Compact trail cam packs a BIG PUNCH
It’s not cheap, but the new Little Acorn 8830 delivers a lot of quality and performance for your money
Little Acorn have been making wildlife cameras since 2010, and during that time, the Chinese company has released evermore advanced models culminating in the recent release of the 8830. The newest addition to the range is physically not a lot bigger than many others, with the exception of the Mini30, but the 8830 packs a significant amount into a compact space.
As with many other manufacturers, Acorn has opted to give users not only 4k video at 30fps and high-resolution stills but to also provide both 4G and 5G connectivity. This connectivity allows you to see when the camera has captured images, video or a mix of both and for you to be able to send a range of commands to the unit to alter settings whilst in use. The 8830 also boasts a nifty party trick of sending you a text message if it has been moved. To pack so much into the case, the manufacturer has
opted for a detachable screen to allow users to enter the settings needed to operate the camera. The user interface on this screen will be very familiar to existing Acorn owners; however, a few alterations have been made to accommodate additional functions.
Other changes include using 18650 batteries instead of the more usual AA cells. This does make the unit heavier but not excessively so. This does, however, increase the initial investment in the 8830 as the cells cost around £7 to £9 each depending on whether you opt for unprotected or protected cells, plus you will need a dedicated charger for them. You will also need to invest in a good quality class 10 SDHC card capable of at least 100 MB/s transfer speed with between 16GB and 128GB capacity. Images and video files are stored on the SD card as well as being sent to you via email or stored using FTP. This, together with a data plan and associated sim card, means that this trail camera will probably interest keen naturalists and ecologists (additional probes are available for temperature, humidity and soil moisture measurements). Others who will find this camera to their liking are those involved in security.
Choose your model
A number of versions are available, including white light, 850nm or 940nm, allowing you to tailor the model to your particular requirements.
But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so what is it like to use? Thankfully the unit I had on loan was pre-setup with a sim card and email address already configured. There is an option to use Acorn's cloud service, which is required if you use the optional environmental probe mentioned above. The cloud service provides storage, management and viewing of images and video, but I didn't try these during my time with an 8830. Looking at the user manual, setting up the unit seems straightforward, and once up and running,
the camera will tell you if everything is okay.
With the higher-capacity battery pack, the unit will run longer before recharging. Still, it is difficult to quantify this as it depends on the number of images and videos it shoots, their resolution and resultant file size, and how many it sends via email. The still and video images are probably the best I've seen from a trail camera, and the 120º angle of view gives good coverage and depth of field. Colour rendition is also excellent, having shot during the heatwave and the wet weather that followed. Acorn has also improved the trigger time on this model to a stated 0.4 of a second, which is fast.
In use, the 8830 feels solid and robust and comes with a strap for attaching the unit to a tree or other suitable structure. For some reason, Acorn often put the tripod mount on the back of the units making it awkward to use on anything with a 1/4" thread. I would also advise anyone considering investing in an 8830 to use a dedicated email address to allow the image files to be received into an inbox set up just for that purpose. Using your primary email address can be a pain, as you will probably get a significant number of emails from the camera.
Would I recommend it? Yes, assuming you have the need for it, the camera alone costs £485 plus batteries, charger and an SD card. The importer's sale price for the package is £575,
and there are ongoing costs associated with the data plan, but despite these considerations, the results you get and the convenience of receiving images remotely make it a worthwhile purchase.