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Bushnell TrailscoutAs usual I installed the batteries and took some pictures inside of our house to make sure we had the operation down. We have also become somewhat capable of getting a preview of the power up time by placing the game cameras in the same place each time we get a new one. The first two weeks that the Bushnell Trailscout was out it took 176 pictures at the two minute delay setting. The Bushnell Trailscout event document showed 80 events on April 29th. I do not know why it only showed the events for the 29th. The last time I had the camera out it showed over 400 events while taking 95 pictures. It seemed to be working properly. The picture quality appears to be similar to the Leaf River scouting camera although I would say that the color may be better with the Bushnell Trailscout. The quality is inconsistent. Some of the pictures look real good but most are sub par. It appears that the lighting has a big effect on the quality. Early morning and late evening seem to be the poorer quality picture times. The problem is that these are the times when deer are the most active. The middle of the day on a good sunny day and at night when the animal is close give the best quality. I also recieved several pictures that were nothing but blackness, there was nothing in the picture at all, not even the ground in front of the camera. You can take a look at this page to see why we graded the Bushnell Trailscout picture quality the way we did. It uses 4 D batteries. The instruction manual states that these batteries should last approximately 30 days. We installed 4 Duracell batteries on April 14 and the camera quit working on April 30.(17 Days) The LCD screen quit working properly and the camera was inconsistent at taking pictures. We installed four more Duracell batteries and the camera operated for about two more weeks. The LCD screen again quit working but the camera continued to take pictures. Four new Energizer batteries did not cure the LCD problem so I had to return the camera. The set-up and operation of this unit has probably been the easiest thus far. Four toggle switches operate most functions and the time and date are set using three push buttons. The only problem so far was a little confusion while setting the date the first time I turned it on. The second time I turned it on it worked just fine, no big deal. The only problem with the simplicity is the lack of options. There are many settings that you cannot change with the Bushnell Trailscout that you can with the other digital scouting cameras. I tested the power up time against the EagleEye by setting one camera on top of the other and walking in front of them in a dark room. This turned in to a virtual tie. The Bushnell Trailscout beat the EagleEye three times, lost one time and tied once. The difference in power up times was less than one second. Power up time should not be a problem with the Bushnell Trailscout. I don't like the method of attaching and locking the unit to a tree even though it is provided with it. To attach it to a tree you have to attach a bracket to the tree with a screw and mount the camera on this bracket. I don't want to have to carry a drill into the woods to screw the bracket onto the tree and I seldom place a camera in the right place the first time. I would have to take it off, remove the bracket and screw and do it all over again. A lock is provided to lock it to the bracket, but you could just unscrew the whole thing from the tree. So far, I haven't used this system; I just hooked the Trailscout over a bungee strap and locked it shut. There is a password system but I have not used it. There is no internal memory but the Trailscout comes with a 32 MB SD card. I swapped cards with my digital camera to upgrade to a 64 MB card to hold more photos and it took 176 pictures with this card. The 32 MB card should hold about 80 to 90 pictures. There is no way for you to view or download the pictures with the unit out of the box. To view the pictures you have to be able to read the memory card. There are no jacks on the unit to hook to up to a computer or other viewing device and there is not a screen on the Bushnell Trailscout to view the pictures. Had I not had a card reader I would have had to put the card in my personal digital camera to download them to my computer. I like it when there are more options for downloading and viewing pictures and I feel that it is important to provide the buyer with access to their pictures without purchasing something else. I'm especially fond of a viewing screen right on the camera itself. There are only three options for time delays between pictures; 30 seconds, 1 and 2 minutes. This is not enough delay for using a camera at a feeder or for any length of time left out in the field. It took only three days to take 176 pictures and fill the memory card. I prefer more and longer time delay options. The camera cannot be removed and used as a separate personal use digital camera. This is not a big issue, but the better scouting cameras have this capability. The Bushnell Trailscout has the capability of taking 15 second video clips. As with the previous cameras I have not tried this out yet. Maybe sometime this summer I'll get around to this. One other feature that the Bushnell Trailscout has that I have not seen on any of the others is a text document that it keeps of events. This lets you know exactly how many times the unit has detected game and could provide some useful information during deer season. After the LCD screen quit working for the second time I decided to take the camera back. This should not happen after spending $300. I don't like the picture quality especially when I know you can get much better quality with other cameras. The maximum 2 minute delay is also much too short. A more expensive model (11-9900) is available that has an LED for night vision infrared imaging. The 11-9900 model also has a laser pointer for aiming and a remote control so that you can trigger the camera to take a picture. I have had real good success with the flashes on all of my previous trail cameras so I didn't see the need for infrared or the remote control. This Bushnell Trailscout is no longer available but Bushnell has newer models that are available at
Cabela's.
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