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Setting up trail cameras in the field leads to a hands-on review of the Apeman H60, a budget trail cam with 20MP photos, 1080p video, a 120-degree detection angle and a 65-foot trigger distance. The camera is unboxed at a lakeside kiosk, then checked through the menu to set language, clock, photo and video options, sensitivity, and sound settings before heading out to three different locations.

The first setup targets a spot near the lake where a fox was previously photographed around an old shelter and path. The second is placed in a dry gorge after checking for tracks and prints that might suggest wildcat activity. The third returns to a stream crossing that once recorded jackals, a fox and a badger, with the camera aimed at the fallen branch and animal tunnel to see whether the route is still being used.

This is practical trail camera setup, wildlife monitoring and camera trap fieldwork for anyone interested in foxes, wildcats, jackals, badgers and animal tracking. It also offers a straightforward first look at a sponsored trailcam review, showing how the Apeman H60 is installed and configured in real outdoor conditions.

Ideal for viewers searching for trail camera review, camera trap setup, wildlife monitoring, animal tracking, fox trail cam, wildcat camera trap and budget trail camera testing. Also useful for nature photographers, field naturalists and anyone planning a DSLR camera trap who wants real-world trail cam placement ideas and setup tips.

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Travel
Transcript
00:00So hello again my friends.
00:03I have come to this little kiosk at the edge of the lake to do an unboxing, which will be
00:12my first unboxing and basically a couple of weeks ago, a few weeks ago now actually, I
00:22was approached by a company that make trail cameras, well trail cameras at least, they're
00:32called Aplan, I'm not sure what the company is called, and they asked me if I would review,
00:38do a video review of one of their trail cams.
00:43It's one of the budget end, so I think it's priced about £65 in the UK on Amazon, which
00:56is about, I guess just under $100 in American money, and it is the H60 trail camera from
01:09Ape Man, and it features 20 megapixel photos, with 1080p full HD video, a 120 degree detection
01:21angle and 65 foot trigger distance, what else it has, wide angle lens, and it also includes
01:33an SD card, a micro SD, which is pretty cool, so I'll just open this up and see what we
01:38have.
01:39So we have the usual user manual and a couple of little bits of paper.
01:45So I should state that this camera has been given to me for free, I haven't been paid anything
01:51extra for this review, and from my correspondence with them I am allowed to say things how I find
02:02them, so I will be as honest as I can.
02:04And I don't think it will disappoint.
02:06I mean for £65 it's on the budget end, like I said, of cameras, so I'm sure it will perform
02:15nicely.
02:16And so we have in the package a strap for tying around trees and things, there is a charging
02:26cable I guess, or a download cable, and a mounting plate for mounting it on trees again and being
02:36able to change angle etc, you can screw it on to something, you can see the SD card in here,
02:43it's supposed to have an SD, there it is, and a little micro SD card as well.
02:51So, first inspection, it looks like a pretty standard little trail camera.
03:05It is waterproof, and it has a pretty standard layout inside menu and screen, where you can
03:16access the menu and the settings.
03:20And it also has, which I've just noticed, a nice little drawstring for the battery cover.
03:31So just pull on the little string here, and it opens up the battery cover which is brilliant,
03:38because my other one doesn't have that little string, and you need really long nails to try
03:45and get in there and try and wedge it open, which I don't have, and I always find it difficult
03:50to actually hook that latch and pull that cover over open, but with this little bit of string
03:59makes it very simple.
04:01So I'll set this up, and what I'm going to do, I'm going to place three cameras
04:07out today.
04:10One for fox, one for wildcat, and one which is, I'm going to replace the one that I had
04:19set up last spring along the stream, to see if the animals that I captured back then, which
04:27was a jackal, a fox and a badger, or a couple of jackals actually, see if they're still around
04:33and still using that route.
04:35And if they are, I might in the next couple of weeks set up the camera trap to try and
04:41get a decent shot of them as well.
04:55Now that I'm going to link to this picture, the mirror clip is a nice thing to see if there's
04:58a
04:58nice guy that looks like that's some kind.
04:59So, I'm going to use this picture to start a little bit, but I'll get the picture
04:59that you have to do.
04:59Thanks for watching.
04:59Hey, guys.
04:59You got to see the other camera.
05:00Thanks for watching.
05:01It's such a cool thing.
05:04Now, we're going to check.
05:04How are you doing?
05:10And I'm going to show you now that you're doing this.
05:23So I'm going to choose English, set clock, and it is 2021, February,
05:4411, okay, format, yes, so that's a very simple way of setting up the camera, let's go in
05:57and choose photo mode, camera, video, or camera plus video, we just want video I
06:10think, photo size, let's go for maximum photo size, video size, 1080p, serial number is
06:27off, side peer is on, peer sensitivity is high, we don't want that, we want to set it at medium,
06:34so it's not being set off with all sorts of things, beep sound, let's turn that off, volume
06:49record, let's record volume, and that's it.
06:56And the camera is set up, that simply, amazing, okay, so really simple to set up, I'm going
