Covert Night Stalker Review

2016 Covert Night Stalker Review

Model # 5175 | Covert Night Stalker Owner's Manual

Pros

• Incredible battery life
• Improved latch design
• Good, colorful day pictures/videos
• Easy setup

Cons

• Very slow picture & video detection
• Poor night pictures/videos

Trailcampro Analysis

The 2016 Covert Night Stalker replaces the Covert HD60 from 2015. This is a no glow IR trail camera with a 2" internal viewer. The viewer is great for picture/video playback and initial camera setup.

Quality of Design

Dimensions: 5.75" x 4.5" x 2.75" | Battery Type: 12 AA Batteries | External Battery Jack: 6 Volt

We are certainly enjoying all the new 2016 scouting cameras that are utilizing the over sized latch that opens the camera. This large latch is more secure than the small latches the previous Covert scouting cameras had and also much easier to open with cold fingers.

"Night Stalker has a 2" internal viewing screen"

The Night Stalker has a 2" internal viewing screen that allow video and picture playback on the camera. This doubles as an effective way to position the camera on initial setup. Not only is this a nice feature of the Stalker, but it is also a rare commodity in trail cameras right now.

On the back of the camera is a built-in bracket for a python cable lock and a 1/4" x 20 threaded insert on the bottom for a tripod or Slate River Mount.

The Stalker has a 6 volt external battery jack if you plan on using outside power or a solar panel. However, as you will read later on, battery life is outstanding and there isn't much need for an external battery. The battery compartment is among the best designs we have seen. Inserting and removing batteries is easy - no tool required.

Programming hasn't changed much from previous Covert trail cameras. The start/stop time is a unique feature that tells the camera to only be turned on during certain times of the day. Programming is easy and the Night Stalker offers all the major settings you would expect.

Durability on Covert scouting cameras has been very solid the last several years with no major issues.

Detection Circuit

Picture Trigger & Recovery Speed: 1.05 s. / 5.1 s. | Video Trigger & Recovery Speed: 2.48 s. / 5.6 s. | Detection Range: 50 ft.

Picture and Video trigger speed actually slowed down from 2015 to 2016. This is surprising and will really hurt the overall rating of the Night Stalker.

Recovery Times are slightly very average for a modern scouting camera. There are easy improvements that could be made to trigger and recovery times on the Night Stalker that would reap big rewards.

The detection range was 50 ft. in our Detection Shootout.

Picture Quality

Photo resolution: 12, 8, 5 or 3 mpxl | Video Resolution: 1080 x 720 w/ audio | Flash Type: No Glow Infrared

Day pictures look really good. Solid color, clarity and they stop motion very well. Covert daytime pictures continue to impress us.

We found the night pictures to be dark and grainy. These night pictures are a step down from what we have seen from Covert scouting cameras in the past.

[powr-image-slider id=8a945006_1465312980]

Day videos are very good. Nice color and depth. Night videos are very grainy and have a flash range of about 30 - 40 ft. Overall, nighttime imagery could use improvements.

Battery Life

Resting Power (on): 2.42 mW | Daytime Power Consumption: 2.74 Ws | Nighttime Power Consumption: 4.11 Ws

Battery life doesn't get much better than this. Combine efficient consumption numbers with 12 AA batteries working on a 6 volt system and the result is a 5 star battery life rating.

If this camera were to take 35 day pictures and 35 night pictures every 24 hours, this camera could last 12.1 months in the field on a set of lithium batteries.

Covert Stalker Conclusion

Covert continues to produce well-made, battery efficient trail cameras. Unfortunately, the speed of their cameras does not seem to be making any improvements. We still think they take some of the better day pictures on the market, but the night flash has weakened from past models.

Enjoy our reviews? Please consider purchasing your next trail camera from us.