Hongc Solar Wildlife Camera 30MP 2.7K(30fps) Rechargeable
Hongc Solar Wildlife Camera 30MP 2.7K(30fps) Rechargeable Trail Camera with 4400mAh Built-in Battery Night Vision 0.1s Trigger Motion Activated IP66 Waterproof for Wildlife Monitoring, Brown [Energy Class A+++]
From the brand
Best Game Camera
| Weight: | 740 g |
| Size: | 1 Count (Pack of 1) |
| Dimensions: | 7.62 x 7.62 x 12.7 cm; 740 Grams |
| Model: | TC09-CL-US |
| Colour: | Brown |
| Pack Quantity: | 1 |
| Batteries Required: | No |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | NEXCAM |
| Dimensions: | 7.62 x 7.62 x 12.7 cm; 740 Grams |
| Quantity: | 1 |
| Size: | 1 Count (Pack of 1) |
The Generic solar wildlife camera is a great device for capturing visitors to your garden or property during the night. The device has high powered IR cells that give it amazing night vision capabilities. The 32MP images are very detailed and the video quality is excellent too.
The device is simple and easy to setup, comes with a 4400mAh built in battery that is of course rechargeable and it has a very fast trigger time so you don’t miss any quick encounters.
Settings are simple and easy to change, built in solar panels help extend battery life and overall a great purchase at a fair price.
The online Support Team quickly identified that an upgrade to the firmware was required, they sent detailed instructions to rectify and my camera is back working perfectly – thank you to Ruby from the Online Support team
Super fast delivery from Amazon as usual. I set up the camera on a stake in the garden to capture some ‘first impressions’. Attached via the supplied swivel mount to a 50 x 50 x 1000 stake using a single screw for easy removal and repositioning. The camera has a standard camera screw socket and mounts onto the swivel via this. It can also attach to a camera , if that is suitable for the terrain and location. Setting up is a breeze, the instructions are pretty clear but I have had this type of cameras before. Be careful setting the video recording length as videos will fill your memory card in no time. Try setting up for single photos to start with until you get the hang of what you can see (and what is actually there to see !).
My first 24 hours of recordings was pretty sparse and was mainly of the local jackdaws at dawn raiding the bird feeder and birdbath !. Following periods have included a squirrel that was fascinated by my water fountain and a flurry of local birds, many of which I had not noticed here before. Sadly I have not managed to capture any real night time prowlers, other than a passing hedgehog !, so will experiment with higher sensitivity (I am using medium at present to avoid recording falling leaves/rain.etc).
It could be, of course that I don’t have any real beasts in my garden ! so will look further afield in the coming weeks. Pleased with the camera performance, ease of set up and clarity of recording (using 1080p).
Excellent solid build solar integrated camera. Impressed with the ease of setup, was ready to be used straight out of the box with minimal settings required for startup.
The camera came with a charging wire, permanent mount, a very long belt strap (useful if mounting on a tree trunk – I did not use this). A 32Gb microSd card was also provided with the camera (was a pleasant surprise – and was very useful to start and use straightaway).
The camera is a good discrete colour, looks, feels solid (not cheap plastic). The camera has three power options solar, integrated chargeable battery as well as space to add 4x AA batteries giving maximal life before recharge. I found this very useful so one does not need to worry about running out of charge quickly. I used the camera without any AA batteries and the battery lasted two days on one single charge. I guess adding 4 AA batteries will substantially increase the time for recording.
The camera is secured in a tough sturdy casing which opens up on the side through two flaps. It has a charging port and microSD port on the bottom. The unit is secured and opens on its side with two clips. It has been excellent waterproof as it rained during my first use of the camera and there was not even a single water drop inside the casing afterwards. I can leave this outside with confidence.
On startup, it has a clear colour screen. The initial setup was quick and easy. It gave options for language, photo size, video size, video length, intervals, options for time lapse, time stamp, time interval and even password setting (please see images attached). There is an option for serial no. setup (I did not use this) which I guess would be useful for multiple camera settings. PIR movement sensitivity was excellent (I set this to high), language, format, clock settings were also very clear and easy to setup. Also there are options in the settings for auto power off, beep sound during buttons press, volume rec, volume play and loop recording. I chose to use the camera + video option. It also has options to use just in the camera or video mode (it states that on low battery it reverts to camera only/non-colour video). Can also choose between 5M and 2M photo and 1080P/720P/WVGA/VGA (video) options. I used the 10 sec video clip, however, can also choose between 11/12/13 sec video clips options also. The 32 Gb provided mSd card showed a space for remaining photos at (my chosen) 5M resolution each. This was good to see how long the card would last further.
