Wildlife camera's or fox watching at night

[Oldman2]

I have about 110ft of lawn behind the house and recently balls appear randomly on the lawn overnight, not my balls I might add
I don't have any external security camera's so I found an indoor wifi one with motion detection and night vision and cobbled together a plastic box with a hole for the lens and led's. I put a 12v sib battery and a buck converter inside to give 9v power to the camera. So it was self contained and waterproof, I placed it in the garden and it was able to capture the fox and I assume its 1 cub. The fox would wander through food hunting while the cub would play much like a spring lamb, so it was him who was playing ball.


While the camera did work it was a bit heath robinson so I am considering buying a proper wildlife camera.
Anyone here have one and can recommend a model under £100 as Amazon is just stuffed full of choices.

[Fenlander]

I bought a trail/wildlife cam a few years ago to see what was making so many scent trails that made the dog chase these trails like crazy on his last trip to the garden before bed.

It's a Victure HC200 as in the image. So similar to many on Amazon.

We also have three Tapo outdoor wi-fi cameras for security.

They were about the same price point... £40 or so.

Chalk and cheese. The Tapo works as if it cost many times more than the trail cam... in terms of image quality, built and operation. The only one reason for buying the trail cam would be for its battery as opposed to mains ability. However it takes 8 AAs and gets through them quickly so it's quite likely to flatten them down overnight.

The extra image quality, night images and wi-fi to phone/tablet ability of the Tapo walks all over the very clunky/cheap feeling trail cam. So unless battery operation is essential the trail cam has zero advantages.

[Pikey Dave]

We’re having Little Owl trouble. They roost under the barn and cr4p everywhere, bless ‘em.

[Oldman2]

Thanks David, I might have guessed you would have the information


I took a look at the C310 on Amazon, my indoor camera is Tapo and very good it is too. I then got sidetracked by the C320WS which then led me to the C510W I had this trouble with the trail camera's there is always one for a few £ more that might be just what you want...


I will do some more research but your C310 is looking like what I should buy.


Thanks.


Nice Owl you have there PD

[Fenlander]

Yes I can't speak high enough of those Tapos. We have three. Been totally reliable and unaffected by weather. Seamless operation of the software on our iPad. You have to buy an SD card as they record to that looping over. For us as we only want to hold about a week's recordings on the card there is no need to buy their cloud subscription.

[willk]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

You have to buy an SD card as they record to that looping over. For us as we only want to hold about a week's recordings on the card there is no need to buy their cloud subscription.

The price of wifi cams is crazy cheap - I have a few keeping an eye on me gaff. The unit covering the cat-flap gets the best hits, including M. Renard having a careful looksee.
I assume that the money is in the online storage with monthly subs. That and Chairman Mao getting your logins. Anyways, imma steal your cameras before I boost your outboards...

[A1an]

Ive probably tried a dozen trail cams over the years and Ive not been impressed with any of them, poor detection, poor IR illumination, poor battery life. Maybe ive been unlucky.

What I do rate is this...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ieGeek-Sola...zcF9tdGY&psc=1

I have a couple of these units and looking them up for you Ive noticed they are half price.

[Oldman2]

Thanks A1an for the link, so these are really good at colour night video and detection of the furry critters who are digging my lawn up and generally having fun?


I like the battery and trickle charge solar, it means I have more options for where I place the camera.
Seems its £59.99 and a £5 voucher too so may be just what I want. In white for the same price too.
Tempted, off to youtube to check some night video

[A1an]

Ah, mine is B&W night video, not colour, they must've been upgraded. mine also has 4x18650 batteries not the 2 that is stated in that ad.

The app for them is really good, it also allows you to talk to the intruder/nosey person through the camera. Notifications on movement are instant. Youll need good wifi coverage at camera location.

[Fenlander]

I saw your message Mike and no I didn’t keep any of the footage from the camo look trail cam as it was so poor. It just allowed us to ID our intruders as hedgehogs and cats but that’s as far as it went. Cams like the Tapo and in A1an’s link are so much better.

[Oldman2]

Originally Posted by Fenlander

I saw your message Mike and no I didn’t keep any of the footage from the camo look trail cam as it was so poor. It just allowed us to ID our intruders as hedgehogs and cats but that’s as far as it went. Cams like the Tapo and in A1an’s link are so much better.

