Reconyx RC55 Digital Infrared Game Camera

Our first digital game camera test for 2008 is the Reconyx RC55 Digital Infrared Game Camera. I had seen the Reconyx cameras in the catalogs and have read a little about them on forums for a while now but I’ll have to admit that the price tag along with the infrared night time photos had kept me away from purchasing one. I have not been a big fan if the infrared game cameras but I keep getting questions about them so I thought that I should continue to test them and try to keep up on any new advances in infrared technology as applied to these cameras.

Reconyx also has a professional line of game cameras as well as a version that has what it terms no glow infrared capability. The professional line of cameras have additional shutter speeds and ISO options, programming options using a PC, more images per trigger capability, more picture delay settings and options, an external power upgrade and additional features using the Mapview software. They are also $50 to $100 more expensive than the non-professional models.

The no glow technology eliminates the red glow of the infrared emitters but this feature cuts the effective distance from 50 to 35 ft.

Taking all of this into consideration along with the price I decided to purchase the RC55 model, which does not have the no glow technology and is not the professional model.

The Reconyx RC55 is a 3.1 megapixel camera that takes color daytime pictures and monochrome night time pictures using an infrared light source.

I've given the Reconyx RC55 a C for picture quality. The daytime pictures are not bad but the infrared pictures are dissapointing for a $500+ camera. You can read more about our picture quality grade and see example pictures here.

The trigger speed is among the fastest when compared to all of our previous digital trail cameras. The trigger speed was comparable to the Predator trail cam.

The Reconyx RC55 operates on six C size batteries. Alkaline batteries can be used but NiMh rechargeable batteries are recommended for cold weather operation. Rechargeable batteries lasted for three and one half months. This is very good battery life. A set of Duracell alkaline batteries ran the camera for six months and through some very cold weather. The camera wasn't in a high traffic area for these months averageing 25 to 50 pictures every one to two weeks during this time, but this is still very good battery life.

The date, time, moon phase and temperature along with a user defined label are imprinted on each picture.

The Reconyx RC55 was easy to set up. I had little difficulty scanning through the settings and choosing the appropriate settings. The only difficulty I did have was the settings that were different than most current trail cameras. Since this camera has what they call near video capability this is somewhat of a change for me and will take a little time sinking into my thick head.

This game camera has the capability of taking 1,2,3,5,or 10 pictures per trigger, with intervals of 1,3,5 or 10 seconds or Rapidfire between pictures and a delay between activations of none, 15 or 30 seconds or 1 or 5 minutes. There are plenty of delay options with this camera. It will be interesting to get it into a food plot and see what we see.

An adjustable bungee style strap is provided with the camera and it is also designed for use with at Python Cable lock. This has been a good combination.

The Reconyx RC55 uses compact flash cards to store images. There is not internal memory capability and thus there is no method of downloading pictures from the camera. Pictures must be downloaded from the memory card.

There is not a viewing screen on the Reconyx RC55.

There is a walk test mode, but I’m not sure if it will turn off and arm the camera automatically or not. I do know that I was setting up the camera and after a short time of inactivity it did arm itself so it may arm itself from the walk test mode as well. I have tended not to use the walk test mode on my cameras lately since I set up so many, but this may be a feature used by new camera owners to get better acclimated at setting up the camera.

The Reconyx RC55 does not have true video capability but the RapidFire capability is the next best thing.

I have given the Reconyx RC55 a C for an overall grade. This trail camera has some good qualities but if I want truly good pictures in an area I will not put this camera in that location. The daytime pictures aren't bad but not nearly as good as the good cameras and the infrared night time pictures are well below those taken by the good flash cameras. I'm more likely to use this camera as a scouting tool to show me where I may want to put one of my good cameras.

The Reconyx RC55 is not longer available but you can still buy newer Reconyx models.

Here is a one of our favorite daytime pictures taken with the Reconyx RC55 and also an infrared picture.

Return from the Reconyx RC55 review to the Digital Trail Camera Reviews page.