Bushnell Trophy Camera 2010 8 MP 32 count IR red flash digital camera 02-06-2010

07-24-2010 Important notice: This review is good for early release cameras released and shipped prior to May 2010.  Click the following link to get updated info on latest shipping models: 
TrophyCam XLT REVISIT

This camera comes in three versions which are the 119455C brown with 2” view screen, 119445C camo Bone Collector with black and white text LCD, and the 119435C brown with black and white text LCD. For the purpose of this review we will only test this camera as a single review because all cameras have the same specifications with view screen and case color being the only differences. Should a particular sub model have its own issue we will associate the problem to that model only.

The look suggests a very solid small well constructed case with the main obvious difference is the size of the IR array. We do like the brown color which has proved itself hard to see against most backgrounds. The somewhat lighter in color camo appearance of the Bone Collector should work well also. New addition this year is the increased strap loop size to accommodate a Python Cable for security. This would only secure the camera to the tree but the door could still be opened so a small lock would be needed to secure the door to keep the memory card from getting legs. Bushnell now has designed a security box which is offered as an accessory. The case locks up tightly and will keep the weather out. The built in cable loops are high on the back which might prevent a cam cable wrap around type mounting because they are located in the area of the array. The external battery port is the same and requires the plug to be removed to access the inside of the camera. The tri pod insert feature was also carried over to this years models which is a nice feature, and will allow the use of another accessory they call the 119652C deluxe tree bracket. Inside on the 119455C the appearance is basically the same as last year except for the larger view screen. I would like to see the battery compartment marked with battery polarity to solve confusion. The battery installation is briefly discussed in the manual. These are just very good looking cameras.

Inside the box is the camera of course but there is also the strap, USB cable, video cable and instruction manual. I called it a box but it actually comes in a bubble pack this year. This is supposed to allow for close inspection by the buyer prior to purchase. Reading the manual was easy and very understandable.

The camera is the same size as last year (5.5 X 3.5 X 2.5) inch which makes it possible to carry a bunch of these cameras along with a sack full of batteries and cards in a small day pack. About as tall as a coke can these cameras can be hidden in some very small places which take that foreign object in the animal’s environment out of the negative things larger cameras cause.

The larger array to greatly improve flash range and the boost to the SD card size (16 gig)  are two of the main upgrades. The new image processor and larger view screen will aid in the picture quality/viewing area. Security was addressed with the built in cable loops on the back of the camera.

Last year we could only program up to 5 MP but this year the resolution goes from 3, 5, up to an interpolated 8 MP. Video is offered in three settings of 320X240, 640X480, and 720X480 all at 30 fps. With the higher grade flash the picture quality should be much better for the IR night pictures. There appears to be a slight zoom effect in the pictures so the FOV will be a little smaller. Once up and running I decided to check the exact FOV of the PIR vs. the camera. Because of the dim function light, it was very hard to get the exact measurements. I called Anthony and we paired up and had that task done in about an hour. The test distance was at 20 feet and the camera FOV was 15 feet and the PIR sensor FOV was picking up a 17 foot area. This gives a dead zone of about 1 foot on each side of the cameras field of view. Most would feel that that would be acceptable as long as your setup was done with proper aim to your target area. They got slick with us and pulled the EXIF data off so we could not read the camera type this year. With everything lined up I went ahead and programmed the camera with the time/date and selected the functions I needed. All this was very easy to do but don’t forget to hit the OK each time after you make your selection and then menu to exit. Internally there is a new board that is a Keep Time manufacturing’s first. Gone is the Boly Media board from last year but the case is about the same except for the cutout for the larger array and python strap hole on the back.

I started off setting at 8 MP (interpolated 5) and adjusted the delay down to 6 seconds that way I don’t crowd the card during write time. I had to go around several times to get the info strip turned on because I failed to hit the ok prior to advancing to the next selection. Once this old man got hitting ok through his head the programming went very easy. I did a few walk tests and got a bunch of pictures to view and tried the built in viewer and that worked great but I still prefer using a computer and card reader to blow things up where tired old eyes can catch the details. The multi shot 3 worked very well but I returned to the single picture to go ahead with the tests.

