WGI IR-8X Camera Review

2010 WGI IR-8X 69 count IR red flash Camera Review

Top shelf from the WGI folks in Texas, with the SLA 4.5 Ah rechargeable battery. We have seen some of the companies going to this type of a power option. Several have the external systems that also incorporate this same kind of battery. As with all previously looked at cameras from this company the specifications are not listed in full so other that actually using and taking the pictures to the computer to measure the size to get that data. We stated in the D-8 review that this company is now working with a different supplier that is different from last year. We do see a definite swing to the better with this choice. This camera is the same size as the D-8 which is eleven inches high and 7.5 inches wide. The satin black case that has that darth vader look to it is also the same. The mounting is by the four corner loops by bungee cords. These were supposed to be in the package but our packages did not include them. There are no strap slots on the back of the camera. There is how ever some contoured bark grabbers to match the contour of the tree. Case seemed to be solid and good hinges with a full weather seal to keep out the moisture. This again is a camera in the back design and not in the door. By far this is my choice because of the ease of handling when mounted and the need to maintain aim after servicing the cam.

Rated at 8 MP but we see two other resolutions that can be selected as being medium and low. The values are not listed but we assume they should be around 5MP and 3 MP for those selections. This is a 69 count array that should pump a lot of light down range. It is rated at 60 feet which is also the same distance that the PIR sensor is supposed to see. The onboard storage is 64 MB and you can use up to an 8 gig SD card for external storage. Video to 30 seconds plus still pictures in three resolutions having a minimum delay of 30 seconds which makes this camera about twice as good as a competing stealth or Moultrie having the 1 minute delay locked in. I still would like to see this brought down to 15 seconds maybe sometime in the future in the new models. The inside LCD is for programming and to view pictures. Programming was simple and easy to follow once you get use to the method of toggling. Under settings you can set the date/time and under image you set the rest of the options. Most everything is the same with this camera as with the D-8 except for the battery option and flash difference.

A quick check of the day picture quality showed very true color and no over saturation. They had good detail and sharpness. The line is growing so we had better get to the trigger times and flash/sensing. We don’t think we will be disappointed with this camera.

Update 02-24-2010: A quick check of the day picture quality showed very true color and no over saturation. They had good detail and sharpness. The line is growing so we had better get to the trigger times and flash/sensing. We don’t think we will be disappointed with this camera. Moved early to the day range and 8 plate and we found that the pictures were sharp and clear and good detail on the 8 plate zoom. The trigger times were around 2.5 for day and 1.8 seconds for night with flash. This camera was easy to work with and responded well through out the testing. Sensing was out to 50 feet for a temperature of 88 degrees.

07-28-2010 update: We managed to get a bunch of sample pictures and I will say that the day pictures are very natural in color and sharp and clear. The night with flash is another story. If the target animal is about 30 to 50 feet away this camera takes beautiful pictures but up close it is another story. This flash pumps out a lot of light and the woods left and right out to about 70 feet come alive but that power causes IR burn on anything close. There is no option to turn down the flash so the camera should be placed at about 30 feet from the target area. And if that rule is followed this camera will do most everyone a good job at night.

08-04-2010 update: Still getting some transition time pictures that show that there is a bit of a problem during these times. We are now on the low resolution setting and the pictures are still very good but because of the extra strong flash we are still seeing a lot of IR burn on close targets. This flash really lights up the woods. File size of the 30 second videos is so large that it will fill most cards very quickly. The file size for day and night videos is 20 MB. This is because of the length of the video which should be adjustable down to 10 seconds but is fixed at 30.

09-12-2010 update: The batteries are dead with 410 pictures and 129 videos and it lasted form 07-24 through 09-04 (42 days) we got a lot of great pictures/videos. The close animals have a little bit of their hair singed because of the strong flash but we are always amazed at the amount of light this flash puts out. This winter we should be getting pictures at a hundred feet and still be able to see them with this flash. This means we have another camera that will probably get selected for the long term tests.

09-19-2010 update: We have brought this review to a close but will be moving this camera to the deep swamp area where it will be used to evaluate a few of our swamp creatures during the upcoming cooler weather.

10-24-2010 update: Short update on the road to the swamp we captured several good sequences of deer fighting and other critters and we are still amazed as to the flash range of this camera and final close. Unless the next video sequence proves to be better than our previous experience.

Trigger Tests
(without flash averaged at 2.54 seconds)
Tests performed upside down to accommodate testing equipment