Cheap Trail cam
Printed From: Kiwi Airgunners
Category: Technical
Forum Name: Reviews
Forum Description: Rate your airgun or pellets here
URL: www.kiwiairgunners.co.nz/forum_posts.asp?TID=1274
Printed Date: 22 Jan 2026 at 6:15am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 10.14 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Cheap Trail cam
Posted By: -Ec
Subject: Cheap Trail cam
Date Posted: 17 Oct 2025 at 10:50am
I recently purchased this trail cam on Temu for $35. The camera requires 8x AA batteries and a micro SD card or up to 32GB before it can be used. Initially I was not too impressed with the performance at night with the out of the box settings. Both videos and still pictures were very grainy and difficult to see much detail. I did try setting up a solar powered motion detecting spotlight which worked quite well. However I have now found that reducing the resolution on videos or stills to 1280x720 works quite well. Below is an example of a night picture at this setting. I don't seem to be able to upload videos but the clarity is very similar.  Both pictures and videos in daylight are good at this resolution. The device has a USB port which makes it simple to download to a PC, tablet or phone. There is a small LCD screen on the device that enables viewing captured images/pictures directly. There is a reasonable range of settings for both video and still pictures. The manual is quite basic so I'm still testing some settings to get a full understanding of what these cameras are able to do. The batteries seem to last 10-14 days using the camera for around 8-10 hours a night. There are some settings that may improve this. With the the maximum 32gb microSD card I would expect you would run out of power before you would run out of storage. The camera seams to be reasonably weather proof - it has stood up way better than the solar security light I had which died after the first decent overnight rain. Overall I am happy with this trail cam, in fact I have now purchased a second one. ------------- Regards -Ec |
Replies:
Posted By: Pauly5
Date Posted: 18 Oct 2025 at 8:38am
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Thanks Ec, I have often wondered how good the cheaper ones were. I had bought a more expensive one for work a few years ago and I was never very impressed with the battery perfermance and then it just died anyway. So that's quite a reasonable price. I use them to see what's happening in peoples ceilings or under their houses.
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Posted By: -Ec
Date Posted: 18 Oct 2025 at 9:25am
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I got my first one beginning of September and the 2nd around two weeks later - so have not had them long but now that I have the settings sorted I'm pretty happy with them. I'm using some rechargeable AA batteries I already had in the first one. I was using some cheap alkaline batteries in the 2nd but when they needed changing yesterday I went out and got rechargeable for it. I use them for seeing what is moving around the property at night. They come with a strap to attach them to trees/fence posts but as they also have a screw thread on the bottom I have put an old security camera mount on a post in next to the chickens feeder and use a mini tripod for the other so I can use it in different locations. Last night I tried the 2nd in a new location and had a possum come right up to it and knock it over! Really keen to set them both down by stream that runs through the farm next door as I know there are quite a few deer down there. ------------- Regards -Ec |
Posted By: -Ec
Date Posted: 26 Oct 2025 at 12:01am
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Here are a couple of videos from one of these cameras I placed a camera under the trees on our boundary fence line and this is what happened https://youtu.be/HGWygGm2Ous I have camera mount set up next to the chook food dispencer ... https://youtu.be/_15FBTEFUqE ------------- Regards -Ec |
Posted By: RangerPete
Date Posted: 26 Oct 2025 at 9:04am
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I have an old bushnell that I've had for years. it takes decent photos and videos, certainly good enough to show you whats going on out there when your not looking. I live in town, so I use mine to monitor all the stray cats that come through my garden, so far I have identified 7. Wouldnt mind getting a few of the cheep ones you have tried! What do you think this cat was doing...???  ------------- Walk quietly, but carry a big stick. |
Posted By: kruzaroad
Date Posted: 26 Oct 2025 at 9:16am
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Having a spiritual awaking by the way the tail glows lol -Ec is the camera set too different pixel rates? The difference between clarity of close and distance is rather bombastic. Distance photo is clear too. |
Posted By: -Ec
Date Posted: 26 Oct 2025 at 1:25pm
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Kruza, Both the videos and still photos are using 1280x720 Still photos can go upto 4840x3486 and video to 1920x1080. Haven't tried Stills at any other resolution but videos in the dark at the max are too grainy. Haven't tried lower resolutions for either as I'm happy with the results I'm getting FWIW below is a video of a magpie in early morning https://youtu.be/xVYvFXR1m8Q ------------- Regards -Ec |