Overall the camera is very easy to use and provides excellent coverage for any wildlife/garden enthusiast. Would definitely recommend. I will update on night time recording soon.
On bought with the camera it shows a 32 gb disc
Camera has a micro 32gb disc supplied so why suggest a disc that isn’t needed and does not fit camera I bought the disc a complete waste of money
The picture is very clear and the battery last for a surprisingly long time. I put the camera on the balconi and despite the lack of dailight, I haven’t touched the battery for a week. It’s a bit higher than I expected but easily hidden.
Proof that it was the fox setting my hens calling at 04.30hrs! It was quite fun to know I had captured the moment on camera and to have my suspicions confirmed, especially as I have never had anything like this and often thought it would be useful for just this sort of circumstance.
Depending on the location of the camera and the time of day, the quality of the photos differs, but they are always clear. I shall now try the video mode, but I have set the entire thing to record only at night this time. As always, these gadgets tend to be quite fiddly when your setting them up, so be prepared to spend some time in that endeavour.
The camera requires 6 x AAA batteries, but so far it’s lasted about a week without any problems. The video will more than likely drain the batteries, so I might replace them with rechargeable ones, even though those are never quite as good as normal ones in my experience. Naturally it would be best to have the solar powered version, but as I wasn’t given the option, it’s a moot point.
I have many wildlife cameras as live quite remotely (nice to see what happens when am not around) but have to keep re-charging batteries so thought would try the solar alternative. Battery is about 15% better than just using normal battery power. Easy to set up – less than 10 minutes – from when charged. A great all round camera
Had some initial problems but the vendors have been all over it and a pleasure to deal with
I purchased this trail camera to photograph the wildlife I know visit my garden every night. This is the first such camera I have bought, so didn’t want to spend too much and thought this one was reasonably priced. It took me a while to work out the settings but it wasn’t difficult and I have been very impressed by the quality of photos and videos it has taken. The solar battery works well and the AA backup batteries are not being used. Overall I am very pleased with this product, good value for money and meets my needs.
I’m really pleased with this camera. I was sceptical about the solar panel but it work’s beautiful. I have had it out weeks at a time, capturing video, and every time I return to it, the battery is at 100%! And that has been during some cold spells, and in December/January/February. Image quality is very good for the price and it even records the ambient temperature and moon state which is nice. Only thing is I kind of wish I had opted for Bluetooth or Wi-Fi so I could off load the images easier but that may have impacted battery life. Given I could leave this out indefinitely until the memory card fills up I am very happy!
The camera is weatherproof and robust enough to withstand the outdoor environment for prolonged use. This is essential for many “nature orientated” footage. Indeed, when feeling and inspecting the camera, it does appear to be very well manufactured with a solid hard-plastic external body that looks like it could certainly withstand the elements of the outdoors.
Setting up and using the camera is fairly simple and self-explanatory. There’s not really all that many functions and buttons to work with, and as such, with a bit of exploratory play, you’ll soon get the hang of how the camera operates. To be honest, this is probably better than trying to follow the rather poorly presented instructions that come included.
Despite having a durable construction to the camera shell, it’s nevertheless surprisingly lightweight, and so can easily be strapped to objects or posts etc, without feat of them sagging or it slipping down under its own weight.
The general quality of the footage captured is pretty good if you ask me. The camera is able to pick out a rich range of colours, even in relatively low light. There’s also a good depth to shadows and darker areas, rather than a blanket of dark grey which you can sometimes have from cameras such as this.
The night-vision on the camera is absolutely solid. This is in my opinion the best feature and highlight of the product. The images are great and when played back you can really make out all the details of the animals wondering past, even in the dead of night.
The camera operates with 8x AA batteries. Yes, that’s correct! Eight batteries! Yikes.
All in all I’ve been very happy with the camera. Considering the price, it has been far better than I expected it to be. Especially the excellent night vision!
I made a great choice in buying this. The I already own a different style one from the same brand. This one though, the colour perfectly matches the colour of summerhouse and can be easily mounted on one of the wooden struts on it.
The picture quality is great and captured footage is very clear, even at night. The wildlife camera is well built and seems to be durable and unaffected at all by the harsh whether that we have been getting recently. It is easy to work and getting to the captured footage via the SD is easy and the user interface on the cam itself is user friendly. Very impressed with it overall.
You will need a LOT of batteries. The camera will accept an external power supply if you are taking pictures of cats in the garden, but these cameras are intended to be left in situ, strapped to a tree in the wilderness, for weeks at a time. Every couple of days you are supposed to go round and swap the batteries, leaving the camera set up. An internal rechargeable battery isn’t suitable as you’d have to take down the camera to recharge it.