07:05to switch it off for the moment to save batteries, close it up, and let's go find somewhere to
07:15set the camera.
07:18So the first place I'm going to set up, I had come to this spot here, which is a little
07:22kiosk, right next to the river, er, river of the lake, and I had come here to do a time
07:28lapse of the mountains opposite, which you can't see at the moment, because they're all covered
07:32in cloud, and as I was doing the time lapse, it was a freezing cold day, and I jumped back
07:39in the car to stay warm whilst the camera was running, and no sooner had I done that,
07:44this little fox jumped out of the hedges back here, and he just sat here and let me photograph
07:50him, and I'll show you a photo of that now, of him, and I think, basically this spot here,
07:58you will see this little hut that somebody has made, um, was on behalf of a stray dog and
08:06her puppies, and they were, they basically built this little hut for them, in the middle
08:13of nowhere, and they would come out occasionally and feed them I guess, and it is now all abandoned,
08:19and I'm guessing that because of the, um, the food that they would bring, it also attracted
08:27the fox, er, out here, and apart from that, apart from the food that they were leaving for
08:34the dogs that I think might have attracted the fox here, it's also, there's a path that
08:40winds, this path winds its way down to the lakeside, and it's probably where he might try
08:46and grab a bird for dinner, I'm thinking. Anyway, we'll, I'll set the camera trap up, and, er,
08:55we'll trap the trail cam, and, um, see if we get anything in a few days time.
09:06Interesting discoveries I've crawled through, um, there's a little, like, almost where he's
09:13dug out, here, and made a bed for himself, in the straw, and I think there's more, another
09:23one back there as well. So, what I might do is, um, find a location here, on one of these
09:35trees to put the, um, the trail cam, and, er, see if we get lucky.
10:04And the camera's set up. Okay, let's hope that works, and I'll be back
10:12in a couple of days, to see if we manage to record anything. Okay, let's try and get
10:18out of here now. Okay, so I've reached the second location that I want to set up the camera.
10:28This one is for, um, Wildcat. So, I thought I might try and set up a camera in this gorge,
10:39which you can see behind me, in this little, um, it's a dry stream at the moment. And, er,
10:48see if we get lucky. Before I do, I'm gonna have a wander up and down and see if I
10:52might
10:52spot some tracks of any kind, er, that will give me a clue as to if it is being used,
11:00er,
11:01by the cat, or not. So, bear with me whilst I go on a little hunt.
11:21Okay, I found two prints. But they're just that prints, not tracks. Which look like they
11:30could be a cat. But everything is washed away, and what I did find, ooh, that's interesting.
11:41There's a rather deep hole here. But I can't see any markings around it to say that it's been
11:56used at all. Okay, so here's some more prints. So there's something about in the sand. Some
12:22more here. Which is a little bit further down than where I had planned to set the camera
12:34trap. Because this location here is a little bit exposed. Okay. So I've decided to use this
12:49tree, which gives me a pretty wide view over this little gully here as it opens up. And
12:56I shall try and camouflage the camera as best I can.
13:19I shall try and camouflage the camera. No greenery. Bushes and things to wrap around and
13:49disguise it. So this will have to do. That is now on. Okay, so that's two trail cams set up.
14:10And
14:11now I'm off to the one that I had set up, I can't remember, almost two years ago. And I'm
14:19going to go now, in spring, along one of the canals. And just on the one night that I had
14:28let it out, because it was on the last night that I set it out, I spotted, it captured a
14:39couple of jackals, a fox and a badger. So I'm going to go and set the trail cam up there
14:47again. And see if I'm lucky again. And if they're still using that fallen branch across the stream.
14:59This is winter though, so that habits may have changed. I'm not sure. So anyway, I'll set the
15:08camera up there and we'll see what it captures if I think. So I shall catch up with you again,
15:16down by the stream.
15:40I'll see you again.
15:50Bye.
15:56Bye.
16:00Bye.
16:01Bye.
16:18Bye.
16:20Bye.
16:43Bye.
16:44Bye.
16:44Bye.
16:44Bye.
16:44Bye.
16:46Bye.
16:51Bye.
16:57Bye.
17:01Bye.
17:04Bye.
17:04The little tunnel through the brush where the animals were coming through is just here.
17:16So you can see it in there, and that leads directly to the crossing.
17:31So, again there's a few tracks around, it's all a bit muddled because the buffalo herds
17:38have been through here as well, so there's lots of buffalo marks, but I have seen some
17:43paw prints too, as well as hoof prints.
17:47Now that could be dog, the dogs that go along with the herds of buffalo, but it's just as
17:56likely to be jackal.
18:09There's also a smaller hoof print there which looks like it could be like a sheep or something.
18:16Anywho, I shall set up the trail cam on the other side of all this bramble, pointing back
18:28at the crossing log there, and see what we might see in a couple of days' time.
18:37So, let me just go do that, and I'll be back with you again.
19:17We'll see you again.
19:44That's set up, I'll just give you a quick look back through the brambles here.
19:50So we have the camera just down here, and this is the branch that they were crossing
19:58on last year from the other side of the stream, and with any luck it should hopefully record
20:09something again.
20:18So I shall leave that for a few days, and come back and see if we got lucky, so I
20:27shall catch
20:28up with you then.
20:29See you in a couple of days.
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