Fired up and turned on I went ahead and drowned the cam and pulled it out and toweled of the outside and opened it up and all was dry. The drop tests to the ground (about the same as being knocked of an ATV rack) did not dislodge the batteries or cause any apparent damage. With the cam put in the ready mode I moved it into a light compromising situation to get the filter to move to test the filter clunk noise. Not anywhere near the racket produced by other cams like Stealth and Moultrie tested last year this cam was audible but hard for me to hear at 2 feet. This probably means that most animals would still hear it at a greater distance so your setup needs to be further away 10-20 feet so the ambient noise would cancel this slight clunk out.

Moved on to the flash/sensing range we tested at 45 degrees and found a 60 foot detection range was fairly common. The flash pushed out past 50 feet. Being this has to be done in the dark we managed to pick up the wrong camera and actually did the flash range tests with last years BTC which was discovered once we looked at the pictures and could see the old style information strip at the bottom of the pictures. Out the door again for another round of testing and this time the proper cameras were tested. Just prior to this round of testing we had kept one camera fired up and facing the wall for about 5 hours. This was so we could sneak up on it and test for “sleep mode” which we did not find. The Trigger time is longer that the advertised 1 second but as of now we do not have the official time which will be done tomorrow. We got to the trigger time tests and found they are the same time with and without flash. The results were 1.5 seconds and that’s a full half second slower than the advertised time.

We are paying close attention to picture quality and so far we have some results.

Our 119435 came from a special order I had with Cabelas so we could do our usual comparison tests. We have added a contrast plate to our testing range but this morning I went ahead and did a little informal testing to see what black on white looked like.

At about 20 feet all resolutions still had a degree of fuzz which makes picture quality a possible area of concern since it is advertised as being much better. A zoom in to the black mark on a white background gives us a good measure of the cameras contrast ability and the quality of the lens/sensor capabilities. More testing will be done once we put our purchased cameras on the test range in a field condition. I will know more once we get the other cameras powered up and conduct some side by side testing to insure that we do not have a difference between the factory sample cams vs. open market cams. The new flash is much better than last year’s cam’s headlight. We bickered back and forth but the pictures have finally shown that the 2010 version may be a little better than the 2009 but a slight correction in the 09 removes that slight haze and they are pretty well equal, but the final word is still out until we can get our purchased cams in the comparison maybe this after noon or for sure tomorrow. We have 8 other pre production cameras from other sources that have to be attended to today so as time allows we will get to this and have the important details by tomorrow.

First impressions

With us being in the middle of some history that all started with a small little old camera that everyone loved and migrated through a saga of turmoil both here and over seas. Now that the air has finally seen a calming of the ill winds and the dance partners have gone their separate ways, we are watching everything with some very curious eyes. The part that separated and was divorced from the original parent company is now the KT brand and they are the suppliers of the Bushnell and other brand names. HCO will remain with the BMC parent company which has all the original patents. As we had to do last year with one of the other distributors we have taken a very careful approach to this years review because the situation has changed three times since October of last year. We have plenty of stock to work with but the variables between units had us stopped for a while. I will say that the good people at Bushnell are very much into having the very best product out there and have taken on the task of forcing changes to meet those goals. Last year we witnessed the occasional slip in QC matters and with the help of our reports things managed to get back on the right track and the BTC gained a very good following. The news channels that we have managed to keep open have allowed for us to manage our methods of testing those products and find the hidden slips that for the most part may be missed by the average user. When the gasket stuck and was ripped loose on the first XLT that I opened it instilled me to become that much more inquisitive as to my inspection. As it was, most things were very much in place and an impressive package just to view. Pre production units have those type of things so it was not paid much attention but when I got to the post production units I did take out the pad and SLR to record those things I found.

Function and programming were somewhat solid and assembly was above average. My market purchased cameras definitely show a different hue to the pictures. Though they are good in quality judging from the first two or three pictures I think light metering may be an area of concern because we see dark and light pictures from camera to camera under the same light conditions. This variable is small and would only be known if you had more than one camera operating at the same time and light to see the variability.

03-05-2010 Update: First off let me apologize for dragging this out but we began to see a situation that did not fall into our understanding. It is normal for us to compare the last years camera to the new item that is coming out. In this case we started the comparison and right away we did not believe what we were seeing. One way was to get other opinions as to the phenomena. The other way was to acquire additional units to see if there was a trend.

The base story was the 2009 vs. the 2010 Bushnell trophy cam's XLT picture quality.

