargables even with better performance would have a cost/benefit we would not like.
We estimate that a fully charged set of new ‘Energizer’ rechargable batteries last only about 7 maybe 8 hours continuous recording based on results below.
Performance:
In high traffic areas such as bird feeders the camera needs daily recharges to continue working.
A 75% discharge of the battery set occured after 6:40 minutes worth of video (80 movie files of 5 Minutes) of our bird feeder area. External power would be an obvious choice for operations here but there are issues with that, see below. this consumed 15Gb of SD card space.
In low traffic areas the batteries lasted about 4 days at 50% battery discharge with little video recorded (30 minutes in day and night modes).
The dection delay was set to 0 seconds, but there is a definate delay in starting after motion detection well after start/setup delay has expired. Maybe 0 does not mean instant.
At ~ 2 am an animal set it off and just appeared at the movie start well within the camera center view, this was a slow moving aniimal and we estimate that it could not have traversed the detection zone distance to center of view in less than 5 seconds but may heve been longer.
We think that no other factors could have been the cause of the delay, as there was an empty class 10 video card and a fresh set of recharged batteries.
Night vision is really much better than we had expected. The IR is quite bright and you can see about 60 yards quite clearly.
Motion detection sensitivity was very good as it detected (daytime) a squirel climbing a tree 40 yards away.
Water resistance is very good, we are in a very cold and wet location. The camera handles these well. the movie is not badly affected by water drops on the lens either. We cannot comment on heat and UV over time, the case plastic used leaves questions unanswered on that score, but I have no information on which to make a judgement but in this respect all cameras of this type will probably fare about the same.
The side motion detection sensors are also good and picked up a fox close to the camera coming into view low from the left, and later a squirel in the hedgerow to the near right.
Usability:
Taking out the batteries resets the internal clock and you must reset date and time each time you reload batteries (if you intend to time stamp the video). Other non-dynamic settings such as camera name do not get lost. UPDATE: Changing batterries quickly with a pre-charged sest avoids losing clock time!
The provided strap works well and is enough to go around most trees, but forget large trunks like ancient oaks unless you have something else at hand.
You need to open the door to start the camera and then close and seal it.
Having to switch on and off whilst the camera door is open is a nuisance.
Please see about external power below.
Design:
Overall a pretty good solid and reliable device. Hving thought about it so far we think the following;
The external power port is accessed through the bottom of the case and into a socket in the door section that swings open. Any power plug inserted will prevent the door opening, or closing if fitted whilst open.
So starting up whilst under external power ONLY (without batteries) is not possible.
The size of the socket is an (to us) odd size and an adapter was needed to use it. Luckily we have one.
To power it externally at all, you need usable batteries loaded and ready, Switch to ON, then close the door, then fit the external power plug. The reverse actions are needed to stop the camera. We have not tried this in the field yet and dont know for sure if it powers from external rather than battery.
It would have been a better design decision to place the power socket in the battery section instead of the door and feed power though a common or duel set of wires to the camera section in the door. Thus allowing the door to open and close without disconnection of external power.
The location of the external power socket is too near the camera mounting point of our tripod mount to allow both to be used. So in our case its either, use the mount and battery only, or, use strap and external power or battery.
A lack of battery backup for the clock is a nuisance as it means every time you charge the batteries you have to take longer and longer to set the clock from its default of 2020-01-01 00:00. We think you may be able to save having to do this by connecting external power when the door is opened and before removing the batteries for replacement/recharge.
Easy to follow instructions and easy to use. Great photos and videos from it. I’m using it to monitor my rescue hedgehogs and so far I’m happy with what I’m getting from it.
Definitely recommend
This camera is one of several we have had and this is proving to be the best so far. The videos are clear and the sound sensor picks up the foxes crunching their dog biscuits, the fountain tinkling, aeroplanes, owls in the distance, etc. etc. Very pleased pleased overall.
I use this to monitor garden wildlife but it has a secondary use as a well camouflaged security camera. Of course, it’s not a real time camera but better than nothing. Images are sharp, battery life is good (using rechargeable batteries). Recommended.
Nice camera, with excellent user interface.
The wide angle lens makes things small . Ours is set just 6 feet from the bird feeder. But picture quality is excellent. No complaints at all for the low price.
I decided to try again because I thought I had a badger! This camera is easy to use and takes excellent pictures and videos.
Not seen a badger but lots of small mammals, it picks up their eyes clearly in the dark, foxes , birds and local cats.
