Testing Bushnell Trophy Cam XLT

TrophyXLT

With the advent of modern technology came a flood of leading edge digital trail cameras. For today’s astute big-game hunter who takes ‘scouting’ to a whole other level, the trail camera market is chalk full of quality new products.   

Gone are the days of the primitive wildlife surveillance cameras with molasses slow trigger speeds, grainy images and no night vision capability to speak of.   

Enter the new Bushnell Trophy Cam XLT – a prime example of what modern day trail cams are meant to be. The Trophy Cam XLT is more versatile and powerful than any trail cam I have ever used.   

But it didn’t just happen all at once…. 

Bushnell took great lengths, over the years, at perfecting their trail camera systems from the days of the Trail Sentry, Trail Scout, Trail Scout Pro, Generation 1 Trophy Cam and now the new Trophy Cam XLT.  It is what I would describe as the natural evolution of wildlife surveillance technology. 

If you’re looking for a trail camera that fits in your hand, and offers such features as lightning fast trigger speed, fully automatic ‘flash free’ Night vision infrared technology, unbelievable battery life with a full colour built-in image display, then look no further.   

On September 4th of Labour Day Weekend, when I first up set-up the new Trophy Cam XLT in my deer woods, I had concerns about battery life; since I knew it would be a month or more before I could return to check on it.    

As it turned out, a full two months had passed before I made it back to the deer woods to check on my trail cam. To my great surprise – and 600 large format (8 Mg) images later – the batteries in Trophy XLT were still going strong and remained at nearly full power!  According to the Manufacturer’s specifications, battery life is up to 6 months depending on the conditions. 

Here are some of the wonderful day and night time deer images I have captured over the past couple of months:

Feeder1

HuntCamp2010c

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Feeder2

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If you’re concerned about safety with your new Trophy Cam XLT, Bushnell has another new product on the market called the Bear Safe. – It’s an indestructible security box to house your trail cam. Combined with a Python lock, the Bear Safe provides both protection from theft and damage from a potential bear attack.  

Bearsafe

After having used the Trophy Cam XLT under a variety of conditions, I can tell you that it functions as well in warm weather as it does in sub-zero temperatures, and has yet to foul up. 

The new XLT has also been upgraded from 24 to 32 Nightvision LED’s which means brighter and clearer night time images. The Passive Infrared Sensor coverage area is also three times larger than any cam Bushnell has ever built.  

Another wise upgrade is the XLT’s ability to use up to a 16GB SD card for greatly increased image capacity. The new built-in 2″ colour viewer also makes quick viewing in the field a breeze. All that for around $200.00 makes an already great product even better!  

But hey, don’t just take my word for it; check out Bushnell.com for more information:

http://www.bushnell.com/products/trail-cameras/trophy-cam/