Spypoint's Flex-S-Dark isn't the only trail camera on the market to combine a cellular connection and a solar panel built into the case, though the brand was certainly an early pioneer of the design.

And it makes sense – the appeal of the best cellular trail cameras is being able to leave them in a remote location and have clips and images sent to your phone from afar. But that's no good if your batteries keep dying, so a solar panel is there to top up the power – again to stop you having to keep checking and maintaining the camera.

The Flex-S-Dark is the successor to the original Flex-S, and keeps the core chassis, dual-SIM cellular connectivity and built-in solar tech of the original model – but upgrades the unit by adding invisible No-Glow LEDs for nighttime shots and the ability to trigger the camera on-demand from the app, rather than waiting for the next scheduled sync interval.

These improvements make it a real all-rounder, and the Flex-S-Dark sits at the top of Spypoint's flagship trail cam lineup. Its specs also position it at the premium end of the cellular market: 40MP stills, FullHD video with sound and a fast 0.3-second trigger speed.

To me, its main selling point is total hands-off maintenance. The solar panel (in theory) feeds an internal lithium battery to power the camera indefinitely without blowing through batteries, while a pre-installed SIM automatically latches onto whichever mobile network signal is strongest in your local area.

Still, it faces stiff competition from the recently reviewed Browning Defender Pro Scout Max Solar (46MP stills and smoother 30fps FullHD video) and the Tactacam Reveal SK (with a slower 0.5s trigger speed). But while Browning relies on a separate solar panel unit wired to the camera, Spypoint is pitching the Flex-S-Dark as a cable-free, cellular option.

But does it really offer a seamless solar setup and smartphone integration? And is that enough to offset the trade-offs in image specs?

As is usual for my trail camera reviews, I left the Flex-S-Dark camped out in a local UK woodland for several weeks to see how it fared capturing the badgers, foxes, deer and squirrels of the habitat – night and day.

Spypoint Flex-S-Dark: Specifications

Spypoint Flex-S-Dark: Price

The Spypoint Flex-S-Dark is near the top of the cellular trail cam market at about $190 / £220 / AU$550, depending on where and when you shop.

For that higher initial investment, you get a combination that fewer rivals can match: an integrated solar panel with a built-in rechargeable lithium battery and invisible, customizable no-glow dark LEDs.

The closest direct competitors are the Tactacam Reveal X-Pro and the Browning Defender Pro Scout Max Solar (a camera I tried and liked).

Browning’s solar setup offers a higher native image resolution, but comes with a much stricter, cap-heavy video transmission plan (something I really didn’t like). The Tactacam offers reliable cellular connectivity for slightly less money upfront, but lacks an integrated solar panel out of the box.

Some competitors require you to buy solar add-ons separately, but the built-in panel here handles daily charging automatically.

Spypoint also offers a free 100-photo per month plan, which I think makes ongoing costs more optional rather than mandatory if you have fewer triggers. Paid plans scale to $15 / £10 per month for unlimited photos (videos aren't mentioned), which is cheaper than rival Browning.

Spypoint Flex-S-Dark: Design & Handling

Older cellular trail cameras sometimes added bulk and size to house their radios, but the Spypoint Flex-S-Dark has a relatively compact footprint.

The main camera body actually sits slightly lower on a tree trunk than non-cellular units like the Bushnell Core S-4K, though its screw-on antenna at the side adds some extra vertical clearance (and is best removed when the camera is travelling to its location in your bag).

As trail cameras spend most of their lives strapped to trees and posts, not living in a camera bag, I don’t think a few extra grams or centimeters will bother most buyers – and the Flex-S-Dark is still low-profile and easy to tuck into cover.

The unit is clad in a utilitarian matte gray casing, a stark change to the traditional patterned camo print on many trail cams. Obviously, users aren’t all going to be using it in the same location as me.

Still, I found it far more noticeable to a passerby skirting the woodland footpath than other camo-printed models like the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 – and that made me nervous to leave it alone.

To me, the unit feels reassuringly solid for life outside – and it doesn’t have any brittle plastics or rattly latches that I often notice on budget alternatives.

The defining physical feature is its roof-integrated solar panel. Unlike the Browning Defender Pro Scout Max Solar, which has a separate solar panel and runs a trailing wire up a trunk, the Flex-S-Dark builds the solar array into a top sloping face of the camera body.

It’s a clean, wire-free design that eliminates dangling cables that squirrels or weather could damage. You can also drop a tray of eight AA batteries or an optional LIT-22 lithium pack into the bottom compartment as a secondary backup, and this too feels solid.

There’s no button to eject the battery compartment, so it’s a case of yanking it out and back in again – a less smooth and satisfying experience. At the back of the cam, you’ll find a rubber-sealed 12V DC external power jack.

A flexible cellular antenna screw securely onto the side of the unit, and can be rotated and angled through 360° rather than being fixed in place. I found this flexibility practical in the field, allowing me to adjust its angle so it didn't get snagged on nearby branches.

Opening the heavy-duty latch reveals a departure from many traditional trail cam control panels. There’s no LCD screen for framing shots or navigating menus, which helps with keeping the overall size down.

Spypoint has stripped the layout down to a bare-bones interface: a power switch, a battery level indicator, a network signal meter, a format button for the microSD card and a physical Test button.

This minimalist layout meant I could prep in the field is thus: turn it on, wait for the LED bars to confirm cellular connection and format the card. But as ever, not having a screen means mounting the camera is a bit of a guessing game.

To check if the lens is pointed where you want it, you have to hit the Test button, wait for the photo to transmit to the Spypoint app on your phone, check the image and adjust the strap accordingly.

It’s not too much of a hassle during initial setup, as long as you have the Spypoint app set up and don’t leave it until you’re standing out in the rain like me. Once the camera is anchored with the included nylon strap (and excellent clamp), the unit does feel locked down and ready for long-term deployment.

Spypoint Flex-S-Dark: Performance

ABOVE: Sample clips from the Spypoint Flex-S-Dark trail camera

After woodland-testing the Spypoint Flex-S-Dark for several weeks, I’m left feeling both impressed and disappointed. The camera is mostly a reliable, well-connected scouting unit, but its video and stills performance fell short of my expectations.

The dual-SIM connectivity is the camera’s strongest asset. When I deployed it in a mixed woodland, I simply added it to the Spypoint app by adding in a serial code, and it picked up local UK networks without fuss.

The camera will automatically lock onto the strongest available signal without requiring manual configuration and let you know the status of the signal in the app.

There’s built-in GPS, too, which can plot exact camera placements onto an in-app map to help you keep track of camera deployments. Not something I needed, but I can imagine this being very helpful on larger estates and areas of land.

The headline roof-integrated solar panel needs some realistic expectations. When I had it mounted in my open garden with direct summer sunlight, the solar roof kept the internal battery sitting at 100% indefinitely.

Once it was tucked under woodland trees and a few days of overcast weather, the panel generated more than a trickle charge, but the battery status was still listed as High (and showing as full) after a week or so.

Being a cellular trail camera, the Flex-S-Dark required navigating via the Spypoint app.

This offers a really smooth and neat experience, with clear dropdown menus that make it simple to adjust sensor sensitivity, toggle capture modes, or even build weekly operational schedules to pause triggers during high-traffic human hours.

I liked being able to check the remote status tab of the camera from the app’s main screen; it instantly reports on signal strength, storage and levels for the internal solar battery and the backup AA tray.

What’s less pleasing is that setting changes made on your phone don't apply instantly, and updates are applied during the camera's next scheduled cellular transmission cycle.

Spypoint advertises a rapid 0.3-second trigger speed, a metric that applies to still photos. When set to record video, I felt like the camera suffers from a wake-up delay.

In several of my test videos, animals crossing the detection zone were already mostly out of the frame by the time the recording started – noticeably different to the Browning that caught subjects squarely in the center.

The Flex-S-Dark may well boast 40MP photo resolution and 1080p video capture, but like many trail cams, I think these numbers feel (and look) artificially inflated by sensor interpolation and heavy digital processing.

On captures where the woodland was in bright daylight, the scene suffered from highlight clipping and sunlit leaves becoming blown-out. And in flatter, evening light, the color saturation dropped off, giving mid-tones an unnatural yellow-green tint.

In the video footage, which I set to the maximum setting, artefacts are visible in the moving background vegetation, and the low 15fps frame rate created some motion smearing.

The Flex-S-Dark offers you the choice of two flash options: No-Glow for total stealth or Low-Glow, which can be detected but generally ranges further. Using the invisible No-Glow IR array, I was able to capture a foraging muntjac calm and unaware.

However, here the IR beam has a narrow hotspot in the center, rendering nearby foreground brambles as harsh, blown-out highlights. Subjects looked a bit soft and hazy unless they passed directly through the central sweet spot of the frame.

I don't think anyone would buy a trail camera for award-winning picture quality, but I was still left unsatisfied with the hit rate of my triggers – how often animals were blurred, cut off or hard to identify.

Spypoint Flex-S-Dark: Verdict

The Spypoint Flex-S-Dark definitely delivers on the promise of the best cellular trail cameras: easy, long-term deployment.

Its roof-integrated solar panel means no wires or cables to consider, and the multi-carrier connectivity and an intuitive companion app make remote monitoring simple. What takes the model further than competitors is also having those invisible No-Glow IR LEDs (or Low-Glow if you want them) and on-demand app triggers.

But while all this convenience is fantastic, I’m still underwhelmed by the overall image quality. My daylight captures often looked overexposed (where other cameras have handled the same high-contrast woodland scene well) and heavily processed.

And despite the unit's undetectable night flash, uneven illumination created some bright central hotspots that left surrounding areas hazy and prone to motion blur. Fast-moving subjects occasionally slipped past the frame, too.

I thought the camera's app was great – streamlined, responsive and easy to use. It also incorporates Spypoint's Buck Tracker AI species recognition, a feature that automatically scans and tags photos as they arrive.

North American users might appreciate the free antler-detection filter for quickly sorting deer; however, UK wildlife enthusiasts (like myself) will need a paid Insiders Club subscription to unlock tags for other animals or human activity filters.

If your priority is pure set-and-forget utility with long battery and simple app management, the Flex-S-Dark is a highly practical choice.

But for wildlife enthusiasts who want tack-sharp stills good enough to identify individual animals, fluid video clips, or wide dynamic range may find the overall image output underwhelming compared to class rivals.

Alternatives

Check out our full guides to the best trail cameras, and also the best cellular trail cameras

Scientists use camera traps to capture all sorts of wildlife footage – and this time, they’ve recorded a feisty standoff between a big bobcat (Lynx rufus) and an adult Eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus) in Florida.

And while the footage was recorded on grainy trail cams, it looks more like an epic Godzilla vs King Kong battle that you’d see on the big screen.

The photos were taken in 2022 as part of a survey documenting mammal attacks on reptiles, with the ravenous assault unfolding over the course of 38 different frames.

The folks behind the study – researchers from the University of Florida – later published that, in the first few frames, the bobcat surprisingly approaches the snake before biting and clawing at its tail, body and head.

Subsequent images captured on the Bushnell Core trail camera show the results of the vicious attack, with the overturned rattlesnake bearing wounds to the head, midbody and tail. The scientists noted that the rattlesnake did try to retaliate, albeit unsuccessfully.

While rattlesnakes are dangerous to bobcats because the wild cats lack immunity to snake venom, bobcats are equally dangerous to rattlesnakes because they combine lightning-fast reflexes, paw-slapping tactics and precision biting.

According to the researchers, large reptiles such as rattlesnakes often occupy the top of trophic webs (interrelating food chains) and adult mortality through predation is rare.

They explained that because many large reptiles are long-lived, the loss of reproductive adults can have wider implications for species populations. As such, the camera trap footage comes as important documentation of this phenomenon.

What a showdown between a killer kitty and a savage snake, although I really wasn’t expecting it to be such a one-sided affair. Hopefully, these scientists can upgrade to HD camera traps in time for the next royal rumble.

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Here’s our pick of the best cameras for wildlife photography.

It was watching the BBC's Springwatch, that spurred me into getting trail cameras for my small back garden. The TV show had shown how, with the aid of camera traps, they had shown a city householder that she had foxes, badgers and hedgehogs visiting her backyard after dark. I wondered if I could see the nocturnal wildlife in my own manor – so I bought a pair of Wolfang WT-02 trail cameras and set them to work.

They were unbelievably cheap – despite promising 4K footage and having the distinct advantage of built-in solar panels. But I didn't expect to win prizes with my footage - and didn't even know if I would record anything worthwhile – so something that proved the existence (or not) of creatures of the night in my own backyard.

Wolfang WT02: Specifications

Wolfang WT02: Price

There are plenty of cheap trail cameras to choose from at Amazon and elsewhere - but most are from companies you have never heard of. Wolfang is an exception – as DCW has tested several of its low-cost action cameras in the past, such as the WA300.

The Wolfang WT02 seems to have a recommended retail price of $69.99 / £49.99, but can regularly be found for $40 / £30 or lower, making it a staggerinly good deal.

Wolfang WT02: Design & Handling

The Wolfgang comes really well equipped, despite its price. The solar panel is a godsend for something that you may leave for weeks out the open – and even in the UK, where sunshine is far from guaranteed, the solar panel was more than adequate to keep the unit powered up. You do have the option to install four AA cells as a back-up (and the manufacturer recommends this for cold climates) – but in my experience it was not necessary, and this definitely helps to keep down the running costs.

My unit came with a microSD card, but I have read that not all retailers provide this – but even so this is literally all you need to get yourself set up and running. It comes with a webbed strap for attaching the unit to a tree, post or gate – but there is also a multi-angle mounting arm that you can use to attach more securely to a post or building.

The unit has a built-in color screen underneath it waterproof housing, which you use for set-up. This can also be used to review your images and videos – but I found it best to download the images from the card, and review the captured footage on my laptop screen.

The menu gives you a good amount of control over your captures - the resolution, the duration of each clip and so on. One useful feature I discovered is that you can set when the trail camera was active… on its first outing I had it set up to trigger 24 hours a day, which meant during daylight hours I got lots of clips of the neighbors' cats and of passersby. Tweaking the settings so it was only functioning from dusk to dawn meant my success rate increased dramatically.

Wolfang WT02: Performance

I knew there were foxes living near me – as had seen them crossing my road early in the morning on the occasions I have to get an early train or plane. And I had also been told there there were badgers in the allotmants that back onto my small garden. I therefore set up the cameras to record the path that runs behind my back garden and the allotment.

Amazingly, on the first night I discovered that we had both badgers and foxes that passing by on their search for food. The badgers would invariably be looking for snails and other creepy crawlies by the back gate. The foxes were intrigued by the infrared light that the trail camera uses to capture its after-dark footage.

The quality of the footage - given the price of the unit - is very impressive… and you can see that for yourself from the best clips captured in the couple of months that I had the camera set up.

My one criticism is that the microphone doesn't appear to do a good job of capturing the sounds of the wildlife - even though badgers are far from quiet as they forage for snackes. And I know the sound is actually recording - as you can hear clearly the rain falling in one of the daylight clips.

Above: Sample videos of badgers captured with the Wolfang WT02

Above: sample videos of foxes shot at night with the WT02

Above: assortment of video clips shot in daylight with the Wolfang WT02

Wolfang WT02: Verdict

For the price, the Wolfgang WT02 trail camera is a bargain – and particularly so as it is self-fuelled through its integral solar panel. There are models that will give you better quality, no doubt. And there are much more expensive options, that allow you to monitor the footage remotely via your mobile phone. However, if you are someone like me, or doesn't even know if there is any interesting animals to capture, this bargain device is a great way of proving whether there is (or there isn't). And at this price, I would recommend getting two (or more!) like me, so you can have more angles covered.

Alternatives

It’s taken me a while to get my hands on the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow, one of the company’s most popular non-cellular trail cameras. Bushnell has long been recognised for its outdoor optics, and this unit is aimed at wildlife enthusiasts or spotters who want a good level of visual detail with little fuss.

If you’re interested in specs, the camera’s main shoutouts include 4K video at 20fps, 30MP stills (interpolated) and improved storage up to a 512GB SD card, meaning you can leave the camera for longer without worrying about filling the memory too quickly.

The S-4K No Glow isn’t a new model. Released around mid-2021, it’s effectively the slightly more affordable sibling to the Bushnell Core DS-4K No Glow (the DS standing for double sensor) that we tested back in 2022. The S-4K shares the same heavy-duty casing and 4K capability but uses one 4K sensor that relies on an automatic mechanical IR filter to switch between day and night capture.

The S-4K No Glow faces tough competition in our guides to the best trail cameras and best wildlife cameras, but on paper at least it excels in a few areas. Firstly, the camera offers what I’ll call ‘true’ 4K video resolution. I’ve come to realise that many budget trail cameras advertise 4K video, but actually use software interpolation to take a lower-resolution sensor (like 1080p or 720p) and stretch the pixels to fit a 4K frame. And the result is footage that still looks pixelated.

So the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow records full 4K, which promises better fine detail to the picture. But of course, resolution is only one element in determining footage quality; dynamic range, flash range, and trigger speed all contribute, too. With a trigger speed of 0.2 seconds for photos, 0.4 seconds for video, the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow is near the top of its class for response time among ~$200 non-cellular cameras. And as its name suggests, the camera also has completely invisible IR flash, meaning it shouldn't spook shy mammals or alert walkers-by to its location.

One thing niggling me about the S-4K No Glow was the spec that footage maxes out at just 20fps in 4K. I don’t want stuttery footage when recording fast-moving animals, and anything under 25 or 30fps can create that. It is possible to set higher frame rates with the S-4K No Glow, but only by dropping the recording resolution down to 1080p.

With the Core S-4K, it feels like Bushnell is pitching an unpretentious, reliable workhorse for serious wildlife watchers who want sharp footage but don’t need apps and remote footage. But it’s about five years old now. Should this make us worry about outdated tech, or does it still hold its weight against newer rivals from Browning and Spypoint? I took it out into my local British woodland to see if its single-sensor setup and fast trigger rates delivered the premium picture promised, or if I’d end up missing the remote convenience of a cellular connection.

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow: Specifications

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow: Price

The Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow retails at around $200/£190, putting it in the premium tier of traditional, non-cellular trail cameras. At first, I thought that tag sounded steep for a camera that can’t send images directly to your phone, especially when budget brands like Stealth Cam or GardePro offer entry-level models for half this price. But Bushnell is targeting wildlife enthusiasts wanting native high-resolution video and instant trigger speeds over wireless phone updates.

Where the Core S-4K leads the market is that, unlike cheaper 4K cameras that use digital interpolation to fake resolution, it uses a dedicated dual-sensor array to capture true, native 4K video. It is also one of the few cameras in its class to support full 512GB SDXC storage, allowing you to shoot 4K clips for longer without filling the card.

The camera faces some competition from the Browning Recon Force Elite HP5 Ultra (2026 model). This maxes out at 1440p, but offers a smoother 60fps frame rate for action shots compared to Bushnell's 30fps at 4K, and half the trigger recovery time at 0.5 seconds. Being a non-cellular model, of course, there are no data subscriptions to factor in. The Core S-4K No Glow is a fair price for a high-end trail camera, though it’s not exceptional value either.

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow: Design & Handling

To look at quickly, the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow resembles any quintessential camo trail camera. Its tree-bark-inspired camouflage is designed to blend into woodland trunks, and doesn’t do a bad job – though the cool reads a little too cool gray for a UK woodland in summer.

It’s a minimalist cubed design, and the only indication of external branding is a subtly embossed 'B' on the front door. Size-wise, it’s a relatively light and compact model measuring 6.5 x 10.5 x 15cm, as there's no cellular antenna or solar panel to consider. It sits nearly 2cm flatter than the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 I tested most recently, so it sits more flush against a tree trunk or flat mounting post out in the field.

The camera’s handling also follows a familiar layout for anyone who has used modern trail gear. There’s a heavy-duty latch holding the fold-open front door shut with a solid snap. I couldn't find an official IP rating for weatherproofing.

I tested the camera during the UK’s fifth heatwave of the summer, so while I can’t vouch for its ability to keep out water, I’ll say that the Core S-4K certainly feels solid and well-constructed. The weather sealing is handled by a thick rubber gasket running along the inner rim to keep the internal buttons isolated from rain and humidity.

As is standard again for trail cams, you open up the secure latch from right to left to reveal the control center. The layout is super simple: a four-way plastic arrow pad with a central OK button, a dedicated menu button, an on/off toggle switch, and an eject button for the battery compartment. The plastic buttons feel a little more rattly than some rivals I’ve tested, but they respond predictably enough – and realistically, nobody buys a trail camera for its button feel. It’s a shame they don’t light up, mind.