The advertised boost in quality seemed to be there on some units. The problem was that when we zoomed in we lost a large amount of definition on the 2010 unit compared to what was seen under the exact conditions on the 2009 cam. The additional units (thus the delay) arrived and the confusion mounted because we could see that the quality varied from unit to unit but the loss of definition was still there. The normal picture quality of the 2010 cam was more pleasing to the eye (eye candy) when just viewed straight out because of the vibrant colors. The drive that gained the pleasing effect to the non zoomed pictures also caused the definition to deteriorate when zoomed (as needed for game management uses) so we will have to say that even though the new camera has a "pretty picture quality" it has lost the detail needed as was available on the 09 BTC. The additional emitters in the new flash did help but for the increase count the range remained very much the same. This is probably due to the amount of power to the array which has been turned down to accommodate battery life. A higher emitter count does not magically mean greater flash though the spread of light may be improved at close range.

03-06-2010 update:  The pull for information has been tremendous about this camera. One of the areas that seem to be questioned is our comments about picture quality. Let’s see if I can clear this up. The camera that we have to compare this cam to is its predecessor. We could have picked out a WGI or a Wildview etc. for the comparison but that would not have been fair. To clarify the situation is that this camera does have good picture quality compared to many we have tested in the past but seems to be below standards for its fellow predecessor. I would be proud to have one of these hanging on one of my trees watching one of our areas. It is just that we must be very critical and being this company does react to our reporting we should see change as time permits. This is how our old friends at Leaf River operate. The box looks the same and through the year as the situation develops they update the guts to provide a better product. This is not to say that the original by any means of operations was sorry it means that that small slight defect is seen and corrected and would probably have never been noticed by most unless we pointed it out. It is just making an already great product better. With the Scoutguard family this change is overnight where the KT family operates in weeks but the changes are made in a timely manner. The interest is high with this camera and many are watching. Firmware changes with this style of cameras can happen any time and if appropriate will happen as the need to change is determined. Now we have another camera out this week so we now will have another 2010 cam in basically the same box to maybe use as a comparison during these ongoing reviews. The change so far from the pre production units to what we see in the cameras shipped to this point is highly measurable in the positive direction.

Because of the way this cam is acting during daylight we have spent some time in several different light conditions to evaluate the performance. In under canopy situations where there is measured day light this camera does very good and the picture quality reflects that. But have it in a bright sun light situation or have it in the shade looking out onto a bright sun lighted area this camera goes to a near whiteout situation in picture quality. White balance is off kilter. What most everyone would say that having the sun to your back and everything in front of the camera good and bright would be the almost perfect situation. Under these circumstances this camera falls apart and the pictures have white areas where ever the sun is hitting which is not acceptable.

03-07-2010 update:  The more I use this camera the more I have grown to like it but there are a couple of areas that just seems to be wrong. In the case of the Python cable loops being added to the belt loops on the rear of the camera was first seen as a super idea until we had to actually use it. With the cable in place the bottom of the camera just hangs down way to low and requires shimming. Even with the strap/cable combination, aim is very difficult and the shim under the back works but does not seem to want to stay in place with out cinching the belt to a very tight condition which causes the welded inserts behind the battery compartment to loosen. The trade off for security is still a good idea but get ready for a fight to maintain aim once you exit the area after hanging the cam. Next is the over driven (saturation) of color which is in the pictures. This is eye pleasing as was thought under the same case with the old Cudde cams. In reality if you stand at the point and look out at the cameras field of view then view the pictures presented by the camera you will see that the pictures are not in any way a true representation of the actual look of the woods and the degree of vibrancy. We feel that this will eventually get tuned down by a firmware update in the future.

03-17-2010 Update:  It seems that the 5 weeks of pre release work has resulted in a number of updates to this camera. This is good news and it shows the commitment that Bushnell has to its customers. There are still some more areas they are concerned about but they are small and would not be noticed unless we would point them out. We are going to give them a big “atta boy” for their effort to stay on top of any concerns that is pointed out.

04-03-2010 update:  We received our final full shipping version and have began to make some initial tests. The company has assured us that these are already in the stores and available. What we did not hear is just how the early versions that have already been purchased will be updated. The announcement of any type of downloadable firmware has not been announced. The first thing that most will notice is the addition of the seconds to the time stamp on the pictures. Next is the better adjustment as to how it handles bright light. I setup in the shade with the sun to my back and looking out onto a very bright sun lit area and performed some walk tests. The results were much better white balance handling without washout to the pictures. We have retested the trigger times and they remain the same as below.  Further testing is in process so wait for more updates.