Downloads easily on apple and analogue, sound quality is also excellent.
I would recommend.
Purchased one, and within a matter of days, purchased a second – really quick and easy to set up – placed around 3ft up a tree, angled downward slightly and voila – one of the traps captured a fox, and it also captured another fox muscling in.
Might have to tweak the settings as the photos are just slightly blurry at night, but dawn pics are great. More than happy to recommend and will be ordering another couple in the not so distant future. Using with 128gb cards sdhx class 10 (Sandisk)
I wanted a replacement for my ‘Apecam’ which served me very well. In comparison the Gardepro A3 is larger & more robust with longer battery life. The videos are less memory size to the Apecam. I use the camera to record the wildlife in my garden at night especially the hedgehogs that I daily leave food for.
(1) The battery compartment takes 8 AA batteries but the +ve end goes into a small depression which makes it VERY hard to get the batteries out unless you pull from the -ve end, which catches on the spring and risks damaging the contacts.
(2) The tripod attachment is on the battery compartment side not the lens side. The camera opens like a book, so once the camera is on the tripod you can’t open it to see exactly what the camera is seeing as the lens part swings away. You have to guess at the positioning, do a test photo, open it and check the photo, then rinse and repeat until you get it right. If the tripod attachment point was on the CAMERA half, you could swing the back open and set the camera up so much more easily.
Apart from that, it’s got decent battery life (one set of normal duracell AA’s lasted two weeks of motion detection video capture for 8 hours every night).
Works well. Have changed the batteries once or twice in 7 months, so ignore that grumblers about that – just make sure they’re decent quality. Pictures have been great. Could always be better, but hey, it’s quite cheap and it’s easy to use. I’m not broadcasting on Springwatch or anything. Very happy with it. Would recommend a tripod rather than the silly strap thing that they show it being attached to a tree with. Will blow over in a wind though.
First trail camera I have bought trial and error at the mome
I bought one of these cameras around 3 months ago and was fairly impressed with both the image and sound quality of the recordings. We regularly feed hedgehogs and foxes and have been successfully treating some foxes with Mange. The cameras enable us to see if the foxes are eating the prepared food and the state of them. None of the foxes are approachable and we only get them visiting in the early house so any other form of treatment is unrealistic.
The 2nd camera was bought to cover a separate area of the garden which was previously out of camera shot. I set the camera up just prior to a period of 4 weeks away overseas with work. Was very disappointed to return to all the video imagery pretty unwatchable, with loud distortion on the audio. Returning the camera for a refund so top marks for Amazon customer service as I’m out of the 30 day return window. Now considering buying the same type again and hope I was just unlucky, or throw the dice on another type. A shame because if I was rating the first one, it would have been 5 stars.
Please excuse the pile of crap at the top of the images. Currently building a garage and getting ready for a tip run.
However, I’d like to ask the numpty who designed the case why he made it so that you’ve got to unplug the 12v power input to be able to open the case to retrieve the SD card? Oh, and when you unplug it you lose all the user settings. Also, why use a 4mm power socket when many easily available 12v power supplies use the more common 5.5mm plug?
I used one of my many redundant internet router power supplies I have to power it, which I’ve fitted with a 4mm plug (easily obtainable from a well-known auction site). Also, I’ve had to fit some rechargeable batteries to back up the settings every time I unplug the power lead to remove the SD card, thanks to the lack of thought at the design stage. How easy it would have been for the designers to allow the power supply to recharge the batteries, but no, that was too hard apparently.
Despite these glaring design errors, the camera produces excellent quality stills and video which still makes it worth 4 stars. Edit – I’ve now cut a slot in the case (see photo) which allows me to open the case without having to unplug the power cable. It works great.
Easy to use good quality images when you have mastered navigating round the settings.
Good night time pics .we make excellent security camera but I use it for nature pictures.
Not had a similar camera before so I would say ideal starter kit.
The video & picture quality is very good &, just as importantly, the sound. I own several other brands of trail camera & most of them are not very reliable if left unattended for more than a few months. They tend to suffer from water ingress (which can drain the batteries), loss of time/date & very low sound levels. My GardePro A3 cameras do not seem to suffer from these problems.
I upload all of the videos & pictures from my trail cameras to YouTube & I have a playlists for my GardePro A3 cameras & other brands.
Mike Fairma
Great camera for the price, we’re really enjoying capturing visiting wildlife. Video and picture quality is good.
