Wildgame Innovations Vision 14 Lightsout Trail Camera Review
The inquiry
- Why you should trust me
- Who this is for
- How we picked
- How we tested
- Our choice: Wildgame Innovations Mirage 18
- Flaws just non dealbreakers
- Runner-up: Wildgame Innovations Wraith 16
- Budget option: Wildgame Innovations Terra Extreme 14
- The contest
- What to look forrad to
- Care and maintenance
Why you should trust me
Equally the writer of this guide, I spent xix hours researching and 45 hours testing trail cameras. I've been a science journalist for more than than seven years, covering a wide variety of topics, from particle physics to satellite remote sensing. Since joining Wirecutter, in 2017, I've written about lap desks, mouse traps, rechargeable batteries, and more.
Who this is for
Most people who buy trail cameras are hunters, field researchers, or recreational wildlife watchers. This guide is primarily geared toward the latter—people who just get a kick out of seeing the animals that prowl around their homes or cabins. Just if you're a park ranger, scientist, or hunter who wants to track game without splurging on pricey features like 4K resolution, i of our picks is probably your best bet, too.
Our favorite outdoor security cameras also allow yous to spy on animals, and they add other features, like 24/7 video, two-way talking, and smart-dwelling integration. Only they produce relatively low-quality withal images (with a fraction of the resolution institute in most trail cameras) and must be placed in range of a Wi-Fi network or outlet. If watching wild animals is your master goal, you lot're going to want a dedicated trail camera.
How we picked
There are tons of trail cameras on the market, with a wide variety of capabilities and features. To narrow the field, we looked at brands that were available from major retailers like Amazon, Bass Pro Shop, Cabela'due south, Dick's, and Gander Mountain. We also browsed other editorial sites, such equally Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, and The Outdoor Wire, to see which models they've recommended.
We further culled our listing of options based on the post-obit criteria:
- Still-photo maximum resolution of 14 megapixels or higher: This is not as many as our favorite bespeak-and-shoot photographic camera offers, just it's withal more than the iPhone xi's 12 megapixel camera offers.
- Video resolution of 720p or college: This is the standard resolution for Hard disk video, then annihilation lower than that would look really grainy on most devices. All the models we tested offer 720p, though some more expensive models out there record in 1080p or even 4K video resolution.
- Trigger speed of 0.ix seconds or faster: A faster trigger speed means a greater chance of capturing a photo or video of a fast-moving brute, and so nosotros set our minimum limit at only nether a second.
- Detection distance of 50 feet or farther: The homo center can see a candle flickering over a mile away, merely most trail cameras can detect motion merely inside a few dozen feet.
- At least 32 GB of external memory: Our favorite SD cards shop up to 64 GB, and more expensive trail cameras support up to 512 GB. But nosotros call up 32 GB is enough for most people—allowing you to save hundreds of still photos and videos over several days.
- At least a one-year warranty: This should give you enough time to fully test out your trail camera and brand certain it'south working properly.
- Price tag of $100 or less: Some trail cameras offer luxury features like 4K resolution and LTE connectivity, assuasive you to retrieve stills and video without having to get out and fetch an SD menu. But they cost hundreds of dollars, plus have optional monthly fees for cellular information. Since you lot can still get decent image quality from cheaper models, besides as a good overall user experience, we don't think most hobbyists need to spend more $100, so we didn't test any of these.
How we tested
To kick things off, I set upward the trail cameras in my backyard in St. Louis, Missouri, inserting eight AA batteries and a 32 GB SD carte in each 1. Since Moultrie recommends using dispensable alkaline or lithium batteries for its cameras (and we wanted to go along things consistent across the board), we used alkalines for all the models. But, equally we discuss in the Care and maintenance section, the Wildgame Innovations models work perfectly fine with rechargeables.
Once I'd strapped the models onto a chain-link fence in my yard, I left them running for 3 days direct to record still photos. And then I emptied the SD cards onto my laptop and repeated the test. I did the same affair for video—running the test twice over three days.
I then sifted through the photo and video files from each camera, comparing the image quality in terms of contrast, clarity, saturation, and brightness. I fabricated certain to compare daytime photos to other daytime photos, and vice versa. Whenever possible, I tried to compare images of the same beast sighting, just sometimes they'd be visible just from 1 or ii of the cameras' vantage points.
