By Alex Comstock
Last summer I began hearing about a rather new trail camera company that seemed to be performing quite well. Me being someone who runs anywhere between ten and thirty trail cameras at one time spread across three states, I started to look into Exodus trail cameras. About that time, they came out with their brand new model, the "Lift II".
I knew I wanted to give this camera a go around, and was able to get a couple last July. After using them extensively since then, I've finally determined that now was a good time to go over everything the camera has to offer, and what I think about it.
Quality: Before I get into the nitty gritty about the specifics, I wanted to start with talking about not only the quality of the camera, but the company as a whole. From the moment you receive your trail camera, based on the packing it comes in, you can tell it's a quality camera. When I first put my hands on the camera, it's build and structure made me believe it would be my nicest trail camera before I even put one out. I am a strong believer of first impressions, and Exodus as a company gives you a pretty strong, positive first impression.
Simplicity: Next, I wanted to touch on the simplicity of the camera. Out of all the trail cameras I've owned over the years, there's not much more I dislike than having to spend more time than I want to setting the camera up. With the Exodus Lift II, you get a viewing screen, and it couldn't be set up any easier. You scroll through the options, set your preferences on the setting, and then slide the tab from "setup" to "on" and you're good to go. This was my favorite feature right off the bat.
The camera has a tab you can slide from off to setup to on, and allows you to easily program your settings how you would like.
Another thing I love about the viewing screen is it completely takes out any of the guessing game of whether or not you've got the camera pointed at the exact right spot. In certain situations, whether you're putting a camera up high pointed down, or in uneven terrain, you can see exactly what you're trail camera sees. Lastly, the viewing screen makes it simple if you want to check a trail camera quickly to maybe help decide where you will be sitting that day. You can walk up to your camera, and look through the photos right there on the camera. It's a feature I've never had before using an Exodus camera, and it's a vital asset.
The viewing screen easily allows you to see if your trail camera is in the right position or not.
Multiple Options: With this camera, you've got all the options you'd want as far as photos and videos are concerned. When your setting the camera how you'd like, you've got multiple options. You can set the camera to be in photo mode, video mode, time-lapse, or even hybrid. In hybrid mode, the camera will take a photo first, and then take a video. You've got options on how many pictures the camera will take, the delay, and the video length. You even have the option of using standard time, or military time when setting the camera up.
When I say there are multiple options with this camera, Exodus takes it to the next level. You can set the camera to your liking with the flash range, and sensitivity. I love having the sensitivity option, because in some places in North Dakota, with other cameras, I'll get hundreds or thousands of what I call "wind pictures". With this camera, I can set the sensitivity to low, and avoid this cluster.
Battery Life: Battery life is very important to me. One of the reasons I wanted to wait to do this review until after the season was because I didn't want to be claiming the camera had good battery life without putting them to the test. I put in batteries in August, and the same set of batteries are still in those cameras. The last time I was in North Dakota to check those cameras was in mid December, and if I remember correctly, they had around 30-40% battery life.
Video Quality: The Lift II has tremendous video with it's full frame HD video. It's crystal clear, plays back smoothly, and has a quality microphone built into the camera. I don't use video mode much, as I'm more of a picture guy, but I did put one of my cameras into video mode for a short time, and was very impressed with it.
Photo Quality: The photo quality with this camera really impressed me as well. The camera has a sub .04 second trigger speed, which leads to clear photos even with deer moving at a good clip. The one fear I had with this camera was nighttime pictures, but even that performed well. Below, I included a few photos from throughout the year to give you an idea on what you could expect from it.
Warranty: One of the major things that show how a company cares for its customers is what kind of warranty they have. With Exodus, you get a 5 year "No B.S." warranty, and they even provide a 50% off theft/damage replacement warranty. Simply put, if you have a camera stolen, or damage yours, you can get a hold of Exodus, and obtain a 50% off discount code. I don't know of anything else in the trail camera world that offers this kind of deal.
Conclusion: With no bias, this trail camera has undoubtedly become my best and most reliable camera. I'd strongly recommend them, especially if you are looking to pick up a camera that you want to put up, and not worry about it not working. With these cameras, I don't have to worry about them malfunctioning, I get crystal clear images, and if I show up and it's stolen, I can get another one half off. Tough to beat that!
If you want to learn more about Exodus Trail Cameras, visit their website here.