A fantastic community of animals, living in our back garden, revealed by this superb device. Every morning, I retrieve the memory card with about 50*10 second video clips. Some at night, some during the day all are crystal clear and fascinating. After 4 weeks, the batteries still show full. Excellent device has totally exceeded my expectations.
That camera overall seems good. The item was suppose to come with a USB cable but it didn’t so haven’t been able to explore this, just a booklet which is good.
Regards amg
Still early days for this camera as I have only had it for a month, but the results to date are good. Easy to set up and play back videos on my laptop. Picture quality both day and night is excellent and the sound is also good. Had an Apeman previously and it packed up after two months and Apman wont replace it so stay well clear of them.
I use this in the garden at night to watch my hedgehogs and foxes feeding.
I left it in the woods about month and I set it up on the Standard settings, it took over 4,600 pictures in that time. There probably ways to set it up to reduced number but if you want to just set it and get it out there then fair enough.
I would say that the screen inside the camera is small (it has to be) so when you bring it back my advice would be to put it on your main computer and go through it. So you can see in more detail.
I’ve only tried it once out there hoping to do it again soon. Just Gotta be lucky where you put the camera.
Having purchased a cheaper brand that failed within two weeks we have been using two of these for the last three months with excellent results. The menu is straightfoward, but you need to carefully consider what settings you prefer and it can be a bit trial and error. The main purpose of our cameras is to see what our various hedgehog visitors get up to and we have some amazing clips. The camera can be a bit battery hungry (depending on activity) so rechargeables are recommended.
Love this camera easy to use and picture quality is brilliant.
A very easy to use camera for a first time user. Clear easy to use instructions. Batteries last a long while (if they are not cheap ones).
SD card easy to format.
Strap is a little shorter than expected but still good enough for tying to a post or smaller tree trunk.
Picture is clear although if subject is being nosey (like the birds in my garden) and gets within a foot of the camera, the picture is a little out of focus.
Sensors pick up movement from a good distance. Works well from a window as no distortion caused by window pane.
Easy to download from SD card.
If you’ve had a trail camera before then this is possibly not for you. The view is only 60deg, it does not have auto focus or Wi-Fi access.
I look after and care for sick or injured hedgehogs which I release in the garden when back to full health,I use the camera to monitor their progress.
For the money it’s pretty good really. You’d have to spend alot more money before any really noticeable improvements with other makes.
This wildlife camera really works well. Good quality images and videos. I’m using rechargeable batteries with 10 sec videos and 3 burst images with operating hours 8pm to 8am and I check it every 3 days – plenty of battery life every time.
What could be improved? Not that much. Perhaps two strap attachment positions instead of one, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity would possibly make it easier, but it does exactly what it says it will.
This is one of the most user friendly pieces of technical equipment I’ve come across in terms of setting up and operating. Used for discovering wildlife after dark in the garden it certainly performs very well indeed.
I didn’t realise how much the garden becomes a nature reserve at night. Great quality images and videos. Camera is easy to set up and use.
I have five cameras that are a bit dated now as they record in .AVI format. I decided to upgrade to MP4 format and chose this camera as it seemed good value for money and did just that. I was pleasantly surprised at the improvement in the clarity and quality of the video recording both day and night mode.
Buy with confidence.
We had something destroying our lawn at night and this product sited the culprit. Battery life exceptional.
Very simple to set up as it follows a logical process.
The quality of the pictures both day and night is incredible – especially for the price.
I can’t comment on the battery life as I’ve only just starting using it.
Excellent daytime still images and video footage. Night video and still images quality is poor.
Good battery life. Sadly dissapointed the item was returned.
Set up the card and camera and ready to go. Easy to follow instructions. Definitely waterproof. This hedghog video was captured on first attempt. Very pleased with this purchase.
Took time to out how to get a good quality picture
This is a very good, value for money, garden video camera. It is easy to operate and gives a good nighttime picture.
One very important point is the after-sales service. I had this camera for about six months when it let water in. Within a week of contacting the company I had received a replacement camera. This to me is very good service and reassuring that if anything goes wrong, someone is listening.
I bought two of these to track wildlife on my partner’s farm. Easy to set up. Clear instructions included. Day and night videos are clear. It has detected creatures ranging from deer to mouse. Very good battery life-two weeks near continuous working and battery indicator still reads full.
This is very well built and extremely sturdy. It stood up to someone giving it a kicking. It is very easy to set up and the instructions are clear and well written. The pictures have a tendency to be over-exposed but they are acceptable and I am very pleased with the camera.