I besides wrote downwardly the blazon of metadata collected—appearing every bit a strip of text on the image—such as the time, date, temperature, moon cycle, and image number. This information is helpful for keeping rails of what you're looking at, especially when you accept several days' worth of footage.
To exam detection distance, I marked the length of my k every x feet. I then stepped out in front of the cameras at each 10-foot interval, holding up a sign denoting the distance—up to 90 feet abroad from the cameras. Then I took out the SD cards and looked at the images that were recorded to see the farthest distance from which each photographic camera was triggered. I ran this test twice.
I confirmed that the video length on all the cameras is fifteen seconds and that none of them record audio. I did not test trigger speed, since all of them have trigger speeds that are rated inside a fraction of a second of one another. I also did not exam battery life, but I never had to replace the batteries in any of the models over the entire course of my testing—about ii weeks in total.
As a side note: Before setting upward the cameras, I slipped notes under my neighbors' doors to let them know that they might be inadvertently surveilled, since we share a yard. This is the polite matter to do—and it may be required by law, depending on where you lot live (PDF)—when y'all're installing a recording device of whatever kind.
Our pick: Wildgame Innovations Delusion 18
Our choice
If y'all want a trail camera that'southward undecayed and like shooting fish in a barrel to set up, that won't accident your budget, and that takes high-quality photos and videos, you should get the Wildgame Innovations Delusion 18. Information technology's the trail camera we'd buy ourselves for watching deer, raccoons, possums, and devious cats in the backyard.
Like the other units we tested, the Mirage fits in the palm of your hand and weighs about a pound with batteries installed. It has a plastic shell made to look like the bark of a tree. It comes with a strip of nylon webbing (5.9 feet long, or nearly as long equally my wingspan) and a plastic clip to spike the unit to a tree, post, or fence.
To set up it up, you open a door on the bottom of the unit, and insert an SD card and batteries. Like the balance of the units we tested, it accepts SD cards with upwards to 32 GB of storage, and it runs on 8 AA batteries. The controls (4 orange buttons) are intuitive to use and comfortable to press. The screen is backlit with a bright blue light, making it easy to read, even though the text is tiny.
From there, yous can enter the fourth dimension, date, and location. So you tin can select however or video, when you desire the camera to be agile (24 hours, dark, or twenty-four hour period), trigger sensitivity (high, medium, or low), exposure (high, medium, or low), lens angle (regular or wide), resolution (high, medium, or low), and delay (v seconds, xv seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes). All of these settings can help ensure you're getting more of the kind of images yous want, rather than cluttering upwards your memory menu and running downward the batteries unnecessarily. For example, if you're interested only in nocturnal animals, you can gear up the camera to night mode. If you're hoping to photo small, speedy animals similar rabbits, squirrels, and birds, you lot should select a loftier-trigger sensitivity, whereas a lower setting will option upwards only bigger animals. If you lot're more concerned with tracking animals versus capturing nice-looking images, you lot might want to prepare the photographic camera to a lower resolution to save storage space. And if yous want to limit the corporeality of photos or videos your camera takes of a given brute or group of animals—for instance, if your camera is pointed at a deer feeder, and you don't want to cease up with hundreds of images from a unmarried snacking session—you can arrange the delay setting, so at that place volition be a few seconds or minutes between triggers.
In our testing, the Mirage 18 produced the crispest, clearest still photos and videos of any trail photographic camera nosotros tested. Its daytime colors were fairly true-to-life, and its night images were well illuminated and had good contrast. Like the other units we tested, the Delusion 18 uses infrared to accept photos and videos in the dark, so you might notice information technology emitting a minor dot of blood-red lite at nighttime.
The Mirage 18 has a yet-photo resolution of 18 megapixels—the highest of any model we tested—and, similar the others, a video resolution of 720p. Each notwithstanding photo is imprinted with the Wildgame Innovations logo, and the time, appointment, moon cycle, and image number, so you can easily organize your files afterward. Each video bears the logo, fourth dimension, and engagement.
Wildgame Innovations claims this unit of measurement can detect objects moving upwards to xc feet away (most likely because units are oftentimes lab-tested under platonic weather), but in my backyard testing setup, it wasn't triggered past 40 feet. That'south however the farthest (tied with the Terra Extreme 14) of any unit we tested, though, and information technology should give you plenty of good photos.
