This Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro Review looks at this useful game camera. The Plotwatcher Pro records photos to create time-lapse footage, enabling the user to scope out an area before making a hunting trip. There are plenty of options for expansion from additional lenses to more storage, and the 8 x AA batteries give the camera the chance to capture footage for months on end. Whilst the camera is marketed towards hunters and game enthusiasts, you could use the Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro for anything from security monitoring to watching the progression of a building project. The possibilities are endless.
Time Lapse
This camera records using time-lapse technology, which does mean that the user loses out on motion detector features that some cameras can have. Instead, you can set up the camera to take a series of photographs at any given time interval. Rather than seeing a smooth video, the footage displays as a video of the photos that have been taken at the specified time intervals.
Detection Circuit
Because the Plotwatcher Pro is a time-lapse camera, it is not bound to the usual detection circuits that other scouting cameras use. This is advantageous when you want to watch the whole span of open space. If you position the camera carefully, you can certainly cover more range than the detection mode cameras. This allows you to analyze as wide an area as possible.
Because the camera doesn’t employ the detection mode and instead takes continuous time-lapse footage, you also have the advantage of seeing the wildlife walk into the shot and walk away. You wouldn’t see this with some other cameras, but it is important because you need to know where animals are likely to come from and where they are going to try to escape to when startled.
Trigger Speed
The trigger speed does not apply to this camera as it only uses time-lapse technology.
Storage Capacity
In order to save as much time-lapse footage as possible, the Plotwatcher Pro offers SD Card storage capabilities. Uploading the footage to your computer couldn’t be easier with the use of a basic card reader, which most modern computers have built in as standard. The camera supports storage cards of up to 64GB in size.
Expansion Options
In addition to the storage choices, you can also add lenses to the camera. Whilst the standard Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro does not come with any lenses, you can purchase a zoom lens, which will give you a 2X optical zoom. This can be beneficial if you want to position your camera on one end of a particularly large field, for example, and see the other side with clarity. You can also purchase a wide-angle lens, which allows you to scout out a wider area in one carefully positioned shot. Both of these options are desirable improvements for any huntsman’s camera equipment.
Batteries
The Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro uses 8 standard AA batteries. Rather than using a specialist battery pack and charger, which can be difficult to replace when the time comes, some people prefer to be able to use standard batteries. Instead of having to have spare battery packs, or being without your game camera whilst you charge up the device, all you need to do is ensure that you have backup AA batteries.
Because the camera uses 8 separate batteries, the battery life is much longer than a battery pack would be, and you can enjoy around 4 months of battery life. If you set the camera to take shots more frequently, obviously, the battery life will diminish. Plotwatcher Pros that have been set to record every 10 seconds rather than every 5 can mean 6 months battery life!
File Formats
The Plotwatcher Pro records photos so you can download the photos one at a time. Of course, this would be inconvenient if you have a long time frame to download photos for, so you can also choose to download a time frame of photographs. Photographs from the Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro are saved in JPG format and the resolution of the image is high quality 1075 x 768 pixels.
To save photos as a video clip, the Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro has its own Game Finder Video clip format, which appends a TLV file extension to the end of the file. You can also save video files in WMV movie format.
Programming the Camera
Even for those who would not consider themselves to be very technical, the Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro is simple to use. No one wants to be spending ages setting up a camera, especially when you want your presence to be noticed as little as possible. The Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro has a handy 2.5-inch screen to help you access the settings quickly, and you can also use the screen to view photographs and footage. Time intervals are set between 1 second and 1 minute using a simple options menu.
Pros
Pros- A time-lapse camera records footage for longer
- Time-lapse also allows the user to get more coverage
- Up to 4 months of battery life, using 8 x AA batteries
- Additional lenses for zoom and wide angle can be additionally purchased
- SD card storage for easy footage retrieval
Cons
- Lack of detection circuit – even though this is the case, the Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro can record footage over a wide range with game approaching and retreating from the range, which wouldn’t be possible with a motion detection system.
- Lack of Zoom functionality – This can be remedied with an optional lens.
Conclusion
For an affordable camera that lasts, we think that the Plotwatcher Pro from the Day 6 brand is perfect for when you want to have all the range without the restriction of a motion detection camera. We hope that you have found our Day 6 Plotwatcher Pro Review useful.
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