I simply bought a bulk pack of rechargeable AA batteries from my favourite online shopping website. They work perfectly, and it’s a lot cheaper and less wasteful than buying hundreds of single-use batteries.
You will also need an SD card, and you need to use the full-size type, not small one in an adapter. To keep everything waterproof, the SD card is inserted completely inside the camera, and if you use an adapter you might not be able to get it back out.
I had no problems setting the camera up. The menu is easy enough to use, and the screen is clear. You do need to make sure the date and time is set correctly, because the camera has a timed mode where it only takes pictures between two preset times. This is great if you only want to take pictures at night, but if you haven’t set the internal clock, it doesn’t know when to take the pictures.
With any camera like this you have to remember that it’s taking pictures in almost total darkness, of a moving animal. You will get some motion blur, unless you buy a VERY expensive camera. At 80, this one is quite reasonably priced.
So far I’ve got lots of pictures of cats I don’t own. We used to get a hedgehog but I haven’t seen it for a long time now, so I’m afraid it’s not in any of the pictures.
The camera adjusts very quickly to changes in the ambient light. Where I positioned it for the tests, there’s a security light right above it. Passing cats turn it on and off. The camera can adjust with only a moment of washed-out picture.
I’m impressed with this camera. I’ve got a few different cameras now, and each generation has been better than the last.
I wanted this to see what’s roaming around our garden at night and causing our dogs to bark. I’ve tried a different camera before this with some success, but I like this one better. It’s well put together, waterproof and has decent image quality at night. The motion sensors appears to work well, capturing genuine movement with very few false positives (although this might change depending on location and when the weather gets worse).
It runs from 8 AA batteries, which is OK but an option for USB rechargeable would have been nice. That said, you’d probably have to take the camera inside for a few hours to charge it whereas with replaceable batteries you can just change them and leave it in place to keep working.
The ability to connect to it over WiFi is a nice feature to have available, but in my case not realy necessary. It does work quite well though and I can see how it would be useful if the camera was mounted somewhere inaccessible or if you wanted to view it in real time. For me though I’ll stick to removing the SD card and viewing the footage on my PC.
I have had a few trail cameras but was a bit sceptical about a solar powered one but I must say that I have been nothing but totally impressed, I fully charged it when I had it and have put in ‘back up batteries’ but these have not been used it has been working from the solar part, apart from when I check the images on my computer I haven’t had to recharge it yet. I am very pleased and would highly recommend this trail camera, we have even caught some nice back garden images of the wildlife but I fully intend getting another one before they get too popular and won’t be available, I would like to replace all four of my old battery sucking ones for these, I am so impressed I can’t tell you how easy it is to use and the quality is great, I haven’t even used any of the higher settings just basic. I would be confident to leave this out for a few days and know it would stay charged to get great photo and video captures. Highly recommend.
The camera quality is second to none. The nighttime view is excellent, better than expected. I bought it primarily to find out where the mouse was coming from so I could set the trap. I could see when the mouse got trapped but not how it got there. There was a timing issue somewhere, maybe the settings were wrong. Overall I am happy with the camera. I will attach it to the shed side to watch the birds on the table.
First impression:
The Toguard trail camera looks the part in camouflage plastic, with a number of sensors clustered to the front. There is a locking lug on each side of the body, which should not really be regarded as a security feature for stopping the camera body being opened as they are made of plastic and could be easily broken off. Of much more utility are the larger lugs moulded into the back of the case that could be used to attach a chain to stop an animal making off with the camera. The camera is rated to IP66, which should protect against some rain when outdoors and there is a gasket seal around the clamshell halves as the camera opens on a hinge.
Opening the camera reveals the controls and a small colour screen for setup and also for viewing the images. The battery compartment is also protected in here behind a pull-out cover. I checked the file details and images in daylight were recorded at ISO100 f2 although f4.3 is the maximum. Images are stored as .JPG and movies as .AVI files.
What I liked:
There are a great many settings and the options are quite comprehensive. They are mainly aimed around configuring the camera to cope with the choice of managing memory card capacity and battery life against the quality and number of images and videos taken. It seems and you can set it to take 4 x 20Mp images, at an increased detection frequency plus video, detecting on a wide IR field, or capture a far larger series of images at lower resolution using only one IR sensor. There is an image timestamp option but all images have their creation date in the image header.
The camera sensor size is quite large at 20Mp, although the setup has 5Mp set as default. The IR flash is quite large and so should illuminate a wide field. The documentation quotes 3m to 20m without overexposure.
