The Moultrie Reaction Cam

When the package first arrived in the office by Pete Thomson, the NZ distributor for the American Moultrie brand, I thought the product was a bit gimmicky. The hard-shell plastic packaging looks like it would suit hanging on a shelf at a Walmart store in America. But after a good “play” with the unit I was pleasantly surprised at the results.

Introduction

These days it appears that everyone wants to photograph or video their hunt, especially live game if you are lucky enough to encounter game under the right conditions. It’s great to record your pastime for prosperity and a little bit of effort can have some great rewards for later on.
Although video cameras are getting smaller they still take up a reasonable amount of space and weight and are generally not that well adapted to an often wet or dusty outdoor environment.
What hunters want is something tiny, light and weatherproof that doesn’t cost the earth and is cheap to run. The Reaction Cam may just be what you’re looking for.

Features and Benefits

The Reaction Cam is designed to record hunting HD video footage and photo images and runs on just two AA alkaline batteries. Images are recorded straight to your SD card, up to 16GB in size. You can then edit or view through the unit itself or what is a better idea is to drop the SD card into your computer at home and view or edit the results there. There is the option of using the digital zoom (up to 8x) but picture quality will be effected.

Before using the Reaction Cam you will want to go through the menu and select the settings that you require.

Options include the video (up to 1280x720) and photo resolution (up to 5.0 megapixels or 2592x1944). You can also use multi-shot where the Reaction Cam will take up to ten photos in quick succession (4 per second) and auto-stop that switches the video off after 5-30 minutes.
There is also a time and date stamp option, a sound recording feature and an anti-shake setting that takes a little of your jittering out when a big stag walks into view. Once you have set your features the screen shows you the settings plus a photo count and battery level which is really handy.

The beauty of the Reaction Cam is that it’s so light and small that it fits into the palm of your hand plus it’s reasonably weatherproof with sealed rubber buttons. These have the relevant icons for video, photo and zoom stamped onto them but I must admit are a bit hard to see at times. However, you soon get used to where the buttons are and the “instant record” button is most handy, especially as the LCD display screen does not switch on, thereby saving you battery power. There are no camera “beeps” either. Instead a tiny blue LED light shows you that the camera is working which gradually dims and then turns off completely. Actually, it’s very easy to forget the unit is running at all which sometimes is a good thing as some people can’t resist “hamming” it up for the camera.
If you use the tiny side on-off button the LCD display screen also turns on. You will need to use this until you are used to the unit otherwise you may miss that big stag standing in front of you. Using the zoom makes this worse of course plus adds to the camera shake if you do not have a good rest.
The LCD face scratched easily so take some care with it and the screen is pretty small, but remember this is a small unit and that’s what you want when you’re hunting.

In the Field

The Reaction Cam comes with a pull-tight 20mm nylon mounting strap and a slide-and-click mount that has a clip that fits onto a peak of a cap or similar. Fixing the unit is the tricky bit as good video needs a stable platform to get good results.
When on a cap walking along there is just too much movement while on the shoulder, mounted onto a pack strap was better. A vehicle or chopper dash works well if you are driving or flying somewhere scenic.
However, the best place for the camera was on my hunting bow. It was a bit tricky to mount, but when I knocked an arrow it gave me a great pointing reference to where the camera was pointing.
It also worked well on the boat out fishing as there were plenty of places to mount it. I just hit the button when we hooked up and the reasonably wide angle fitted in about half the deck from just a couple of metres back.
The video quality was surprisingly good and although hard to aim the photos were not bad either. However I felt HD video is what the unit was designed for.

Conclusion

n this electronic age it’s good to see a manufacturer recognise that there is a market out there of hunters and I believe this type of thing will only develop into better and better products as the demand increases.
I would be a bit careful with this unit in the rain as the rubber flap only sits over the SD card slot at the back.

If there were more mounting options this would be the perfect bow-hunting accessory, as you are that much closer to your animal when using the bow, usually within 30 metres or so. The fact that it takes so much more time to shoot the bow than a rifle means that the chance of good animal footage is far greater. You also do not have the recoil factor to worry about.
The picture quality would not be up to TV viewing standards but to record personal experiences it’s a good option.

Anything that makes you enjoy your sport more is money well spent and sharing images or video with family or friends over a few quite ales on a wet Sunday afternoon sounds like a good idea to me.

Moultrie Reaction Cam Specifications:
Produces HD (1280x720p) video resolution,
5.0 megapixel still image capture,
8x digital zoom,
Camouflage coloured housing,
Light weight at 170 grams including strap and batteries,
Records sound,
1.5” Colour LCD viewing Screen,
Playback recorded video function,
LED light indicates recording,
Multi-shot photo option (1-10 photos),
Date and time stamped on each photo and video,
Anti-Shake Feature,
Auto Stop (5-30 minutes),
Low battery indicator,
Upgradeable software,
SD card slot accepts up to 16GB,
Operates on 2 AA batteries,
Two mounting options,
TV out-port,
Instructional DVD included.

RRP: $359.95