RE: Bushnell Video Scope
Well, I got one. I have not hunted with it yet, but I have been testing it out.
My first impression is that it will be capable of capturing a hunt on film, but don’t expect the video quality you see on TV. It is more in the realm of cell phone video. What I mean is the video is usually blurred when you pan. If you were holding on the animal to shoot, it would be ok. You might get away with following the animal as it was walking slowly, but quick movements turn everything into a blur. The picture is also a little grainy to begin with, so this is more something you would use to remember a hunt or show your hunt to a buddy, rather than broadcast it anywhere.
It might also be useful to judge the reaction of an animal on a marginal shot. You could review the video (but it is very small) right in the stand or blind and it might help you decide what to do next.
There is a built in mic on the camera, so for turkeys it might be useful to review how turkeys reacted to your calls and it could be used to teach a beginner what to do (or not to do).
There have been several reviews on the internet talking about the picture being dark, and there is some merit to that. By chance, some deer were crossing my yard last night, and I tried to use the videoscope to film them at about 45 yards. It was too dark to see anything but flashes of tails and legs and that was within about 20 minutes of sunset on a cloudy day. I would say that you are not going to get much usable video on deer within 30 minutes of sunrise or sunset in the woods.
You also need to remember this is straight 5X, so those great zooms you see on TV will not be happening. I took video of some items around the yard, and I think a turkey hunt would probably show up ok, since the animal would be within about 40 yards. For deer, I am not sure how close they will need to be in good light to see antlers.
The camera does have some very dumb features that probably should have been worked out a little more carefully. There are a few different settings for light. You can set it for automatic, daylight, cloudy, florescent, or tungsten. I have tried all of them for outdoor video and I cannot really see a big difference at this time. The problem is the setting always defaults back to auto when you shut the camera off. So you would have to scramble and reset the light level anyway before the animal came in. I would probably not mess with that feature and just leave it on auto for outdoor shots.
When I shut my camera off, the time and date also go back to the menu defaults. That date/time only affects the created date in the file properties, so it is just more annoying than anything else.
Speaking of the menu button, I have not found a way to exit the menu without reselecting the last feature every time. Again, more of a inconvenience than anything else.
There is also a reset button on the camera and I wondered why I would need that. It turns out the camera does lock up when I view the videos and then try to eject the drive on my computer. Again, that is weird, but the camera does work after you push the button.
So, I guess I am going to keep it despite the design flaws and that is purely based on the price. The alternatives get pretty pricy compared to this one.