I wanted to find out who or what was emptying a bird feeder each night, and thanks to this I have some very clear pics of a badger. The minimum focus is about 3metres which is fine for large animals but not so good for small ones. (closeup lens are available and work well). Battery life can be extended by using an external battery. The camera has the ability to go up to 32mp so a good sized sd card is advised I got over 30 minutes of video on a 32gig card at 16mp. Remember to reset the time and date after you change the batteries as it goes to a default setting. Update, I set the camera up to record 30 second video clips using a motorcycle battery as power source, I got 957 video clips for a total of 29.7gb so about 7/8 hours recording on a 32 gig card.
I was super impressed at first and got some lovely videos of my resident hedgehogs. One thing to note is that you need to double check the time before you set the switch to on, as I have had a few times when I have found the date and time has reverted to the original setting. (It was my fault, but you do need to set the time and then each time you replace batteries, you need to reset the menu. (I used rechargeable batteries and to be honest Im very impressed considering the camera was very cold. They have not needed charging after a week’s use.)
I did have an issue in my second week when it rained and then it was freezing cold. the camera leaked in water and the lens and sensors were fogged up and so I had to return it as this shouldn’t have happened. I liked the camera though and found it easy to use, so i have risked a second purchase (sadly 11 more than my original purchase though) So far so good.
Im very pleased with it , even though i had the water issue and fingers crossed that i continue to love it. Seeing my resident hogs each morning is a joy.
Bought as a gift for daughters new home. It has given her great pleasure. The picture quality is amazing.
Decent images though not up to the quality of my Browning camera. If you are going to use rechargeable batteries, which by the way are not recommended I have found that Panasonic eneloop pro batteries last a few nights taking about 10 videos at 1080 resolution. For the money, you can’t really go wrong with this purchase.
I love this gadget as I am an avid explorer of what my garden life is upto and friends gardens. Even the wormery cops it!
Love the different settings and where it can be easily attached.
Clear pictures easy to set up, good value, very pleased with item.
Great pictures night or day. The definitions are impressive, even at longer distances. State of the art at affordable prices. I will buy another soon. I don’t like instructions very much but found these ok and after a few hours and first attempts, understood how to use it. It was easy then.
Met expectations, good quality pictures, day or night. Very easy to use.
Easy to operate and already excellent videos of visitors to our garden.
A shorter focal distance would be good, we are using it to capture wildlife in the garden.
Used in the garden only, not perfect but good picture quality
Great trail camera. Best to format SD Card in a PC or Mac before ‘formatting’ in camera so as to avoid the odd error. Very reliable trail camera. Good results. Seems waterproof as specified.
I use these cameras for videoing wildlife in my garden, mainly in the dark of foxes and hedgehogs. This camera does an adequate job, although the sounds leaves a lot to be desired – as it is on a lot of these cameras (sadly).
I have tried quite a lot of these cameras and had to send most of them back due to the simple fact they did not work properly. This one however, does a good job and I am happy with it.
This is a great nature camera, well made, easy to set up and take great photos and videos
I have been using nature cameras just in our garden for a while now and it is surprising what sort of animals and creatures you have visit’s through out the night,
We live on a main road right next too a round about, with heavy lorries going past through out the night, but still get a mixture of animals
The main one is a couple of cats that seem too be out all night
Then we have a lovely looking female fox, but unfortunately haven’t captured it on this camera yet , a little bit shy at the moment
The thing I am mostly trying too capture again is the quite large Otter that paid us a visit late one evening
but have only captured it on our other camera and I can’t submit a second video
This is a must, go and put a camera in your garden and you will be surprised what visitors you have popping round at night
First class product, in fact I am going to order another one too replace my older one , then I can have one in the front and one in the back
This is an update of our garden visitors, having been very impressed with the A3 camera I have invested in an other one as I was very impressed with the shutter speed
The motion detector is very sensitive and quickly takes a photo after being activated and if you have the settings set for camera and video like we have the camera then take’s a video straight away for the length of time you have set it for ( 30/60 sec ) or more,
We set the new camera up in our front garden and on the first night our little elusive fox appeared, and it looked like she was not alone as could just see another pair of eyes in the bushes, so could be a mate or cub will have to wait and see ( quite exciting) living on a main road,
We all so have a pond in our back garden and have had a regular visit from a heron so I’m going to set the other A3 camera up to get him on this video, haven’t seen him this year yet but he will appear at some time as he likes our goldfish
I find putting camera’s out in the garden very interesting and think you should all have one
I hope you found this review helpful
Easy to set up, sturdy and easy to use, this camera has added delight this Christmas to our viewing of wildlife in and at the back of our garden.