On the right side of the casing is the SD card slot and a 9V DC external power jack. Placing the SD slot on the side rather than the bottom makes inserting and retrieving memory cards easy, even when the unit is strapped to a tree. The same can be said for pressing the release button to drop out the 6 x AA battery tray.

The batteries load smoothly, which isn’t always the case, and I found that the tray slides smoothly up and back into place. Though Bushnell says you might get a year out of full batteries, it’s reassuring to know that you can swap power in seconds without needing to unmount the camera from its position.

Above the control panel sits the welcome 1.5-inch color LCD, useful for double-checking your framing and camera angles before walking away. Because of its small size and basic resolution, I found it functions more as an alignment guide rather than a precise monitor for reviewing footage. I struggled to pick out any fine details and had to wait to view clips on a proper laptop monitor when I came home.

Setting up trail cameras can be more fiddly than it needs to be. But running through the Bushnell settings menu using the arrow keys makes for one of the simplest setups I've experienced. The interface has a high-contrast black-and-white design, and while I think this would make navigating menus in dark woods easy, the small display size still meant my (usually good) eyes struggled a bit, forcing me to get up close to read what settings I was changing. Still, for usability and hassle-free mounting, the S-4K No Glow gets the core fundamentals right.

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow: Performance

Above: Sample clips from the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow

I’ve been testing several trail cameras over the past few months, and like those other models, I strapped the Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow to a tree in my local British woodland for several weeks. I regularly swapped between 30MP stills and 4K video clips to see how its single-sensor setup holds up in real-world conditions. One big perk over other models I’ve tried is that you can also set it to ‘hybrid’.

This 2-in-1 mode where it’ll shoot an image first, then begin recording a full 4K video clip (for whatever duration you set. It’s the mode I found myself using most often, particularly as you can’t change the mode remotely without cellular. That way, I got a still image for quick identification, backed up by motion footage to observe the animal more closely.

Working this way adds a slight operational delay compared to running it in photo-only mode. Because the camera has to capture/process a photo and then switch to recording 4K video, there’s a tiny lag between the initial photo and the start of the video clip. There’s also a slightly longer recovery time before the camera can trigger a second sequence.

Supposedly, running Hybrid Mode also burns through battery power faster, but this isn’t something I noticed. After two weeks of running the camera in a set-and-forget way, the battery gauge looked nearly full. In Bushnell's menu system, when the camera is set to its highest infrared output (Long Range or High illumination mode), nighttime video clips are limited to 15 seconds to prevent battery drain and thermal overload.

With the camera set to its highest trigger sensitivity and its quoted 0.2-second trigger speed, I found it genuinely responsive. Looking at my test frames in photo mode (not hybrid), both a trotting fox and a roe deer were captured in the middle of the frame rather than disappearing off the edge. However, even with rapid firing, fast animal movement in low light still produces noticeable motion blur, particularly around shuffling legs and paws.

Despite Bushnell touting 30MP stills and true native 4K video, the visual reality under a dense canopy is mixed. Looking at my daylight capture of a roe deer, the hair textures on its flank looked a little smudged and painted rather than tack-sharp – a reminder that high megapixel counts can’t overcome a single sensor struggling with dynamic range.

Color balance is partly a personal choice, and every trail camera renders slightly differently in this respect. Comparing the daylight capture of a roe deer directly against a very similar shot from the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 highlights the Bushnell's variation. Where the Browning renders natural, warm woodland earth tones with soft highlight roll-off, the Bushnell shifts heavily toward a cold, teal-tinted white balance. Vibrancy is also punchier, where the Browning leans towards a more natural appearance overall.

Transition periods and night captures highlight the strengths and limits of the single sensor. An early-morning grayscale capture of a squirrel on a fallen log demonstrated that while the resolution is sufficient to spot small mammals, low-contrast dawn light leaves the image looking flat and washed out, making it tricky to pick out subjects.

But at night, the completely invisible "No-Glow" IR array comes into its own. The light beam is spread evenly across the middle distance without there being bright hotspots in the middle, In one shot I tracked a cat without spooking it or triggering any eye-glare reactions (don’t ask me what it was doing in the middle of a wood, though). Close-range auto-exposure is a bit harsher; when a muntjac deer grazed the bottom edge of the frame, the lower LEDs hit more directly, overexposing its back – but that’s getting into picky territory.

You can record media with or without data strips imprinted onto the bottom. Here, I’ve chosen to include them for illustration – the Bushnell records time, date, moon phase, and temperature. Like most trail cameras I’ve tested, the internal thermometer ran a couple of degrees higher than ambient woodland temps, but as a basic logging tool for local animal activity, it does the job.

Switching over to 4K video clips, the impact of the 20fps cap is apparent, but by no means awful. Watching a nocturnal fox pace across the scene, the footage is sharp and undeniably clear for identifying species, but the tail and stepping paws have a slight, juddery motion that lacks the fluid polish of 30fps or 60fps video.

Again, the No-Glow IR matrix leaves animals completely unbothered, and the fox trotted past without a single glance toward the tree. Audio capture is more than functional. It picked up the faint crunch of footsteps on dry leaves, and though the microphone introduces a background hiss that gives it a slightly tinny, compressed edge, this is something all trail cams contend with.

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow: Verdict

The Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow is an honest and practical choice for wildlife watchers who want high visual resolution without a monthly data subscription. I'd be confident in the batteries lasting months, but if you do want to go long stretches without checking the camera, you'll need a high-capacity SD card (and the camera supports up to 512GB).

Unlike Low-Glow models, I found that the Bushnell's stealthy No-Glow IR flash performed brilliantly at night, illuminating woodland paths without scaring nocturnal creatures. I also particularly rate the Hybrid Mode, which lets you capture a high-resolution photo alongside motion-backed 4K video for easy field monitoring.

The optical claims aren't without caveats, though. Under a dense and leafy woodland canopy, I found that the sensor could struggle with dynamic range – blowing out sunny highlights and pushing shadows toward an unnaturally cold, teal. Heavy internal processing left finer fur textures looking a bit smudged, and the 20fps cap at max resolution introduces a subtle judder to fast-moving animals.

If you want fluid 60fps action or remote app transfers, newer cellular trail cameras from Browning or Spypoint might suit you better. But if your main goal is long-term, unpretentious local recording with dependable 0.2-second response times and fantastic 2-in-1 captures, I think the Core S-4K No Glow is still a solid contender.

Alternatives

Check out our full guides to the best trail cameras, and also the best cellular trail cameras

One researcher at Michigan State University says he’ll be spending the next three months pulling memory cards on more than a thousand trail cameras – yet the data powered by the camera traps is proving to be more reliable and less intensive than traditional methods of monitoring the health of the endangered gray wolf population.

In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the gray wolf population has recovered enough that the species may no longer need to be labeled as endangered, according to the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The insight comes from a series of 1,311 trail cameras, the first time the state has successfully tracked and monitored the gray wolf population for an entire year.

While the gray wolf is still a federally protected species, the latest research suggests that the numbers have exceeded the DNR’s population recovery goals. Data from the camera surveys could help the gray wolf be officially reclassified as a recovered species.

While researcher and doctoral candidate Matt Nelson says he will be pulling memory cards to gather the next year’s worth of data from now until October, the series of trail cameras is proving to be a less labor-intensive and less weather-dependent method of monitoring the species’ population.

Previously, the DNR would track the population of the gray wolf using snow tracks in the winter, which could follow wolf packs across as much as 60% of the Upper Peninsula. But monitoring the health of the species by snow tracks only offers a seasonal insight into the population and can be highly weather-dependent.

Using a series of trail cameras, researchers used machine learning software to analyze the images and flag wolves and disregard other species, with researchers fact-checking the computer program for accuracy. The count was then put into an “event-to-space” algorithm that estimates the population based on what the cameras detect.

At the same time, researchers continued to use snow tracks while the trail cameras were used. Both studies found a similar estimate for the wolf population, suggesting that the trail cameras have a similar accuracy.

The snow tracking method estimated 768 wolves, while the camera survey estimated 773 during the winter of 2024. In the fall months, the camera population estimate exceeds 1,000 wolves, with the highest being 1,198 in October 2024.

The fact that the trail camera survey didn’t lead to any surprises compared to traditional survey methods suggests that the tech is accurate. “There were no real surprises. The camera survey worked really well and aligned with what we know about wolf ecology,” Nelson said.

By using a series of trail cameras, researchers were able to monitor the fluctuation of the wolf population across an entire year, noting that the count was the lowest in the winter but surged again in the spring after the birth of new pups.

The cameras tend to detect the most wolves in the fall, as that’s the time of year when the younger pups are old enough to join the pack instead of staying behind in the den.

The Michigan DNR has a similar program for tracking the gray fox, but the trail camera system could eventually be used to track the population of more than those species.

Next, researchers are pulling SD cards from more than 1,000 cameras for the 2025 data.

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One of the reasons I love reporting on camera trap surveys is that they not only provide interesting imagery of rare species in the wild – they also play a key role in conservation efforts. This latest story, from Sikkim, northern India, is a key example.

For only the second time ever, the Eurasian lynx has been caught on camera in this region, which lies within the Himalayas. The Eurasian lynx is a medium-sized wild cat characterized by ear tufts and a short tail, and is adapted to cold, high-altitude areas.

In fact, it marks only the second time that this rarely sighted big cat has ever been caught on camera in the entire Eastern Himalayas, with both photos proving to be the only, yet vital visual confirmation conservationists have of this species’ distribution in these parts.

“The photographic confirmation of the Eurasian lynx in the Tso Lhamo plateau is a proud moment for Sikkim,” said Sri Udai Gurung, chief conservator of forests, Forest and Environment Department, Sikkim.

“It highlights the ecological significance of our high-altitude rangelands and reinforces our commitment to protecting these fragile ecosystems.”

The sighting was recorded as part of a long-term monitoring project being jointly conducted by the Government of Sikkim and WWF-India.

Following years of anecdotal reports of the Eurasian lynx in the region, the photograph was captured in January this year by a camera trap deployed at 17,224ft / 5,250m on the Tso Lhamo plateau in Mangan district.

Together with the first-ever Himalayan photographic record of the Eurasian lynx, captured in 2025 , the images will help form the basis of further research to document the species in this region of the world's tallest mountain range.

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Take a look at the best trail cameras for spotting animals in your own area, along with our picks of the best cameras for wildlife photography and the best lenses for bird and wildlife photography.

If the traditional trail camera market is about reliability and value, then the best cellular trail cameras are a race of remote tech and convenience. Over the past couple of seasons, wireless scouting seems to have become more commonplace and less of a luxury novelty. And I’ll admit, while I love the dopamine hit of a new animal sighting coming through my phone, I’m not a fan of paying for the subscription costs that come with most cellular options.

The Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar is a flagship product in Browning’s 2026 cellular lineup, replacing the Pro Scout Max series and including a plug-in solar-charging option. With 46MP images, full HD 1080p videos with sound, and a 100-foot image detection range, the camera most closely rivals premium cell-cams like the Spypoint Flex-M Solar and Tactacam Reveal series.

To me, it exists to solve the two common trail cam headaches: burning through lots of AA batteries and wasting hours making field trips to check the camera and its storage (something I’ve done a lot of while testing the best trail cameras without cellular capabilities).

Unlike units with a solar panel fixed rigidly to the top of the camera housing (which is streamlined but forces you to choose between hiding your camera in thick shade or placing it in direct, obvious sunlight), the Defender’s plug-in solar panel can be mounted separately. The Pro Scout Solar also has an auto-detecting dual-carrier network that flips between AT&T and Verizon towers natively, depending on your location. I’m in the UK and can confirm the cellular option works internationally, outside of the US.

With this trail cam, Browning is pitching a true set-and-forget tool. I’m taking this into the woods to see if its design, performance and wireless on-demand video streaming deliver, or if I get fed up with the ongoing monthly app subscription tax and app faffing.

Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar: Specifications

Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar: Price

The Browning Defender Pro Scout Max sits in the mid-priced area of the cellular trail camera market, and I’d say it has a few advanced features traditionally reserved for the most expensive models. At around $150/£170, it comes with a solar panel battery pack, fully invisible infrared LEDs, and 46-megapixel still images.

The downside for me is the ongoing subscription prices you need to pay to transmit your media – really, this is the whole point of getting a cellular camera in the first place. Browning’s data plans range from basic tracking packages that start at roughly $5/£4 a month, which allow basic thumbnail downloads.

If you want to access and download video clips, you’ll need The International Unlimited Plan at €14.99 (approx. $16.50) monthly, but it only allows 12 video downloads per month. The name unlimited suggests otherwise to me. On the plus side, you can start and stop subscriptions when you want if your usage changes.

Compared to entry-level cell cams like the Spypoint Link-Micro – which is cheaper upfront but only transmits low-resolution photos – the Defender can deliver on-demand HD photo and video uploads straight to your smartphone. However, I’m still not sure that the service feels streamlined enough to justify its monthly network fees.

Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar: Design & Handling

The Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar is noticeably bigger than non-cellular options like the Strike Force Pro X 1080. It might feel more chunky and substantial in your hand, but given that you don’t often carry a trail camera around, bar mounting or maintenance, it isn’t an issue. Browning calls the camera weatherproof, though there’s no specific waterproof rating. All of the important buttons and storage are hidden behind a very secure flap, and the only real point of moisture entry is the solar panel cable.

Screwing onto the very top of the unit is the high-gain 4G cellular antenna. Unlike some antennas that pivot or swing on an adjustable knuckle, this plastic one is fixed straight up. It screws in tightly and feels secure, so I wasn’t worried about passing wildlife or falling branches knocking it loose.

As its name suggests, the Pro Scout Solar comes with a micro-solar panel battery pack, and getting the full system rigged up in the woods requires a tiny bit more coordination than a standard trail cam. Both parts of the unit have their own dedicated, strong nylon straps that tie around the back of the hardware.

Although I first thought this setup was going to be more fiddly than having a fully integrated panel, the advantage here over fixed, all-in-one solar cameras is placement versatility. The solar panel plugs directly into the bottom of the main camera via a flexible power cable, meaning you could potentially position the camo camera lower down in the brush and run the lead higher up a trunk to strap the solar array in sunlight.

The woodland spot I chose had regular spells of dappled sunlight through the day, so I chose to mount it underneath the main camera. What’s especially helpful is a button on the solar panel that allows you to test whether the panel is working. Once I’d picked my tree and wound the tough straps around both parts, I found that they would easily hold the weight against the bark without sagging or drooping.

The camera sadly doesn’t have a built-in plate to angle the camera down, which means you have to get your angle just right by other means. I wedged a small twig between the camera and the tree trunk at the back so it was pointing down more effectively toward the woodland path.

Speaking of getting the composition right, this is harder to do on the Pro Scout Solar because it doesn’t have a color LCD screen – or indeed, a screen that will show you the scene at all. Because this is a cellular unit meant to be managed remotely, Browning gives you a small, text-based LCD configuration screen paired with a set of responsive buttons that light up when touched – a massive help if you’re trying to check settings in the dark or low light.

The on-board menu layout is very simple to navigate, but you can go without touching it at all if you’d rather use Browning’s phone app. You can download the Strike Force Wireless app on an iPhone or Android, scan the QR code inside the camera door, and it will automatically connect to the strongest available network. I had the cellular link active and syncing to my phone in about five minutes, once I’d figured out what I needed to do. If you’re less averse to reading the included paper manual than I am, you might set up even faster.

Being a cellular-solar hybrid does bring a couple of handling quirks you'll need to watch out for. The bottom-plugging power cable requires careful routing; it’s a good idea to make sure the cord hangs with a neat drip-loop so rainwater runs away from the connection point rather than pooling around the seal.

Generally speaking, though, I found the Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar solidly made, easy to use (partly because there are few settings to choose from), and easy to handle. Some may prefer an in-built solar panel to avoid having to trail a cable, but I prefer the versatility of being able to position the panel where it’s likely to get the strongest light.

Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar: Performance

Above: Sample clips from the Browning Defender Pro Scout Max Solar

I had the Browning Defender Pro Scout Max Solar deployed in the woods for a few weeks before writing this review, which gave me enough time to test its cellular connectivity and solar battery. And to capture a whole array of classic British woodland creatures. For me, a trail camera's worth is entirely won or lost on its field reliability, and testing this hybrid system has highlighted exactly where its high-tech scouting excels and where it hits a few classic trade-offs.

The specs sheet for the Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar lists a 0.25-second photo-trigger speed and a 0.35-second recovery time. In the past, I’ve found that by the time a camera wakes up and triggers, fast-moving animals have already cleared the frame, leaving you either with a collection of blank field shots or tails.

The Pro Scout Solar mostly delivers on its speed promises. In image mode, I’d set the camera to take three shots once motion had been detected. The detection circuit was fast enough to capture hares moving across the scene, usually caught halfway across rather than at the start of their motion, with the last shots sometimes empty.

It seems that when a target breaches the detection zone, the camera can trigger fast enough to capture moving wildlife dead-center. The rapid recovery time then allowed the camera to reset and snap a follow-up image in a fraction of a second. I enjoyed getting a frame-by-frame of how a deer or badger was moving through the woodland, rather than a single, isolated image.

During the day, the camera captures images using a quoted 46MP resolution setting, though there’s definitely some digital interpolation to reach this number. When you look closely at the fine details of a frame – like the background foliage or the forest floor – individual leaf edges and fine textures are blended into a slightly soft, painterly texture rather than showing true, tack-sharp, high-megapixel resolution. That said, the camera does a practical job on the wildlife. In one shot of a roe deer wandering past, you can see the texture of its coat and the shape of its small antlers clearly.

The shutter speed is mostly fast enough to freeze movement in adequate light, but some motion blur occurred on overcast spells or very early mornings. I’m not sold on the white balance, however, which leans into a noticeably yellowish-green cast. In bright light, the woodland foliage looked a bit cooked compared to what you’d see with the naked eye under a natural canopy. I also noticed some sharpening halos and compression noise in the deep, dark background shadows. But I’m being a picky reviewer here, and I don’t think the average user would notice or mind. After all, you’re not likely to be printing these images.

When darkness falls, both image and video modes switch over to the camera’s 6 no-glow LED lights. Here, the background branches and forest floor dissolved heavily into a uniform, speckled gray texture. But the camera does better with exposure control and handling overexposure. With my captures of a roaming badger, the bright white facial stripes of the badger were distinct and not blown out at all. The badger's stocky body was also frozen fairly well by the night shutter, with only a tiny hint of softness on its moving legs.

The LED light (nearly invisible to humans and animals) is concentrated heavily across the center of the frame, meaning the illumination falls off sharply at the corners. This means anything skirting the perimeter of the frame will likely be lost to the shadows. There is also a subtle layer of digital noise across the mid-tone grays, which I think is, again, quite par for the course when a sensor boosts its gain to see in the dark.

Because this is a cellular unit, it’s also important to review the Strike Force Wireless app. I went to check the camera much more than a standard user would because I was testing it, and the time from my walking past the camera to getting a notification about a sighting or video motion capture on my phone was just three to four minutes every time. That’s some speedy syncing between the cellular connection and the app.

The app layout is user-friendly, grouping your media neatly by day so you can scroll through and download or delete files at will. You can also control the camera, tweak the main settings, clear the SD card, or set it to overwrite older files when storage runs out. The only minor sting for me is that, with the subscription tier I chose, I was only able to download low-resolution images remotely. Upgrading to full-res or HD video downloads costs several times more, but the low-res previews were at least quick and easy to fetch.

And how about the solar power element? The real peace of mind with a solar-cellular unit is knowing you can leave the area undisturbed without a battery dying mid-season. The external plug-in solar panel kept the internal reservoir topped up throughout my testing, dropping to 95% power in two weeks with about 5 sightings a day and full-resolution captures (that’s around 40 weeks of power in total).

Because it relies on the sun, you do have to manage your settings sensibly if you want to leave the unit unmanned for longer. The camera records and transmits 1080p HD video with (surprisingly clear) audio on demand, but if you set the Strike Force Wireless app to constantly fetch heavy video clips during a stretch of overcast weather, the battery drainage could outpace the solar panel's ability to recover. If you take the time to position the solar panel cleanly and set your transmission intervals sensibly, though, there’s so much convenience and simplicity in getting wireless updates without setting foot near your location for months.

Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar: Verdict

I’ve spent two weeks using the Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar in my local woodland, and I was amazed at what I found there. It’s a top-marks hardware package, but it has a service plan that’s hard to score. The design of the trail cam means I wouldn’t worry about battery drain if I left it in the wild for several seasons, even with the camera firing off multiple daily captures. The rugged camouflage casing feels pretty indestructible, and I’m sure that the heavy-duty latch clips would keep out even heavy rain.

Performance-wise, my experience is that the camera delivers on its trigger speeds but stumbles on resolution. It’s incredibly useful to see wildlife caught centrally in the frame rather than as a collection of empty background shots, and the night exposure control on high-contrast subjects like badgers is great. It’s still frustrating to have a quoted 46MP sensor that clearly relies on heavy digital interpolation. Without a color LCD screen, it’s hard to check your framing in the field, but I guess that’s where the Browning app comes in.

I’d recommend the Defender Pro Scout Solar if you’re managing a remote property, want the instant gratification of getting near-instant notification alerts on your phone, and don’t mind paying a premium to download footage from the SD card. In the Browning Wireless app, the media gallery is clean, the remote settings changes work quickly, and the cabled solar panel is basic but effective.

If you want a tool that doesn’t lock its best features behind a paywall, the ongoing subscription is a bit much. Calling a plan unlimited when it restricts you to just 12 video downloads a month, for example, feels mean for a mid-priced camera.

If you’re on a budget or plan on checking your camera frequently anyway, you might be better served by saving your cash and opting for a traditional local-storage unit like the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080, or looking at a Spypoint Flex-M Solar, which offers a free basic photo transmission tier. Overall, I think the Browning Defender Pro Scout Solar is a fast, rugged, and reliable cellular hybrid that’s mainly held back by the price of its data plans.

Alternatives

Check out our full guides to the best trail cameras, and also the best cellular trail cameras

Over the past few years, I’ve noticed the wildlife surveillance market splitting – between more expensive app-driven cellular models and cheaper, unbranded basic ones. As some trail camera users push back against monthly data plans or just don’t need them, there’s still room for the best trail cameras without cellular coverage and ongoing fees.

The Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 lands here: an unplugged, reliable option for users who either want to position close to home or don’t mind hiking out to pull their SD card and review footage. Of course, the on-board storage approach works best if you’ve got smaller patches of land to survey, more time to fetch the camera, or a smaller budget.

Browning is a brand with a long reputation for making rugged and reliable trail cameras – in fact, it was one of the first brands I used a decade ago. The Strike Force HD Pro X1080 isn't a completely new design, but an evolutionary replacement for the older Strike Force HD Pro X. This line bridges the gap between their entry-level text-only cameras and bigger, higher-resolution units. It has 1080P Full HD video with sound, a 24MP sensor, low-glow night illumination, a built-in color screen for reviewing footage, and one of the fastest trigger speeds on the market.

I was eager to take this game and motion-activated camera out into the woods to see if its blazing 0.18-second trigger speed lives up to the hype for capturing wildlife, or if you're better off saving your money and sticking with an older, simpler model.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080: Specifications

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080: Price

With an RRP of $149/£159, the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 is at the higher end of traditional, non-cellular trail cameras. The market is flooded with far more entry-level Amazon game cameras under $50/£45 now, but this is a model that I feel confidently offers a better design and build quality to justify the extra investment.

The rugged construction has some tropical-grade weatherproof seals designed to lock out moisture from rain and deep-wood exposure, and the internal hardware is meant to be very efficient on batteries, quoted at squeezing up to a year of field life from a single set of six AA batteries (I haven’t tested it that long to say for sure). Being a trail camera that relies on SD card storage, there are zero subscription costs here.

If I compare the price with mid-to-high-tier rivals like the Bushnell Core series or Spypoint's non-cellular range, the Browning has a good price-to-performance advantage thanks to its industry-leading 0.18-second photo trigger speed. If you’re a land manager or wildlife photographer, I’d say the Strike Force HD Pro X1080 is a cost-effective and reliable tool for tracking.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080: Design & Handling

The Browning Strike Force Pro X 1080 comes packaged in a pretty compact, neatly organised box. In fact, the first thing I noticed was just how small but sturdy it felt in my hand. One of the most important things in a trail cam is to blend in – a hard task given the varied landscapes you could deploy one in – and this product is especially well suited to woodland. The chassis is covered in a busy, textured camouflage pattern that does a brilliant job of vanishing against tree bark.

Given that you’ll be leaving a trail camera outside for weeks or months, hardiness against the weather is also vital. Browning doesn’t publish an official IP waterproofing rating for the Strike Force Pro X 1080, suggesting that maybe it just hasn’t been officially tested. But the exterior has reassuring rubber seals, with a primary side clip that snaps shut with a deeply satisfying mechanical click. For some reason, I had total confidence that it could survive a torrential downpour and a misty morning without fogging up the lens internals or damaging the SD card.

With the front unclipped, the camera has a few simple features and buttons. The forward-facing 1.5-inch color LCD screen – while not large or detailed enough to view your footage closely – is just about passable for setting up a composition or reviewing clips without removing the SD card.

As far as controls go, you’ll find an on-off toggle, an M button to bring up the menu, a 4-way navigation keypad and a button to eject the battery cassette, which pops out at the bottom of the unit. I found these buttons responsive, and I like that they light up when touched, making it easy to navigate if you set up or review the unit after dark. The menu itself is simple to toggle through on-screen, too. I was able to set up the camera to my liking in just a few minutes without needing to look at the paper manual in the box.

I’d decided to trudge to my local woodland to mount the camera, hoping to review it regularly for wildlife sightings while walking my dog. The camera and strap were easy to carry in a small shoulder bag, and I found mounting the camera very straightforward. The included nylon tree strap is incredibly long – so long that I found myself wrapping it around a narrower trunk multiple times – but the webbing is so strong that it kept the camera locked rigidly in position. After a few nights of unseasonably strong winds overnight, when I returned to the camera a few days later, it was still solidly in place.

The Browning Strike Force Pro X 1080 comes packaged in a pretty compact, neatly organised box. In fact, the first thing I noticed was just how small but sturdy it felt in my hand. One of the most important things in a trail cam is to blend in – a hard task given the varied landscapes you could deploy one in – and this product is especially well suited to woodland. The chassis is covered in a busy, textured camouflage pattern that does a brilliant job of vanishing against tree bark.

Given that you’ll be leaving a trail camera outside for weeks or months, hardiness against the weather is also vital. Browning doesn’t publish an official IP waterproofing rating for the Strike Force Pro X 1080, suggesting that maybe it just hasn’t been officially tested.

But the exterior has reassuring rubber seals, with a primary side clip that snaps shut with a deeply satisfying mechanical click. For some reason, I had total confidence that it could survive a torrential downpour and a misty morning without fogging up the lens internals or damaging the SD card.

With the front unclipped, the camera has a few simple features and buttons. The forward-facing 1.5-inch color LCD screen – while not large or detailed enough to view your footage closely – is just about passable for setting up a composition or reviewing clips without removing the SD card. As far as controls go, you’ll find an on-off toggle, an M button to bring up the menu, a 4-way navigation keypad and a button to eject the battery cassette, which pops out at the bottom of the unit.

I found these buttons responsive, and I like that they light up when touched, making it easy to navigate if you set up or review the unit after dark. The menu itself is simple to toggle through on-screen, too. I was able to set up the camera to my liking in just a few minutes without needing to look at the paper manual in the box.

I’d decided to trudge to my local woodland to mount the camera, hoping to review it regularly for wildlife sightings while walking my dog. The camera and strap were easy to carry in a small shoulder bag, and I found mounting the camera very straightforward.

The included nylon tree strap is incredibly long – so long that I found myself wrapping it around a narrower trunk multiple times – but the webbing is so strong that it kept the camera locked rigidly in position. After a few nights of unseasonably strong overnight winds, when I returned to the camera a few days later, it was still solidly in place.

What’s thoughtful in the design is that Browning has incorporated an adjustable steel tree bracket into the back of the case. With traditional trail cameras, I’ve been used to playing a frustrating game of balance, sometimes forcing bits of twig and stick behind the housing to angle the lens in just the right way down towards a footpath or trail.

This solid steel pivot gives you about 30 degrees of leeway, so you can adjust the downward tilt to frame the exact area of ground you want before walking away and leaving the camera to do its monitoring.

One design element does let down the seamless experience, and that’s the battery compartment. Browning claims this to be an exceptionally efficient camera (I say claims because I haven’t got to the performance section yet!), running on six AA batteries rather than the eight standard cells demanded by its competitors. But I found popping them in and swapping them out to be very fiddly.

Pressing the recessed eject button releases the internal drawer, but it doesn't bring the batteries out enough to change them, so you really have to yank them. I used this unit in the height of a hot British summer, but I think if you were trying to service the camera on a cold winter’s day with numb fingers, you’d have to apply some effort to pry the batteries loose. It's a minor complaint in an otherwise highly rugged tracking tool that seems to favor quick, hassle-free field deployment over unnecessary buttons.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080: Performance

Above: Sample clips from the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080

I strapped the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 to a tree in my local English woodland for two weeks. Being a non-cellular option, I reviewed the captured media every few days, as the location was near home, and I swapped between stills and video clips regularly. I set both media types to their highest quality setting, so I could fully assess where this traditional model wins and whether any areas are affected by its reasonable price.

At a quoted 0.18-second photo trigger speed, the Strike Force HD Pro X1080 sits among the fastest trigger speeds available on the current trail camera market. Looking closely at the captured images, these specs do seem to translate to real-world performance. In one of my favourite daylight frames, a hare was captured mid-bound, frozen in the air quite neatly. But that was in bright sunlight, and on darker days or at dawn, you get more ghostly motion blur when a fast animal speeds across the lens. The rapid response of the camera is critical for tracking fast-moving wildlife; I’ve tested older, slower cameras that often capture an empty frame or the trailing edge of a tail.

The camera captures 24MP stills, though this resolution is achieved via digital software interpolation rather than a native high-megapixel sensor. It’s worth noting, though, that I couldn’t see half the detail or quality compared to test images from one of Browning’s 48MP models.

In most of my test shots, the subject was easily identifiable, even though the background of a busy woodland meant sometimes having to look more closely. In one clip of an owl landing, for example, I had to watch the clip on a laptop screen to be able to make out the species from the leaves behind. The camera also struggles significantly with harsh, high-contrast lighting.

On sunny afternoons, any spots where direct sunlight pierced through were almost blown out. The overall white balance was okay, as far as trail cams go, with a noticeably warm, yellow-green cast that might be signature to Browning cams. The summer woods did look more artificially vibrant than they appeared to me when walking through.

When the Strike Force Pro X 1080 transitions to night mode, it delivers pretty good videos and has a longer flash and detection range compared to its predecessor. My after-dark captures of a bumbling badger – a subject easy to overexpose because of its white-black markings – had a balanced look. The camera's auto-exposure prevented the badger's lighter fur from blowing out and kept its stocky shape recognisable with some softness around the shuffling legs. In another night capture where a badger was foraging along the far edge of the frame, the animal was almost lost to the deep shadows due to the sharp light fall-off at the perimeter.

You have the option to print image info onto your images and clips. While helpful for monitoring the time and temperature of sightings, my experience is that the temperature gauge was often a few degrees out. In other words, don’t rely on the bottom data strip if you're trying to track highly precise patterns, but for pure wildlife identification, the hardware remains effective.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080: Verdict

After a month overall in the field, the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X1080 proves that you don't need a cellular subscription or a solar setup to get serious wildlife tracking done. It is a straightforward, exceptionally quick camera that prioritises catching fast-moving targets over expensive tech. Its six-battery efficiency means you can still leave it out for months without worrying about a dead unit, but of course, you won’t be able to review footage until you go and manually pick up your SD card.

Performance-wise, the Strike won't win awards for its image quality. The tendency to blow out highlights in direct sunlight and the soft background interpolation mean it has some clear technical limitations. But this isn’t unique to the Strike Force HD Pro X1080, and if anything, it works exceptionally well as a general record of sightings. As a pure scouting tool, its ability to capture animals of varying speeds, shapes, and colors is still impressive.

If you want a rugged, reliable trail cam that works instantly out of the box and you don’t need the convenience of a remote cellular connection, the Strike Force HD Pro X1080 offers a good balance of value and performance for both beginner and advanced users.

Alternatives

Check out our full guides to the best bird feeder cameras and the bird box cameras.

Conservationists in Honduras have published the results of an agricultural camera trap survey, revealing the true culprits for crop raiding and potentially saving the lives of an endangered mammal species that had previously been blamed and killed by angry farmers.

The study was carried out in Mavita, a rural farming community located in the La Mosquitia region of northeastern Honduras. Here conservationists were responding to claims from local farmers, indigenous Miskito people, that the Baird’s tapir was eating their yuca (a potato-like vegetable).

The Baird’s tapir is Central America’s largest land mammal, but it is listed as endangered on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) Red List. Scientists estimate that fewer than 5,000 mature individuals remain in the wild, following a 50% plummet in their population over the last 30 years.

Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society Honduras Program and the Association for Sustainability and Scientific Research in Honduras responded by setting up three trail camera in and around a yuca field.

The footage, which was captured between September 2024 and February 2025, documented 27 unique events. The video evidence revealed that, in fact, seven species – including Honduran cottontail rabbits, ocelots, jaguarundis, agoutis, opossums as well as tapirs – were consuming the farmers’ crop, with the rabbits being mostly responsible.

Miskito farmers in the region have previously killed tapirs in retaliation for suspected crop raiding, but the footage from the survey now proves that the endangered mammal is only responsible for a small amount of lost yuca production.

The conservationists now plan on using the footage as a basis for developing crop management strategies in collaboration with the farmers in order to stop locals taking actions into their own hands.

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A monumental effort is underway in Florida to sift through millions of wildlife photos captured by trail cameras across the southern US state, in a bid to help conservationists manage and protect native ecosystems.

Launched on May 26, the Florida Wildlife Watch is a “citizen science” project organized by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). It is encouraging the public to help biologists identify and classify animals snapped on trail cameras across six million acres of Wildlife Management Areas.

“Florida Wildlife Watch connects people at home to nature while having a real impact on conservation,” said Graysen Boehning, FWC statewide participatory science coordinator.

“Even just a few classifications can be incredibly important in helping us understand the incredible ecosystems and wildlife we have here in Florida.”

Animals captured by the trail cams include great blue herons, red-shouldered hawks, gopher tortoises and Florida panthers. To date, 1,009 volunteers have made 229,021 classifications, with over 83,000 of these completed on the second day of the project alone.

The project administrators said participants “flew through” the first lot of images, thanking them for their “amazing work”. The FWC hasn’t stated how many images in total need sorting, but has previously said that its trail cams capture “millions of wildlife images every year.”

Scientists actively began placing trail cams across Florida in spring 2024 for the Everglades Wildlife Watch, a project that focused heavily on monitoring South Florida's unique ecosystems.

While the previous project covered a 1.6 million-acre zone, this latest research covers the entire area under the FWC’s custodianship statewide.

Anyone can take part in the project and view the trail cam images by clicking the “Classify” button in the project hub, which is hosted on the Zooniverse website – a platform developed by the universities of Oxford and Minnesota housing several “people-powered” research initiatives.

There’s no formal end date and the project will wrap up once all images have been sorted.

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Document your own local animal life with the best trail cameras, or take a look at the best cameras for wildlife photography and the best lenses for bird and wildlife photography.

Over the past 15 years, only five jaguars have been spotted in southern Arizona and one of those individuals has just been recorded by a trail camera. The footage, captured by the University of Arizona’s Wild Cat Research & Conservation Center, shows the fifth male Jaguar, appropriately dubbed ‘Cinco’, leisurely drinking from a water source at night. This is one of over 240 encounters with the five individuals. According to the center’s Instagram post, the team of citizen scientists monitor the big cats in a “long-term” and “non-invasive” manner, which means no lures.

According to the Northern Jaguar Project, the species can grow up to eight feet in length, making it the third-largest big cat in the world and the largest that’s native to North America. Sadly, it’s now endangered in the United States and Mexico, but once existed as far north as the Grand Canyon.

The Wild Cat Research & Conservation Center highlights that these big cats are an umbrella species, meaning that they act as a barometer for the health of an ecosystem. To find out more about the center and for details on how you can help support its work, make sure you visit its website.

Camera traps are used all over the world, on land and beneath the waves, to monitor endangered species. Digital Camera World has reported on a number of exciting instances recently, including an underwater camera that filmed a world-first encounter, as well as camera trap footage of a critically endangered orangutan.

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Are you an animal lover? Check out the best cameras for wildlife photography as well as my 10 tips for wildlife photography. If you’re looking for a cheap, one-and-done camera for casual wildlife snaps, take a look at the Nikon Coolpix P1100.

Every so often a story comes along that truly melts hearts and a news post from the Sumatran Orangutan Society has done just that. A camera trap has filmed a Sumatran orangutan using a canopy bridge crossing for the very first time. This a landmark occasion for the conservation group, which began installing canopy bridges in West Toba over two years ago, alongside TaHuKah, in a bid to provide safe passage across busy roads for orangutans and other wildlife species.

The camera trap captured the young male in the Pakpak Bharat district of North Sumatra, along with a huge variety of other species including a plantain squirrel, black giant squirrel, black Sumatran langur, and agile gibbon. What makes the video so charming is the way that the orangutan pauses for a rest before looking back towards the camera and then carrying on his merry way across the canopy bridge.

According to the SOS, the Lagan-Sibagindar road was widened in 2023, making it impossible for wildlife to cross via the forest’s canopy, trapping 350 Orangutans in a genetic bottleneck that could cause functional extinction due to inbreeding. By March 2024, five canopy bridges had been installed at strategic crossing points along the road, raising hopes that they would be used to cross between the neighbouring canopies.

Camera traps have been vital in documenting successes, with the first primate, a long-tailed macaque, captured on a bridge in August 2024 and subsequent species filmed crossing since, culminating in the first video evidence of a Sumatran Orangutan, using one of the bridges. CEO of the SOS, Helen Buckland, said: “For two years, we have watched and waited for this moment (...) a huge milestone for conservation – proving that it is possible to stitch this fragmented landscape together.”

But the society’s work isn’t done. It currently estimates that 750 orangutans are in a similar position, forced into small islands via surrounding roads. With help from donations, the SOS is hoping to bridge more gaps and provide further safe passage for one of the world’s most delightful primates.

To find out more about the SOS, visit its website. If you’d like to make a simple everyday change that will benefit orangutans, try to avoid products that contain palm oil. Less demand could help to reduce deforestation in these gentle primates’ habitats.

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If you're into wildlife, check out the best camera for wildlife and the best wildlife photography lenses. Plus, here are my 10 tips for wildlife photography.

Trail cameras - or camera traps, as they're sometimes called - are very handy gadgets if you want to record passing wildlife, day or night. Gone is the need to physically park yourself in a hide, waiting in silence for hours on end for the creature you're stalking to hopefully break cover. And heaven forbid nature should call in a less photogenic form while you're holed up...

In the UK, trail cams are usually used to record passing deer, foxes or badgers, but recently they've been employed in the hope of recording a runaway capybara. Yes, the world's largest rodent, native to South America, has become a surprising attraction in recent years in the UK, with examples being included in zoos and wildlife parks across the country.

However two of these overgrown guinea pigs have tried to make a break for freedom, escaping from Marwell Zoo near Winchester in southern England. Named Tango and Samba, the daring duo escaped only a day after arriving at Marwell, having just been transferred from a wildlife park in eastern England. Tango was swiftly recaptured, but Samba's escape effort has been far more accomplished and the 9-month old capybara has been missing since March 17th. By now the rodent could well be half way across the South Atlantic en route to Peru, but working under the assumption that Samba may not be homesick and is still happily exploring Britain's verdant countryside, various methods of capture have been employed by the zoo.

Drones equipped with thermal cameras have been flown over villages near the zoo after local residents spotted Samba, and even a sniffer dog has been enlisted, but evidently it was no match for Samba's cunning. So with the trail getting colder, trail cameras are being used to try and record this expert escapologist. However, even this method isn't quite going to plan, as it's been reported that two of the trail cams have been stolen. But stolen by who, or what? It's a whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie, but could it be that the last images recorded by each camera were of a capybara's face filling the frame, right before the signal abruptly cut out and the cameras were never to be seen again...

Trail cameras are meant to capture what happens in the forest when no humans are there to witness it – but one camera has captured visuals of what it’s like to be immersed in a wildfire.

