Monday, April 11, 2016

TEC.BEAN 12MP 1080P HD Game & Trail Hunting Camera (Model SG-009)




BACKGROUND, ABOUT ME, AND MY HISTORY WITH TRAIL CAMERAS:
I have several other trail camera brands including Stealth Cam, Moultrie, Covert, Primos, Browning, and now TEC.BEAN. Honestly, the day time pictures with all of these brands are adequate for hunting and scouting purposes. What separates a camera in my eyes is trigger time, quality night pictures,
recovery time, battery life, strap connecting to the tree, ease of setup, pictures of an object in motion, and durability. I’ve been using trail cams since about 2009, mainly with pictures. I started taking videos with trail cameras in 2014 and took quite a few in 2015 in addition to taking pictures. My choice in taking pictures or videos depends on the setup I have, but I feel comfortable writing/reviewing about either. I don’t do time lapse. It’s just not something that’s useful for my hunting/scouting purposes. If you can’t decide on pictures or video, hybrid mode is a good option. I have included a video and some pictures. Overall, I like what I see from the TEC.BEAN SG-0009…

WHAT I LIKE:
+ LCD Screen allows users to see where camera is pointed and you can review pictures/videos on it – Very unusual to see that in this price range
+ Easy to follow and program menu
+ Fast Trigger time (0.6-0.8 seconds) - above average
+ Day & night pictures are good
+ Video with audio (5 to 90 second video clips)
+ Photo bursts from 1 to 9 pictures at a time
+ Security password (optional)
+ Video file size is small (this means you can take more videos without requiring you to swap SD cards). For reference a 5 second video is 7-10 MB.
+ It takes 8 AA batteries, so batteries don’t need to be swapped as often as some cameras
+ Speaking of batteries, they don’t fall out (ahem, Covert cameras)

WHAT I DON'T LIKE
- This camera has a strap with a plastic buckle. I prefer a metal clip for easy removal and positioning
- Average to somewhat slow recovery time (time between pictures or videos) – 6 seconds for night video, 10 seconds for night photos

ON PAR WITH MOST CAMERAS:
o Average # of blurry motion pictures. I set the camera to 3-picture burst mode on most of my cameras to combat blurry motion pics
o 5.25" x 4.25" x 3" - Not the smallest, but on par with most on the market
o Durability seems on par with other cameras I’ve used
o Battery Life seems standard
o I haven’t witnessed many false triggers, but I want to test more extensively in warm weather when false triggers are highest

CONCLUSION:
In summary, I really like this camera and it’s one of my favorites in this price point, along with the Browning cameras. I really like the LCD screen. It’s so helpful in the field (at least to me). This camera is very customizable as well. However, I really would like to see the strap changed. It’s just a pet peeve of mine to have to use a buckle strap. Fortunately, I personally have some old cameras that no longer work that I’ve salvaged their straps with a metal clip. Overall, this is a solid camera at a reasonable price!

ABOUT THIS CAMERA:
Display Screen: 2.0" Color viewer TFT LCD
Image Sensor: 12.0 MP Resolution
IR-LED: 36 black IR LED flash from 0-23m/75ft
Memory: SD-card (not included) up to 32GB
Picture Size: 12MP=4000x3000 / 8MP=3840x2160 / 5MP = 2944x1656 / 2MP=1920x1080 (JPEG)
Video Size: HD:1920x1080,15fps / 1080x720,30fps (AVI)
Video & Audio Recording
Digital Zoom: 2x, 3x, 4x
Trigger Time: 0.6-0.8s
Triggering Interval: 1s-60min programmable 
Burst Model: 1 to 9 pictures at a time, up to 40,000 pictures 
Video Length: 5-90s programmable
Power Supply: 8 x AA Batteries or 12V DC (not included) or solar panel or 12V power bank or storage battery.
Stand-by Current: < 0.3mA 
Stand-by Time: 3~6 months (8*AA)

Security Authentication: CE FCC RoHS

 Available by clicking the Amazon photo to the left

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION (FTC) DISCLAIMER:
I received this product for free or purposes of testing and reviewing. However, the opinions expressed herein were formulated based on my personal use of the product. I welcome all suggestions, feedback and/or product questions













16 comments:

Unknown said...

Don't forget you might want to aim one of these at your daughter's bedroom window in about 16 years. :-) Could come in super handy with a teenage daughter in the house.

Chip said...

Yeah, I'll be having alarms, mines and cameras pointing everywhere :)

Unknown said...

Don't know what happened to this trail camera but unable to register warranty anymore and no website as to who sells them except Amazon and ebay so I take it warranty is no good.

Chip said...

It looks like Nova Tech US sells the camera on Amazon. Have you tried to contact them? If you click on Nova Tech US on the Amazon listing and then click "ask a question", you can send a message. How long has it been since you purchased the camera?

If you try to contact them with no luck, let me know. Maybe I can send a message too.

Wolfman said...

Can't get the cam to pick up anything at night and have critters visiting all hours.

Chip said...

Have you contacted the manufacturer or seller?

Chip said...

Have you contacted the manufacturer or seller?

Unknown said...

I just bought camera from amazon and inputted passcode incorrect and cant open. Is there a reset you can do i cant find anywhere. i emailed nova waiting to hear back

Chip said...

Typically, there is not a reset button on trail cameras. They are a frequently stolen item. If it could be easily reset, there wouldn't be a point to having a password. I would say that you'd likely have to contact he manufacturer or seller so that they can reset it as long as its not on some sort of stolen list.

I don't believe I have the user manual and my camera is currently out in the field. As a last resort if none of that works. Take out the batteries and turn it to "test" or "on". Leave it sit for a 20 minutes and let any remaining charge run out. I've heard that some cameras might have a hard reset button in the battery terminal. If not, turn it back on and hopefully the camera dying will "forget" your password. Beyond that, I'm not sure what might work.

Unknown said...

Having the same issue? Did this work for you??

Unknown said...

does not come with sd card so it is unusable until you get sd card there is a paper in the box saying go to this web site and send message free sd card wtf web site does work says can't deliver bs just put the sd card in the dam box

Chip said...

It's kind of strange the industry has gone that way, because it can't be used otherwise. However, nearly all trail cameras do not come with an SD card unless it's part of a package put together by the seller.

Unknown said...

what is the best SD card to use? Never used a trail cam before so I'm uneducated on this.

Chip said...

SanDisk is widely accepted across a range of trail cameras. I have tried them in about 15-20 different brands of trail cameras over the years and they have worked in all. Generic cards are less reliable. I'm sure there are others that will work, but I stick with SanDisk.

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Anonymous said...

Just took our Twc Bean SG-009 camera out of storage(moved) 6 years ago do not remember our password. Anyway to reset them? I’ve looked for tech support no luck.