Jacob MurphyEvery good hunter knows the importance of their scouting game. If ever you’ve considered how you can make that game easier for you, you’ll want a trail camera. A trail camera will let you learn a lot of details about whatever you’re hunting. With this, you can adjust your hunting plan accordingly and be more efficient. Just about every hunter can benefit a lot from one, but the problem is that not all trail cameras are made equal.
One of the leaders in the trail camera industry is Browning Trail Cameras. It’s a brand most hunters are well familiar with, and they have an extensive lineup of cameras that are all excellent. A crowd favorite is the Browning Strike Force Pro XD, and that’s the trail camera we’ll be reviewing today.
The Strike Force is an excellent trail camera that’s both affordable and has a lot of features. It covers all the essentials really well and adds a few things that you didn’t think you’d need, too. Without wasting any more time, let’s take a look at the details.
Design and Build Quality
The Strike Force Pro XD has a design that’s almost identical to the Strike Force HD Pro, with one key difference – the Pro XD has two lenses. One of them is for day images and the other one is for night images, but more on that later. The case comes in a Mossy Oak camo color, which allows it to blend into almost any environment. It’s a sturdy and durable case. It’s not the most compact in the lineup, with dimensions of 4.25” x 3.75” x 3.25”, but it’s far from being big and cumbersome. It also has an adjustable metal back bracket which allows it to swivel up and down about 30 degrees. This way, you can easily do up/down adjustments without needing limbs and twigs for shims.
On the camera, you will also find a built-in viewing display. Sure, it’s not the most high-quality display if you want to review your imagery, but it’s not meant for that. It’s meant for navigating through the menus and making any necessary adjustments. There’s a keypad right next to it, one that’s really well lit and allows you to navigate easily regardless of the conditions. It’s a surprisingly easy camera to set up and use, something that’s underappreciated nowadays.
Let’s discuss the quality of the photos and videos
Since this is a camera we’re talking about, we feel like the image quality is just as important, if not more, than the design and build quality. In the case of the Strike Force, you’ll be getting two lenses on the camera. One of them is made for daytime general use, while the other one is a night time lens.
The camera has a 24-megapixel sensor with a .15 second trigger and .5 seconds recovery time. It has a motion detector sensor which triggers the camera from up to 80 feet away. When it detects movement, it only takes .15 seconds to capture an image, so you don’t miss out on what happened. The short recovery time also means that you will get multiple pictures in short succession.
Let’s discuss that night time lens
It works alongside a red IR flash, and the quality of the images you’ll get from it is nothing short of spectacular. What’s even more impressive is that the flash’s range is 120 feet. This allows you to easily see what’s happening at that distance at night. You can set up the flash to work at either a power save mode, long range or fast motion mode.
Video recording is also very decent. It records video in up to 1080p full HD resolution, with sound of course. Compared to its predecessors, it does have an upgrade in video quality, and unlike them, you can now record up to two minutes of video. If you want to capture some interesting moments out in the wilderness, this should do the trick.
Storage
The Trail Force works with an SD card, and you can use a memory card that’s up to 512GB in size. The camera also allows for on-device storage management. This means you can easily erase or save files from the camera, without the need of a computer or other device. When you have a full memory card, this is a godsend.
Power is another crucial aspect with trail cameras
It’s not just that it is important, it’s often overlooked as a feature. Considering where we’ve gotten with technology, we should be able to have cameras that are extremely efficient. You don’t want to lose your photos and videos because of power failure, right? Well, you won’t have to worry about this with the Browning Strike Force.
It runs on six AA batteries – these are easy to find and easy to replace. They also don’t cost too much. Depending on what modes you use the camera in, your mileage may vary. However, if you were to set it up to take 35-day photos and 35-night photos every 24 hours, you could potentially get as much as 10 months of battery life. This is, honestly, very impressive, and more than you would need.
Wrapping things up – is the Browning Strike Force Trail Pro XD worth it?
If you really need a trail camera, there are a few things that are important. You need good build quality, you need good image quality, and you need long battery life. The Strike Force more than checks all the boxes, and it doesn’t cost too much either. It’s an excellent trail camera and one that you can literally set and forget. You’ll get months of quality images before you need to charge it again, and the image and video quality are excellent, even at night.