There are two lugs on the back where a chain or carabiner (not supplied) can be mounted so that an animal could not move or remove the camera out of curiosity. There is also a flat section where a canvas strap can be used to secure the camera to a fence post or tree limb. The canvas strap supplied is just about sufficient for this and is long enough to span a tree trunk and has a locking clasp. The design of the back face facilitates this as the back supports are sculpted and a fence post could fit between them. The camera can be secured to a tree and activated within minutes.
There are two 1/4 ” x 20 photo mounts that can be used to connect the camera to photography equipment such as photo clamps and standoffs. Alternatively obtain a metal stake and attach the camera using a suitable thumbscrew. The choice is yours really, but just be aware that you might need to go to extra effort to obtain the required parts.
There are three sensors to capture movement across a trail, with a centre one and two angled left and right. The camera setup can be configured to take multiple shots as well as video so you can hopefully get the subject in one of them as it passes. The detection angle is documented as 120 degrees. This comprises 30 degrees for each side sensor and 50 degrees for the central one. This means there must be two 5-degree blind spots between the 3 sensors. A little more situation information would be nice such as can this camera be set up to detect activity on a patch of ground or can it only be used for close-in activity? You can adjust the IR sensitivity but what does this actually mean in practical terms? This can all be found out with some experimentation and I recommend having a really good read through the manual.
There is a rubber tab that allows and external power supply to be connected although the connector is not protected from the elements in this mode. The supply could be a battery bank out in the field, with a solar charger, or if you are using this at home then perhaps a mains charger if you have the facility to plug it in. Requirements are 6V @ 2A.
The camera has a pin security feature so that it cannot be easily accessed. This is a 4-digit pin and this also protects the setup menu. This can be a bit inconvenient at times but essential if you are going to leave the camera unattended – but if the camera has been stolen you have lost the camera anyway. It just makes it very inconvenient form whomever took it to use as the pin is alphanumeric and there are over 14 million combinations. The pin is retained when password mode is off so set the pin and experiment with the camera and then set the password to ‘on’ when you are ready to deploy.
The camera has an app that can be downloaded. Whilst I am not a fan of installing yet another app on my phone, it does allow for Bluetooth and WIFI connectivity for viewing the camera contents and some remote control. You can set up the camera a little down trail if you are in a hide and watch for approaching animals to perhaps get a shot with a larger format camera.
When you activate the camera, there is a really neat 5 second countdown that displays on the screen inside if you have the camera open, but also flashes a LED on the front. This lets you clear the detection fields, reducing unnecessary wastage on the memory card.
There are a whole bunch of additional features I really liked such as time lapse for continuous shooting — perhaps you want to take a time lapse of a mushroom sprouting and decaying to turn into a movie, or a complete day from sunrise to sunset. You can also schedule when the camera wakes up to record so you can set the camera to start monitoring when it is scheduled to be dark for nocturnal use.
There is a front LED that activates with blue LED for side detection and red LED for front whilst in test mode, which I actually quite liked. You can do some empirical tests on this but it would have been easy to provide this information and it would greatly aid placement. As it turns out the camera does have a decent range.
There is a USB mini connector inside the case that lets you plug the camera into a computer using the supplied cable. The camera then appears as a storage device and you can go and open the photos or videos and move them to external storage if you wish. The cable is very short but that’s no matter.
The night vision mode is very good with great illumination and detail at 20Mp. The night video is great too at about 2.3Mp per frame. Interestingly, the camera shows some information on a data strip at the bottom edge of the video and this includes the battery state and the ambient temperature, which was accurate enough.
What I didn’t like so much:
The 1/4″ x 20 extension mount provided is quite poor. It has two ball mounts where the balls are simply too small and also too smooth for adequate grip when the plates are tightened. To be fair they are not completely round, which does provide a degree of grip but when tightened to the best of my ability I could still grip the camera and move it. I do have other photo mounting hardware and clamps that can hold the camera a great deal better. Alternatively, just use the supplied strap. It does come with a mounting plate for you to use if positioning permanently.
There is nothing I can find in the instructions about the focal length of the camera, which I assume might be at infinity. I would have liked to see a simple diagram showing sensor cones, IR light cone and field of view and range under different illumination settings. The IR range is 20m.
The SD card capacity is a maximum of 32Mb. This is quite low by modern standards and limits how long you could leave the camera in the field. Extra battery capacity could easily be bolstered by an external battery pack to extend the operational life and a 128Mb card would be far more sensible.