Last week, multiple wildfires burned through sections of central and western Nebraska. As of March 14, officials estimated around 600,000 acres have been affected, making the wildfire one of the biggest in the state’s history.

Trail camera owner Jordan Adams knew the wildfires had gone through the rural Brady, Nebraska area where his trail camera was, and so he went out to see what was left. He found his non-cellular Tasco trail camera had melted.

However, when Adams brought what was left of the camera home and peeled it apart, he was surprised to find the memory card intact inside.

The trail camera managed to capture several fiery photographs before its demise. Adams described his reaction as “utter amazement and excitement to see just what the camera had caught.”

Adams shared the photos with the Trail Camera Junkies Facebook group, where several users described similar experiences in catching a wildfire on a trail camera – and even some trail cameras that were high enough on the tree to survive.

The wildfire that melted Adam’s camera was one of three wildfires in the region that began on March 12 – one of those fires is now being described as the largest in Nebraska’s history. As of Sunday, March 15, firefighters were still working to contain the fires.

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An endangered marsupial that went missing from an Australian wildlife sanctuary for 80 years has suddenly popped up again on a trail camera.

The reserve, jointly owned by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) and The Tony & Lisette Lewis Foundation, announced in January that it had photographed a northern quoll on the 164,850 hectares of land, despite ecologists concluding that the squirrel-like mammals had abandoned the plains.

The little critter was photographed using a motion-sensor trail camera on the eastern side of the reserve. Northern quolls once occupied northern and eastern Australia, but invasive species and habitat loss have had a damning effect on the animal’s numbers.

According to the reserve’s website, a quoll was photographed by a trail camera in the nearby Pascoe River IPA in 2017, but they haven’t been spotted within the boundaries of the AWC’s reserve for 80 years.

What is perhaps most amazing about this story is that the camera trap didn’t photograph a quoll by accident. It was little more than a hunch, after sighting a rocky outcrop from a helicopter, that prompted sanctuary manager Nick Stock to set up a camera trap. Only a few days later, Nick’s hunch was proven right.

The sanctuary quoted AWC Wildlife Ecologist, Dr Helena Stokes, as stating: “This record gives us a roadmap. We now have a clear starting point for future surveys and research.”

If you’re interested in camera traps and how they’re used in conservation, I’d implore you to watch The Wild Ones on Apple TV+, where camera trap expert Declan Burley lays hundreds of traps in a bid to film and photograph some of the world’s rarest animals.

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Camera traps are having a bit of a moment! Underwater camera films shark in Antarctic Ocean, thought to be a world first. Perhaps you're interested in wildlife photography and would like to check out the best wildlife cameras. Plus, my 'Big Three’ camera brands for serious wildlife photography. Do you agree?

Trail cameras can capture photos of backyard wildlife – but a new tiny backyard camera wants to level up wildlife scouting by tracking data on how often and when different species visit. Behold Cam-1 is a small outdoor camera that tracks wildlife, discards footage of people for privacy and lasts for weeks on one charge.

Like many Wi-Fi-connected wildlife cameras, the Behold Cam-1 will send footage of backyard wildlife to a smartphone. But the upcoming camera will also track those visits, keeping note of statistics like how often an animal visits and whether those visits are more or fewer than the previous week.

Those backyard statistics remind me a bit of data from a smart watch, only for tallying the number of creatures rather than calories.

The Behold Cam-1 is able to track that data using on-device AI-based species recognition. The camera is capable of recognizing more than 2,000 different species that are common in North America and Europe.

While Wi-Fi is required for that footage and insight to be sent directly to a smartphone, the camera is also capable of storing footage locally, enabling it to be used outside Wi-Fi range or during an internet outage.

The Behold Cam-1 itself is a 2K camera with a 60° field of view packaged inside an orange camera body. It captures videos at up to 60fps and also includes infrared night vision and a mic for capturing sound. The device shares 15-second clips of the wildlife and can crop in to track the creature’s motion in portrait format.

That orange color of the camera is intentional, designed to make it easy to see by humans, but not as obvious to animals. The camera measures 80mm / 3.15 inches on its longest sides, with a built-in kickstand that also doubles as a handle. The camera also comes bundled with a cone-shaped stand and a bungee cord, allowing the device to move around the yard without tools.

The camera is IP65 rated to withstand the weather. Battery life will vary based on the number of animal sightings, but the company says most users will get between two to four weeks on one charge. The camera still works when plugged in via USB-C, so a wired setup is also possible.

Along with sending data to a smartphone, Cam-1 users can also opt in to anonymously share data on the backyard visitors with ecologists and researchers by adding the data to an open biodiversity database. The app will also have a sharing option to invite friends to watch the backyard wildlife.

Using the camera won’t require a subscription, the company says, but users can unlock deeper insights with a Behold Pro subscription.

The Behold Cam-1 is launching on Kickstarter, where the campaign has already exceeded its initial goal in a matter of hours. Early backers can pick up the Cam-1 for $227 / £170 / AU$349, pending successful completion of the campaign and final stages of development and manufacturing. That’s a 35 percent discount from the expected retail price.

The startup estimates that the camera will begin shipping to backers in June 2026, with shipping available to the US, UK, Canada, and the EU.

Editor's note: As with all crowdfunding projects, there is no guarantee that the final product will match the early depictions in the campaign – or that the final product will be completed or delivered at all. DCW does not endorse this or any other crowdfunding campaign. 

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I had been meaning to buy a digital trail camera for ages. We live in an apartment on the edge of town – and although the garden is small, we are surrounded by a park and allotments. So I suspected that there is nocturnal wildlife that visits after dark.

But it was watching the latest series of Springwatch on the BBC that made me realize that I didn't need a trail camera at all. What I actually needed was lots of trail cameras to do the job properly.

Springwatch, for those not in the know, is an annual miniseries that presents nightly programs showing all the wildlife the hosts can find in a location. They set up cameras in multiple nests and bird boxes so that you can see dozens of avian species hatch and fledge.

This year the team, fronted by Chris Packham and Michaela Strachan, was based at a country estate on the edge of the Peak District National Park in England. But as one of the segments of the program, they ventured to the nearby industrial city of Sheffield.

Here, in a row of terraced houses, the camera teams installed multiple cameras in the gardens of the residents who had been doing their best to attract wildlife for their backyards.

The results were outstanding. A delighted woman was given visible proof that there were foxes, badgers and hedgehogs active behind her home. The BBC crew had recorded some 12,000 clips in the couple of months before the show aired.

Spurred on, I ended up buying two trail cameras in the Amazon Prime Day sale to get the ball rolling in my own little green space (I could always add more later).

I chose a pair of Wolfang WT02, which were discounted to under $40 / £40 apiece. I could have spent more, but the BBC had taught me that they use trail cameras to prove the existence of nightly visitors and to identify the paths they use. I could always enhance my setup if I needed better quality later on.

Mind you, I was impressed with the specs of these camera traps. A 48MP sensor is at the heart, with a built-in color screen for set-up. But what I really liked is that they had built-in solar panels and rechargeable power packs – so I didn't need to fork out for batteries. When summer ends, I have the option to put in a set of AAs to keep it running through darker days.

So, how has my filming gone so far? It has been less than a week since the cameras were installed, but already we too have decent footage of foxes and badgers – showing us the existence of wildlife we had never seen at the bottom of our garden before.

Check out our guide to the best trail cameras – and if you want to watch the footage remotely, also see our rundown of the best cellular trail cameras

The Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation recently shared some exciting news on Facebook. On March 4, they reported that a rare pheasant known as the great argus was spotted walking through the forests of Kaeng Krung National Park in southern Thailand. This sighting took place back in January, and was recorded thanks to previously installed trail cameras.

The great argus is a shy bird that loves to hide in thick forests, making it a challenge to observe in the wild. What makes this sighting even more special is that the great argus is considered an at-risk species. To help us learn more about elusive creatures without disturbing them, researchers use camera traps which catches the wildlife in their natural settings.

In their post, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation mentioned that a series of trail cameras were set up as part of a collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). We didn’t find out exactly which camera models they used, but 7 clips captured a great argus pecking around before disappearing into the forest. Next to a male bird sighting, there was also a clip of a female bird wandering around.

These trail camera recordings are not just fun to watch; they give valuable insights into the great argus' population, behavior, and habitat. All of this supports conservationists in planning strategies to protect the rare species, as the Department noted on Facebook.

The camera recordings also provide vital information about the ecosystem’s health in Kaeng Krung National Park. This data will help wildlife officials now to develop new strategies for future conservation efforts.

Residents of Canmore, Alberta, Canada have been left disturbed after a female cougar with kittens was shot – after living peacefully alongside them for years.

Wildlife photographer John Marriott had been tracking the cougar for four years using trail cameras.

"She's like this ghost neighbour and she's a perfect example of a cat that is wonderful at coexisting and respecting humans, and living right beside us without us really knowing it," he told Canada’s Global News.

However, after recently discovering fresh tracks during a stakeout, Marriott was shocked to see a group of cougar hunters emerging from the bushes.

"That was the moment of shock where I suddenly thought, 'Is this the Canmore cougar – and they have killed her and orphaned some kittens?'" he said.

According to Marriott, the hunters had separated the cougar from her kittens using dogs, chased her up a tree and shot her. Marriott also said that the most upsetting aspect is that the hunters would have known she had kittens because there were "cougar kitten tracks everywhere.”

Several residents of Canmore have suggested that the hunters have violated cougar hunting laws, as the kittens were not old enough to survive without their mother. Laws in the region state that mothers of young kittens cannot be killed, but whether or not their actions are deemed illegal, “without a doubt, there’s been something unethical,” said Marriott.

He added, "It's so important to keep these mature older females on the landscape because they teach their kittens how to interact with people and how to avoid them.”

It’s unclear if the hunters will be convicted of breaching hunting laws, however, Fish and Wildlife was able to safely capture the cubs, and they're currently being cared for at the Calgary Zoo. Sadly, due to the death of their mother, they'll never be able to live in the wild again.

Take a look at our guides to the best trail cameras, and the best cameras for wildlife photography.

A lone tiger, often spotted on camera traps in the protected Gautala Autramghat Wildlife Sanctuary in Maharashtra state India, has been thought to have been killed by poachers after disappearing from footage.

The only tiger in the park, known as Walker II, was often spotted on camera traps placed near water holes in the sanctuary, and was last seen on February 27. A couple of days after Walker II was last spotted, forest department officials caught a group of poachers with the remains of multiple wild animals.

The lack of any fresh sighting of the tiger, even near the water holes – which are the only source of drinking water for wild animals – on the camera traps has sparked concern among conservationists.

Rajesh Thombare, the honorary wildlife warden for Jalgaon district, said a thorough investigation is needed to expose the poaching threat. “It is suspected that the poachers also killed a tiger and a leopard along with other wild animals. They smuggled the tiger and leopard’s body parts with the help of a woman accomplice. However, no woman has been made an accused in the poaching case so far.”

When contacted by The Times of India, forest department authorities refuted the claims of tiger poaching in the sanctuary. “Going by past experiences, trap cameras may or may not spot the tiger,” said a senior forest department official. “We are waiting for reports from a Nagpur-based lab where body parts and carcasses of wild animals hunted by poachers are sent for analysis.”

Walker II wandered into the sanctuary in March 2021, and had almost no contact with humans, but had regularly been captured on the many camera traps that monitor the wildlife in the park.

Take a look at our guides to the best trail cameras, and the best cameras for wildlife photography.

Vincent Losasso, writer at The Tico Times newspaper had a literal field day recently when he managed to capture a menagerie of wildlife on his camera traps in the Costa Rican jungle.

As well as his writing work, Losasso, founder of Guanacaste Wildlife Monitoring, is a biologist who works with camera traps throughout Costa Rica.

While hiking in the tropical dry forests of Guanacaste on a series of trails, Losasso was trying to find suitable places for his seven camera traps.

“I was trying my very best to listen to the forest’s clues about where to place the cameras and after a few hours I think I had done a pretty good job. There were a series of rocks across a stream where the forest said, ‘Hey, wildlife is probably going to cross here’. There was a large tree leaning on an angle across a pond that said, ‘If I were a monkey, I’d use this as a bridge’,” he writes in The Tico Times.

“I retrieved the camera from the edge of the pond, hiked back up to the streambed, and stuck the SD card into my laptop... There was a video of a tapir walking into the pool and swimming around. There were videos of a spectacled owl splashing at the water’s edge, taking a bath.

“There was even a video of a jaguar walking along the edge of the pond away from the camera with something in its mouth. We played back the video, scrunched our noses, and peered even closer at the laptop screen to see what it was. We were able to determine that there was a turtle in the jaguar’s mouth, most likely the same one I had frightened months earlier.”

Inspired? Take a look at our guides to the best trail cameras, the best underwater drones, and the best cameras for wildlife photography.

Wildlife cameras hidden on the Somerset Levels, England, had captured incredible footage of a very rare bird, once thought to be extinct.

Three bitterns, thickset members of the heron family, were spotted together on the Somerset Levels by a hidden wildlife camera, the Somerset Leveller reported. This secretive species of bird had disappeared from the United Kingdom in the 1870s, and have made an inspiring comeback.

The birds are very difficult to see, preferring to stay among reedbeds next to water looking for fish. The males make an incredible far-carrying, booming sound every spring. It is illegal to intentionally or recklessly disturb them.

The Somerset Wildlife Trust shared its excitement about the remarkable video.

"We can't quite believe this incredible footage captured earlier this month — not one, not two, but three bitterns are all on camera together," a spokesperson said.

"Bitterns are elusive birds, and to see three all together in one place is such a rare sight. "Although it's difficult to say for sure, we believe these birds are likely all young males, sizing each other up and getting ready to compete for mates in the spring."

This wildlife success story shows what can happen when you restore natural spaces, and employ cutting edge technology to further conservation efforts.

Equipment like hidden cameras, the best trail cameras, and the best camera drones offer a unique way to collect data on rare and endangered species, to aid conservation without any disturbance to the animals themselves.

After vanishing due to habitat loss and hunting, bitterns have now bounced back thanks to wetland protection efforts. Today, more than 50 nesting pairs live in the Avalon Marshes area in Glastonbury alone, attracting bird enthusiasts from across Britain. Turtle dove populations have also grown in recent years, increasing by 25% across Western Europe after a ban on hunting them was put in place.

Feel like getting in touch with nature? Check out our guides to the best trail cameras, the best cameras for wildlife photography, and the best cheap drones.

Last month, residents of Bath, Somerset, flocked to the city center to get a glimpse of reported otters along the River Avon, and near the famous Pultney Bridge.

Now, a nature enthusiast has managed to capture sightings of the rare mammals in Oxfordshire along the River Windrush, showing hope of a resurgence of the animals in the area despite the polluted waterways.

The River Windrush winds through Witney, a known conservation area for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT). The charity conducts surveys for otters along the middle and lower areas of the river every three years covering 95 sections.

Out of these 95 sections, 49 of them (51%) were found to have conclusive evidence of otters.

Lucy Stoddart, BBOWT’s Mammal Project Field Officer, said: “Otters have been doing well in the area in recent years, however sightings are rare due to their elusive nature and largely nocturnal or crepuscular habits.

“Otters are apex predators (living at the top of the aquatic food chain), and therefore their presence is an indicator of a healthy ecosystem, including enough prey. Along the River Windrush, otters seem to have a particular penchant for the American signal crayfish, helping to keep the numbers of this non-native species in check.

“Otters are highly charismatic and inquisitive animals, often appearing to play for the sheer fun of it, including sliding down banks and playing tag. If you manage to catch a glimpse of these delightful creatures you’re very lucky.”

Camera traps have become essential tools in the conservation fight, especially when it comes to hard to reach places or elusive species.

The World Wide Fund for Nature says of the technology: “Over the last decade, millions of people around the world have become aware of the camera trap. The candid images and videos that camera traps produce have been featured in countless documentaries, are widely shared on social media, and have been the focus of hugely popular citizen science projects.

“Less well known is the fact that the camera trap has a long history that extends back more than 100 years. Over this time, they have gone from being an experimental technology, used by just a handful of people, to a commercialised technology being used by many thousands of photographers, hobbyists, hunters and biologists.”

Otters all but disappeared from English waterways between the 1950s and 1970s due to the use of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which interfere with mammal’s hormones. These pesticides include DDT and dieldrin, and a group of industrial chemicals known as PCBs.

“Fortunately, the banning and restriction of EDCs, in combination with other conservation legislation, localised reintroductions in the 1980s and 90s, and water quality improvements have enabled otter populations to rebound in recent years, demonstrating the importance of effective regulations,” Ms Stoddart said.

Footage captured on trail cameras has been an essential part of social media campaigns to popularize and protect otters, and helped lead to a ban of these harmful chemicals.

Feel like getting in touch with nature? Check out our guides to the best trail cameras, the best cameras for wildlife photography, and the best cheap drones.

Two extremely rare black wolves have been spotted on trail cameras crossing a stream in a Polish forest, a conservation organization said on Sunday.

The trail camera footage, captured last year by SAVE Wildlife Conservation Fund Poland coordinator Joanna Toczydłowska has provided enough evidence for the organization to take research further, collecting scat droppings in the hope of learning more about the genetic makeup of the black wolves.

Toczydłowska initially placed the cameras there to study beavers. When she noticed the camera had captured footage of the rare black wolves she kept the camera where it was in hopes of seeing more of them.

Black wolves in Poland are rare, with most of the 2,500 to 3,000 sporting gray fur with red or black accents. Those with black fur have experienced a genetic mutation likely originating in domesticated dogs thousands of years ago. While half the wolves in the Yellowstone National Park in the U.S., in Europe, it's rare due to a reduced genetic diversity.

Wolves were almost extinct in Poland by the 1950s but after major conservation efforts, the population has been reintroduced in the last 20 years.

“For people, it is a new phenomenon,” Roman Gula, head of the organization's wolf monitoring project, told the AP. "Education is one of our major, major goals."

The conservation organization has been monitoring wolves in the region for 13 years, and is not disclosing the forest’s location in order to save wolves from further poaching and prevent misinformation about them spreading.

The conservation fund announced the sighting last week on Facebook and asked for financial support to pay for the scat's genetic testing to learn more about the black-fur mutation.

With the increasing use of the best trail cameras to conserve wildlife, their inexpensive costs and ease of access have led to some worrying situations, and call for further legislation about when, when and who can use them.

In December I reported on a disturbing case of women in rural India being terrorized by drones and trail cameras, leading to deaths.

In the European Union there is a strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for safeguarding individuals.

In the U.S., the laws vary state by state and while use of them is legal, there are restrictions. For example in California, it is not illegal to use trail cameras during the hunting season, however, on land managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife equipment will be removed if left overnight.

Whereas in New Hampshire trail cameras have been restricted since 2015. Hunters can use them, but they are prohibited from hunting animals on the same day they take the photos.

Take a look at our guides to the best trail cameras, the best cameras for wildlife photography, and the best camera drones.

One million of the world’s estimated eight million species of plants and animals are threatened with extinction, and trail cameras – also known as camera traps – are proving instrumental tools of conservation.

Globally, tropical rain forests are among the most species-rich habitats in the world – and one of the most vulnerable, with deforestation, poaching, climate change and wildfires all major threats.

As such, they are often prioritized in conservation efforts. And a team of scientists from Vietnam and Germany have now been able to prove that the diversity of ground-dwelling mammals and birds in Nui Chua National Park, Vietnam, is highest in semi-dry forest – the transitional habitat where dry and wet evergreen broadleaf forest habitats meet.

These findings, achieved using trail cameras, highlight the conservation importance of these habitat transition zones, the scientists write in a paper published in the journal, Biotropica.

Nui Chua National Park is located in the south of Vietnam, and is the only national park with coastal dry forest landscape in the country. The area is unique for its habitat diversity, with dry forest at low elevations, semi-dry forest in a transitional area and wet evergreen forest at high elevations. It gained attention in 2018 when the silver-backed chevrotain (Tragulus versicolor) – a type of mouse deer – was rediscovered by scientists there.

To gather the baseline data on the new species, the scientists conducted 5 camera trap surveys between 2018 and 2022.

"While searching for the silver-backed chevrotain in the park, I was surprised by the high number of records of other species in the forest area where we rediscovered this endemic species," says An Nguyen, doctoral student in the Department of Ecological Dynamics at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW). "This inspired us to look beyond the species level and investigate the ground-dwelling mammal and bird community in Nui Chua NP."

