Stealth Cam ZX24 Review

Stealth Cam ZX24 Review

- The ZX24 is the red glow sister camera to the ZX36NG. The ZX24's detection is slow but it has 8-month battery life and decent picture quality. This camera would do well to sit on a feeder or bait station but isn't fast enough for a trail. - TCP Staff

Model # STC-ZX24 | ZX24 Owner's Manual

Pros

• Good battery life
• Great case design
• Easy programming

Cons

• Slow detection circuit
• Halo effect on night videos

Trailcampro Analysis

Quality of Design:

Dimensions: 4.5" x 3.75" x 2.75" | Battery Type: 6 AA Batteries | External Battery Jack: 12 Volt

The ZX24 feels sturdy and well-built. This is also one of the smallest cameras on the market and easily fits in the palm of your hand. The latch works effortlessly and consistently. The camera has a 1/4" x 20 threaded insert on the bottom for a Slate River mount. There is also a bracket on the back for a python bracket.

Stealth Cam likes to have "Quickset" modes as programming options. There is Q1, Q2 and Q3 preset options. While these are quick and easy to use, we almost never use them. In fact, they are pretty unnecessary with as easy as the camera is to program in "custom" mode. If it were up to us, we would scrap the preset options and just stick to the custom option. It is easy to navigate, intuitive and sets up in less than a minute.

We were happy to find many of our favorite settings in the menu. Start/stop time, format sd card, password protection and IR flash control options were all present. These features may seem like a small thing, but they are certainly handy when you need them.

Durability is unknown at this time. If an issue arises, we will update this review.

Detection Circuit:

Picture Trigger & Recovery Speed: 0.87 s. / 5.7 s. | Video Trigger & Recovery Speed: 2.58 s. / 5.0 s. | Detection Range: 50 ft.

Picture trigger speed is the only thing close to average. Everything else is well below. This is a slow detection circuit.

In our Detection Shootout, the ZX24 detected out 50 ft. This is slightly below average for 2016.

Picture Quality:

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

Day pictures aren't the best or the worst. Everything on picture quality is middle of the road. Color, clarity and depth could all use improvement, but really, they are all more than acceptable. Night images have the flash concentrated on the middle of the photo - producing whiteout on close objects.

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Video quality is solid overall and we actually rated it a touch higher than picture quality. Other than the halo effect in the center of the night videos - we are pretty happy with the video quality.

Megapixel Ratings:

In the past, many people get confused with the megapixel rating trail camera manufacturers advertise. 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 best way to judge picture quality is to look at actual pictures. You will notice this the most when you zoom in on a full-size image that a camera has taken. The details of the photo will appear hazy or even digitized. This is normal, and to be expected.

Battery Life:

Resting Power (on): 1.43 mW | Daytime Power Consumption: 2.33 Ws | Nighttime Power Consumption: 3.75 Ws

Day and night consumption is very low. The resting power is efficient. These are excellent numbers

If this camera were to take 35-day pictures and 35-night pictures every 24 hour period, this camera would last 8 months in the field on a set of lithium batteries.

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