A little more expensive than others available but worth the extra because of the ability to understand the menus that are in plane English and not pidgin English us the quality of the screen is much better than cheaper knock offs.
This is a great garden camera, it’s substantial and feels robust, easy to set up.
If I am being picky I would like a battery life indicator on the strap line across the bottom of the pictures and videos, the information here tells me everything else I need to know, time of day, temperature, but not how much life there is left in the batteries.
Otherwise, so far, all is good. Picture quality in daylight is superb, haven’t had time to assess night time use.
I’m still playing around with the settings to increase the amount of wildlife captured rather than grasses and branches moving…
All in all, a good camera.
Superb quality. Takes seconds to set up. Results are extremely good.
Simplicity combined with quality results.
I purchased this camera to see what was digging up my front garden. I thought is was a badger but turned out to be a fox. The pictures were clear and the video worked well. The set up was easy to do.
Solid build easy to use does what I wanted it to do good value for money.
Very happy with product . It is not suitable for rechargeable 1.2v nihm as they will not last long.( Not enough voltage) . I bought from Batterystation 8 Doublepow aa 1.5 battery’s. and they last for 3 weeks
24 hours a day.
Very good , does what i wanted, easy to use and gives good results
This is a nice bit of kit feels substantial and straightforward to use and setup
Nothing. I have used it to monitor wildlife in the garden.
Easy to use camera for capturing wildlife day or night. Our one has an annoying buzzing noise at the start of each video clip but the video and photo quality is good enough.
Very pleased with this camera and amazed that the picture quality is so good on both still & video, day or night. Very easy to use and brilliant range of photo options.
Only problem is that it is not easy to switch the camera on. The slide switch off/on/set is quite small and it is difficult to stop it in the middle especially when the camera is in position.
Apart from that it is excellent value and is highly recommended.
Only had this for 2 days but already captured great videos of our garden at night. Product easy to set up. Rained hard for last two nights and product was waterproof. Bring it indoors, wipe off rain and no evidence of water ingress. I switch this on at dusk and off at daybreak, batteries seems to last well so far. After only 2 day’s use, I would recommend.
There’s plenty of other decent quality reviews here, so I won’t repeat them. I’ve been using this for a few days, and here’s the things I’ve noted:
– battery life is good (Amazon basics rechargeable)
– I had to use one Eneloops battery in the bottom-most position, since the Amazon basics “button” end was too low profile to reliably make a connection
– menus are straightforward
– waterproofing is good, and the case is strong
– I used a 64Gb integral ultima SDXC card without problems
– focusing is set at infinity. This unfortunately means that objects closer than about 2m blur. So this camera is not good for close-up work (see in my video where I was trying to get birds at a feeder close by: you can see the pigeons are crystal clear, there’s a touch of blurring on the central feeder about 1.8m away, and leaves are really blurry)
– image and video quality is okay: like a modest camera phone rather than a dSLR
– IR is powerful at night for quite a distance
Firs wildlife camera I have brought, found it easy to set up and use, had some really good pictures and videos sofa, good first camera
Sadly the wildlife in my garden appears to be limited to a couple of squabbling hedgehogs and a cat’s bum (it seems to delight on mooning my camera), and I’m stull hoping for a fox (aren’t we all) but it has been a pleasant insight into nocturnal wildlife activities in suburbia.
Technically it is sensitive enough and the video (especially the night footage in IR) is clear and of good quality. The camera is easily dazzled by motion sensitive security lights though, so if possible site the camera away from them (or expect a few shots that look like fog), but that is a fault of modern gardens and not the camera.
Overall I’m certainly glad that I purchased it and recommend it for anyone looking to do a bit of amateur Springwatch (other nature programmes are available……but they are seldom as good 😉 ).
A very sold and waterproof camera which is easy to use due to its excellent menu system. I have used it in my garden for 4 days now and I am pleased with the resulting images and video. On the first night I discovered it had recorded a Woodcock, a bird I have never seen before, feasting on worms and bugs on our lawn before it was unfortunately disturbed by a local cat – the IR video quality was very good.
Daytime images are crisp and clear and although I am still experimenting with this camera I think it is a great piece of kit and I am currently enjoying this purchase.
Cons
night film length limited to 30 seconds. This is NOT mentioned in the spec on the product page, so take note. I complained to Amazon, as limiting night film to 30 seconds is not something I would expect. Day film can be 5 mins length.