The team set up a total of 145 camera traps stations across the park to survey the ground-dwelling mammals and birds. The remote nature of the trail cameras meant conservation efforts could continue throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic.

"The highest diversity was found in the semi-dry transition areas between the coastal dry forest and the high-elevation rainforest," says Tran Van Tiep, director of Nui Chua National Park.

"Detailed insights into the occurrence and distribution of wildlife can help conservation planning and the prioritization of limited conservation resources."

The trail camera footage provided evidence that the highly threatened silver-backed chevrotain has its largest population in the semi-dry forests of Nui Chua, proving to the global community that these ecosystems must be studied, and protected.

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Feel like getting in touch with nature? Check out our guides to the best trail cameras, the best cameras for wildlife photography, and the best cheap drones.

Zeiss has just unveiled the latest addition to its cellular trail camera lineup – the Secacam 3. This model is the most affordable in the series, yet it delivers an impressive range of features, making it an exciting prospect for nature enthusiasts and conservationists alike.

Zeiss is an industry-leading manufacturer in all things optics, from binoculars and monoculars to photography lenses, each is designed to offer the very pinnacle of optical quality, the same is true for its trail cameras. Sitting beneath the Secacam 5 and Secacam 7 in the lineup, which cater to more professional needs, the Secacam 3 strikes an ideal balance between advanced functionality and accessibility.

With a 3-megapixel sensor, a standout feature of the Secacam 3 is its exceptional low-light performance, achieved through Zeiss’s IR Boost technology. Designed for discreet observation, the camera uses 940 nm invisible infrared light to deliver crisp, detailed images even in complete darkness. Whether capturing nocturnal wildlife or subtle movements at dawn, it ensures clarity without encroaching on natural behaviors.

Product Developer at Zeiss Carsten Hess states, "With the new Zeiss Secacam 3, we offer a new trail camera for impressive nature recordings, whether during the day or at night. A modern chipset enables optimized image processing and compression, for faster transmission times and detailed images even at night or in shaded areas".

The camera’s user-friendly design further enhances its appeal. A tilting 1.9-inch display allows for easy setup, enabling users to frame their shots with precision before leaving the device in position. Additionally, the battery magazine cartridge makes power replacement straightforward and convenient as there is no need to adjust or reposition the camera to swap out batteries conserving optimal and consistent camera positioning.

Built for adaptability, the Secacam 3 combines innovative motion detection with practicality. Its PIR Fresnel lens ensures sensitivity to even the smallest movements, while a fast trigger speed of under half a second minimizes blur, ensuring sharp, well-timed captures.

The USB-C data transfer system moves away from traditional SD cards, streamlining the process of retrieving footage, and LTE (Long Term Evolution) cellular connectivity across 35 countries keeps users updated with real-time notifications via the Zeiss app. The app also includes practical features like AI-based animal recognition and night-image recoloring, adding further layers of functionality for users.

As is vital for trail cameras, durability is at the heart of the Secacam 3’s design, and with an IP66 rating, it withstands tough environmental conditions, whether exposed to rain, snow, or heat. Compact and robust, it’s equally suited for backyard enthusiasts and those venturing deep into remote wilderness.

The Zeiss Secacam 3 is available to preorder now for its scheduled release on January 28, priced at just £119 / €129.99 (Australian and US availablility and pricing yet to be confirmed). The Secacam 3 is a highly accessible option within the Zeiss trail camera lineup, while the higher-end Secacam 5 and Secacam 7 offer more specialized tools for professional use, the Secacam 3 caters to a broader audience without sacrificing quality.

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Check out our guides to the best trail cameras, the best cellular trail cameras and the best 360-degree outdoor security cameras.

Nature cam company Wonder has announced a new Petal remote camera to monitor the wildlife in your garden, as well as a companion product, Wonder Blocks, to provide a habitat for all manner of creepy-crawlies, and which should help encourage them into the range of the camera.

Wonder is the company behind Bird Buddy, a smart AI-powered bird feeder with a built-in camera that captures and identifies visiting avians, and is among the best bird feeder cameras for your backyard. The new products were announced at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, and are currently in the development stage, due to launch as Kickstarter projects later this year.

The Petal builds upon the Bird Buddy's AI capabilities so that it not only captures images of insect life but can also identify and catalog the minibeasts. It has a flexible stem that can be thrust into soil or wrapped around a branch to enable the camera to be easily positioned to best capture small subjects. It can be set to automatically photograph visiting invertebrates or live stream video to smartphones or other devices.

The Petal can be fitted with interchangeable lenses of different focal lengths to shoot close-ups or a wider view. The device can also be powered by an optional solar cell for remote operation without trailing cables from your home.

The companion Wonder Blocks enable you to build an insect hotel and are ideal for attracting wildlife within the range of the Petal camera. The modular system includes a plant base, seed tray, bee hotel, butterfly feeder and bug hotel, so you can custom-build mini-ecosystems for wildlife to inhabit.

Trail cameras, also known as camera traps, have proven themselves an essential tool in wildlife conservation over the last 20 years, as the technology has become better and cheaper.

Now, the best trail cameras have done it again, and provided scientists and researchers with essential information they needed in the fight to save the Iberian lynx.

An incredibly rare sight, the Iberian lynx is just short of 39 inches in length, and 18 inches in height, however, there are now more than 2,000 in the wild across Spain and Portugal – so they’ve become a much more common sight than 20 years ago.

At its lowest number, there were fewer than 100 lynxes left in the two countries, and the different populations did not interact, and only 25 of them were females of a reproductive age.

"The Iberian lynx was very, very close to extinction," says Rodrigo Serra, who runs the reproduction programme across Spain and Portugal.

"The only feline species that was threatened at this level was the sabre tooth tiger thousands of years ago,” he added.

The lynx were extinct in Portugal by 2005, but it was also the year that Spain saw its first litter born in captivity.

Pedro Sarmento is the man responsible for reintroducing the lynx in Portugal, and has studied the Iberian lynx for 30 years.

He said he saw the lynx disappearing, however, “It's surreal that we're in a place where we can see lynxes in nature or through camera trapping almost daily."

With this great success, also comes challenges as the lynx numbers continue to climb. Lynxes are often released onto private land in Portugal, which means the reproduction programme needs to reach an agreement with the owners first.

The released lynxes go wherever they want, and sometimes attack chicken coops, “which can lead to uneasiness with the locals,” says Sarmento, who combats this by monitoring the cats with trail cameras and radio collars, and scaring them off if need be.

Trail cameras have been used to great success when it comes to conservation, even in recent months. A recent study argued that trail cameras are sorely missed in the areas that need them most, and in 2025, trail cameras proved essential tool for protecting jaguars in Ecuador.

Three decades after Spain decided to save the lynx the wild cats are no longer endangered, and Sarmento hopes that by 2035 their numbers will be between 5,000 and 6,000 in the wild, and the species will be out of immediate danger.

Interested in catching some wildlife footage or images? Why not check out our guides to the best trail cameras, the best cheap drones, and the best camera for wildlife photography.

Every time I experience an unusual backyard visitor – like the time I watched a bald eagle pick a squirrel off my bird feeder – I wonder just how much I miss when I’m not outside or near a window. The Wonder Petal, a flower-shaped backyard camera by the creator of the Bird Buddy, may be just what my garden needs to avoid missing unusual backyard visitors.

Teased at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, the Petal is an upcoming outdoor camera that works with Bird Buddy’s AI to help recognize the creatures visiting the area. TechRadar's Lance Ulanoff says the camera can look a bit like a large orange flower. The Petal has a 1/1.9-inch camera sensor that shoots 12MP still photos as well as 4K video. The camera then sends the footage to the Wonder app to identify birds and even bugs.

The flower-inspired camera sits on a bendable stem. That stem can be stuck in the ground or wrapped around a tree branch. The camera can also be paired with an add-on solar panel to help extend the little camera’s battery life.

Like the Bird Buddy bird feeder camera, the Petal will send the images to an app, where it can send real-time alerts or a daily digest of which creatures visited the backyard. The company also says that optional lens attachments will adjust the camera’s view for close-up or wide angle uses.

During CES, the company also announced Wonder Blocks, a modular system designed for bug watching, including a bug hotel and seed tray. Of course, the Petal camera can be used to monitor which bugs visit the modular system.

The Wonder Petal isn’t for sale just yet, but the company expects it to ship sometime this spring, with a list price of around $99, which roughly converts to £79 / AU$158.

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For more backyard-wildlife inspiration, read our recommendations for the best bird feeder cameras or the best trail cameras.

Here's proof yet again that trail cameras are an essential tool in the conservation of endangered species around the world.

In early 2024, NGOs (non-profit, non-governmental organizations) Ecoforensics and DECOIN (Defensa y Conservacion Ecologica de Intag) set up trail cameras in Junín Community Forest, in northwestern Ecuador, where the cameras managed to capture footage of a jaguar – the first spotted in the area in 15 years.

Previously, in 2023, the first trail camera survey in the Río Manduriacu Reserve from the Central University of Ecuador – in collaboration with the EcoMinga Foundation and the Andean Condor Foundation (also in northwestern Ecuador’s Andean region) – filmed a jaguar, the first time in seven years that one had been seen in the reserve.

The teams then compared their footage, and through careful analysis of the trail camera data, including the animals’ fur patterns, showed that it was the same jaguar.

Study co-author Javier Torres, a professor at the Central University of Ecuador, told conservation news site Mongabay in an email that ongoing habitat loss in the lowland habitats that jaguars prefer, such as the Chocó forests, could be pushing them to higher-elevation areas, such as the Río Manduriacu reserve, “as they search for new territories.

“This shift is particularly concerning for the Critically Endangered western population of jaguars, which faces greater threats compared to the eastern population,” he said.

A few months before the jaguar was spotted in Junín, a court had ordered that mining activity be stopped in the area. “This may suggest that jaguars may have avoided the area previously due to disturbances from mining and other human activities,” the study says.

This also suggests that the evidence only obtainable on trail cameras of jaguars returning to the area after mining ceased has proven a direct link between mining and detrimental effects on local wildlife.

Jaguars are endangered in Ecuador, as are Andean bears that were also filmed during the trail camera studies. Torres said the evidence of the two species gathered by the trail cameras means they will now conduct extensive biodiversity monitoring across the Imbabura province which covers both forests.

The researchers also suggest that local authorities provide education for communities in the areas, as jaguars are among the species most targeted in retaliatory killings in the Americas.

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Feel like getting in touch with nature? Check out our guides to the best trail cameras, the best cameras for wildlife photography, and the best cheap drones.

Sir David Attenborough’s ‘Asia’ dropped on the BBC this week, bringing us some of the best wildlife filmmaking to be seen.

Filmed over four years, the seven-part series explores the natural wonders of our planet's largest continent, the filmmakers bring us a lone wolf on the Tibetan Plateau, red pandas in the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal, and take viewers everywhere from Borneo to Siberia.

One of the most incredible stories in the series was that of Hana Raza, an Iraqi Kurdish conservation biologist who first discovered that there were Persian leopards living in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, and brothers and conservationists Nabaz and Bahez Horeni.

It’s thought that there are no more than two dozen leopards in the entire country, and finding them on the steep mountainside forests was a serious challenge for the filmmakers.

And there’s another obstacle - millions of decades old, unexploded mines.

This is where the trail cameras become an essential resource in the conservation of these critically endangered animals.

Raza has been camera trapping the leopards in the area for 12 years, however, it was only when setting camera traps for ‘Asia’ have the first images of female leopards, and leopard cubs ever been captured.

Raza first found Persian leopards in the area in 2012, and in a paper written by Raza and other researchers at the time they write that the discovery was made “in particular thanks to a camera trap.”

They used two models, the Stealth Cam STC-1540IR, and the Keep Guard KG 550 model.

In the program Raza said:

“I did not think in a million years I would be looking at an amazing shot of a family of Persian leopards, no.”

In an interview with Earth Island Journal Raza said:

“The leopard is crucial to conserve because, as an apex predator, it is at the top of the food chain, and the food chain works like a game of domino: if one piece is removed, the entire system falls.

“These efforts aren’t just for the leopard’s protection. The leopard serves as an umbrella species under which vast essential ecosystems and endangered animals and plants are protected.”

Interesting in capturing your own wildlife footage? Take a look at our guides to the best trail cameras, the best cellular trail cameras and the best camera drones.

David Attenborough has a lot to answer for. 

Making the world fall in love with the world’s flora and fauna, bringing the natural world into our homes and classrooms, and inspiring people of all ages to explore and respect the natural world.

Sometimes though, we can get a little carried away. 

We recently reported on a man in Swansea being fined for getting too close to an endangered honey buzzard nest, and more recently a film company and its drone pilot were fined for illegally filming orcas in Canada.  

An abundance of personal trail cameras have been discovered at Mashpee River and Pickerel Cove in the town of Mashpee, Massachusetts, US.

Mashpee acquired the land around Pickerel Cove in 2008 to preserve the natural space for conservation and habitat protection, as well as public recreation.

The land is part of the Mashpee National Wildlife Refuge, and there are multiple beautiful trails available to walkers. 

Conservation agent Andrew NcManus and assistant conservation agent Daniel Kent were forced to notify the Mashpee Conservation Commission at the beginning of August about a number of personal trail cameras found along public walkways, about two per month.  

“I’m getting a very large amount of calls from residents who are beyond creeped out,” Kent told the Conservation Commission on August 8. “Between kids, dogs and everything.”

Designed to be camouflage and inconspicuous so as not to spook wildlife, the trail cameras could look sinister to those not in the know. 

Kent explained that the situation escalated when he removed a trail camera and returned it to its owner. 

“He was agitated saying that this violated his civil rights,” Kent said. “We had multiple discussions with him and the town manager, who also got involved in this.”

While there are no specific laws prohibiting the placing of personal trail cameras, conservation commission chairman Paul Colombo argued this issue fell under Regulation 1 of Chapter 173 bylaw, regarding conservation land. 

He said: 

“The regulation did not specifically say [no] trail cameras, but it does allude to activities you want to conduct on conservation land. You must come before the commission or at least supply the commission with a written request for the activity.”

Speaking to local newspaper The Enterprise, Kent added: 

“What triggered this was that [the owner of the camera] said it was a violation of his constitutional rights. We don’t believe that to be the case at all. He was putting private structures on conservation land.”

The conservation agents are working to revise the legislation to specifically include trail cameras in the bylaws list of prohibited activities, requiring people to seek specific permission. 

Despite the need for action, the conservation agents said the motives for the cameras are not sinister.

He provided the example of a camera he removed and returned to a father, who explained he had placed it there so his children could see if their chickens walked along the trail.

“I don’t want to be destroying cameras if we don’t have to,” Kent said. “I’d rather the person come and pick it up, and then that gives me the opportunity to talk to them and have an educational lesson.”

If you would like to (responsibly) set up some trail cameras to get a good view of your local wildlife, take a look at our guide to the best trail cameras, the best cellular trail cameras, and the best cameras for wildlife photography. 

Watching or tracking wildlife used to be incredibly time-consuming, requiring days or even months of constant observation before you glimpsed the creatures you were hoping to see. Not so with the best trail cameras to help you in your wildlife-watching quest. 

These camera traps lie dormant and spring into action when triggered by a passing animal (or family member, or dog walker, depending on where you leave it), either with motion or heat detection. They’re designed to be hardy and well-built against the elements so you can leave them in damp, cold environments and continue to monitor the areas from miles away.

The Zeiss Secacam 7 is one of two new models from the well-known manufacturer (along with the Secacam 5), released after it acquired the German trail camera brand Secacam in 2023. It’s the company's first trail camera, and one I was keen to try. Its major selling point is the ability to send images straight to your phone, meaning it can be set up and left untouched for as long as the batteries or storage lasts. You can monitor the footage without regularly trekking back and forth to check the card – ideal if you plan to set up several cameras across a wide area or to position it somewhere remote.

Of course, the cellular connection isn't unique to the Secacam 7, and plenty of non-4G models like the Bushnell Core DS-4K No Glow can provide you with higher-res stills and 4K footage. I started using trail cameras a decade ago during my university course in wildlife photography, and I'm testing the Secacam 7 to see how it fares as a relatively new model to the market. 

On paper, it builds on Zeiss' pedigree for spotting scopes, binoculars, and nature-watching imaging products, boasting a 'best in class’ build quality and light sensitivity for nighttime imagery. But what about in the wild? Read on to discover whether it earns a place among the best cellular trail cameras.

Zeiss Secacam 7: Specifications

Zeiss Secacam 7: Price

The Secacam 7 is currently available in the UK and Europe, with American supplies set to land later in 2024. It has a recommended retail price of around £249/€279, which is at the more premium end of the market but certainly not overpriced. The upfront cost includes 8 x AA batteries, a multi-roaming SIM card, and a Zeiss-branded 32GB SD card, which adds value to the package.

By comparison, the Spypoint LINK-MICRO-S costs slightly more but offers a solar panel for charging. The SpyPoint FORCE-PRO is cheaper, with 4K footage and 32MP stills, but there's no cellular functionality.

You also have to factor in the cost of Zeiss' Secacam "Service Plans", which allow you to unlock the camera's smart features and image storage. There are three tiers – Basic, Premium, and Professional – depending on how many photos you want to send across the cellular connection per month. The basic plan starts at £2.69 monthly, while the professional plan is £13.49.

Zeiss Secacam 7: Design & Handling

Trail cameras are meant to be left out in all weather, so it follows that they need a rugged build. The Secacam 7 is made from a solid plastic housing, with an incredibly robust clip to open up the casing and seal it shut again. The IP-66 rating offers reassuring protection against rain and dirt, and having left it outside for a week in substantial wind and rain, I was pleased to find the inside of the camera’s case totally dry when I picked it back up.

The Secam 7 is 120g heavier than the Secacam 5 (440g), but it feels solid rather than unwieldy. Its bigger size improves handling too, as the lens is above the front flap rather than on it so you can check the capture area on the screen. It sounds like a simple difference, but it's much easier to find the right position and height, where stray branches don’t ruin your view.

Given that it had been a while since I last used a trail camera, I found operating the Secacam 7 incredibly easy. The batteries come pre-installed, as do the 32GB SD card and SIM, and there's an eject button to pop out the battery magazine, and a depress for the cards. All are easy to remove and change should you want to, but you can basically start shooting as soon as you get the camera out of its box. Epic.

Handling is straightforward, too. The big, backlit rubber buttons allow you to see what you're doing in low light, and the 2.4-inch LCD screen (bigger than most traditional camera traps) allows super quick menu navigation and clear image playback.

So much of the failure or success of a trail camera comes down to where you mount it, and there are several options with the Secacam 7 - either with the included camouflaged strap, tripod mount or by using cable locks. The strap has a claw that holds it tightly around trees, and while I’d have liked it to be a little longer for chunkier trunks, I could see it becoming grotty – especially if left out in the wet.

You'll get the most out of this trail camera when you pair it with the Secacam app. I was dubious about Zeiss' offering given how glitchy and slow some manufacturer's remote apps have historically been, but immediately pleased with just how clear, navigable and detailed the Secacam app was.

Among the four main sections along the bottom of the screen, the most important are the Gallery – where images are stored – and Cameras, where you can check the status of your subscribed cameras, and tap in to change its settings via the Remote control menu. The app is responsive, and there's even a choice of Light or Dark Mode to change the overall appearance, showing that Zeiss has put real effort into its design.

Zeiss Secacam 7: Performance

Above: Video clips show with the Zeiss Secacam 7

Although you don't expect the images from a trail camera to be of a professional quality, they should be detailed enough for clear identification – especially if you want to monitor specific animals by their markings, for example. The Secacam has three capture modes; Photo, Video, and Photo + Video, and out of the box the camera defaults to capture images in 5MP resolution, while 8 or 12MP stills are also available. 

These sizes are saved onto the SD card, while the size sent to a phone is smaller and maxes out at 1920 x 1440. In Video mode, the resolution can be set to 480p, 720p, or 1080p, and between 5 and 59 seconds of footage, which is great for balancing storage space and your use case for clips.

The Secacam is designed to handle all of the exposure and focus settings automatically for you, and overall it does a great job of this, with a vibrant color rendition in the day that tends a little towards the cooler side. When the flash came into play at night, the results were sharp enough to tell the difference between several foxes who regularly visit the garden. 

But its still images aren't as crisp as models with upwards of 30MP sensors. Zeiss claims that the infrared flash (60 black LEDs so as not to disturb animals) can reach up to 30 meters away, and I found this to be accurate. Foxes very close to the flash were overexposed, but it's not often that subjects will be within touching distance of the camera!