04-08-2010 update:  The final shipping version has hit the woods and after a couple days we have several conclusions. First off we really do like the addition of the seconds in the pictures. The wash out issue that plagued the early shipping version seems to have been corrected and the picture quality may have gone down a little bit when we look at the 8 plate in the sample pictures it seemed to have lost contrast. The next area is our camera seems to have a false trigger when set on the high sensitivity setting. We now have it on the hill in the medium setting and we will see if things improved. The night time temperatures have been in the 70’s so a setting of high should have been in line. More to follow as we get further into this last camera and do more testing.

04-12-2010 update:  We deployed into our southern property to catch a little different type of action. We had been watching the false pictures that we felt may be because of the sensitivity settings. We were set up in the video mode and there were empty videos but upon close examination we could see a big old doe’s nose that was just at the edge of the picture which told us that maybe a small portion may be because of a little dead zone issue and not the sensitivity setting. We will be watching this a little closer and if necessary put a backup camera to watch those left right zones to prove our suspected findings. I do know if it is a dead zone issue it will be a very small one because I carefully tested each camera for this and found that the area was small compared to other like cameras we previously tested.

04-12-2010 update #2:  Our “normal" setting on the sensitivity resulted in over 2000 empty pictures (in three days) that were snapped between 30 seconds to 8 minutes apart, continuously until the card was full. The days are warm into the 80’s and the nights are near 60. We will have to try the "low" setting and if this fails then we definitely have a run away issue with this camera.

04-13-2010 update:  We just received a note from our Bushnell contact who is in China that this last camera with the run away issue is not the final firmware version and that they are presently working on a newer firmware. We have asked for the down load but as now there is no word as to when they will have it ready and even if they are going to offer it as a down load. So we are at a stop at this point until we hear more.

04-15-2010 Update:  After testing this latest camera in all sensitivity settings, we are finding a "run away" issue.  We contacted our Bushnell rep and were told that this was a known problem that had not gone into production.  We we informed that the image processing fix for daytime photos and the addition of the seconds in the time stamp have gone into production.  We are just putting this review on hold until we get the final version and word back from Bushnell.

04-30-2010 update:  We have had a note from our Bushnell rep and it seems that there is a degree of confusion. Our impression as to the last shipping version of the camera was that it would have the seconds in the info strip at the bottom of the pictures and there had been an adjustment to the sensor to improve the picture quality. We then received another camera that was supposed to be it but we found a run away issue on that camera. At that time we found out that in fact that that last camera was not keyed to the final firmware so one slipped by them and we got it. Since that time we have also heard of a couple more run away cameras but that is it. The confusion about being “on hold” only referred to our review on that camera and not anything to do with Bushnell’s production of cameras, they are still shipping cameras as normal. It is just that we now are waiting to acquire what is a final production unit. They requested that we let everyone know that there is “no known issues” and the consumer need not wait for a later version of this camera because they are shipping that already and have the best guarantee to support that claim. I will go ahead and purchase one more additional unit from one of the many vendors at this late date and re write the final review paragraph with the facts as I reevaluate this camera and let that camera show what the consumer can expect. So we are still going to have to wait until I can get that unit in house and then into the field. Sorry for any confusion but this review is on hold for a few more days until I can acquire that new unit.