The Mirage 18 has a trigger speed rating of 0.5 seconds, which is faster than that of any other model nosotros tested. And this photographic camera is backed by Wildgame Innovations'south one-twelvemonth warranty, which should give you ample time to test it out and make sure y'all don't have a dud.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
The Wildgame Innovations Mirage eighteen takes a bit longer to set up than the Terra Extreme or the Wraith, since it has more settings to enter. This can be a elevate if you're in a hurry and you don't care much about setting the location, date, and time. On the flip side, however, these features brand this camera more customizable than the others, allowing you to suit settings like trigger sensitivity and exposure, which could atomic number 82 to better photos. And then we think it's worth the tradeoff.
Besides, in our testing nosotros noticed that the Delusion's daytime images were a little undersaturated compared with those from the other units. But we still recall they're the best images from any camera nosotros tested overall—and we much adopt this camera'southward slightly dulled colors to the psychedelic palette of the Moultrie.
- Photo resolution: eighteen megapixels
- Video resolution: 720p
- Max detection distance: 40 feet (measured)
- Trigger speed: 0.five seconds (rated)
Runner-up: Wildgame Innovations Wraith 16
Runner-upwards
The Wildgame Innovations Wraith sixteen is almost identical to the Mirage 18, only the Wraith has a few key differences—slightly lower resolution, shorter detection distance, and slower trigger speed. However, the differences are barely noticeable; if the Mirage is out of stock or y'all tin can get a better deal, don't hesitate to get the Wraith 16.
The Wraith's plastic beat has a bawl-similar texture, similar to that of the Mirage. Merely instead of a solid color, the Wraith has a camouflage pattern. Like the Delusion, the Wraith has a v.9-foot strap with a clip on the cease to hang information technology up. Likewise, information technology'due south powered by viii AA batteries, and it stores photos and videos on an SD card with upwards to 32 GB of memory.
Setting up the Wraith is just as intuitive as with the Mirage, merely it takes a little less time since in that location are fewer settings to adjust. The Wraith lets you ready the date and time, and select notwithstanding or video, exposure (depression, medium, or loftier), and delay (15 seconds, thirty seconds, or i infinitesimal), which should exist plenty of customization for most people.
The Wraith has the second-highest resolution (16 megapixels) of any model we tested (the Mirage has only two more megapixels). Similar the residue of the units we tested, it records 720p video and uses ruddy-glow infrared for nighttime recording. And like the other Wildgame Innovations models, the Wraith'southward however photos are emblazoned with the company'due south logo, the fourth dimension, date, moon cycle, and an image number, and the videos accept the logo, date, and time.
In our testing, the colors on the Wraith's daytime photos and videos turned out great, and were peradventure a bit better than the Mirage'south slightly faded coloring. However, we thought they looked a bit more pixelated, especially for objects that were further away from the camera. The nighttime images looked a flake pixelated, too, though good overall.
The Wraith'southward rated detection distance (75 anxiety) is shorter than the Mirage's 90-human foot rating. Worse even so, in our testing nosotros found that it was really only triggered upward to twenty feet—the shortest detection distance of whatever of the Wildgame Innovations models, and the same as for the Moultrie. This is disappointing, simply not a dealbreaker, as the Wraith still produces great images inside that range.
At 0.8 seconds, this unit'southward trigger speed rating is a fraction of a second slower than the Mirage 18's. But we all the same managed to spy on enough of wild fauna.
The Wraith 16 is also backed by Wildgame Innovation's one-yr warranty.
- Photo resolution: 16 megapixels
- Video resolution: 720p
- Max detection distance: twenty feet (measured)
- Trigger speed: 0.8 seconds (rated)
Upkeep choice: Wildgame Innovations Terra Extreme fourteen
Budget pick
Trail cameras frequently go on sale every bit new models are released, but at the fourth dimension of this writing, the Wildgame Innovations Terra Farthermost fourteen was almost half the toll of our other picks. It offers lower yet-photo resolution than both the Mirage 18 and Wraith sixteen, and takes slightly worse photos and videos. But the Terra Extreme holds its own confronting these pricier models in almost every style. It as well can notice faraway objects meliorate than both the Wraith and the Mirage. If your purse strings are tight, this is the trail photographic camera to get.