What I really liked about the Secacam is its ability to fire a burst of up to five shots in quick succession after being triggered, and while only the second image is sent to your phone by default, you can change this within the app. With it activated, I was more likely to have at least one frame with the animal in focus and centralized in the frame, especially when it was running fast.

There are also three sensitivity levels, which give you some control over how many images the camera will take. I set it to the medium level for the optimum chance of triggering sightings, while avoiding misfires of trees moving in the wind. It’s a trial-and-error approach that requires a few weeks of use to get the most usable results.

The Secacam 7's trigger time (< 0.35 ~ 0.45 seconds) is slower than some competitors – almost double that of the Bushnell Core DS-4K No Glow at 0.2 seconds for photos. It's fractions of a second, which might not sound significant, but it meant I only caught the tail end (literally) of a deer passing the camera in a darkened woodland.

Video is more exciting than stills for trail cameras, as it allows you to see where the animals are coming from, and observe behavior. So what of footage? Zeiss recommends that you record in 720p resolution over 1080p, given that the quality is only partially better, yet the size fills up memory cards quickly. Being a pixel-peeper, and someone who hates being told what to do, I started testing the Secacam in full resolution. It looks great, but the Zeiss Secacam App is there should you change your mind about settings once the camera is in place.

It took minutes to download the Zeiss Secacam app to my phone and pair it with my camera using a unique code inside the box. There are status symbols to confirm whether the camera is online, plus its available memory, signal strength, and battery level – all of which are hugely helpful in letting you know how long you can leave your camera out, and if it's recording.

You get the most out of the Secacam 7 with one of Zeiss' paid Service Plans, which also unlock – depending on the level of payment – remote control capabilities, AI animal recognition, and even a theft replacement service. While I'm not sure I needed AI recognition to help me identify a squirrel or dog, I found it impressive that the camera could pick out tiny animals in the undergrowth of a woodland, or the behind of a deer when only a tiny portion of it was in the frame. You'll be given an ID within the app interface if you've turned it on.

Cellular function is the main reason to buy the Secacam 7 over cheaper rivals. Thanks to its LTE module and multi-roaming SIM card it can dial into networks from a wide range of providers and choose the best one automatically to give you a strong signal for accessing recordings. I found the connectivity consistently fantastic, and no sooner had I set up the camera than I started getting notifications on my phone for new sightings. It's exciting hearing the noise and brought back the magic of my first wildlife-watching trips.

That doesn't mean you have to maintain a constant connection, though. You can customize the communication frequency, with more frequent intervals draining the battery faster. If you change any camera settings during downtime, they'll be pending and remain orange in the app interface until communication can be made with the camera again.

I didn't get close to running down the AA batteries while testing the Secacam 7 in the wild, which is a testament to the camera's efficiency. Videos drain power more quickly than stills, but after a week of constant use, the battery level was barely depleted, and I'd imagine the camera to last for longer than a month with a few sightings a night. If you want to supply the camera with continuous power, I'd invest in Zeiss' solar panel with a built-in power bank.

Zeiss Secacam 7: Sample footage

Over a month or so, I tested the Zeiss Secacam 7 in my local woodlands and Cotswold countryside, to get a feel for how well it performed on location. I also captured some footage in my family garden, as I knew local wildlife including foxes would visit. 

I tested out the Zeiss Secacam app on my iPhone 15 Pro, using a free trial of the Premium subscription option so I was able to test all of the control options and download images over the cellular connection.

Zeiss Secacam 7: Verdict

I've been impressed with the Secacam 7, so much so I didn't want to give it back. Its ease of use stands out, thanks to the well-conceived Secacam app and bigger-than-most LCD screen. At times I was disappointed with its response times and image quality (at night), but tracking cameras like this are designed to be used over months, and a certain level of trial and error is par for the course. With the amount of customization that the Secacam 7 offers, and more time spent honing the camera's position based on wildlife sightings, I'm convinced I'd get even more out of the device.

With eight batteries, energy-saving features, and the ability to power the camera with Zeiss' Secacam solar panel (sold separately), it can provide true longevity in the wild. You could easily drop this camera off and return for it weeks later; ideal for photographers in hard-to-reach locations, or even gamekeepers with large areas of land to monitor.

The image and video resolution does lag behind similarly-priced competitors on paper, but the content is acceptably sharp and adapts well as the light changes. The camera's real draw is its network coverage, and my experience was almost flawless, with images accessible on my phone moments after being snapped.

Alternatives

Over the past three decades, trail cameras, also known as camera traps, have given us a rare and invaluable glimpse into the natural world, and they have proven essential tools in the conservation fight around the world. 

However, in a first–of–its–kind study published in Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation it would appear that camera traps are sorely missed in areas that need their vital data the most. 

The study, entitled, Global disparity of camera trap research allocation and defaunation risk of terrestrial mammals, highlights that there is a huge disparity between locations of trail cameras studies and regions with the highest risk of mammalian extinction.

Factors that influence the ability to conduct trail camera studies in almost two thirds of locations include income, accessibility, mammal diversity, and environmental factors.

Areas where trail camera studies have increased over the past two decades, which include Southeast Asia and India, 64.2% were placed outside areas with the highest animal extinction risks. 

Higher-income, and upper–middle–income countries such as the U.S, Australia, and China were involved in the highest amount of trail camera studies, while African nations such as Mauritania and Angola had fewer than five apiece. 

Angola is home to over 300 species of mammals, many of which are endangered due to intense deforestation. The black rhinoceros, for example, is a hard animal to approach, and is considered ‘critically endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. 

Earth’s biodiversity is under threat from human activities, from urban expansion and deforestation, to poaching, climate change, and mining. Trail cameras can keep tabs on species both endangered or otherwise, and make serious positive changes to the cause. 

“You can think of a camera trap as an automatic and restless field assistant that sits in the field, rain or shine, day or night, [and] just captures [images or videos of] whatever walks in front of it,” says Jorge Ahumada, a tropical biologist who leads the largest camera trapping platform in the world, called Wildlife Insights, and reported by Mongabay. “It’s just collecting a lot of information in a standardized way, which will not be possible by humans.”

This is exactly why its essential to deploy trail cameras in the right places: biodiversity hotspots that face the biggest threats. 

“I think it is fair to say that we need more trail cameras proportionally to areas with higher biodiversity,” says study co-author Badru Mugerwa from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Germany. “The study is a good first start to look at relationships between the production of science in different parts of the world and factors that affect that [process].”

“What really jumped out from this research is that some of the areas that are currently being hammered by human activities — the Amazon and the Congo basins — received the least amount of camera-trap research in the past two decades,” Mugerwa adds, “There is something wrong going on here.”

Take a look at our guides to the best trail cameras, and the best cameras for wildlife photography. 

According to an update on their GoFundMe page yesterday, Jacob (Jake) Dalbey has now seen images of his lost dog Ullr, captured using trail cameras, after being separated for 11 months by an avalanche which struck them as they walked near Chair Mountain in the Rockies.

The dog Ullr apparently escaped but was separated by dangerous unstable and cracked snow, while Jake was not immediately able to return to the mountain owing to frostbite and surgery.

One of Jake's friends set up the page, looking for help for funds to help locate Ullr, saying that because of medical bills "Jake's funds [were] too low to pay for the tracker on his own." The page eventually achieved $36,552 of donations (a not inconsiderable number even since the good news came through – more on that below).

In his update to the GoFundMe page Dalbey comments on the photos received from the cameras they have been able to place and move around the hills:"the first time I've seen my precious boy since March 17th, 2023 - and he looks great! Healthy and more majestic than ever…."

He adds "Ullr looks really really good, especially for surviving an avalanche and for being on his own for almost a year. He is in an area that we have known or expected." He also notes appreciatively "the calls from helpful folks who were calm enough to contact me and send GPS locations, without being tempted to push Ullr away by yelling, following, or searching for him."

There were a number of avalanches reported by the tracking services, and CAIC report notes that of three caught up in the event one person was killed that day (and three that week in separate avalanches). The report also notes that dog tracks were seen, and that 'Skier 3' used an InReach, on of the best handheld GPS devices, to call for SOS.   

That's a lot of money...

Yes, yes it is. Enough for over 200 4K trail cameras. Interestingly Deborah Wieker, who set up the GoFundMe explicitly to cover the missing dog costs, noted that she asked the beneficiary, Jacob Dalbey, whether all the money was being spent on the hunt for the dog, and for evidence of that in July 2023 – she notes that she got a rather evasive answer. The most recent update was posted by him, not her.

Furthermore, there is a separate GoFundMe page to cover his medical costs.

While the story is a very encouraging one about the best trail cameras, I strongly suggest you read the full older updates and draw your own conclusions before donating yourself.

Looking for the best trail camera or the best thermal drone. We've got you covered!

Zeiss is a name long associated with optics, but the brand has only just launched its first two trail cameras, the Zeiss Secacam 5 and 7, following the company's acquisition of Secacam in June 2023.

Making a bid for our best trail cameras list, these are weather-resistant, and offer extensive network coverage using the European frequencies which are often harder to find for trail camera consumers. As such Zeiss is supplying an integrated multi-roaming SIM card which covers 35 European countries (including EU holdouts like the UK and Switzerland). That means the camera uses the best mobile network available where you place the camera.

The Zeiss Secacam 5 features 60 "black" LEDs which allow it to illuminate the scene in total darkness and capture video or photos. The camera features a 5-megapixel image sensor, and can interpolate images up to 12 megapixels. It is supplied with a 32GB memory card as well as the SIM and 8 AA (LR6) batteries are supplied, so it's ready to use from the box (Zeiss plan to make a solar panel available in 2024).

It has a triggering speed of less than 0.45 seconds and automatic flash strength adjustment to balance battery usage against bad exposure. Operation is via the controls and 2.4-inch display inside, or via the Zeiss Secacam App, which lets you remotely view images taken with the camera.

The Zeiss Secacam 7 is essentially the same camera, but built in a physically larger casing. That makes it a little less discrete – a little more difficult to camouflage – but on the other hand makes it easier to access in two ways. The door to the controls is beneath the lens, so the camera remains pointed in the final direction as you set it up – a composition benefit. Secondly, there is a removable battery magazine which is easier to change. Zeiss is simply offering you the choice.

The unit alone is £199 for the Zeiss Secacam 5 and £249 for the Secacam 7. The cameras will offer pay-as-you-go top-ups for photos and videos, or a monthly subscription to access the cellular services – some of these have AI options which will only show you the animals you want to see (e.g. deer, birds), and they can color the night images based on what it remembers from the daytime.

Hunting fans will not only want the best trail cameras but should check out guides to the best monoculars and best night vision goggles.

Trail cams are a great way to learn about the movements of wildlife in any chosen location. You can identify paths that help with wildlife photography or hunting (if that's your thing) or maybe you're just curious what goes on in and around any given place.

There are hundreds of trail cams from all kinds of vendors at all kinds of price points but the ability to monitor remotely via a mobile network, and with night vision, is maybe the biggest feature to make or break any trail cams reputation. 

The pricing for trail cams is all over the place too, it's hard to figure out how a $300+ trail cam is really any better than a sub $200 trail cam, and quite often the case is it's not. So let’s take a look at the SEHMUA 4G LTE 3rd Gen Cellular Trail Camera and see how it stacks up. 

Sehmua 4G LTE 3rd Trail Cam: Features

The major item I look for in a trail cam is its battery life, however, since I live in the cold and (mostly wet and breezy) part of New York state I also need the camera to be waterproof and well-sealed. 

Thankfully this SEHMUA 4G LTE 3rd Gen Cellular Trail Camera does just that, with a great combo of features (on paper) and for a great price but does it really deliver what is promised in its marketing jargon ?

Finding a spot for any trail cam is maybe the most important first step, maybe you already know where wildlife is present but some trial and error will mean the trail cam might need to move a few times until you find a great place. 

The supplied strap is great for placing the camera on a tree or post, and once you find somewhere I would prefer cable ties, even if that means “daisy chaining” them together to reach around an exceptionally large tree. 

Just a heads up at this point the supplied instructions will ask you to place your camera and THEN ask for the QR code on the back, which means removing the camera again. This is a very small quip but it's highly annoying. Apart from that, the setup is straightforward (think mobile phone app, etc, etc), and once you activate the supplied SIM (around $14.99 pm depending on the data plan) and cloud storage ($3.99 pm) you should be all set. 

When looking at SIM plans, just make sure you have a decent signal on any of the big three networks here in the US, (T-Mobile, AT&T, or Verizon). I only get Verizon signal here in rural NY, and had to “chat” with the SIM provider to change networks from T-Mobile, thankfully this didn't take long to do and a reset and reboot got me going. Again you might need to test out where you can get a signal, if you're in a rural location you might experience some choppy performance if/when you want to connect live and you “only” have 2 bars of signal. Just like a mobile phone the fewer bars you have the more power will be required to keep the connection up. 

The attached 4W solar panel is just enough to keep the lights on, but again if you're in a great location with a perfect view of sunrise and or sunset you should see this trail cam powered nicely. The location of your trail cam will make or break your experience, and in my case, I needed a much bigger solar panel to keep the trail cam going. Using the standard 4W solar panel I barely got 22 hours of power. 

This is a huge disappointment when for the same money I can get a trail cam that can last almost 2 years with 8 x AA batteries and an SD card only option. I was kindly supplied with a USB-C 20W solar panel which seems to have improved the power supply somewhat but the power feed is low given I'm testing this trail cam with 6 hours a day of light in December. 

I do often wonder if the IOT SIM solution is the way to go, mostly because of A) the additional cost, and B) signals can be hard to get if you are not close to a city or town: after all, we are looking for wildlife here. If you're living in a city you would probably just grab a Google Nest Outdoor cam and attach it to your wifi and it would do a grand job with excellent battery life. 

Sehmua 4G LTE 3rd Trail Cam: Design & Handling

Almost all the casing is plastic, it seems the lens is also plastic, which is standard for this price bracket of trail cams. One advantage is the weight saving, however, they do tend to start showing wear after a few seasons of extreme temps in both directions depending on the quality of plastics used. 

As I mentioned before the strap eyelets can also be a great place to stress test the plastics and of course, they do break kinda easy, this SEHMUA 4G LTE 3rd Gen Cellular Trail Camera does have separate eyelets for cable ties (zip ties) and works great and the bite of the cable tie does seem to grip way better than the strap anyway. 

The two slots inside the camera for the SD card and micro sim slot are a little fiddly and some supplied tweezers are helpful for getting the sim card in place, although getting it out is a bit of a horror show. 

There are two clamps on the right side, the hinge is on the left as you look at the device and the seal didn't give me much hope for it, BUT after 2 snow storms and some rain, the trail cam held up and inside was bone dry. 

Sehmua 4G LTE 3rd Trail Cam: Performance

The actual cam performs as described when you ignore the SIM and remote connection issues as I mentioned earlier. You can see some sample footage below.

The triggering of 0.2 seconds is a bit tough to figure out if that's true or not but the video captured did seem to record about 10 seconds of useful footage, and you can change the video capture setting to up to 30 seconds (you can select 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds only). 

Handy options like the ability to flip the image if you are hanging the camera upside down, auto night mode. However, one very annoying “feature” is that you can not record videos and pictures at the same time, so you have to choose which one you want. With wildlife you want to know their direction, images don't always tell the story but I guess it has its uses. 

Sensitivity can be changed from High, Medium, or Low and you will need to decode the English used to describe them and make up your own mind on which one is best for you. I chose the high option and seemed to trigger as needed. 

The app is a bit of a hot mess, and the UX could do with some thought behind it, for example, you can ONLY change the camera options once you have a live connection with it. You can also toggle between “High Def” and “Standard Def” although no actual information on what SD means and this option is hidden away in the top right of the live display screen, same with the settings, hidden away in the top right behind a cog wheel which seems to be dynamic between whatever screen you are looking at the time. 

My biggest grumble is the connectivity issues and the standard 4W solar panel. I can’t think of either working well if you live in the boonies and/or in northern parts of the northern hemisphere in the case of the solar panel. The upgraded 20w solar panel did charge the camera to full nicely after a day of good sun.

Sehmua 4G LTE 3rd Trail Cam: Final Verdict

It’s hard to recommend this product given its shortfalls with SIM and solar panel issues I experienced, while it does deliver great video for the price range the additional features are kinda useless for where I live in not-so-sunny upstate New York. The upgraded panel does fix that issue but that comes at an extra cost. Maybe the vendor could sell an upgraded package with larger communication antennas and a larger solar panel. I haven't tried, but I do wonder if some aftermarket antennas would do the trick and help with that. 

The app needs LOTS of work to make it flow well, saying that it does do the job once you figure out where everything is hidden. 

For a sub $200 trail cam there are better options out there if you just want SD card video or picture images of wildlife or activity, if you live in a sunny or warmer climate (think Texas) then I'm sure this trail cam will knock it out of the park. 

With its misshapen molded fascia resembling a strip of tree bark, the Stealth Cam Fusion Global, like the same manufacturer’s DS4K Ultimate model, has been fashioned to blend seamlessly with natural surroundings, the screw-on black antenna than fixes to its top right-hand side notwithstanding. 

The whole point of a trail camera is being able to remotely capture images that we wouldn’t be able to achieve if our subject was aware of our presence or that of our camera, so it makes perfect sense that this isn’t a sleek, shiny device that we’d want to sit next to our iMac.

As well as incorporating a built-in sensor that will automatically prompt the camera to begin remotely recording when a subject is within its vicinity, with imagery saved to an optional SD card, this one ups the ante by adding the ability to access and transmit whatever it captures via a mobile device and an app.

That means in theory we don’t have to wait and retrieve our media card from the Stealth Cam Fusion Global before we can see whether we’ve successfully got anything – or indeed get the card back to our card reader and PC or laptop before we can begin viewing or sharing images.

The sales pitch here suggests that thanks to a theoretically quick and easy setup process via the scanning of a QR code – once we’ve first downloaded a dedicated app – users of the Stealth Cam Fusion Global will be able to be up and running and receiving and sharing images from the device in a matter of minutes. Indicating that this particular trail camera is going to be best suited to those who are using it regularly for their hobby, rather than every now and again, its remote accessibility and connectivity are tied into a chargeable data plan, although the first 30 days are free of charge.

Of course, all the connectivity options in the world are for nothing if the images we’re looking at aren’t clear, or of usable quality in the first place. The Stealth Cam Fusion offers the choice of very respectable 26MP, 16MP, 8MP, or 4MP still photo resolutions, along with low-ish resolution HD video (640x360 pixels), which, if we’re just viewing it on our phone screen, is adequate.

The built-in sensor has the ability to detect subjects up to an adequate 80ft range. By contrast, the same manufacturer’s recent Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate model, which granted doesn’t offer the Fusion’s remote wireless connectivity, delivers up to 32MP stills, plus 4K video recording and boasts a 100ft range. So while we get hands-free remote access here, there are alternatives with better specs.

The Stealth Cam Fusion Global requires slightly fewer batteries to power it, however – 8xAAs compared to its sibling’s weighty 12xAAs requirement, which, as before, aren’t included out of the box. Unusually, the bare bones hard copy manual provided cautions against using rechargeable batteries in the camera, as these can muddy the waters and cause the app to display the battery percentage incorrectly. 

While the necessary batteries aren’t supplied, neither is the essential SD card for the storage of the imagery it captures. Up to 32GB capacity cards are compatible with this device. A slot is provided at the side of the camera, which is otherwise hidden and protected when the backplate is clamped shut.

While a media card slots into place with a definite click, retrieving the card is slightly fiddly as it doesn’t pop out sufficiently far to be able to get any more than a fingernail purchase on it. This requires us to drag it out with a fingertip until it’s free of the housing. Luckily the point of this camera is that we don’t need to retrieve it all that often.

Other standard features to note include the built-in infrared flash and, here, a 0.8-second trigger speed with the ability to capture between one and six images per each triggering of the device. With stills from trail cameras typically resembling video grabs, the image aspect ratio provided is a widescreen 16:9.

For those seeking to keep a record of their visual surveillance, images have the further ability to be stamped with time, date, and even moon phase.

Stealth Cam Fusion Global: Design & Handling

Remote operation of the Stealth Cam Fusion Global is achieved by first downloading the Command Pro remote app from the Google Play store to our Android phone, as we did, while, alternatively as expected, compatibility with Apple iOS is also offered. When this is downloaded and installed and we’ve registered and logged into the app, we’re prompted to pair the app with our device via an ‘Add Your Device’ request. 