Batteries cannot be removed without a screwdriver or similar – once they are in place, you can’t get them out with fingers alone.
Cannot use rechargables – even a fully charged set of Amazon rechargable batteries will not even power the camera up. So expect to rip thorugh the alkaine bateries OR buy an external 12v power supply.
Easy to use – sensor picks up every visit and photos videos good quality
However there are some shortfalls in its overall design, usability and performance you might want to consider.
We consider this camera as its relatively simple to operate, gets good results, that we are able to live with its faults and it is good enough for the ad-hoc surveillance that we require.
We are quoting performance from our ‘in the field’ actual results.
We were using a new camera, a new set of rechargable batteries and a new 32Gb class 10 SD card. We set up for instant (0 seconds) motion high sensitivity detection with 5 minute recording of 1080p MP4 video with audio and side motion sensors on.
We know rechargeables are not recommended by the seller but they have worked well so far and, considering the performance of them so far, we are glad we decided to use them on estimated cost alone. We think that non-rechargables even with better performance would have a cost/benefit we would not like.
We estimate that a fully charged set of new ‘Energizer’ rechargable batteries last only about 7 maybe 8 hours continuous recording based on results below.
Performance:
In high traffic areas such as bird feeders the camera needs daily recharges to continue working.
A 75% discharge of the battery set occured after 6:40 minutes worth of video (80 movie files of 5 Minutes) of our bird feeder area. External power would be an obvious choice for operations here but there are issues with that, see below. this consumed 15Gb of SD card space.
In low traffic areas the batteries lasted about 4 days at 50% battery discharge with little video recorded (30 minutes in day and night modes).
The dection delay was set to 0 seconds, but there is a definate delay in starting after motion detection well after start/setup delay has expired. Maybe 0 does not mean instant.
At ~ 2 am an animal set it off and just appeared at the movie start well within the camera center view, this was a slow moving aniimal and we estimate that it could not have traversed the detection zone distance to center of view in less than 5 seconds but may heve been longer.
We think that no other factors could have been the cause of the delay, as there was an empty class 10 video card and a fresh set of recharged batteries.
Night vision is really much better than we had expected. The IR is quite bright and you can see about 60 yards quite clearly.
Motion detection sensitivity was very good as it detected (daytime) a squirel climbing a tree 40 yards away.
Water resistance is very good, we are in a very cold and wet location. The camera handles these well. the movie is not badly affected by water drops on the lens either. We cannot comment on heat and UV over time, the case plastic used leaves questions unanswered on that score, but I have no information on which to make a judgement but in this respect all cameras of this type will probably fare about the same.
The side motion detection sensors are also good and picked up a fox close to the camera coming into view low from the left, and later a squirel in the hedgerow to the near right.
Usability:
Taking out the batteries resets the internal clock and you must reset date and time each time you reload batteries (if you intend to time stamp the video). Other non-dynamic settings such as camera name do not get lost. UPDATE: Changing batterries quickly with a pre-charged sest avoids losing clock time!
The provided strap works well and is enough to go around most trees, but forget large trunks like ancient oaks unless you have something else at hand.
You need to open the door to start the camera and then close and seal it.
Having to switch on and off whilst the camera door is open is a nuisance.
Please see about external power below.
Design:
Overall a pretty good solid and reliable device. Hving thought about it so far we think the following;
The external power port is accessed through the bottom of the case and into a socket in the door section that swings open. Any power plug inserted will prevent the door opening, or closing if fitted whilst open.
So starting up whilst under external power ONLY (without batteries) is not possible.
The size of the socket is an (to us) odd size and an adapter was needed to use it. Luckily we have one.
To power it externally at all, you need usable batteries loaded and ready, Switch to ON, then close the door, then fit the external power plug. The reverse actions are needed to stop the camera. We have not tried this in the field yet and dont know for sure if it powers from external rather than battery.
It would have been a better design decision to place the power socket in the battery section instead of the door and feed power though a common or duel set of wires to the camera section in the door. Thus allowing the door to open and close without disconnection of external power.
The location of the external power socket is too near the camera mounting point of our tripod mount to allow both to be used. So in our case its either, use the mount and battery only, or, use strap and external power or battery.
A lack of battery backup for the clock is a nuisance as it means every time you charge the batteries you have to take longer and longer to set the clock from its default of 2020-01-01 00:00. We think you may be able to save having to do this by connecting external power when the door is opened and before removing the batteries for replacement/recharge.