Like the Moultrie trail camera, the Terra Extreme has a still-photo resolution of 14 megapixels—that'south two fewer megapixels than the Wraith 16 and 4 fewer than the Delusion 18. This discrepancy showed in our testing. Nosotros remember the Terra Farthermost's daytime photos and videos were a petty overexposed and pixelated, and its nighttime ones were fine but not smashing.
Similar every unit of measurement we tested, the Terra Extreme is powered by eight AA batteries, and information technology accepts SD cards with up to 32 GB of storage. It has a grayish, fake-bark plastic shell and a small infrared calorie-free that emits a soft glow when it's recording at dark. This camera has the fewest settings of any model we tested (it lets you gear up the date and time and cull between still or video), making it less customizable. But, on the plus side, the Terra Extreme takes merely a few seconds to set up.
The Terra Extreme is the only model nosotros tested that comes with two adorable footling bungee cords, instead of a nylon strap and clip. We institute these to be much better for hanging the camera on a argue, and we could more than easily remove it and adjust the placement. But they'd be impractical for strapping the unit of measurement to a large tree trunk, for case.
This unit of measurement collects the aforementioned metadata as the other Wildgame Innovations models: logo, time, engagement, moon cycle, and epitome number for still photos, and logo, date, and time for videos. And, similar its brethren, it records fifteen-second, 720p videos without audio.
One of the most surprising features of this camera is its ability to detect objects moving up to 40 feet away. That'southward just as far as with the Mirage eighteen, and double what we saw with the Wraith 16—even though those models are rated for detection distances of 90 and 75 feet, respectively, whereas the Terra Extreme is rated for simply 60 anxiety. A further detection distance is useful, since information technology helps reduce the chance of missing that elusive bobcat as it slinks but out of range.
Similar the Wraith, the Terra Farthermost has a trigger speed rating of 0.8 seconds, which is an ephemeral chip slower than that of the Mirage. And, similar our other picks, the Terra Extreme is backed past Wildgame Innovations'due south i-twelvemonth warranty.
- Photo resolution: 14 megapixels
- Video resolution: 720p
- Max detection distance: 40 feet (measured)
- Trigger speed: 0.8 seconds (rated)
The competition
We considered more 100 models and tested just four. Of those, the Moultrie A-700i wasn't quite up to scratch. On paper, information technology's virtually indistinguishable from our picks, and its two-yr warranty is twice equally long. Simply its photos and videos were oversaturated and non as crisp as we'd like—specially with faraway objects. Although it collects a lot of helpful metadata—date, time, moon cycle, temperature, logo, and a designated camera number—this model doesn't assign a number to each individual photo or video, making it harder to sort through them subsequently on. The Moultrie also has a trickier setup than our picks: It didn't record whatever images on the starting time try, so I had to look at the manual to figure out why; I was able to gear up up the others without assistance. Finally, the Moultrie was the only model we tested that didn't take a dissever plastic door over the battery compartment. This leaves your batteries exposed while you lot adjust the settings or bandy out the SD menu—which tin can be a problem if it's raining.
What to expect forward to
Care and maintenance
All of our picks can be powered by rechargeable batteries—which is peachy, since our favorite rechargeables can last only as long on a single charge every bit the all-time single-utilise batteries, just at a fraction of the cost over time. Generally speaking, disposable batteries maintain a more than abiding voltage before dying (usually 1.5 volts), while rechargeables go along running at a lower voltage (dipping down from i.five volts to 1.2 volts) before cut out. Some trail cameras (like the Moultrie) volition terminate working when the total power drops beneath five V (or just beneath 1.three volts per battery), so y'all should always check which batteries the user manual recommends. And no affair what kind you utilise, make certain all 4 batteries are fully charged when you put them in, and don't utilize a mix of battery types and brands.
We oasis't tested any add-on accessories, but if yous're worried nearly your trail camera getting stolen, several companies sell enclosures and locks to keep them secure. We besides recommend writing downwardly the location of your trail cameras if y'all identify them in a remote location. The all-time trail photographic camera is the one you don't lose!
Afterward a few weeks outside, your trail photographic camera will probably accumulate cobwebs, bird carrion, and other detritus. We recommend wiping information technology down with a damp cloth every and so oft to go along it clean. Placing it out of straight sunlight, if possible, will also assistance slow down the rate at which the plastic exterior degrades.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-trail-cameras/
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