Browning Strike Force HD 2015 Review

• Incredibly quick recovery time
• Good picture quality
• Solid detection zone
• Fast picture & video recovery time

Cons

• Only capable of 10 second night videos
• High day/night power consumption

Trailcampro Analysis

This multi-year Strike Force review takes a look at why the 2015 Browning Strike Force HD remains one of the most popular game cameras on the market.

Picture Quality:

Photo resolution: 10, 8, 4, 2 mpxl | Video Resolution: 1280 x 720 w/ audio | Flash Type: Red Glow Infrared

The daytime pictures we have collected are a mix of great and very good. Color, clarity, and contrast all appear to be very strong, but occasionally we do see some washed out photos or pixelated images.

Night pictures are very solid, the flash range is more than sufficient and the contrast and clarity are top-notch. You will even notice there is minimal "white-out" on animals that are close to the camera. The only knock here is most of the infrared emitters are focused in the center of the image. The edges of the pictures can be darker than the center.

In the past, many people have been confused with the megapixel ratings trail camera manufacturers advertise. Don't get caught up in this. We consider 99% of megapixel ratings to be a marketing gimmick. Companies inflate the mpxl rating to attract eyes to their products. They do this through interpolation, which digitally adds megapixels to a photo without actually improving the picture. The only way to judge picture quality is through the pictures a trail camera takes. For instance, the Strike Force HD interpolates its photos out to 8 mpxl (if you choose "ultra" photo quality in the settings). We consider interpolation completely unnecessary, however, every manufacturer employs this tactic. You will notice this the most when you zoom in on a full-size image that the camera has taken. The details of the photo will appear hazy or even digitized. This is normal, and to be expected.

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The video quality looks to be really good both during the day and night. Day videos have excellent color, clarity and the video is very smooth. Night videos have sharp focus and good flash range. The video files are quite large, though, and the night videos are only capable of 10-second clips. We knocked down the night rating because of the 10-second maximum video length. Day videos can be set from anywhere between 5 seconds and 2 minutes.

Battery Life:

Resting Power (on): 0.9 mW | Daytime Power Consumption: 6.12 Ws | Nighttime Power Consumption: 7.8 Ws

The resting current is top-notch and barely draws any power at all. The day and night consumption is high, in large part because they stay powered up in order to take the next photo quicker.

The camera operates on 6 AA batteries. You will get the best performance out of your camera if you use Lithium batteries. Alkaline batteries will work, but they are very unreliable and drain faster in cold weather. The Strike Force HD will work with Tenergy Nimh Rechargeable batteries.

If this camera were to take 35-day pictures and 35-night pictures every 24 hours, this camera could last 4.8 months in the field (with lithiums).

Detection Circuit:

Picture Trigger & Recovery Speed: 0.88 s. / 1.4 s. | Video Trigger & Recovery Speed: 1.51 s. / 1.8 s. | Detection Range: 60 ft.

The picture and video trigger speed are both pretty good but the obvious standout here is the incredible recovery time. There aren't many sub-2 second recovery time cameras on the market, especially not ones this affordable. Even the video recovery is fast.

Detection range remains 60 ft. Keep in mind detection range can change with ambient temperature or with the way a camera is mounted. For maximum range, the horizon needs to be centered in the middle of a photo the camera takes.

Quality of Design:

Dimensions: 4.75" x 4" x 3" | Battery Type: 6 AA Batteries | External Battery Jack: 12 Volt

This is a very small, compact, easy to conceal trail camera. All the buttons for programming work pretty well, although sometimes you will have to push a button a second time for it to react.

The battery tray ejects from the bottom, the eject button is a bit sticky and doesn't feel as positive as others we have tested. Outside of us being overly nit-picky on the case design, the camera is well-built and works as it should.

The programming on the camera is very simple and easy to use. The Strike Force HD does lack a few programmable features that we like, such as; overwrite function, password protection, and PIR/Flash Range settings. However, you shouldn't have problems programming this camera. Here is a breakdown of some of the popular settings:

• 1-8 multi-shot
• 5 s. - 120 s. video clips
• Time Lapse: 1/2/3 hr (am & pm) or All Day (Sunrise to Sunset). 5 s. - 60 min. time intervals
• Photo Stamp: Time, date, temperature, moon phase and camera name
• Picture + Video Mode: No
• Dynamic video: No
• Start/Stop Time: No
• Password Protection: No
• SD Card Overwrite: No
• PIR Settings: No
• Flash Settings: No

As for reliability, the biggest issue we have seen is the durability of the latches. We have replaced a rather large number of them. If you break yours, we can send you a replacement under our 2-year warranty.

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