05-04-2010 update: We sent out a request to one of our supporting vendors to supply a random picked unopened XLT from his latest shipment. This camera arrived yesterday express mail and was as we requested. The initial inspection found everything in order and no apparent defects involving the hardware side of this review. Eight new cells got its attention and things started to happen. The first thing we noticed is that the date/time did not have the seconds, so we ended up with another test camera at this late date without seconds. This is minor as long as the rest of the function works well. This should let some people know that there is still cameras in the system that do not have the seconds, if that is one of the important features that you need on your camera. We are on to the test bench and it looks like the trigger times are going to be 1.5 seconds for both day and night with flash operations. This evening we will get this thing on the flash range and do a little sensing tests, then off to the field to capture some sample pictures. We will try to move as fast as we can because of this being on hold and the amount of folks that have voiced an interest in how well this camera is performing. We have a ton of cameras in the system so we must move on to get some information out on those items also. When we have this camera placed with the sun to our back and looking out into a bright sunny area we do see a little wash out but it is fairly well controlled. When we first installed the cells into this camera we chose the same set that were in one of our run away cameras and this camera "went crazy" (the array would flash continuously while photos would not be captured to the SD card) and we instantly thought that we had another dud on our hands. We pulled that set of cells and found that the 3100 pictures that the previous camera had taken in three days had depleted the batteries all the way down and were near dead. With fresh cells this camera was alive and working properly but for sure these cameras do not like to operate on low battery power. Sensing and flash range appear to be the same and we are presently gathering sample pictures and will be doing the battery life tests. This concludes the tests on this camera with the exception of the field tests and battery level monitoring. Next up to bat is the Uway cameras which will be the fourth in a series of the mini cams so we will see how well they do against the HCO 560 and the XLT Bushnell. We still have the Spypoint FL-A to put up against this camera. All are going to be strong competition.

5-07-2010 update:  We gathered the flash range (out to 50 feet) and sensing range (45 feet @ 73 degrees) on high which is kind of low compared to the sensing range we found on the Covert HR. One troubling thing was when we had the run away camera, it took 3100 pictures in a row and killed the batteries and filled a 2 gig card. I know this is not a normal test for battery life but does give us an indication that the 1 year battery life advertised will probably not be met. The day time pictures were alright and the night time pictures were above average. Where this camera really shined is when we hooked it to the Uway ExtendIR-B and the results were as good as this camera’s regular flash yet it was the totally invisible black flash. This is pretty cool and pretty well matches the performance of the HCO camera (560) and Spypoint. We are now going to up the picture count to 3 burst and set a minimum delay (6 seconds) on a busy feeder and test the battery life. This review is closed until we get that figure and we will add that finding to the report. So far we have no indication of run away on the post release purchased cameras.

05-29-2010 update:  We have had this cam going since 5-4 in a battery life test. So far we have captured 5538 pictures and we still get battery full indication. The red function indicator has burned out and no longer works, but the camera still functions so we will keep it going until the batteries run out. We have not had any other reports of this happening, but will watch to see if there is any in the future.

06-19-2010 update:  Well so much for the battery life test because this camera is toast. We last checked this camera back on 5-29 and it was doing well. We checked it today and when we opened it up it was half full of water. Our first inspection could not see anything wrong with the seal. Everything is soaked and slimy so we will have to wait for it to dry out to complete the inspection. Latches were fully closed and the plug was in place so there is no reason for this. If the plug had been out then the cam could have at leased drained as the water entered. This is not good so we are just going to go ahead and close this review.  See the picture below and the light colored part of the rubber seal is where the leak is. With the camera all the way closed you can see daylight between the seal and the plastic. The shootout that was planned with this camera up against the Spypoint and Scoutguard cameras has been canceled because we just cant seem to keep a Bushnell Trophy camera running long enough to even complete a review.

06-28-2010 update:  We have had our original XLT running ever since we received it during the first week of March. Last week it died, and lasted nearly one hundred days on its first batteries. We had it set to video on a mission with one of our black flash units and the past month it has not produced anything color during the day. We pulled the camera and the IR filter was stuck and we gave it a new set of cells but the results were not there. Now the day pictures are back color but very fuzzy. The camera will lose its settings during the battery change for some reason. One of the latches is loose and it just flops closed and does not snap like the other. This is the same latch as the one on the above camera that caused the leak. It is too late for a return to the store and the ten dollars it takes at the CS right now doesn’t seem like a bargain.

07-18-2010 update:  Some of the data that has leaked out of the factory by a very nice little bird is very interesting. We are again in the process of acquiring yet another BTC from a source that will ensure that it is as fresh from the factory as you can get. The Review above and its data may not apply to this new camera because we have been told that there have been some changes that are far away from the 2010 cameras we have worked with up to this point. We will perform a full physical inspection as to hardware and we will also go through all of our tests again to analyze firmware. We have had this very same thing happen two times before where review cameras specifications lasted until the reviews were out and then the specifications changed for the worst at the factory. We will see as we dig deeper into this. In the other two cases the importer was not aware of the change until we found it. We will see as time goes on and that camera arrives.