Bushnell Video Scope
 

Anyone tried a Bushnell Video Scope? The reviews on the internet are all over the place. Some say it does not function properly in cold weather (1). Some say the picture quality is horrible and not worth buying. Some say the picture is not perfect, but acceptable for capturing the hunt.

Looking for more opinions or maybe another thread if one already exists here.

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.

RE: Bushnell Video Scope
 

I have actually field tested the product now with some disappointing results.

You are going to have to remove your scope to attach the video cam. I tried the rings on several guns and they are too wide to slip under the scopes from the side. This makes it difficult to transfer the scope to a different gun. It seems to me they could have simply made the bottom half of the rings thinner to avoid this problem.

I experienced some problemstaking videoabout 1 hour before sunset when I was in the shade and my target was in the sun (sun to my back). The picture was washed out pretty badly. This did not happen when I was testing it.

The most disappointing thing of all was that the scope failed to work when the temp was below 40 degrees. For my turkey hunt, the morning temps were around 30. The scope works when you first go in the woods, then stopsturning onafter it cools down to air temp. It would start working again mid morning when air temps approached 40 or if I would hold it in my hands or coat to heat it up. This is a huge problem for anyone that hunts in the north. There is a way to detach the camera without removing the rings, but it is not something you could do while an animal was approaching.

RE: Bushnell Video Scope
 

Sounds like a major PIA and not worth the investment.