This is where things got tricky for us, as, with the app open, it didn’t appear to recognize the QR code printed on the camera’s interior that requires scanning by our phone. When this was unsuccessful, we instead tried manually entering the ‘IMEI’ code likewise printed on the camera’s interior as prompted, but this wasn’t recognized either. 

We noticed the version of the app we were using had only been updated mere days before, and since we weren’t doing anything obviously incorrect ourselves, we assumed it might be a bit bug-y. Frustrated, we decided to leave things for a while – a few weeks in fact. Happily, when we returned to both camera and app they appeared to have finally recognised each other and were finally in sync.

Once we have everything up and working, the Stealth Cam Command app installed on our smartphone or digital device in turn allows for camera settings to be adjusted, shots to be sorted through in terms of defining subject matter, and imagery to be previewed before downloading to our camera roll. Provided there are no technical glitches this in theory offers much more flexibility and control than most trail cameras. Alternatively, as with alternative models, we can still retrieve the inserted SD card and view, store, and catalog our images that way.

Stealth Cam Fusion: Performance

Our usual experience is that stealth/trail cameras provide just a small LCD window and a few tiny buttons on the camera itself with which to affect menu or operational changes before the unit is sealed and placed in situ. Here there’s no screen at all, as we’re expected to use our smartphone and the Command app instead. 

The only operational buttons on the Stealth Cam Fusion Global are a tiny on/off switch and a button marked ‘sync’; a press of the latter allows us to manually take a shot and check things are working. We also get a trio of tiny bulbs indicating battery life (or lack of), network, and user account.

Generally, the build of the unit matches previous examples we’ve handled, with a hard plastic outer shell protecting the interior tech, battery tray, and card. Obviously installing 8x AA batteries adds further to the heft of the unit, lending a more substantial, almost brick-like feel. 

Strap mounts are visible at the back of the unit when shut, and a strap for tying the device to a tree trunk, branch – or whatever we choose to keep the device upright and in place – is provided out of the box. A screw thread for tripod attachment is also found at the base of the unit, as is a port for 12-volt auxiliary power.

As with other trail cameras, we’d describe the widescreen ratio visuals it provides as resembling video grabs, with information and data provided across the bottom of each shot to usefully relay when and where each was recorded. As this is a surveillance tool rather than something from Leica, Nikon, or Sony purporting to deliver gallery-quality results, the Stealth Cam Fusion Global fulfills its purpose, and for the features and the price that is all we can ask of it.

On a practical note, it’s worth noting that the manufacturer recommends Class 10 SD cards are used, and up to a maximum capacity of 32GB are supported. Recommended operating conditions are between minus 10°C and +40°C, which until recent years we’d have regarded as extreme in the UK at least.

Stealth Cam Fusion: Final Verdict

Although we had some issues setting this camera up and getting it working, which we’ll charitably put down to a recently updated and perhaps somewhat bug-y Command app, construction quality is as commendably rugged as we’ve found with its less tech-festooned predecessors, providing us with reassurance that it’ll survive being left out in the open for long periods.

There are trail cameras out there with better operational range and image quality and which don’t require the setting up of accounts and service plans that may be more suited to infrequent users, but as we live in a world that increasingly puts our phone’s handset at the center of operations, it makes sense that the Stealth Cam brand is offering up a trail camera that is more or less completely controlled and monitored that way. The future of trail cameras has arrived.

Alternatives

Though the Stealth Cam Fusion Global sets itself apart from the pack of very similarly specified and functioning trail cameras by virtue of its extra connectivity features, it’s otherwise our available budget that will inform a purchase decision.

If it’s higher resolution results we’re after, then an obvious alternative to consider is the same maker’s Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate or the very similar Bushnell Core DS-4K No Glow trail camera. Both these options proffer a 32MP resolution. Bushnell’s device further distinguishes itself via its speedy 0.15-second trigger response, as opposed to the 0.8-second trigger response of the Stealth Cam Fusion Global. 

In terms of cameras boasting slightly more connectivity and even more potential for remote use, there’s the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera, thereby making it a closer comparison with the Stealth Cam Fusion Global. 

Of course, such features always command a premium cost over more basic and therefore cheaper setups, so if budget is tight then we feel Bushnell’s Prime L20 Tan Low Glow trail camera is another option worth recommending.

Other trail cameras previously reviewed by us include the Spypoint Force 20, which offers a slightly less impressive if still usable 70ft detection range when compared with the Stealth Cam Fusion’s 80ft reach. Ultimately with quite a few alternatives out there as outlined, you pay your money and you make your choice.

The Attenborough long-beaked echidna was thought to have been extinct, as no one has seen one alive for over 60 years. A trail camera solved that!

Deep in the Cyclops Mountains, Indonesia, a team of scientists were on a biological expedition throughout the mountain range when on the last day of the four-week expedition they found the remarkable footage of a creature not seen in over 60 years – Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna.

Named after the British naturalist, presenter, and all-round national treasure David Attenborough, this particular species of echidna was last photographed in 1961. It has only ever been seen in the Cyclops Mountains and was assumed to have been 'lost' due to being shy, nocturnal burrow-dwellers who are notoriously difficult to find.

Dr James Kempton, expedition lead and biologist from the University of Oxford says, “Attenborough's long-beaked echidna has the spines of a hedgehog, the snout of an anteater, and the feet of a mole. Because of its hybrid appearance, it shares its name with a creature of Greek mythology that is half human, half serpent. It appears so unlike other mammals because it is a member of the monotremes – an egg-laying group that separated from the rest of the mammal tree-of-life about 200 million years ago.”

Kempton was also the scientist who found the footage of the animal, on the very last memory card checked from 80 cameras, and on the last day of the expedition. This was a great payoff to what sounded like an otherwise treacherous expedition, with the team enduring an earthquake, malaria, and even a leech on an eyeball!

Trail cameras are a fantastic way to get a glimpse into the activity of the natural world, without interfering with it, and they can often produce surprising results, much like this case; as shown by this video produced by The Telegraph. It is not stated which particular trail cameras were used by the expedition team (perhaps it was one of the best trail cameras for wildlife), but it was able to produce exceptionally clear footage of the creature. See more information about the expedition and the official footage on the Expedition Cyclops webpage.

If trail cameras sound like something you wish to find out more about, we offer a guide on the best trail cameras that can give you more information as well as some examples of the capabilities.

 A new commentary and research study by conservation biologist, Zhengyang Wang, has revealed that gaming engines, such as the popular Unity and Unreal Engine, can in fact be used to render hyper-realistic wildlife and animal images that are good enough to pass as legit images when shown to specific AI software. 

These learning AIs use images – including these gaming engine-generated ones – as a basis for their training to recognize animals that might pass by and trigger a camera trap. Having extra images helps gradually improve the quality of what is referred to as rare-class categorization. 

• These are the best trail cameras in 2023

Plenty of wildlife and nature photographers will have at some point used or come across camera traps, also known as trail cameras. The purpose of these cameras is to be subtle, often camouflaged to match a certain surrounding. They can be remotely triggered to capture images of animals, or whatever else that might pass by the sensors, in isolated areas. 

Trail cameras are usually fitted with motion detectors, as well as night vision and infrared cameras, and sometimes even thermal imaging cameras. Animals that are naturally shy won't usually approach a camera trap, but can still be monitored by using this equipment intended to detect signs of life and movement.  

Zhengyang Wang, a conservation biologist, has shed some light on a known problem of trail cameras and identified a unique way in which the puzzle could be solved. Identifying common wildlife has become easy for most modern camera trap AI. Spotting rare animals, however, remains to be a struggle. 

In a recent commentary shared to Mongabay, Wang proposes that computer-generated images of animals that have been created by popular gaming software engines could be used to train camera trap AIs to detect rarer species that it otherwise wouldn't recognize without previous imagery. Images generated this way should not be confused with AI; this is the process of 3D graphics, so images would come from a digital model based on a real animal. 

"If a species is rarely seen in camera trap photos, there isn’t enough data for it to learn, and it won’t be very good at recognizing that rare species" Shares Wang. "AI is able to learn from the kind of game engine-generated, hyper-realistic animal images that feature in today’s highly advanced digital games."

Advancements in rendering capabilities of modern game engines have meant that virtual worlds, especially open-world games, are becoming more realistic and immersive by the second.  This is why plenty of virtual and in-game photographers are beginning to make a living and earn employment for their digital services.  

• These are the most picturesque videogames for virtual photographers

Wang observed during a chance meeting with some game studio developers, or as he calls them "a rakish horde of digital nomads" in a rainforest in Panama that these tools used by game developers are actually helping real-world conservationists, even if they appear to be cherishing biodiversity "for an alien reason" as Wang puts it.

Putting the Unity theory into practice

The bottom line is that conservation practitioners who use multiple camera traps for extensive mammal surveys have the painstaking and time-consuming job of identifying the animals captured in each shot. With the help of AI, this process is made much easier, although before an AI can tell the difference between a deer and a badger, it must be trained by annotated images. 

Wang explains that this is the problem of rare-class categorization, whereby computer systems struggle to categorize objects that are rarely seen during training, such as sightings of rare and endangered species, and collecting additional training examples is often an expensive feat. 

Luckily a colleague of Wang's, Sara Beery, and her team was able to put this theory into practice during an experiment to increase her AI’s ability to detect deer. They used developers to create images in a simulated forest with digital deer using the Unity game engine.

These virtual photos of deer were fed to AI, and its deer detection rate increased by 40%. The study, "Synthetic Examples Improve Generalization for Rare Classes,” was authored by Sara in May 2019 and explores different simulation methods and their effects on classification performance. 

Will conservation become reliant on gaming tech and hyper-realistic models of nature? Let us know what you think!

• You may also be interested in the best portable hides and camouflage gear for wildlife photography, as well as the best cameras for wildlife photography, and not forgetting the best lenses for landscapes too.

• Check out these 10 ultimate locations for wildlife photographers, and the 10 best games for virtual photographers.

If you make a point of calling your product the ‘ultimate’ version of anything, you’re immediately setting a very high bar in terms of the user’s expectations. So the Chinese-made Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate arrives from overseas with a lot to prove if it wants to be named one of the best trail cameras.

On initial inspection, the house brick-sized image capture device doesn’t appear massively different from its trail camera competitors. Except, unusually here, the grey-ish plastic faceplate is somewhat warped and misshapen, resembling a piece of rotting wood bark and therefore potentially better blending in with natural surroundings when left out in the wild to record whatever steps within its sensor’s range.

Deliberately or otherwise, it looks like something that fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. Fortunately, a strap for securely mounting this stealth camera to a tree is included out of the box, so your product doesn’t suffer the same fate. Plus, for anyone nervous about potential theft when left out in the wild, a lockable brace is available as an optional accessory. 

As expected, batteries aren’t included out of the box with this one, and neither is the removable SD card required. But the same is true with rivals. So how does the Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate fare as a standalone product?

Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate: Key Features

On paper at least, the Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate’s feature set places it among the best in its class, offering a 32-megapixel resolution, 16:9 ratio images, 4K video recording at 30fps day or night, plus a 100ft range, even if the stated 0.2-second trigger speed is so-so. The SD card slot here can cope with capacities of up to 128GB, instead of the standard 32GB of some basic trail camera models. 

However, this still falls somewhat short of the 512GB capacity offered by the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera we recently reviewed, for those who really do want to leave the device out for long periods without having to change the media in use.

Like all trail cameras, the above features are all designed to work in combination and provide remote observation and the capture of still and video imagery of skittish subjects that would otherwise be near impossible without. Settings can be adjusted to allow for between one and nine images to be captured sequentially when the unit’s sensor is triggered. We can set up the camera to be always on, which is the default, or choose certain times of the day or night for it to be operational, as well as change the resolution of stills or tweak the duration of any video, as well as selecting capture with audio or without. 

Add in the ability for time-lapse operation and the automatic enhancement of images while reducing blur – an issue if capturing subjects in motion in complete darkness – and we have to say this is one of the most comprehensive feature sets to be currently found on a trail camera in its price bracket.

Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate: Handling

Like the rest of its trail camera ilk, the Stealth Cam’s operational controls are hidden beneath a hard plastic faceplate, secured in place via a plastic clamp to prevent accidental adjustment and the changing of settings when left by the user out in the wild. 

Reassuringly, neither of these aspects of the build is flimsy, although we still wouldn’t want to accidentally drop it onto a concrete surface. There is some degree of protection afforded to the actual camera unit, however, as it sits within a rubber surround, rather than being flush to the inner edges.

One surprise here is that the unit requires so many batteries – 12 in all for the Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate, which is twice as many as most rivals demand, and obviously adds to the weight and bulk. Indeed, half the camera’s width is taken up by the battery compartment, which comprises a simple dual-sided plastic tray into which six cells are loaded on each side. 

Alternatively, if you’re not placing the camera out in the wild and utilizing it instead as a home or workplace security device, then you might want to take advantage of the provided 12V external power jack.

The base of the unit features a standard screw thread for attaching it to a tripod or similar mount if desired, while a strap can be threaded through the plastic loops positioned on the back to otherwise secure it in place.

Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate: Performance

Unlike some rivals, such as the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera, the provided LCD on the Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate doesn’t reveal whatever is in front of the lens to enable us to get our setup and potential framing spot on. This means, once again, it’s a case of point-and-hope regarding results, as to be fair, it is with the majority of trail cameras. However, we liked the fact that operational buttons were larger and more spongy, in fact resembling the keys on a ZX Spectrum of old, than most rivals. This meant selections were less fiddly to make, something particularly welcome in the wet and the cold.

Though a brief print manual is provided out of the box, we didn’t need to refer to it to ascertain which button did what, as they are self-explanatory to anyone who has used a basic point-and-shoot digital camera. Here we are gifted an on/off switch, a menu button, an enter/set button, plus a four-way control pad via which to navigate settings. A slim LCD window is provided above, which just gives a read-out of the various operational settings and their parameters.

Once the camera is switched on, the device counts down from 30 seconds to give the user the chance to get out of the area and avoid its accidental activation. The same display also shows the number of shots remaining on the SD card inserted, plus an indication of remaining battery life; all pretty standard stuff.

To test its image-capturing mettle, and because it was winter at the time of testing, we left the Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate outdoors overnight in sub-zero temperatures. The result was that the device had a layer of frost when we went to retrieve it. With the unit having first been activated and then clamped shut, fortunately, we found no dampness had penetrated its innards when we got it back in the warm, and we were impressed that after a very cold night indeed, the battery indicator was still displaying 100% capacity.

While widescreen ratio infrared images taken in pitch black are rendered in black and white – their shadowy sharpness on a par with the results from security cameras – during the day, we instead automatically get color results. The latter more closely resembles video grabs than shots taken from a dedicated digital camera. Expectedly, results aren’t on a par with what we’d expect from a 32-megapixel sensor DSLR; but in fairness, we wouldn’t leave a DSLR and wide-angle lens out overnight in the frost either – so it’s very much a case of horses for courses.

Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate: Rivals

As we’ve mentioned in previous trail camera reviews, the options currently out there on the market are essentially variations on the same theme, meaning similar features, size and performance. 

Similarly specified options to the Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate include the almost identically named Bushnell Core DS-4K No Glow trail camera, which also boasts a 32MP resolution, plus the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera, which therefore provides even more options for remote use. In addition, if our pennies won’t quite stretch that far, the Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow trail camera is a third alternative we feel is worth consideration.

As the closest alternative, we have experience with, the Bushnell Core DS-4K No Glow trail camera distinguishes itself, particularly when compared against both the Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate and the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera, by not only featuring the increasingly standard 4K video resolution, but also a speedy 0.15-second trigger response, as opposed to the 0.2-second trigger response of the others. 

Less well-specified trail cameras we’ve previously covered additionally include the Spypoint Force 20, which offers a less impressive but still usable 70ft detection range plus lower resolution 1080x720 pixels video clips, saved to an optional 32GB SD card. Another option is the GardePro E6 No Glow trail camera, with its 24MP stills resolution and 1080P video at 30fs.

Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate: Verdict

With a twisted tree bark / crushed Halloween mask-type outer design that seeks to blend in rather than win style awards, the Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate aims for practicality first. Results are exactly as expected in resembling video grabs or the feed from a security camera, but the thrill of being able to achieve stolen moments with skittish creatures we might not have otherwise got is exclusively the appeal here. 

The ‘Ultimate’ is a pretty heady claim to make, however, and we’d also recommend comparing and contrasting features and prices with similarly performing models from Browning and Bushnell, against which this option, fortunately, holds its own.

You might also like the best cellular trail cameras, and if you're into wildlife, the best portable hides for photography and the best camera for wildlife.

The Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera is shorter in stature than the typical house brick sized alternatives; to get a rough idea of its size, imagine two cigarette packets, or packs of cards, placed back-to-back. Just like rivals, however, it still requires six AA batteries for power, which, as is typically the case, are not provided out of the box. The device looks the part though, thanks to its photo print camouflaged exterior, featuring a forest floor-like covering of tree roots and fallen leaves. 

What you'd potentially be buying this unit for is remote and covert surveillance and recording the movements of skittish animals that would otherwise be spooked by an obvious camera wielding human in the vicinity. So that’s the quick overview; what about the nitty-gritty?

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X: Key Features

One glance at the box and we’ll be zeroing in on the core features of the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera, which include a 20-megapixel stills resolution, 1600x900 pixels video of between five seconds and two minutes in length, a 0.22 second trigger speed response time, a 0.6 second recovery time, plus a motion detection range of up to 80ft, upgrading the original camera’s more modest 55ft range. It also boasts an adjustable flash range of up to 120ft. 

To select and implement its various image capture functions and settings, including interval timed single shots or multi shots, we’re gifted a minimal array of operational buttons, which when the camera is in the field are otherwise hidden under the faceplate. Included here is a 1.5-inch LCD screen, used in conjunction with the buttons alongside it to make our selections. Browning claims that potential users can capture up to 10,000 images before the 6x AAs it requires for power, which requires an additional purchase, are depleted. Of course, we’ll need something to save all of those images on – and here that is offered courtesy of the ability to insert a removable SD card. The Browning device supports up to 512GB capacity cards; a fair degree higher than the usual 32GB maximum capacity SDs supported by alternative trail cameras in its class.

Another unusual feature on this model is a steel bracket at the back of the trail camera that can be loosened to let the device tilt forward if required. While a loop for a provided strap – itself a generous 6ft in length – is included as part of said bracket, another way of securing the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera is via the use of a tripod, with a standard screw thread provided at its base. Hidden under a rubber flap is also an alternative means of powering the camera via a 12-volt external power jack.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X: Handling

Before we can begin using the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera, we first need to source and insert 6x AA batteries, a tray for which is secreted away in the base of the model. This is ejected via a dedicated button hidden under a protective cover at the front of the device. When closed, the cover also shields the aforementioned postage stamp sized 1.5-inch LCD screen  that affords the implementation of settings via a minimal array of operational controls ranged to the right of it. 

Anyone who has operated a basic point-and-shoot digital camera will find the handling here fairly intuitive, although we still found ourselves consulting the manual as to how to initially set things up. Unusually for a budget trail camera, once settings have been made, the screen can display whatever is in front of the device, theoretically helping the user achieve optimum framing, or coverage of the area being marked out for surveillance. At the base of this cover protected control unit is a slot for the insertion and retrieval of an optional, yet essential, SD card. Once inserted, we just need to give the card a slight nudge to eject it; again, so reasonably intuitive.

While a strap is provided out of the box for threading through the metal tree mount bracket located at the rear of the unit, thereby attaching it to the trunk of a tree or suitable post, more unusually the angle of this bracket is adjustable – albeit to a limited extent. In practice we found that the trail camera can be angled forward so it’s pointing downwards instead of just directly ahead. Alternatively, if the trail camera is placed on a flat surface, the bracket acts as a makeshift tripod, allowing the device to be angled upwards.

The simple photographic print on the exterior of the unit also proves remarkably effective in practice, unobtrusively blending the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera in with natural backgrounds. The fallen leaves printed on its faceplate make this an ideal match for autumn.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X: Performance

The overall build quality of the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera feels remarkably solid for the price, with only the likes of the removable battery tray feeling a tad vulnerable once removed from the interior of the unit. With six AA batteries inserted to power the device, it’s reassuringly weighty in the palm, with no discernable ‘give’ to the plastic exterior when squeezed. 

