On a very basic level, everyone here at Trailcampro.com is a complete nerd and at the heart of what we do is test trail cameras. Many times it is mundane and repetitive, but testing trail cameras is what sets us apart.
I've been holding onto some really good data on game camera video life and wanted your thoughts. Videos obviously use more battery and memory storage, but how much?
We have tracked game camera battery life in picture mode for years, and our formula is incredibly accurate.
For instance, we know that if a Browning Strike Force takes 35-day and 35-night pictures every 24 hours, the trail camera battery life would be 7-months on a set of 6 AA Lithium batteries.
- Resting Power: 0.81 mW
- Daytime Power Consumption: 3.67 Ws
- Nighttime Power Consumption: 5.34 Ws
Is video battery life relevant for you? I would like to include this in all our trail camera reviews for the roughly 20% of consumers who use their cameras in video mode.
Here is an example. If the Browning Strike Force Elite set to 10-second videos, were to take 15-day and 15-night videos every 24 hour period it would last 2.2 months in the field on a set of 6 AA Lithium batteries.
- Resting Power: 0.81 mW
- Daytime Power Consumption: 14.12 Ws
- Nighttime Power Consumption: 62.08 Ws
As you can see, going from picture to video mode can greatly affect game camera battery life depending on the mode of the camera. I definitely don't want this to discourage you from using video mode - I personally like videos the best - but I want everyone to have proper expectations. Without videos, we would have never seen this:
Please don't take videos like this away from me!
Leave a comment on your thoughts on whether battery life in video mode is worthwhile for our game camera reviews.
2 comments
Mark
I love that video of that Bear great video
Leander Branham
Our new Reconyx XS8 with 30sec video and Browning Dark Ops Elite with 20sec video are both on their first set of lithium batteries, so we don’t yet have information on how long a set of batteries might last, except that we expect it to be less than the still photo battery times listed. So listing battery life in video mode is a great idea to help those of us who use video mode.
We found your reviews very helpful in deciding on which cameras would meet out goals vs which would not. For example, we wanted audio with the video, so cameras without audio were not considered. Also, while we liked the no glow Bushnells, their video lag time removed them from our final list. We liked the separate still and video assessments, because of our preference for videos. Finally, your sample day and IR videos were very helpful. We also would encourage people to look at your testing pages on IR flash distance (with comparative photos), which was also helpful. Overall, your reviews are detailed and help the decision making process easier.