Wildgame Innovations Ac5XHD Infrared Action Cam

[WapitiTalk1]

Posted this info earlier this spring on another site.. I wanted to share where I'm at on my testing/review of this relatively inexpensive action cam to self film hunts on the Elknut gear/equipment forum. Here's the skinny:

Initial thoughts on the Wildgame Innovations Ac5X action cam (March 2012).
a. Very light and manageable when used with hat clip or when mounted to stabilizer. Look directly at what you want to film, and it'll pretty much show up on the video footage. Shortcoming is that when you actually shoot your bow (loose an arrow at an elk/deer) with the hat clip/camera in operation, you're very possibly not looking/filming the intended target (brim of hat and camera is pointing a bit high and to the right when at full draw.. for me anyway).
b. Used the rubber helmet strap to mount camera bracket to stabilizer (bottom doo-hickey in the first picture of this thread). Perhaps not the best mounting method but effective with what is provided in package. There's a guy that posted a way to make an actual screw in stabilizer mount for this camera on you tube. This camera does not possess the standard vid/camera mounting female insert. It has its own slide/lock system.
c. No visual LED picture available that allows you to see what is being filmed. You have to ensure you're pointing the camera directly at the target object/area. This is pretty easily done with the hat clip (when just looking straight at the objective) and/or when the camera is attached to the stabilizer.
d. Camera has 0, 2, 3, and 4X zoom. 3X and 4X, are a bit shakey at farther distances but not too bad..
e. Charged the lithium battery fully on Friday night (looks just like a big cell phone battery) and it lasted through Sunday night. I probably filmed 15-20 3 or 4 minute clips in HD. Batt seems pretty strong but will be picking up a second one so I have two fully charged power sources when I head in somewhere. The battery is charged by plugging in the camera to a PC with supplied USB cable. I'll have to work on finding/getting a car charger. Shouldn't be too tough to get an auto/dc and even an actual ac (not the USB variety) charge kit from Radio Shack.
f. Bought a 16GB card but unit will accept a 32. That's a ton of footage... The battery will certainly die before you can fill up a 16GB with HD footage (mine did), let alone a 32. I imagine I'll probably just get another 16 before hunting season.. If I'm able to fill both of them up, well... it would be one heck of a season and probably too much time spent filming when I should be busting through brush .
g. Overall, camera is easy to program and operate. Instructions are clear. Yes, I do read instructions on occasion although I usually don't admit it.
h. I played with the still photo capability only a bit... It's not bad but not the best.. I'll have to test a bit more and be 100% satisfied with the quality before I leave my Kodak digital camera in the truck. I will say that I'm currently very adamant about taking quality still pics as I didn't do it for many, many years...
i. Lastly, I haven't checked the sound quality from a distance.. i.e., putting the camera on say, the provided mini-tripod and moving away from where I leave the camera and bugling/making various beast noises to see how the camera picks it up at 30, 40, 60, etc... yards away.. It's on my list to check out.

I think the camera is pretty tough also... Why? Because I dropped it on my hardwood floor. It hit hard.. real hard... the kind of hard where you start thinking what you're going to say happened when you try to send it back....... but, I picked it up and it worked fine.. That's gotta be a good sign. The tests will continue throughout the summer. RJ

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[WapitiTalk1]

This was the first filming I did with the hat mounted bill clip. March 2012.

[WapitiTalk1]

I did a sound test on the WGI Action Cam (May 2012). Wanted to see how the sound quality was at somewhat of a distance. I set the camera on the mini tripod that comes in the package (you actually get quite a few attachments when you buy one of these little critters) on a wooden step ladder about shoulder high. The first test was just the camera on the tripod. The second test was the camera enclosed in the plastic water resistant case. I call it water resistant as I don't think it's waterproof like say the GoPro is.. The clear plastic case has a back door you slide the cam into and some rubber seals around the door, and, the extruding buttons that allow to operate the cam when it's in the case. The sound quality for the camera when not inside the plastic case is actually pretty darn good. I walked out to about 95 yards and made my last calls. As you'll see, and somewhat expected, the sound quality after I locked the action cam down inside the water resistant plastic container was a whole different endstate. I guess it's to be expected. I still like the thing and will deploy it this fall in ID as the situation permits. The price for the package is about what you'd pay for a dozen arrows so for me, I think it's worth it to perhaps capture old stinky coming in to my calls. RJ

Oh, make sure you click on the gear looking icon and change the quality to HD.

[WapitiTalk1]

Update... June 2012. I've played around with the bill mount for this thing and believe I have it figured out where I can actually film what I'm looking/shooting at at full draw. Camera is on bill mount/clip at center position for when I'm looking straight ahead filming. If I'm the one that's gonna shoot, it takes no time at all to rotate my hat 20 degress to the left. Tried it several times on this video and it seems to work. Video is a bit crooked but not bad. Oh, remember to select HD when you open the vid for the best picture quality. RJ

[WapitiTalk1]

Here's a vid of how I actually rotate my hat so the camera points down the arrow and perhaps, gets the video of "the shot". I'm thinking this method would work on any of the hat mounted cams out there. RJ

[dotman]

How much did this cost? How much for extra batts? Interested for next years gear list. I'm done with new gear this year, video looks good.

[WapitiTalk1]

How much did this cost? How much for extra batts? Interested for next years gear list. I'm done with new gear this year, video looks good.

A bit over 100 bones for the camera and various mounts. A backup lithium battery can be found at Batteries Plus (don't have the web page/part # right now). Not sure why WGI doesn't carry the batteries? I haven't gotten one yet but believe they're a bit over 30 bones.

Here's the link for the best price I found.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Wildgame-Inno ... a/14977165

[westaner]

I've been trying to film my hunts for 6 years now, its not easy by yourself! Had a big Sony handycam, just pulled it out of pack for aftermath. Then got a flip camera, no real zoom. Last season got a Panasonic sd80 HD which has 40x zoom, its mounted on chest DIY chest rig that swivels for the shot. Works great, but need a second action Cam, like a snori Cam rig behind me to let veiwers have something to focus on so they don't get dizzy.
Thanks for doing a review phantom! I'll try and post pics of my rig and a video on DIY snori Cam.

[westaner]

This rig dosnt get in the way of drawing.

[westaner]

this is a snori cam, make alot of your shaky footage easy to watch. Im gona try making this more compact.

[WapitiTalk1]

Those are both too bulky (large, pro camera chest mount with my pack on) and big (sticking over the top of my back when going through brush) for me westaner although both look like great setups. No disrespect intended... but I'm not personally that interested in filming elk hunts that I'd carry anything more than a lighweight action cam. Geez, I'm not even sure I'll even remember to clip mine on this fall in the heat of battle RJ

[westaner]

They are a bit bulky, but well worth it to me. I might even be packing a dslr camera with shotgun mic and tripod. Alot work can go into setting up for short video!

[WapitiTalk1]

How much did this cost? How much for extra batts? Interested for next years gear list. I'm done with new gear this year, video looks good.

A bit over 100 bones for the camera and various mounts. A backup lithium battery can be found at Batteries Plus (don't have the web page/part # right now). Not sure why WGI doesn't carry the batteries? I haven't gotten one yet but believe they're a bit over 30 bones.

Update on extra batteries. Called WGI and they gave me a company in AZ that carried the lithium batteries.. At only 9.95 each, I ordered two.. Sure hope they're the right ones

[Jahnke76]

I got one of these for christmas this year and I love it. I took apart the little tripod and made a mount that bolts on behind my qd for the stabilizer on my bow. THe first mount was to wobbly so I have to strenghten it but it works great. I still have to find extra batteries as well.