Though we have to assume some form of weatherproofing since this is primarily designed as an outdoor device, the manual warns the warranty is void if the unit is ‘neglected or abused’ and actually submerged. We left the unit out in heavy rain, as is unavoidable in the UK, and though there was moisture present along the rubber sealed edge of the flip-open cover when we retrieved it, the unit itself and card we’d inserted were still working and readable. At its reasonable price point however, there was a modicum of doubt in our mind over how much repeated exposure to a wet climate and monsoon-level rain it would withstand.

Unsurprisingly, since the camera is infrared equipped, night-time images are rendered in black and white, whereas in daytime it’s color. Results resemble the kind of images we’re used to seeing from surveillance cameras on crime programs and even at full 20 megapixel resolution there is visible grain and soft edges to subjects, particularly anything in the frame that’s actually moving. So don’t expect pin-sharp results like we’re used to seeing from DSLRs or mirrorless cameras. 

Happily though, the built-in motion sensor and capture capabilities here actually do work. For those who want to keep track of their image captures, the option to add an info bar at the bottom of each image is available, which stamps each picture with the basics of temperature, time and date. As ever, use of trail cameras involves a degree of trial and error – we never know quite what we’re going to get in response when we set one up, which is part of the beauty and fun of it all. In these days of instant gratification it’s still nice to be occasionally, perhaps even pleasantly, surprised.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X: Rivals

While there is a broad range of trail cameras currently available, in our experience they offer relatively similar operability, feature sets, and performance. So selection is perhaps more dependent on our budget. Other good value options to consider alongside the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera include the Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow trail camera and its bigger brother in the 32MP resolution Bushnell Core DS-4K No Glow trail camera. The latter distinguishes itself, particularly when compared against the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera, by featuring a class-leading 4K video resolution, a relatively speedy 0.15-second trigger response, as opposed to the 0.2-second trigger response here, plus twin sensors variously optimized for use in both day and night.

Additional alternatives include the Spypoint Force 20, which offers a slightly lower 70ft detection range coupled with1080x720 pixels video clips, plus, like many others, the option for shooting to a removable SD card capacity that maxes out at a modest by comparison 32GB. Perhaps closer to the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera, thanks to its 24MP stills resolution and 1080P video at 30fs, is the GardePro E6 No Glow trail camera. 

This one does up the ante further however by coming with its own phone app for remote operation and being Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled. This is all well and good, as long as we’re planning to remain within the range of the device itself; but if we’re not then we still feel that the Browning here offers a very keenly priced alternative for those looking to pick up their very first trail camera.

Browning Strike Force HD Pro X: Verdict

We’ll need to supply our own 6x AA batteries and removable SD media card to operate the Browning Strike Force HD Pro X trail camera, but at the price of ownership being asked here we’re not complaining. 

For that reason we feel it would make a great entry-level / starter option for anyone intrigued by the idea of a trail camera, or amateur nature watchers wanting a means of surveillance and, theoretically, of capturing images that couldn’t otherwise be achieved by simply standing in the same spot with a regular camera or smartphone. Further peace of mind comes via a one-year warranty.

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Over a decade of using trail cameras – from my university days in wildlife photography to tracking local fauna in the Cotswolds – I’ve watched these camera traps transform. With the best cellular trail cameras, what used to require a regular, scent-disturbing trek into the woods to pull SD cards is now a more seamless, real-time experience where wildlife sightings are beamed straight to your smartphone.

Cellular trail cameras help you see animals behaving naturally and get photos of shy wildlife that would otherwise be scared off. If you're a wildlife photographer trying to determine whether it's worthwhile setting up your main cameras for wildlife, scouting locations first with a trail camera is a great idea.

Some cameras come bundled with a SIM and a no-contract plan, so you don't have to stick with your regular phone network – though most require a monthly subscription to access images remotely. The cellular camera market is entangled with recurring plans, and a seemingly affordable camera trap can become an expensive ongoing habit if key features like remote setting adjustments or HD video downloads are locked behind a paywall.

I’ve done weeks of field testing (the Zeiss Secacam 7 is still my personal top pick) and also found that impressive specs mean nothing if the camera's trigger speed is too slow to snap a passing deer sharply, or if the night flash overexposes close-up subjects into a white blur.

Getting the right camera trap is about more than high megapixels. You need to balance network reliability, trigger efficiency, and the overall cost of ownership. Over the past few years, our expert team has been field-testing leading cellular models through rainy torrents, cold nights, and heavy woodland cover to monitor battery drain, solar efficiency, app responsiveness, and cellular availability.

Below, I’ve broken down the best cellular trail cameras on the market to help you choose the most reliable setup for your budget and location.

Top picks

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Best cellular trail cameras

Best cellular trail camera overall

The DS4K Transmit isn’t the cheapest trail camera, but it doesn’t disappoint in features either. Many cellular cameras take the view that 4K video is difficult to transmit over 4G/LTE connections, so the feature is left out entirely.

Here, the camera can still record them locally even though it only sends 720P GIFs via its cellular connection. Previews can be seen in the Command Pro app on your cellphone, and images are stamped with time, date, and moon data.

Setup isn’t a painful process either; all that is required is a QR code scan and the following steps. The camera’s 32MP stills can be caught in a burst of 9 images per triggering, and the device houses 42 850nm LEDs.

Placing it in a location for any length of time will need lithium batteries, and it’s worth remembering that the reliable sensing zone is closer to 60ft /20m.

Read more: Stealthcam DS4K Transmit

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Best budget cellular trail camera

At a significantly lower price point than others, the Link-Micro-LTE is a device well-suited for those who want to get several lenses in the same area and keep an eye on the movements of bigger animals for research or game management.

Spypoint’s app certainly doesn’t neglect location data coming from the cameras or taking advantage of other available data (like weather services), but ultimately, this is just as suited for strapping around trees and sending back images via a 4G LTE network. You’ll need to change the batteries more frequently than its solar-powered sibling, and note that you still lose out on video recording functionality.

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Best solar powered cellular trail camera

The Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE makes it easy to transmit photos of wildlife straight to your smartphone as they are being captured. The battery is long-lasting thanks to the solar panel, making it an independent trail camera you can leave alone for days while still enjoying the images it captures. You can also retrieve higher-resolution images from the camera’s memory card later.

With a 0.4-second trigger speed and 80-foot detection and flash range, this cellular trail camera offers good value for money. The major downside is that it doesn't capture video clips.

Read the full Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE review
Reviewed by George Cairns

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Best for Europe

The Zeiss Secacam 7 is the easiest trail camera I’ve used, and a great option for beginners. It comes out of the box with batteries and a 32GB SD card pre-installed, plus very robust weather-sealing that left me happy to dump it in a rainy wood for weeks. The 4G LTE connectivity is strong in the UK (some trail cameras perform best in the US), and through the responsive, well-designed app, I found it beams photos to your phone quickly from remote locations.

However, the native 5MP sensor (interpolated to 12MP) looks noticeably soft compared to newer alternatives like the Browning Defender Vision Pro LiveStream with its 46MP sensor. If you plan to record heavy 1080p video clips, you're also likely to fill the included card fast.

While I found that the night flash can occasionally blow out close-up subjects, I found image quality more than detailed enough for clear identification. This is such a well-made camera trap and gives you hassle-free remote tracking, but you do pay quite a premium price – and an ongoing subscription fee – for the cellular convenience, and Zeiss name rather than bleeding-edge camera specs.

Read my full Zeiss Secacam 7 review

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How to choose a cellular trail camera

Network compatibility: Unlike standard trail cameras, the cellular in our list need a strong and reliable local network coverage to send stills and video clips to your phone without a delay. Cameras with multi-roaming SIM cards can automatically switch between major networks (AT&T and Verizon are common in the US, or multiple regional European networks) to lock onto the strongest signal available at your specific location.

Subscription costs: Almost every cellular camera also involves a tiered monthly or annual subscription to beam data to your smartphone. Check whether the brand locks helpful features like remote adjustments, HD video downloads, or AI species recognition behind a premium tier.

Trigger speed: The trigger speed you need really depends on the animals you're targeting. A response time under 0.4 seconds is a good aim when monitoring fast-moving creatures, whereas a slower trigger should be perfectly fine for slower targets, for example, areas where you’ve set up food.

Power and longevity: Transmitting data over 4G LTE can drain batteries quickly, as can chilly weather. If you're planning to leave your trail camera in rugged or hard-to-reach terrain for long periods, look at models with efficient lithium batteries, integrated solar panels, or the ability to attach a separate power pack.

FAQs

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Trail cameras are becoming ever more popular. Unsurprising perhaps, as, once placed in a surreptitious position, they allow us to observe the wider world and the more skittish of creatures remotely from the comfort of our own home. 

For those looking for a fairly priced route into the trail camera world, the Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow model looks to be an enticing option. Newcomers should think of it as a surveillance camera with extras, able to begin recording to a removable SD card – with the capability here of utilizing cards up to 32GB – when its built-in sensor detects movement in the vicinity. 

Inevitably, with the trail camera set up, fixed in position at a location, and then left to operate independently and automatically, the operation becomes more a case of ‘point and hope’ than point and shoot. While a degree of trial and error is inevitable, it also leaves room for happy accidents and us being pleasantly surprised too. So, what are the nuts and bolts we’re being presented with here, and how does it perform?

Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow: Key Features

Though Bushnell is best known for binoculars, the Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow model is one of a number of ‘trail cam’ options produced by the manufacturer. Apart from an impressive array of LEDs on its fascia, the Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow trail camera, fashioned from what looks like a single plastic mould, looks pretty bare bones at the outset. It sports a single-color khaki plastic exterior rather than any of the camouflage detailing sometimes found on models higher up the Bushnell range. That said, at roughly the size and weight of a house brick with batteries and card inserted, the unit is still fairly obtrusive if hidden and surrounded by natural foliage. 

One thing our review unit arrived missing was any strap via which to bind it to a tree trunk, branch or any other static vantage point, though a couple of hard plastic lugs are provided at the back for threading one through. A screw thread is alternatively provided at the base for a tripod attachment should we be keen to keep our horizons level, and are able to do so without drawing attention to the trail cam. That said, thanks to a flat base to the device, it can be propped up on its own.

Core features of any trail camera include the maximum range at which it is able to function, which for this particular model is around 80ft at night. Packed into its faceplate are 36 visible LEDs, which, with the lens and sensor located dead center, enable both Full HD 1080P resolution video recording at 30fps, plus a choice of either 3MP, 12MP, or full 20MP resolution still images.

Obviously, we want any camera we’re going to be leaving out in the wet and the wild to be waterproof, so fortunately the Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow trail camera offers IPX6 levels of water tightness to protect it against rainfall.

A pop-out tray at the base of the unit snugly houses the six AA batteries that power the Bushnell, with a narrow LCD screen, operational buttons, and a vacant slot for the insertion of an SD card provided just above it. When the trail camera is in operation, these are hidden beneath a hard plastic cover that is clamped into place to prevent settings from being accidentally disturbed once implemented. Build quality feels sufficiently robust to withstand the odd careless knock or drop and, impressively, Bushnell claims that a set of batteries can last up to 12 months of use. Said power cells are an additional expense, obviously, as none arrived in the box with our review unit. 

Interestingly, as concerns power, the instructions that come with the unit state that a solar panel accessory is another optional purchase for this model, which attaches via the DC-in jack, protected by a tethered rubber cover, at the base of the unit.

Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow: Rivals

While obviously core features such as resolution, range and functionality differ, there are a bunch of competing devices that serve the exact same function as the Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow trail camera. For example, there’s its bigger brother in the 32MP Bushnell Core DS-4K No Glow trail camera, which distinguishes itself by featuring a class-leading 4K video resolution, a relatively speedy 0.15-second trigger response, as opposed to the 0.7-second trigger response here, plus twin sensors variously optimized for use in both day and night.

Options from rival manufacturers include the likes of the Spypoint Force 20, which offers a slightly lower specification, including a 70ft detection range, 1080x720 pixels video clips, plus yet again the option for shooting to a removable SD card at up to 32GB capacity. Similarly specified also to the Bushnell Prime L20 Low Glow trail camera, thanks to its 24MP stills resolution and 1080P video at 30fs, is the GardePro E6 No Glow trail camera. This one ups the ante further by coming with its own phone app for remote operation and being Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled, which is fine as long as we’re planning to remain within range of the device itself – hiding in the conservatory perhaps while we place the unit in the garden.

For the money though, it feels like the Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow trail camera still holds its own amidst rivals.

Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow: Handling

The hard plastic exterior of the Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow trail camera has no noticeable give to it when squeezed in the palm and the build quality seems good and firm. We mentioned earlier about a tray for inserting 6x AA batteries being inserted within the unit’s baseplate and, just above, we also get a rudimentary selection of controls being ranged either side of a narrow slit-sized LCD window, that allows for the tabbing through of operational settings and choices, but not for the review or playback of any images. 

As we’ve noted, it’s a case of placing this one in position and hoping for the best, rather than trying to achieve accurate or artistic framing. While some competitors allow the entire inner camera module to be retrieved from the trail camera’s outer casing, here that element is fixed in place. So we have to flip open the front each time we want to retrieve our regular 32GB SD card and any recordings with it. It makes sense then to load as high a capacity up to that 32GB as possible to avoid having to swap cards in or out.

Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow: Performance

Selecting the ‘Aim’ mode on the three-setting slider switch alongside the narrow LCD screen allows for the camera to be set up, although the choices here are not extensive. In fact, it’s fair to say the on-screen menu is rudimentary, the selections required to get going from scratch involve setting up the camera with time and the date – favoring the US convention only of the month first, day second, and year third – and selecting the shooting of stills or video. 

Despite, or perhaps because of, the minimalism of the digital watch style controls, setting up the camera requires an initial read through the hard copy manual, then scrolling through and okaying of the limited options presented to us. Once the camera is switched to ‘On’ mode, which means it’s ready to start operating in earnest, there is a brief 10-second delay period during which we can quickly shut the camera cover and retreat from wherever we’ve set the Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow trail camera up, and thereby avoid accidentally triggering its recording.

Ten seconds is not long to fully get away from the setup position, however; so expect to get a few frames of yourself retreating into the distance included when retrieving the SD card later. The Resultant 4:3 ratio digital images come with a white border along the bottom helpfully displaying the date and time of capture along with the external temperature. While at the time of testing the camera detected a fairly balmy 23°C when we placed it outside in the early evening, we do wonder whether performance is affected by temperatures dropping, as the general rule of thumb is that cold batteries lose their efficiency. Happily, we left the camera in place overnight, a 12-hour period during which the Bushnell recorded temperatures had dropped to 7°C, and found it was still fully operational at 7am the next morning, even though the internal batteries were cold to the touch. 

In terms of end results, it’s worth pointing out that nighttime images are captured in black and white – think of slightly grainy surveillance footage we’re all used to seeing on TV – while daytime images are recorded in full colour, also with a slightly grainy look. Overall we’re getting imagery resembling a VHS video grab. Recall the look of the original ‘Blair Witch Project’ movie and you won’t be far off.

Here it’s about actually capturing an image of something we wouldn’t otherwise be able to record, rather than achieving a crystal clear DSLR quality result that we’ll want to hang on our wall.

Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow: Verdict

Like any trail camera, the remotely activated Bushnell Prime L20 Tan Low Glow involves a degree of trial and error ‘point and pray’, as regards both operation and results, but arguably that’s part of the fun and a large part of the appeal of devices such as this. 

Built for use in the great outdoors, obviously, the unit is sufficiently water resistant to withstand rain and comes with the added peace of mind of a two-year warranty. For those looking to capture surveillance-type imagery while they’re tucked up in bed or without actually having to be in the vicinity, this budget-priced Bushnell option is worthy of recommendation.

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The Link-Micro-S-LTE is one in a comprehensive collection of trail cameras from Spypoint, including the Spypoint Solar Dark and Force-20. Like the best trail cameras, it is designed to capture stills of any animals that pass by its motion detection sensor during day or night. Although the marketing of the camera targets hunters who need to know the location and behavior of animals, a trail camera can also give you a fascinating insight into the animal activities occurring in your own vicinity, and as such, it is the perfect tool for eager wildlife photographers. 

The Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE has two key advantages over some of the other trail cameras in the Spypoint range, and it can send images via cellular connection like the best cellular trail cameras. However, it also has several disadvantages. We’ll help you decide if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages as you read through this review…

Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE specifications

Transmission standard: LTE
Photo Type: Colour by day, infrared by night
Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.6 x 16.6cm 
External memory: microSD card
Photo Resolution: 10 MP
LEDs: 4
Detection sensor: 5-zone sensor (PIR)
Flash range: 24 meters 
Trigger speed: 0.4 sec
Thread: Standard 1/4 inch tripod thread
Power:  LIT-10 battery pack and solar panel

Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE features

As with all trail cameras, the Link-Micro-S-LTE has an LED that helps illuminate wildlife during the night. This helps it capture infrared monochrome photos of various creatures once they set off the camera’s motion detector. One of the disadvantages of other SPYPOINT trail cameras such as the Force-Pro or the Force-20 is that you need to replace their batteries every few days. The Link-Micro-S-LTE sports a handy solar panel that recharges the supplied Lithium battery pack, so you can leave the camera outside unattended for more days and nights than its siblings. 

The other advantage is the fact that the Link-Micro-S-LTE has a cellular aerial that can transmit photographs of wildlife to the Spypoint app so that you can view the shots them the comfort of your smartphone (instead of having to retrieve a memory card from the camera on a cold and wet morning). If you spend time flicking through social media feeds when you’re supposed to be watching a movie prepare yourself for the additional distraction of regularly checking your smartphone’s SPYPOINT app to see if it has captured new snaps of a nocturnal visitor. The SPYPOINT app also enables you to fine-tune the camera’s settings to make it more or less sensitive to movement. You can choose to shoot two consecutive photos instead of one which gives you a better chance of a well-composed shot. You can also change the interval between when it captures shots so that you don’t get dozens of snaps of the same animal. 

Because the Link-Micro-S-LTE transmits its photos via a cellular signal you need to set up a SPYPOINT account and register the camera’s serial number. This sets you up with a cellular transmission plan suitable to your part of the world.  This is quite a straightforward process and you only need to do it once. The camera ships with a built-in (and locked) sim card so there’s no need to worry about that side of things and you can transmit up to 100 photos per month for free (more on that later).

Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE Build & handling

In build, the Link-Micro-S-LTE feels like most other trail cameras in the SPYPOINT range. Due to its plastic body, it’s light and easy to carry (and it comes with a carry strap that can also be used to fix the camera to a tree).  It is decorated with a camouflage pattern to help it blend in with its natural surroundings. A sturdy clip enables you to open the water-resistant housing but unlike most other SPYPOINT trail cameras there is no LCD screen or menu buttons to interact with when you open the Link-Micro-S-LTE’s casing.

This is due to the fact that you can view its captured shots and change settings in the SPYPOINT app on your smartphone instead. You can also view the shots in a web browser when you log in to your SPYPOINT account. The lack of a screen allows the Link-Micro-S-LTE’s camera body to be more compact (and more discrete) than the similar SPYPOINT Solar-Dark.  The Link-Micro-S-LTE also has a handy tripod thread at the base so you can mount and angle it for the best view of your animal subjects.

Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE Hands-on

Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE Performance

The Link-Micro-S-LTE ’s strengths are its solar panel and cellular transmission abilities. However, the photos that it transmits to the SPYPOINT app are very small. They measure tiny 600 x 338 pixels which don’t even equate to the size produced by a 1 MP camera. You are also limited to 100 transmitted photos per month on the free plan. To transmit larger (full HD) shots straight to your smartphone you need to subscribe to a monthly or annual plan (such as $4 per month to transmit 250 photos). 

Fortunately, the photos captured directly onto the camera’s micro SD card are much larger. At 4096 x 2304, they equate to just under a 10-megapixel camera which will give you a decent-sized print. You can also shoot and capture as many images to the memory card as you like (until it’s full of course). If you want the convenience of solar power and the ability to capture video clips as well as stills then check out our review of the similar SPYPOINT Solar-Dark.

Spypoint Link-Micro-S-LTE Verdict

Initially, we were surprised that the Link-Micro-S-LTE would only capture photos and not video clips. However, we soon realized that as it’s designed to transmit low-resolution photos to a smartphone app the cellular data requirements for the video would be too high, hence the photo-only option. 

We loved the fact that we didn’t have to pay for a rolling supply of AA batteries thanks to the combination of the solar panel and Lithium power pack and the option to view animal photos from the comfort of a smartphone app is very attractive (and addictive) feature. However to see the high-resolution photos you still need to extract and download the contents of the micro SD card into your PC as you do with most other trail cameras.

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