Talking of which, I just looked at it again on Amazon to see if there were any recent reviews and found it was on a 'Limited Time Deal' offer at £49.99! So I've just bought another one as a spare! Not sure how long the offer will last but if anyone is toying with buying one, now might be a good time! I just hope they are durable and keep on working.
I was happy enough at £63 for a 'no glow' trail cam. As I said, I just hope they're durable! Not that I'll be leaving mine outdoors for weeks on end, it will be one to three days every so often, letting the cam warm up and dry out at room temp with the cover door open for half a day before storing it, so hopefully it'll last.Yes, Mr B, that's the price I paid for mine.
I was happy enough at £63 for a 'no glow' trail cam. As I said, I just hope they're durable! Not that I'll be leaving mine outdoors for weeks on end, it will be one to three days every so often, letting the cam warm up and dry out at room temp with the cover door open for half a day before storing it, so hopefully it'll last.
As for yesterday's daytime comparison with my original 2 year-old cam (both cams set to record 30 second videos at 720p), the original = 21 recordings (18 of which showed the animal that triggered it). The Apeman (set to 'high' PIR sensitivity as no wind to cause false triggering) = 39 recordings (29 showing the animal that triggered it), so a considerably better success rate for detecting and identifying the animals in my garden. I suspect a lot of the 'empty' video scenes were caused by birds flying past or being just out of shot when the video started.
The video quality didn't seem too bad either, considering the gloomy/misty conditions here yesterday. OK, I could get something like a Browning Dark Ops Pro XD, which can give 60fps at 1080p full HD video at near smartphone quality, a quicker trigger time, and probably higher build quality/durability, but that costs around £170, and that would hurt if it got stolen!
I don't have a YouTube account so can't upload and link to any.. not that they'd be worth linking to as it was misty and dull here yesterday, so it wouldn't be a good representation of what to expect. I'll be setting the camera again over the weekend so should hopefully be able to give it a better test in brighter conditions and can post some screen shots from night vision and daytime on Sunday evening, if that would be useful?Can you put a link to a couple of the videos from the Apeman up here, Mr B, please? It is a very good price if it delivers the goods and I fancy another trail camera.
Unless there are unusual weather conditions, wind won't cause the camera to trigger as they are sensitive to changes in the heat it sees in the field of view rather than movement. If the IP66 rating of the Apeman camera is correct it will withstand just about any level of rain we get here. Our camera which has an IP65 rating has been out in some severe weather in NW Scotland without any problem.
Dave
PS Checking the previous night's videos becomes addictive
I don't have a YouTube account so can't upload and link to any.. not that they'd be worth linking to as it was misty and dull here yesterday, so it wouldn't be a good representation of what to expect. I'll be setting the camera again over the weekend so should hopefully be able to give it a better test in brighter conditions and can post some screen shots from night vision and daytime on Sunday evening, if that would be useful?
It takes 8 x AA batteries. High quality Alkali batteries should get it to work OK (it's what I've tested mine with), but lithium AAs are reportedly better and probably(?) less likely to leak and ruin the cam if the novelty wears off and you forget to remove the batteries before not using it for several months.Quick question?
How many AA does it need?
TIA
PS I note that @Nod mentioned buying Li but what about Alkaline in this application ~ more cost effective perhaps bearing in mind not being left for long periods unattended?
Edit ~ plus, impatient that I am now it is on order.......................I looked online to download the manual and there does not appear to be any such section on the website Unless I have missed, losing my touch at finding such sources???
Don't know what part of the country you're in (or even if UK), but if you have a B&M Bargains shop near where you live, I find they sell quite reasonably priced (for a bricks and mortar walk-in type shop) packs of Duracell Plus Power batteries, with AA 8-packs usually on sale around the checkout till area. Don't confuse the longer lasting Plus Power type with the cheaper Duracell 'Simply' economy model though. You may well find cheaper on-line, but if you need them 'now' it might be worth considering.@Nod and @Mr Badger
Thanks both for the setup insights......will get some Alkali batteries on order asap ~ 16 off minimum
Don't know what part of the country you're in (or even if UK), but if you have a B&M Bargains shop near where you live, I find they sell quite reasonably priced (for a bricks and mortar walk-in type shop) packs of Duracell Plus Power batteries, with AA 8-packs usually on sale around the checkout till area. Don't confuse the longer lasting Plus Power type with the cheaper Duracell 'Simply' economy model though.