It was a sample from the Tapo I was after David but no matter now, I think I will go with A1an's suggestion. Even if I don't plug the solar into the camera it will last for months on the internal battery.

[Steve509926]

Originally Posted by A1an

Ive probably tried a dozen trail cams over the years and Ive not been impressed with any of them, poor detection, poor IR illumination, poor battery life. Maybe ive been unlucky.

What I do rate is this...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ieGeek-Sola...zcF9tdGY&psc=1

I have a couple of these units and looking them up for you Ive noticed they are half price.

Hi A1an, do you view live through your router (WiFi) or are you viewing the recordings on the micro sd card? If your using a WiFi how far away are they from the router?
I ask as I'd like to use them specifically for wildlife at the bottom of my garden whichis well out of router range.

[Fenlander]

Ahh OK. I know this isn't a fair test exactly but this is a live image from the Tapo and all I've done is used my phone to take a pic of the tablet screen. The actual image is far sharper and free of the artefacts a phone introduces when photographing a screen. In the live image the leaves on the drive are better defined. The illumination is from the cam's own infra red beams there is no other light on, you only get black and white in that circumstance. If the outside light is turned on the image is then colour with that added illumination.

[Fenlander]

Re the wi-fi aspect we have gone for the BT multi disc extender system to get a total coverage of our place front and rear for both the cams and using phones online in the garden and on the drive. Our plot is fairly modest so I reckon if your garden was long you'd need a midpoint relay thingy.

[User name]

Check out Hiseeu. They're a Chinese maker of CCTV systems, cameras, NVRs etc and you'll find them on Amazon pretty cheap.

I have a few of their POE cameras and the current 4M and 5M ones are really good in low light, so much so that they don't even switch to IR at night where I use them (Previous cams would switch as soon as dusk set in). Some can take 9-48v to the camera directly, so no need for a buck converter too. They also do PTZ versions (pan, tilt, zoom) and others are available with a choice of lens sizes.

We had 4 fox pups earlier this year that kept play-fighting on my car and digging out our plant beds. They're really cute, but an absolute pain in the ar$e.

[Oldman2]

Originally Posted by User name

Check out Hiseeu. They're a Chinese maker of CCTV systems, cameras, NVRs etc and you'll find them on Amazon pretty cheap.

I have a few of their POE cameras and the current 4M and 5M ones are really good in low light, so much so that they don't even switch to IR at night where I use them (Previous cams would switch as soon as dusk set in). Some can take 9-48v to the camera directly, so no need for a buck converter too. They also do PTZ versions (pan, tilt, zoom) and others are available with a choice of lens sizes.

We had 4 fox pups earlier this year that kept play-fighting on my car and digging out our plant beds. They're really cute, but an absolute pain in the ar$e.

Too late, I ordered last night, but thanks for the recommendation, if this fails to meet my needs I will take a look at them.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B098D27LWB £55


I was treated to 30 mins of fox cub activity or almost lunacy at first light today, just one cub but he was up and down the garden at full speed then rolling on the lawn then repeat, didn't play with his ball today but very active.

[Steve509926]

I agree with User name re: Hiseeu cctv.
Very good system great picture clarity & definition. I have turned on the IR so that it comes on (and stays on at night) as I think the red glow is a good deterrent.
Two criticisms I have of the system 1. The hard drive is noisy. 2. The motion sensor is very sensitive on the PTZ cameras.
Unfortunately as a wildlife camera it has its limitations as it requires mains power and it needs to be relatively near to the router (max 30mtr)

[Steve509926]

Oldman2 once you've got it set up, can you update your post with your thoughts.

[Oldman2]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

Oldman2 once you've got it set up, can you update your post with your thoughts.

Of course I can and will

[A1an]

Originally Posted by Steve509926

Hi A1an, do you view live through your router (WiFi) or are you viewing the recordings on the micro sd card? If your using a WiFi how far away are they from the router?
I ask as I'd like to use them specifically for wildlife at the bottom of my garden whichis well out of router range.

Activity is recorded on to the SD card in the unit, you then view that activity via the Wi-Fi connection your camera has to you home Wi-Fi network. You can also log in to the camera to view live.

If your camera hasn’t got a connection to your home Wi-Fi network it’s pretty much useless. I’ve got a TP Link range extender inside the house to enable the camera to get the connection