Bushnell Trophy Cam XLT my review....

Over 2 months down the line and it,s high time i posted my review of the Bushnells.Straight away they are a big leap in the right direction so far as camera trap kit goes being a very small and light unit,in fact cute it could be said.They don,t really need a separate battery but with one the scope for being left for long periods of time is immense,relying on the 8 AA Ni Mh batteries would give nigh on a month in British winter time and the card could be full in this time.However care is needed to insert them with the correct polarity a simpler,better way would be for different wiring so they could be put in the same way.
Also annoying is the loud beep every time a button is pressed,i know when i,ve pressed a button and i don,t need a beeping beep to tell me that.As with any tech gear the different settings must be mastered as with actually setting the things up in situ which is an art in itself and providing the manual is followed with a healthy dose of common sense thrown in some of the problems encountered would be solved.The biggest draw to me with this cam is the sheer quality,especially of daytime pictures and although colour saturation is a little on the heavy side this only makes for more striking pictures and not the washed out sort of things i,ve seen some other makes produce,as i supply landowners and wildlife groups with pictures i want to give them something they will enjoy looking at as they have after all been kind enough to let me plot up a cam on their ground.Some pics have literally blown us all away with their impact and it must be remembered that on upload to blogger some of the quality is lost along the wire so you arn,t seeing what we are seeing .Nightime too and although there can be an issue with blur on moving targets sometimes again the feather detail on like the woodcock with very variable plumage has been outstanding.Nothings perfect and the Bushnell does have a problem with over exposure of some subjects in bright sunlight but then it is just a trailcam after all.I,ve used the video briefly but felt no need to carry on as the trigger speed is,according to Trailcampro,1.7 something seconds,this has been disputed by some other review sites however they haven,t had the proper measuring kit or come up with accurate figures,in fact some of their reviews of products have been shoddyly put together works of fiction so i wonder who,s really buttering their bread.As trailcam review sites go Trailcampro are the ultimate and though they do sell kit they do do things thoroughly and with accuracy plus they actually use trailcameras themselves,i would only ever buy bones off a butcher not a baker so i trust them the most and they have proved to me to be spot on in their reviews.
Back to video mode there are better video even HD cams out there but the Bushnell will do a basic job and for a third less money,don,t forget us trailcam addicts don,t just buy one cam,we can never have enough cams,at least i can,t anyway so this will do the video job for me albeit a little hamfistedly and i can have 3 Bushnells for 2 of the other makes.I expect reliability from any of my kit doesn,t matter what it is otherwise it will get thrown against the wall,metaphorically speaking of course and the little Bushnells have only ever pleased me being the real deal that they are.As for toughness i had one of my small string of cams under 3 ft of snow and out in the full blown,wet and windy maritime weather we have,the windiest country in Europe we are,still the cute little Bushnells keep on chugging away without the dreaded condensation affecting the also rans in the trailcam market,touch wood,but then this is what drew me to Bushnell in the first place as i have an old,20year old Busnell scope,bullet proof but with the scars to prove it still going strong and functions as well as the day i swapped it for a box of parsnips all those years ago so the pedigree is there.
All is not well though for Bushnell in the slagging off stakes for a flick through Google will reveal people blaming the units for everything under the sun including making one chap forget his lunch so caveat emptor i think is the Roman expression and one foxes meat is another,s poison is another.I bought mine from Binoculars UK and they were extremely helpful on the phone and in being the cheapest on the net plus they have given all readers of this blog who want to buy off them a discount code which is SMA,don,t expect a fortune off but they do do deals so you can,t ask fairer than that ..............(N.B no trailcameras were harmed in the process of making this article)