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2010 Bushnell TrophyCam
XLT REVISIT
The very first statement
that I wish to make in this revisit is we feel that the
people at Bushnell have been left out of the loop on
what we are about to report on. From what we have found
out it appears that they are just now beginning to
understand that there is a problem. We had our first
indication when our first post production camera had a
problem and was basically advised that maybe this one
had slipped through the system. We made purchases from
different sources so as to get a good idea of what was
really hitting the market. We went ahead and performed
the review and finished up with a number of problems
being reported. The light began to shine when we found
the degree of saturation being pumped into the still
pictures and they the motion blur in the night pictures.
Careful testing showed that there were some serious
problems and because of the brilliant day color pictures
no one was looking elsewhere. Things like interpolated
video frame rate from 7.5 fps to 30 which is a total
cheat in our opinion and a trigger time exceeding the
advertised rate by more than double. We concluded and
closed other reviews on other manufacturers cameras
because we found trigger times in excess of three
seconds. The distributor must have begun to see the
light when the Boly Media made platform 09 cameras were
now being requested over the KT made 10 cameras. The
users started to have a multitude of difficulties and
began to try to shop replacement cameras by firmware
numbers. The changes came in the firmware from the
manufacturer long after the post production review we
performed, so a lot of previous material posted in our
review no longer applies. There appears to just be a lot
of new issues that we feel need to be addressed.
Because we have very
good data slipping through the cracks from somewhere way
over seas, we are able to in some cases have a lead as
to the areas we needed to pay attention to. We began to
put out emails to a lot of individuals who had the
latest versions and asked for different tests to be done
to make sure the purchase of additional cameras was in
order to ensure that this report is as accurate as we
could possibly make it. We have cameras from three
different sources and as we go through these cameras we
will show our findings and try to explain the difference
between the advertised values and our findings. Because
of our load of cameras already in the system we will
have to fit these tests in during some rain days and
other periods we can use to accomplish what needs to be
done. Please keep a close watch as we are sure you may
be surprised. We also believe all this has been kept
from Bushnell and they are finding out just like us as
the issues are being pushed back through their customer
service. We were told that the return rate was very low
to the Bushnell repair service. Yet the RMA turn around
of cameras is over a month and a half on average. We are
also running a review on their customer service and each
time we check we see “the replacement is back ordered”
This has been the case for weeks yet we do know the
vendors are receiving their orders on schedule for their
sales. Pulling that amount of time out of the guarantee
somehow just does not seem fair. Keep tuned in as we
will get further into this very shortly and as time
allows.
07-24-2010 update:
Wow, you would not think that a small piece of
produce from the local Kroger super market would cause
such a fuss. It seemed to have worked and we got called
several un flattering organisms because of it.
Excommunicated may be the next step in a developing
situation. By bringing the attention to some
specifications that fall out side the advertized
specifications to the point where the parameters are
more than double somehow says that there might just be a
need to let someone know that either has purchased one
or is in the process of that mission. The facts are
published and the consumer can make the choice. If he is
happy with a 3 plus trigger time or other out of bound
findings that is fine. They have stated that their
return rate is only 1% repeat 1% yet just look around on
the forums and there are folks with cameras still
sitting with Bushnell customer service and it is over 40
days. God help them if things really got bad and the
failure rate went to 2%.
The fresh out of the
womb cams arrived and the tests began but not before
taking a few minutes to read the clam shell packaging
that these cameras arrived in. On their lists of
specifications there is a line that says “fast trigger
speed less than one second”. Off to the official testing
station and then to the second trigger testing station
then to the old clock testing station and no matter how
we tried the day without flash trigger time were all
over 2 seconds and the night with flash was all over
three seconds. This puts them out of specifications by
double and triple depending if the flash is used. At
this point I would like to say “I rest my case” but
there is more work to be done. We feel that because of
the changes that were made to the camera after we did
the review initially cannot be fixed by a simple
firmware download update. We have not been able to
determine the exact date that the change to this camera
was made but we know that it has been longer than two
months.
We are having someone
look at some employment records and we can tell better
once we get those dates as to a closer timeframe when
the slooooooooooow cams came out.
07-25-2010 update:
The mail came in and went out with a ton of questions.
When we set up to do the research we had conversations
with a number of dealers but it was done as Joe Doaks
and not Chasingame. We asked about returns and sales
rates for the three models. We heard that the Bone
Collector seemed to be the least popular of the three
because it was just the base camera with an upgraded
case and it carried a top price. This being the case
then the stock situation could have many of the original
cameras in it and not these cameras we are not reporting
on. The sad part about this whole thing is there is no
way to tell and no guarantee that any camera that is
presently in the system is not part of the problem lot.
