Primos Truth Cam 35 Review – Trail Cam

ModelTrigger SpeedFlash RangeResolutionStorage
Primos Truth Cam 35 Camera

Primos Truth Cam 35 Camera

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1.5 sec40 ft.3 MP usableSD Card (not included)

Pros:

  • Simple, easy programming
  • Fantastic 5 second recovery time
  • Nearly perfect detection range

Cons:

  • Image focus quality is very poor
  • Only supports up to 16GB SD Card
  • Frequently stops functioning with “SDFUL” even though SD card is not full

Howdy, and welcome to our review of the Primos Truth Cam 35. The Truth Cam 35 is Primos’ first model of game cameras, and it is a very popular model. The camera features a 3MP sensor, runs off of 4 D-cell batteries, and the manual says it supports an SD card of up to 8GB. I actually tested the camera with a 16GB SD card, and it worked fine, but it would not work with a 32GB SD card. This is one of a large selection of inexpensive game cameras, so let’s take a look at how well the camera performs in the field.

Movement Detection

The first thing to note about this camera is that the detection range is quite good for such an inexpensive field camera. Many field cameras have detection ranges that are much wider than the field of view for the camera, which results in a number of “false” positive pictures. The Primos Truth Cam 35, on the other hand, has one of the best detection ranges of all of the competition, extending about half of the camera’s field of view. This means that if the camera is triggered, you’re pretty likely to get an animal within the image somewhere instead of just the hind end or nothing at all.

How Reliable is This Field Camera?

Unfortunately, the camera suffers from a pretty serious manufacturer’s defect that Primos is not terrific about fixing. After a week or two of taking pictures, the camera began to show “SDFUL” on the LCD display, which means the SD card is full. After removing the card and checking it, however, it wasn’t full. I even tried putting a completely empty SD card in the camera, and still had the same error message.

So, I called Primos for warranty replacement (the camera is covered by a 1-year warranty). Even though an Internet search shows that this is a very common defect and I was well within the warranty period, Primos charged me to ship the defective camera back to them and have a new camera shipped to me. When I received the replacement camera, it showed the same error message. Primos tried charging me shipping yet again, but I escalated the problem up their chain of command until I got someone who, reluctantly, sent me an RMA shipping label so I didn’t have to pay shipping for their mistake. Not exactly stellar customer service here.

What Is the Image Quality Like?

The Primos Truth Cam 35 has a 3MP sensor, so the camera isn’t quite as good as many others in this price range. Daytime pictures are absolutely gorgeous, with bright colors and excellent contrast. Nighttime pictures, on the other hand, suffer from poor focus. This is really inexcusable, because the 35 LEDs the camera has should provide more than enough light for a clear, crisp nighttime image. Primos says that various things like fog and a dirty camera lens can cause blurry pictures, but I noticed the problem on a night that had no fog and I had cleaned the camera lens just that day. The camera simply does not focus properly.

Your photos will be stamped with the date, time, temperature, and moon phase information, so you’ll know under what weather conditions your feed plots or trails are seeing the most activity.

What Picture-Taking Modes Does This Camera Offer?

This camera can be set for multi-shot bursts, but it does not offer true time-lapse photography. It can be set for bursts of 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 images per triggering, and can also be set to record video, if that’s what you prefer. The trigger speed when the camera is in sleep mode is a very impressive 1.5 seconds, with 0.3 second trigger speed when the camera is not asleep. Recovery time is a bare 5 seconds, so it will quickly recover and take the next picture. The trigger speed and recovery time is probably the best I’ve seen in a long time, especially in this price range.

You can choose the image quality from either Low (1.3MP) or High (3.1MP), and can choose videos of 10 seconds or 30 seconds in high resolution or 60 seconds in low resolution.

How Many Pictures Can I Store on this Camera?

How many pictures you can store will all depend on what size memory card you put into the camera. The Truth Cam 35’s manual says that it supports up to an 8GB SD card, but I tested it with a 16GB card and it worked just fine. With an 8GB SD card, you can store up to 6,610 high resolution pictures or up to 180 30 second videos on the SD card.

How Long Will Batteries Last Me?

After about 8 weeks of using the camera, my 4 D-cell batteries still showed 85% of the battery life remaining. This is pretty impressive, because the camera was mounted in the winter time and took a fair number of pictures both during the day and at night. The camera is definitely efficient in its battery usage.

Is This Field Camera Easy to Use?

The Primos Truth Cam 35 is very easy to use, featuring switches to set the different settings. Instructions are also printed on the inside of the camera door, so you can easily reference what the different settings will do. You have a switch to set it between photo, video, and off, and there is a switch to set the video length (10, 30, or 60 seconds). Another switch sets the delay between detections, and can be set to 10 seconds, 1 minute, or 30 minutes. Multi-shot mode allows you to set the number of shots per burst.

Summary of the Primos Truth Cam 35 Field Camera

Thanks for reading this review. The Primos Truth Cam 35 seems on the surface to be an excellent value, offering a great detection range, great trigger speed, and fantastic recovery time. Unfortunately, the camera firmware has a pretty serious bug to it that causes the camera to stop functioning after a short period of time. Best to pass on this one, folks, unless you’re feeling lucky. Take a look at Amazon.com’s price on the Primos Truth Cam 35 Camera if you’re interested.

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