Browning Recon Force Edge Trail Camera

Seeing some recent hedgehog activity prompted me to setup an old trail cam that had not been used in sometime. The resulting footage from the old trail cam could have been better quality and so this prompted the purchase of a new trail cam, the Browning Recon Force Edge. Here I'll outline the issues with the old trail cam, the factors in the selection of the new one and how it has performed so far.

Hedgehog
Still from Browning video - Hedgehog

Back in 2018 I reviewed my new Victure HC200 trail cam, a no-glow IR unit that I would describe as cheap and cheerful (still available, the current variant is now about £60). It did the job in detecting what was moving about but it was awkward to setup, image quality was poor and USB file transfers were painfully slow.

With these factors in mind I looked for a new trail cam that might deliver better image quality and generally be better all round. It didn't seem to make much sense to pay for a 4k camera when it would mostly be shooting in the dark with basic inbuilt IR lights and so 1080 HD was the choice. The old Victure gave 12mp stills, although I expect to typically be shooting video I was looking for a higher resolution on the stills. After reading a few reviews I settled on the Browning Recon Force Edge which offers 1080P video at 30 or 60fps and 20mp stills with low-glow IR.

For comparison, here is a video from the old Victure


and then here is a video from the new Browning


The instructions for the Recon Force are reasonably clear and the buttons straightforward. Batteries are 8 regular AA cells (alkaline or lithium). It also needs a memory card and takes standard (UHS-I) SD cards but can support the high capacity cards. In my case the camera was supplied with a memory card, a 32gb Sandisk extreme SD rated at 120mbs which has been fine, to format there is a Delete-All menu option. Note that the camera date setup requires month-day-year sequence, not intuitive for a UK user and there are no options to adjust the date format. There is the option to have various values shown as an information strip at the bottom of video. Included is a custom camera name however there is no option to have custom file names so care is needed to avoid duplicate file names if downloading images from multiple cameras. There is a temperature (in C or F) but I found it always gave a value too high, in the range plus 2 to plus 7 degrees C over actual temperature.

Still from Browning video - Gull

There are the usual configuration options to shoot stills or video (but not both together) and also a timelapse option. With the case open the screen can be used to see where the camera is pointing (works much better than the Victure but still hard to see in bright sunlight). There is a test mode to help check the sensor field of detection with a bright LED to confirm when detection is activated.

Still from Browning video - Jay

When you want to get your images from the camera the Recon Edge does not have any connection option, instead you need to take the memory card out and use a card reader (I use a SanDisk ImageMate PRO USB-C which gives very quick downloads).


Conclusions

Even at more than twice the price of the Victure the Browning still seems like reasonable value for money, given the features and the quality. It's relatively easy to setup and start using it and there's then options to tweak parameters such as sensitivity, reaction time etc. The low-glow IR works well and hasn't scared off any of the animals that I've seen so far (mouse, hedgehog, cat, various birds). The video footage, 1080P at 30 fps (there is a 60 fps option) in MP4 format is good. For me this has been a good purchase, it gives me better image quality and as a bonus I now have the option to setup two cameras if needed.

Pros

  • Good image quality.
  • Low-glow IR works well.
  • Good ergonomics.
  • Waterproof, robust, simple to use.
  • Option to use high capacity memory cards.
  • Captures lots of images you would likely otherwise miss.

Cons

  • Sometimes gives a bad file error.
  • Stuck with month/day date format.
  • Temperature values are not in any way accurate.


Details of the Browning Recon Force series cameras can be found here:
https://browningtrailcameras.com/collections/recon-force-series

To purchase in the UK I found NatureSpy fast and efficient:
https://shop.naturespy.org/collections/camera-traps?page=2&rb_vendor=Browning

Location: Four Oaks, Glencruitten, Oban PA34 4QB, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

View RAW files with Windows 11

Image
The Raw Image Extension adds native viewing support for images captured in raw file formats and allows you to see thumbnails in Explorer without needing to open them with additional software.   RAW Image Extension from Microsoft This is very easy to setup and free, from Windows desktop run the Microsoft Store , go to Apps and search for "Raw Image Extension". Under "System requirements" it should state if your device is suitable for installation and if so then just install (needs to be Windows 11 or one of the more recent versions of Windows 10). NB Although this installs like an App it does not run as an App, it will run in the background, just use the Windows File Explorer to see thumbnails and view metadata. It uses the LibRAW Image Decoder, a list of supported cameras can be found here: https://www.libraw.org/supported-cameras
Read more

DXO NIK Collection 6

Image
I have recently purchased DXO NIK Collection 6 , here I'll give an outline of why I wanted this software and what my history of using the product is, along with some of the pros and cons as I now see them. Back in 2012 my then photography tutor recommended I look at Silver Efex as it was considered one of the best tools for processing digital images for black and white. At that time NIK sold the tools separately or, for the price of a couple of the tools, you could buy the set as a bundle which is what I did. I got on well with the tools and made extensive use of both Silver Efex and later Color Efex. Around 2014 I swapped computers and was unable to activate the NIK licenses on the new machine, I found Google had taken over the software and via their support team I was able to get an installable version. Subsequently I could reinstall that version as I changed computers a couple of times but when I started using Capture One Pro I intended to manage without it. DXO took over the N
Read more

Choosing a new laptop - the Elimina Pro

Image
With my old laptop being 10 years old it felt overdue for replacement. It could not be upgraded to Windows 11, the battery charge would not last more than a few minutes and performance was generally slow so time to see what the latest tech could offer. Elimina Pro I was looking for something that would be good for photo editing along with a little video editing and maybe a little gaming. I would expect to mostly use the laptop plugged in to a power supply and not on the move so a larger high-res screen would be the preference. This in turn suggests a dedicated GPU which means ultra thin cases would not be an option. As off the shelf laptop configurations often have poor screens, are usually short on memory and short on storage space I was therefore looking for a custom build. As a company I've used before, PC Specialist came to mind. I based the build on one of their Elimina Pro laptops, choosing a 16 inch screen (diagonal measurement) as a good compromise size and opted for highes
Read more