The high volume dealers that sell a lot is where we
would think that you would have the greatest possibility
of getting one of the reported cameras (above) because
they would have already sold out of the original cams
that were not effected by the change. Because of the
packaging the cameras would have to be removed and
trigger time tested in order to make the determination.
We worked up to this report very slowly and we had solid
data long before we finally opened the report up. The
acquisition of last out cams was the last stage and our
final proof. A possible solution would be for all
present stock be returned and be replaced by upgraded
cameras that have been upgraded. From 4 AM until 6 AM I
covered as many of the out door forums and looked at the
Bushnell threads and see a lot more of what led us to do
this re visit. It is a problem that a lot of those good
people are going to venture into, a situation and not
know what is awaiting them if the current methods are
not changed.
07-25-2010
update#2: Further study through the
documentation and on the Bushnellville site I came
across another feature that would pull this cam out of
the dust and again put it on a lot of trees. That is it
is advertized to be able to do Time lapse which
the current leader in that field sells in the same
catalog that I got the data from for $200 and all it
does is time laps, but this camera is advertized to do
both the trail cam function and time laps. I grabbed up
one of the cameras and started through the menu and then
went trough it again then I looked for some sub menu and
I just could not find that option. I got on the phone
and talked to some other folks who also have new cameras
and asked for them to look for me because I just figured
I had missed it somewhere in the programming. Well they
were not able to locate that function either. Could it
be that maybe we have now found yet another problem
where a claim is made and again not kept??? This is not
fun at all and I am going to hold my cool until I hear
from more of our friends in the field so that no one can
say that we pulled the trigger too early. Maybe they
figure that the camera owners will stand by the camera
and self trigger every 20 seconds to gather that data.
We had a couple of cams that did it on their own without
stop and they called that “run away”
Bushnell Website and
Cabelas Catalog:
 
07-25-2010 update #3:
We have now produced a video analysis by cutting exactly
1 second (real time) from a Trophycam video clip and in
the video doing a slow
up and down movement (arm waving). By slowing this down,
you can count the distinct changes
or frames. This shows that there are less than
eight changes for that period. Though the original video
has 30 frames per second, it means that there are multiples
of the same frame inserted that are identical frames
which is interpolation of the frame rate and that is how
they manage to claim a higher frame rate and is pretty
sneaky. A side effect of this interpolation is that the
videos are 4 times larger than they needed to be, using
up valuable space on the SD card. (see the video below)
Video Frame Analysis:
07-29-2010 update:
There is a bit of confusion about this review so let me
clear up things a little. This review is based on field
reports that led us to acquire three (3) more cameras
from three (3) different sources. We also stated that
this review would probably not cover the Bone collector
version due to lagging sales of that version because it
being a base camera with only a camo case and a premium
price. If a Bone Collector version was released after 1
May then it will be included in this review. Our cameras
are all the brown version with and without view
screen.
07-29-2010 update
#2: I want to tell you that the birdie is
singing loud and clear this week about the wheels that
are turning way over there. Somebody got caught and now
there are a few things that are happening. No one from
the distributor has mailed yet saying “well fellows you
were correct and we have a mess on our hands”. Some how
the message seemed to have gotten delivered, if not they
are sure busy doing upgrades and trying to find that big
stick that someone used to originally stir that mess up
with and keep it all a secret. There is the post release
issues, then the post May issues and now we will have
the post fix situation. How will this all be handled?
Mean while we will be here working on that night time
blur issue.
08-08-2010 update:
The chirps have a way of becoming louder and louder in
some areas that we need to visit. That little bird has
been real busy and we now have another area that seems
to be not functioning as we have been lead to believe in
the BTC documentation. This is the area of being able to
adjust the PIR sensitivity on the BTC. Under very
controlled conditions where we have the ambient
temperature nice and low and our heat source (30 degree
difference) set at a given setting as the target animal.
We continued to move out target source closer and closer
starting at about 70 feet. The background temperature
always remained the same and the only change was the
target device which was as large as an average deer.
Multiple tests were performed on each sensitivity
setting and we found that there is no
difference in the performance of the camera as to
sensitivity. We became aware of this when we began to
see these cameras having the runaway problems and the
adjustment had absolutely no effect. We began to ask
questions to the feathered one which led us to design
and initiate this special test. We do have more but this
should bring on at least one more firmware adjustment.
08-13-2010 update:
Friday the 13th has certain meaning to a lot
of people and for one new trail cam buyer it became
somewhat of a bad story. We had intended to go ahead and
pull down some of the graphics at the top of this review
and calm things down a bit until we were told that the
problem cameras are still being put in the hands of
unsuspecting customers. Evidently there is still a large
amount of the problem children in the hands of some
vendors and we understand that not even one word has
been told to the vendors about the issues by the
Bushnell Company. So we are going to leave the graphics
in place for a while longer until we are told that the
market is no longer full of those items that probably
should have been recalled and replaced by fully
functional units that reflect all advertizing
claims.
