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2012 Hunten Outdoors GSC35-50IR 53 count black IR 5 MP digital camera
review
This is just a little square handful of camera. Boosting a price of $119
and advertizing says it is black flash. I lined
up this camera with the Wildview camera that is
currently in review and compared the specs.
There is some similarities but not exact. The
resolution ratings are different but the image
sensors are the same. Burst is 6 on the WV and 4
on this camera. This camera has a fixed 20 sec
video and the WV has more settings. The WV sells
for $150 and that is 30 dollars above this
camera. I normally would not do this type of
comparison except they are being tested at the
same time. I see that this camera is rated to
have a one second trigger and the WV was tested
and was above 2 seconds. This camera has a 10
second delay and the WV has a 20 second delay.
So much for the comparison and let’s just talk about this one. Out of
the box it is a very impressive little camera in
appearance. This being the case and if the black
flash category holds up and we get satisfactory
function this is going to whop some butt maybe.
I am a fan of this style of camouflage and with
the black screen it should hide very well on the
tree. Being that this company has now got some
experience under their belt and are also pumping
out cams for Primos and others, I see no reason
for anyone to feel slighted if they had these
hanging on their trees. Of course we would want
to insure that the performance was there first.
Being about 6 inches square and a couple inches thick it has a small
array cover at the top front and the camera lens
and PIR just below. There is the external
battery port on the bottom. The back has the
strap loops and bark grabbers. Inside the C cell
battery tubes are left and right with the LCD
and control buttons in the center. The SD card
slot (32 gig) is under the bottom edge under the
buttons. There is no built in security on this
camera other than the Python loops built into
the back of the camera.
With four pre tested C cells loaded into the tank and a short trip to
the dark room let me know a few things. First
off is the trigger seems to be as advertized.
The delay also seems to be as advertized. The
flash how ever is not as advertized and will
have to be classed as very low glow. It was
faintly visible at 6 feet. The front lights
should be covered when deployed because of the
red and green indicators. The strength of the
flash seemed somewhat dim but should be alright
to 25 feet judging from this unofficial walk
through. The outside in good light produced some
pretty good pictures. Please remember this
camera is extreme low glow and is in the one
second trigger time range with a selling price
of just over a hundred dollars. Might be hard to
beat if the longevity proves out and no
additional faults are found. It was pretty warm
during my morning sunlight testing but it was
catching me pretty easy out to 40+ feet so
sensing should be ok.
The supplied manual just has a brief description of the programming
procedures and not much more. The programming
was super simple and easy to follow without ever
opening the pamphlet. The warranty is listed as
being one year as long as the card is sent in. A
receipt is required also. There is no pay to
play clause in their warranty which is very
good. The WGI influence is very much apparent in
the display and programming procedures. One of
our forum vendors sells these cameras and so far
we have seen no reports of any issues and I
found no indication of any issues during my on
line searches. That could be because they are
fairly new or it could mean that they are fairly
dependable. We will find out as the time goes
by.
06-16-2012 Update:
We managed to get it to the flash/day range and
do some sensing testing which showed that se got
65 feet at 70 degrees. We are starting to really
like this camera. Let’s hope it holds together
for the balance of the review.
06-19-2012 update:
The sample pictures rolled in and the video
captures have happened and for a very near black
flash camera this little hundred dollar camera
has not disappointed. The pictures and video’s
are not the absolute greatest but for the price
they are very respectable and actually are much
better than some of the samples we have gotten
from far more expensive cameras. Take a very
close look for yourself and see what I mean and
while doing that glance over at the trigger time
pictures. I have grown to like this little
camera.
06-21-2012 update: One of the
oppositions to this camera was the flashing
indicators on the front of the camera. The
factory folks tell us that the light sensor is
incorporated in the camera module so these
indicators can be covered with a small piece of
black electrical tape.
09-06-2012 update:
seventy five days on a set of batteries which
gave us a total of 10,554 pictures and 44
videos. This little camera has given us
exceptional service and very good battery life.
The bang for the buck is certainly here. This
review is closed.
Trigger Tests
(without flash 1.29s)
(with flash
1.34s)
Video Trigger
(First the camera takes a photo at 1..48s)
(Then takes a video after the
photo at 4.80 seconds) at |
