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2010
WGI IR3C 3mp 18 count IR red flash Camera Review
I tripped and fell when I saw this camera from a distance setting on the
shelf. Not knowing the manufacturer, from a distance I
automatically thought (knock-off) and was searching for
a good four letter word for junk. The closer I got to
the camera I started to see some familiar details and
began to see that it was far from the four letter word I
was searching for. Three years running now we have
watched Wildgame Innovations move from near that word to
some pretty good cameras. The IR-4 was very popular last
year and we have people that are still running them and
still like the performance. I looked at the Cudde IR and
classed it as a basic no frills picture only camera and
they have the fortitude to try to sell that camera for
$250. Well this little camera ($80) 6 X 6 X 2 ½ inch
camera is very much a basic picture only camera. No
video or sound. The satin black case with large bungee
loops at each corner is dressed out by having a bottom
gasket sealed trap door with two latches. The top front
is the array/camera lens combination like the old 3BU
from Leaf River. The 18 count array encircles the camera
lens. Center front is the bull’s eye type PIR lens that
measures ¾ inch and left and right is the PIR status and
write to card indicator. There is a small window that
looks through to the inside LCD so you can see time,
date, temp, photos taken and what storage room is
remaining on the card. This no frills just slipped a
couple of notches above that Cudde we were discussing
above. The external 6 volt power port is located on the
right side of the camera. The back of the camera has no
strap loops but the bungee loops are large enough to
accommodate a strap if you choose to use that to mount
the camera. Unlatch the trap door and you will see a
small latched door for the four C cell battery
compartment. The SD card (up to 2 gig) and USB (onboard
64 MB) ports are located here also. The top corner has
three small switches and they are up/down and the center
is advance and select button for setting time/date if
you choose to do so. A nice little package that is small
enough it should slip onto a tree without much notice.
The external on off switch is a feature that I have
always liked since my first Leaf River camera.
Dealing with cameras that have a top resolution of 3 MP has always been
more of a favorite to me than the large file sized
pictures that we see. The little 18 count array is only
rated to 25 feet but we will get it on the range and see
if it will do better than that. The advertised sensing
distance is up to 40 feet assuming conditions are right.
The four C cells are supposed to last up to a month
using default settings. I just checked and there is
only default
settings available so I guess they mean the batteries
will last a month. The only other things that were in
the package were a little bungee and a USB cable.
The documentation was just a small booklet but was adequate for my
needs. I would like to have seen the data that they
provided on the box, also included in the manual like
the specification charts and more detailed pictures. I
gritted my teeth and dug into my package of energizer C
cells (not my favorite after the mess we found with dead
cells in un opened packages) and immediately tested them
to insure they were good. I slid the latch to the
battery compartment door over and it opened up and
exposed a nice diagram indicating battery polarity and
installation. The on button pushed on and held a short
time got things fired up so I could install the card (up
to 3 gig) and begin to set the date time. The three
small buttons by the battery door are used for this.
Hold the center button for a second and you enter the
menu and then use the up/down buttons and the center
button to select that setting and advance to the next
setting. At the end just hit the center button and all
is done. Push the off button and everything turns off.
Select the location to hang the camera and achieve aim
and push the on/off button and after 30 seconds it will
take a picture if triggered. Then the delay time will
kick in and the wait time will be a full minute before
the camera can be triggered again. It is now ready to
go.
Slid into the shop for a quickie unofficial trigger time test and
recorded 1.75+ seconds repeatedly so we have a sub 2
second camera on our hands. Next was the sample picture
tests and with good sun to my back I got sharp clear
pictures that would put a lot of more expensive 2010
cameras to shame. Inside to the dark room and tested the
length of the array flash time and found it was about a
second. The pictures taken during that test were above
average. This little no frills $80 camera seems to work
very well. Let’s hope we can generate a high degree of
longevity before it turns to dust.
06-19-2010
update: While doing some FOV tests on other
cameras I scooped up this cam and planned to get this
data while I had all my instruments out doing the same
tests on a series of other cameras. Because of the one
minute delay period, this kind of testing goes pretty
slow. I did manage to capture about a half dozen shots
while I measured the PIR FOV and there was a pretty
lousy match. The camera has a nice wide 14 foot view at
a distance of 18 feet. The PIR could only see 8 feet in
the center of those 14 feet. This means that the animal
would have to be close to center, and with this cameras
trigger speed there is no guarantee that the capture
would be anywhere near center in the picture. A very
slow walk across the zone only caught me one time and I
had passed center by more than half the remaining
distance to the edge of the zone.
06-22-2010 update: The camera load has us
running and to get to a camera trigger time where the
minimum delay is one minute makes us cringe. Well this
little cam worked out and the trigger testing went
without incident. The official; time is just over two
seconds with out flash and a little longer with flash.
We then moved to the hill and got the sensing range and
flash range testing done. The advertised 25 feet got
stretched out past 50 feet and the sensing (narrow
sensing) was out to 43 feet on this warm 85 degree
evening. The night picture with flash of the flash range
silhouettes was surprisingly good. My first thought was
that this may be a good camera to match up with a black
flash extender. If that combination should work out it
would be a real cheap black flash setup. When time
allows we will try that test. My time with this camera I
did not hear the filter move but we will take a real
close look with our instruments to verify what maybe my
old ears may have missed. I sure would like a firmware
update to this camera where the delay time was brought
down to around 15 seconds or less. This would also bring
down the battery life but with an good external port I
am sure I could find a 6v SLA to
stick behind the tree to keep it going for a month or
so. When room allows we will start to get some sample
pictures.
08-14-2010 update:
This little camera in the black case with standard
batteries lasted 565 photos and 41 days on 4 C cells.
The Camo version is still going with the WGI battery box
supplying power. These little cameras are just neat
little cameras with lousy delay, give me a 15 second
delay with this camera and I would use a bunch of
them.
09-19-2010 update:
We kept this camera going to test the external WGI
battery box and the combination lasted a solid two
months of good service and over 700 photos. camera. This
is another one of the WGI cameras that has performed
well throughout the tests. We are going to close this
review now.
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Trigger Tests
(without flash 2.09 seconds)
(with flash
2.29 seconds)
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Flash Range |
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