08-19-2010 update:
Well we can see that there is now a small line under
product support on their website that says software
update. There is no explanation as to why this down load
is needed or what the down load is supposed to change or
update. It does not even say what Bushnell product the
update is for. When you click on the update you will see
“Trophy cam and update”, which is not exactly self
explanatory being there are several Bushnell cameras and
do they fit in the “and update category”? We are in the
business to know so it was not an issue for us but we
did have to answer a multitude of questions that should
have been readily spelled out and displayed there on
that web site so that a third party would not have to
explain their intentions. Anyway, because there are some
really great camera owners that are not totally up to
speed when it comes to some technical operations dealing
with the family computer there have been a couple boat
anchors made out of their BTC’s so far today because of
a miss step during the down load. This is only day one
of this being released. Lets hope that these are the
only two we hear of, there is still a chance to maybe
see Bushnell do a full explanation of the issues
and just what the down load is suppose to correct
and get it all out in the open the good old fashion
honest way. Of course they would have to say “thanks
Chasingame you were right”. The bright side of this is
we could take down the lemons, provided the down load
actually corrected all the issues. And the
customers could go back and expect a decent product that
resembled the advertizing. We are still watching the
manufacturer and hope that Bushnell is now doing the
same. This is not fun and it eats up a lot of time we
could be using on other things.
08-20-2010 update:
We did the update and headed to the trigger time
table as the first stop. The procedure did help the
trigger time but did not fully correct it down to the
advertized times of one second. They came fairly close
with times in the one and a half second time frame for
both with and without flash. Next we checked the blur
factor and this was also improved. We then set up to
measure the frame rate on the video and it is still shy
of the advertized 20 fps but they moved from the seven
fps up to thirteen and a half frames per second. Those
over blasted highly saturated pictures are gone also and
now we have very dark daytime pictures. When we
displayed these same quality pictures from the HR Covert
we had the Bushnell puritans scream like a gut shot
panther as being awful. We just see them as dark full
color pictures that can be bumped into condition with
any number of photo processing software’s like Picasa
and lighten them up. We now are going to get into the
day blur and other areas. Our well equipped bird that
watches over things at the factory has told us that
because of the hardware there is very little more that
can be done now with just the software changes. A major
hardware and new software is the only total fix and that
will probably happen next year.
Anyway, we have a
camera now that is somewhat closer to where it should be
and we will go ahead and gather some more data along
with pictures and videos to double check more of this
cameras functions.
08-21-2010 final
update: We are going to get a few sample
pictures, night flash range and then close all Bushnell
reviews for this year. We have devoted way to much time
to a camera that still has a long way to go to be
consumer ready and up to specifications. We do give them
credit for making the effort (about a 50% improvement)
but we are going to have to wait until next year for the
cobwebs to clear and see if they finally get a handle on
this camera. The ride on the 09 camera reputation lasted
pretty well but it was not enough to make it all the way
through the year.
09-21-2010
observation: I have kept a log since closing
the review plus spent a lot of time on the phone as I
usually do with normal business, but this past month
while I was making inquiries with the major retail
catalog people, Store chains and online vendors I
slipped some leading questions in as to return rates and
failure rates and general attitudes with this product.
The failure rate has not slowed down so even though
there was a lot of effort to upgrade an already lacking
firmware. Today was the thirtieth day and the conclusion
arrived by this short study was that your chances of
receiving a camera that will last and perform and have
any degree of longevity is probably not very good. A
good portion of the cameras are failing shortly after
replacement or purchase. Having to make a customer
service return up to three times seems to be fairly
common with some of the cases that have been reported.
To determine just why this is happening we asked some
over seas questions. We have been given a story about
the post divorce from BMC that dried up many of the
component sources that were associated with BMC so now
there are components being used that are of a mismatched
and of lesser quality than the original components that
were used while under BMC. Writing more firmware made
improvements but did not correct the failure rate
related to the new replacement components that went into
the construction of the boards.
11-15-2010 update:
We have just stayed out of this mess ever since we began
to see that all the effort by Bushnell customer service
just did not seem to make things any better. I have
cataloged a ton of issues since the middle of September
on the sad stories involving those who have had to miss
a big part of their scouting season because of their
cameras being either in repair or in shipment. Now that
the cold weather has hit the run away issue has again
surfaced as a top concern. No matter how hard Bushnell
tries to ease the problem the fact that they just do not
have a product to work with that is worth a flip and
until they change out the existing platform and go to
some new arrangement these issues are likely to continue
through out their two year warranty period which now
looks like one year of that time will at least be
shipping/down time for this ill fated camera. The new
return/refund seems to be the choice that is being
reflected on the outdoor forums lately.
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