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Wildview Xtreme 5
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The resolution can be set at 5 megapixel or 3 megapixel. I will use the higher setting for all of the testing and will likely continue to use this higher setting for general use.
We have given the Wildview Xtreme 5 a C for picture quality. The daytime pictures are good but the quality fades once the flash is used. You can see example pictures and read more about the picture quality here.
The Wildview Xtreme 5 operates on four C size batteries. The new Energizer batteries lasted for 18 days and about 500 pictures. This isn't good battery life and could cost quite a bit of money using alkaline batteries.
A jack is provided for plugging a 12-volt sealed lead acid battery. This is the same 12-volt battery that is used with the Stealth Cam. This battery hasn't performed well at all with our Stealth Cam but it lasted for about seven weeks and took quite a few pictures. I'm going to continue to use this battery.
Energizer rechargeable C size batteries lasted for 16 days. This isn't bad, you could probably consider getting two weeks out of them.
I gave the Xtreme 5 an A for its battery grade due to the performance with the 12 volt rechargeable battery.
Set up and operation is relatively simple. Time delay, picture quality and number of pictures taken per activation are all set by switches and day and date are set using three buttons. The only downfall here is that the day and date have to be reset each time you change the batteries.
I tested the power up time against a few other digital trail cameras and found that it was just a little slower than the original Wildview and the Woodland SpyCam.
One note is that you have to make sure you put the unit into PIR mode or it will not take pictures. If you leave it in TEST mode it will not automatically switch over to picture taking mode.
The Wildview Xtreme 5 comes with a strap to attach it to a tree but cannot be locked to the tree. Although I prefer the Python locking cables for attaching our trail cameras to trees the strap provided with the Wildview cameras is better than the devices provided with several of the other cameras available.
This unit has 32 MB internal memory and similar to the earlier Wildview the internal memory is erased when the batteries are removed from the unit. The directions do not say if the images are erased when the batteries go dead, as was the case with the original Wildview.
An SD memory card slot is provided to store pictures. I have 512 MB and a 1 GB card to use with this camera. Fortunately memory cards are still getting cheaper.
The Wildview Xtreme II does not have an LCD viewing screen but does come with a USB cable to download your pictures.
Delay times between pictures are 1, 5, 10 and 20 minutes. These delays are generally adequate but I do like to have shorter delays available when setting a camera up along a trail or at a food plot. This camera does have the capability of taking up to three pictures each time movement is detected. This capability does make up for the lack of shorter delay times somewhat and I've been using this option when placing this camera at food plots.
This unit can record short video clips similar to each of the other digital scouting cameras.
It looks like the Wildview Xtreme 5 is a useable digital trail camera for the price. I would have liked to see better night time picture quality. I've given the Xtreme 5 a C for an overall grade. This grade is mainly due to the picture quality as compared to the better cameras. When I'm looking a workhorse camera the picture quality needs to be better than this trail camera provides.
