VANBAR D700 4K WiFi Wildlife Camera

VANBAR D700 4K WiFi Wildlife Camera with Memory Card

More Info and Purchase: tinyurl.com/22jhcf9k

Blog: https://marcoscucom.wordpress.com/2022/08/01/vanbar-d700-4k-wifi-wildlife-camera/

What is a trail camera? A trail camera is a camera which is designed to operate unattended outdoors and to automatically capture pictures or video of anything that triggers the built-in motion detector. They are mainly used to monitor wildlife activity but could also be used for security purposes.

VANBAR’s new trail cam, currently heavily discounted to £109.99, arrived packed in an attractive mid-market product box inside of which was the camera itself, metal ground/surface mount with screw fittings, retaining tree mount strap, data cable, 32Gb micro-SD card and User Guide. Although the camera itself is made of plastic and is rather lightweight (which is perhaps no drawback) build quality seems excellent. The User Guide is a good size, well printed, easy to read and is genuinely useful (unlike many).

The IP66 water-resistant camera takes eight AA batteries, which means it can be left to operate unattended over extended periods. For best results, I would advise using more expensive but longer lasting Lithium batteries, but normal batteries should last up to six months on standby but far less if extensively used. The batteries are housed in a compartment at the base of the unit. It also has the option to use a 12v/2A external power supply (not supplied).

On the front of the device are the lens, front motion sensor, two side-facing sensors, microphone and the 40 940nm LEDs infrared panel. On the underside are the metal tripod mount and the grommet protected power in port. On the side are two clips to secure the control panel door. The hinged door opens out to give access to the colour LCD monitor, speaker grill and control buttons. Underneath the speaker grill on the base is the micro-SD card slot, micro-USB port, and power turret switch.

Underneath the screen are water resistant control buttons for Menu, Shot, Replay, and OK as well as up, down, right and left screen navigation controls. Although there are plenty of refinements and fine-tuning that can be made, in fact, the camera can be up and running very quickly with the default settings. After inserting the batteries and removing the gels covering the lens, sensors and screen, set the turret slider to the middle position and press the MENU button. From here you can now set the image and video resolutions, video recording lengths and other parameters such as time stamping, time-lapse, audio etc. One particularly useful feature is that you do not have to choose between Video or Stills as you can set it to record both at once. Remember to insert a micro-SD card first and to format it using the camera software before use.

Some trail cams just have a standard motion sensor on the front, but this one sports both front and side sensors. This is useful as wildlife approaching the camera from the side is often missed by front-only sensors due to the delay between the sensor trigger and the camera. At 0.2 seconds the delay on this model is the fastest I have yet tried and has three motion detection sensitivity level options

I was pleased and not a little surprised by the photo and video quality, too often trail cameras fall down here by using cheap hardware to save production costs, but not so here. For the price image quality is excellent for both Video and stills at up to 48MP and gives genuinely high-quality 4K 3840x 2160 video albeit at just 10fps. I think 1080P@30fps gives the best results. I found that in some lighting conditions highlights can burn out so take care to select the right camera position to avoid them. Care must be taken also to avoid false motion sensor alerts – foliage, vehicles, etc – as this will soon flatten the battery. Although the trigger time is fast nevertheless when recording wildlife try and position the camera so the subject approaches the camera and not across it. The side sensors here are a big improvement, but will not capture all cross lens motion. That way the trigger has time to fire and you will see the subject head-on and not get a picture of its rear end as it leaves the frame!

Aside from the enhanced image quality, the other main feature of this trail cam is the use of Wifi and Bluetooth. After downloading the ‘Veneri’ to your phone you can connect your phone to the wifi hotspot generated by the camera which can be selected and configured in the camera settings. From a secure location, you can now monitor real-time video from the camera, configure the settings and manually take stills and video.

The camera is not perfect. 4K video recording is at a stately 10fps, it is a pity there is no easy access battery compartment and that a fiddly micro-SD card has been used - a full sized card is much easier to handle in the field. Finally, as with all trail cams, battery life is greatly reduced unless care is taken with the camera configuration and placement.

That said, this camera can be great fun if you have a big garden and wonder what goes on there when you are away. Both for features and image quality this is perhaps the best trail cam I have ever used and sets the benchmark for others. For the price, this is a fantastic buy.

The Good
4K Video
Fast 0.2-sec Trigger
Great price
Good image quality
Simultaneous stills and video option
Time-Lapse Mode
Wide-angle motion sensors
Excellent User Guide
Audio recording option
IP66 Water/Dustproof

The Bad
Heavy Battery Drain When Used intensively
Fiddly micro-SD Card Used
No Easy Access Battery Compartment

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