Conclusion:
I am really excited to use this camera to snap some wildlife shots. This might take some time as some animals may need to become accustomed to the presence of the camera before venturing near. There are many different settings and it might take some experimentation to get exactly what you want, but you could just go with what has been set by default and settle with that — except to set the date and time and maybe turn off the date stamp. The manual is reasonably good and everything is easy to comprehend. Although I found a few negatives, nothing would prevent me from purchasing this camera. There are really too many cool features to go into but I am having a lot of fun with this camera and it’s a recommend from me.
The video/picture spec is reasonable, and the imaging is controlled by 3 PIR sensors, and the camera has a good night vision function with a 20m range.
Imaging is then recorded to an SD Card up to 128Gb, not provided. The camera can be set up from inside the box via a screen – which can be used to view content, by a simple arrow key interface.
In the box is a good instruction manual, and also a more permanent mounting kit and a more temporary mounting strap, also a USB lead to allow you to connect to PC or similar.
The camera can also be controlled remotely – this is by the somewhat clunky WiFi hotspot function, where you must connect your phone to the “hotspot” of the camera.
Bluetooth can be used in this process, for a handsfree experience, but it isn’t the means of connection for streaming data etc.
What this does mean is you could mount this camera in a reasonably inaccessible location, and then access the menus and data remotely.
That has some utility, but if you are simply mounting this in a good to get to spot swapping out the memory card might be a quicker way of working, bearing in mind the principle weakness is the battery power, 8 AA batteries, not included, are the main power source – so mounting in a harder to get location will necessitate getting to the camera again to change the batteries in due course.
I haven’t yet run this camera to empty on 8 AA batteries so I don’t know how long it will run.
There is however an auxiliary power in for a hard wired power connection but that needs a 6v power supply – and you’d need to have (or source) an adaptor to hand as one isn’t in the box.
In conclusion for 55 you are getting a IP66 waterproof 20 mega pixel camera that has 1269P video, and night vision, but in addition (ie no provided) you’ll need at least one if not two reasonably size SD cards, and at least one pack of 8 AA batteries, and or a 6v power supply.
So a 5 for batteries, 20 for a couple of SD cards, say 64Gb and 10 for a six volt power supply, plus any extra cable you may need if you are going to wire this to mains power for garden/security use.
You may have in the house some or all of these things already, but either way it’s certainly something worth noting because adding these extras on you are price region of trail cams available here on Amazon that are solar powered, however these are only good if you can catch the sun’s rays.
In conclusion this camera offers a mixture of strengths and weaknesses, with on balance the former outweighing the latter.
I decided to upgrade from my 27 cameras. (Great solar panel saving on expensive batteries). What a difference in picture quality, especially in night time shots…it is amazing …but there is basically no sound……except a lot of hissing….. so if sound is important to you (it is to me!) don’t buy this camera……my search continues. They say it has good sound, but told me the truth, small microphone …basically useless.
Nice and sharp images and videos.
Works just like a outdoor IP wireless camera, and it is kept in a well sealed box.
Tried at the back garden, and got a fox’s doing no 2 and next door cats.
Both holder and strap are included to secure it to the recording spot.
You can access the camera and footage via BT or Wifi, hence you can also do live view if you are within range.
Reasonable price for Prime @ 55, would expect a built in power at this price.
Delivered in its own branded box
Inside the box you get the camera and fixing straps .this cam requires 8 AA batteries not included .
Specs*
Photo Resolution: Up to 20MP Video resolutions: Up to 1296P (1728 x 1296, 30fps)
Detection angle of sensors: center 60, side 30, total 120
IR Flash: 36pcs infrared LEDs (850nm)
Distance of Night Vision: 65FT (20m)
Media Format: AVI / JPEG
Screen: 2.4” color TFT LCD
Waterproof Level: IP66
Video Length: 5-180 seconds
Power Supply: 8 AA batteries (NOT INCLUDED), Supports 6V/1.5A 3.5mm DC Interface
This camera is a 20 MP and records for between 5 and 180 minutes , it’s easy to set up using a mobile phone as it’s completely WiFi . If you read the instructions and follow them you are up and running in minutes .
The picture quality both stills and video is clear . This wildlife camera has an auto change facility that automatically switches it to nightvision when the natural light is too low and a motion detection function that initiates when movement is detected up to 65 feet away .
The price for this camera is reasonable at 54 ok it’s not 4k quality but as a kids trail camera it’s worth it .
With lots of different ways to use this camera makes it truly versatile .
Wrapped up for Xmas
This is perfect as it charges up in the day and works at night. So in theory if you set up the motion detection so it’s not not too sensitive you could have this running for months at a time!