Best of luck @Nod, keep us posted.
PS I surmise that apart from reviewing the captures on the mini screen you have to, like a dSLR, remove the card and transfer using a card reader???
BB & Mr B, reading the manual and having a play you can connect the camera to a PC with the included USB cable so no need to remove the SD card or turn the camera on. It then shows up as an external drive.
Now that does make sense.......but are you saying that you turn it off them connect the USB? As most such connections, to dSLR for example, require the camera to be powered up don't they.
BB, I connected to the PC without turning the camera on and was able to access the card and download the images thereon.
Had nothing during darkness the first night, just 1 cat the second night. Once the birds woke it triggered each time a blackbird, pigeon or robin landed in front of it though. Garden wildlife such as hedgehogs and frogs are mainly inactive at this time of year (unless there's a mild spell), so not as much about at night in the average domestic garden this time of year (unless foxes and badgers are present and have access) so don't get disheartened. The alkali batteries are still showing full on mine too after around 43 hours of use, but will replace with lithium ones when the arrive, as this can improve trigger times too apparently, as well as lasting longer and not losing much power in frosty conditions.Nothing to show from last night. Did find a dead mouse on the garage doorstep a few days ago so maybe we have no current residents.
3 nights so far on Lidl's Aerocell AA alkalis and still reporting as full. Of course, it hasn't had to do much other than catch the cat waking us up a couple of times over 2 nights!
Yes, don't send your original one back as you know that one seems to work OK! The new one might not work as well as I see from the feedback there appears to have been an occasional dud one (probably to be expected at the price point). Forgot to say, thanks for drawing my attention to the camera in the first place, Nod.B'stards! Price dropped (as mentioned earlier in the thread!) Just crept in before the deal expired and ordered another - will return it unopened and get a refund on the full priced one.
Mine arrived just as I was reading your post - how's that for a coincidence! I've no idea about air mail though.No problem.
Lithium cells arrived this morning, marked as "Nothing hazardous" and via air mail. I thought ALL Li cells/batteries were subject to restrictions, not just rechargeables.
I wonder if frogs would set the camera off anyway - might not be warm enough.
Yes, definitely triggered by the fox, but it was the frog that drew the fox into view as it was a tasty snack for it, which was what I was meaning. There have been instances of trail cams being triggered by snakes though, or at least capturing them on photo and video. This was probably due to the moving snake being warmer or colder than the background, or in some cases it could have been triggered by a passing bird in flight and captured the snake coincidentally.@Mr Badger , TBH I would have thought the fox would have activated the camera in that clip.
BTW guys don't take too much notice of the temperature reading recorded by the camera. I have just checked mine against some very sophisticated kit that I used in the day job and the cam reads over 2.5 degrees above the actual temp (unless the difference is caused by heat generated within the camera).
I use the screen to check the alignment/framing.
After a bit of testing I have found out that the lens is not fitted at right angles to the front of the camera. By this I mean that when positioning the camera to include a particular area by using the front of the camera as a reference point then the actual image area captured is vertically higher than expected. I tested this by holding a pencil horizontally about 200mm away from and at 90 degrees to the camera front lined up with the centre of the lens. The image produced showed the pencil about 3/4 of the way up the frame. Not a deal breaker but something that needs to be taken into account when setting up a shot, in my case trying to capture a rat exiting a hole in a wall. First try all I got was his ears!!
I use the screen to check the alignment/framing.
Not too easy for one of advancing years to do that in the narrow space between a brick wall and a fence!
Not that easy for me either but having established a rough idea as to the vertical offset, I realised that it's pretty good when sat on the ground so do that, using the screen to get it 1/2 reasonable side to side.
HOWEVER (!), leaving it sat on the ground does make it unstable enough to rock a bit, causing several false triggers last night. I've got a few supports available so will be using them tonight.
@Box Brownie I would agree with your comments but have found that mine only needs to be inclined down by about 5 degrees to solve the problem. However may not be too easy to do if the cam is fitted to a tree or post so a shim could be needed to ease the top forward. My Little Acorn cam does not suffer from this problem so I suspect the price point may be the issue. On the more expensive cams the field of view can be selected so the problem may not arise whereas the apeman has a fixed FOV.