Ltl Acorn 6210 MC and Bushnell 119467 - Review - Part 4

Back to Part 3 - First Impressions and Case design

Fig 20  Bushnell 119467 showing main PCB and the
back of the IR LED Array at top left

Infra Red LED Arrays and Power Consumption:


Following on from the last part of this review, I wanted to quickly compare how the two different approaches to achieving invisible or no glow IR LED's impacted on battery performance, and coincidentally find out how the cameras performed at low temperatures.


Test conditions and set up: 
Each camera powered by 4 New Energizer Industrial Alkaline cells each measuring 1.62 volts.
SanDisk SDHC 4GB memory cards.
Cameras set on time lapse to take

Trail Cameras for Sale

Ltl Acorn 6210
No glow cameras from £190
Including a full set of batteries, 
a 4GB SanDisk SDHC memory card
and free UK shipping

Ltl Acorn 5210
No glow cameras from £160
Including a full set of batteries, 
a 4GB SanDisk SDHC memory card
and free UK shipping

It wasn't my original intention to monetize this web site but I quickly realised that if I was going to be able to do useful survey work I would need many more trail cameras than my limited budget would allow.

From that need was born the arrangement I now have with Wildlife Services, which is to offer wildlife survey equipment at reasonable prices with good service and information backup. 

I earn a commission from each sale which is used to help me purchase more cameras for my survey work.

The principal products I offer are the trail cameras I use myself, because in my opinion, they provide the best value for money presently available; and I am committed to their use for my survey work.

I am currently in the middle of researching and writing a joint review of the Ltl Acorn 6210 and the Bushnell Trophy black flash with colour viewer #119467 Trail Cameras; and there is a considerable and growing amount of information about these cameras available on these pages.

While the Bushnell is undoubtedly an extremely good camera, producing slightly better quality still images than the 6210, I feel that the 6210 offers much better value for money. Both cameras have their pros and cons, but at the much lower price and indeed with its higher overall specification, I don't believe there is a camera of this type to equal the Ltl Acorn 6210.

Update 04.02.2014
There have been some changes since I wrote this post but not my opinion of the Acorn 6210. My arrangements I with Wildlife Services had also shifted a little more recently with my having more sales involvement in the form of testing and despatch. This was primarily because of issues with the GPRS module which now seem to be resolved.

The extra work was too much and I'm now way behind with repairs and not getting any survey work done. In future I will be concentrating on repairs, parts and technical support plus a lot more wildlife work. Future sales will be through the links on my sales page and will go straight into the Wildlife Services system.

It means that I will no longer be carrying out extensive testing of every camera sold but Martin Bailey at Wildlife Services now has a protocol in place which covers all the basic camera functions and will be conducting his own pre-sale tests.

River survey for Trail Camera locations

Pools and falls in a defile at about 250 metres

I've been planning a camera survey of a mountain river bordered by a mix of farm land, forestry plantations and open hill. Yesterday I spent several hours in its middle section, looking for camera locations.

The river rises on the hill at a little over 400 meters, crosses the forest boundary at 300 meters and runs into the main river at 100 meters above sea level.

A number of tributaries and flushes increase its volume as it travels through a series of defiles, ravines, small oxbows and waterfalls.

The banks have, among others, a flora of Heath, Grass, Bilberry, Birch, Rowan, Scots Pine, Larch, Alder and away from the banks are plantations of Scots Pine, Larch, Norway and Sitka Spruce; with rough grassland at the river's lower end.

A pool at the bottom of a small rapid with what might
be an otter trail going down the bank to the water's edge

A well used deer trail parallels the river for most of its middle section with other trails going to river
crossings as well as in and out of the forest. In various places trees have fallen across the river which make potential crossings for cats and mustelids; and in one place a trail which looked typical of Otter going down into a pool.

I've recently had cameras out near the lower, middle section of the river and recorded Badger, Pine Marten, Red Squirrel, Red Deer, Roe Deer, Buzzard, Jays and Hooded Crows.

I now plan to trap the whole section over the next three to four months, ever hoping to find evidence of the elusive Scottish Wildcat or as it is often referred to these days, the Highland Tiger.

Ltl Acorn 6210 MC and Bushnell 119467 - Review - Part 3

Back to Part 2 - First Impressions and Case design

Fig 10 Energizer Industrial AA Alkaline cells
used during camera tests and evaluation

Batteries and Power Supplies:


In part 2 of this review I complained about the design of the battery compartment in the Bushnell, which on reflection, was not entirely justified.


The battery cells are loadable without the cross bar being removed, as shown in Fig 11. It's still a 

Fig 11 Inserting cells into the battery case of a 

Bushnell Model #119467

bit of a fiddle, especially when removing them, but it does work.

Acorn 6210   Internal cells are arranged as three
sets of four (Fig 12). Each set is isolated from and in parallel with the others. The external DC input is a fourth isolated circuit, also in parallel with the other three circuits.

The camera will operate with just four cells in any one of the circuits or an external DC power source of 6 to 12 volts plugged (see Fig 13) into the DC input socket. Use an external battery pack or a solar panel. The centre pin is positive polarity.

Be certain to observe the correct polarity, as indicated on the inside of the battery covers, when inserting cells

Fig 12 Acorn 6210 internal battery circuits numbered 11 22 33
 Sets of 4 x AA cells 

Because the circuits are isolated and in parallel, if any set of cells in one circuit is at a lower charge, they will not drain power from the other sets.


When all battery cells are removed the Acorn is able to retain time and date settings long enough to change batteries but with the Bushnell these will be lost. Keep one set of cells in place while you change the others to avoid having to reset the time and date.

Bushnell 119467   The arrangement of power circuits (see Fig 12a) is basically the same as the Acorn 6210 except that it can only use a 6 volt 
external supply.

Trees for Life Lecture Tour during March and April 2012

LECTURE TOUR CELEBRATES PLANTING OF A MILLION TREES IN CALEDONIAN FOREST

Celebrations for the planting of the Millionth Tree by conservation
charity Trees for Life in Scotland’s Caledonian Forest will be launched in
March with a two-month lecture tour across Britain by the charity’s
founder and executive director, Alan Watson Featherstone.

From Ullapool to Devon, Alan will travel the length and breadth of the
country throughout March and April to inform and inspire audiences with
The Millionth Tree lecture tour. Trees for Life will plant its Millionth

Scottish Wildcat Association - Highland Survey

The Scottish Wildcat Association is currently collecting information on the Scottish Wildcat populations within the highlands, including Argyll.

The increasingly rare species - Britain’s most endangered mammal - is under threat from habitat loss and from the dilution of its gene pool through assumed interbreeding with domestic cats.

Shy, wishing above all to avoid physical contact, the wildcat will run by choice. However, if cornered it will fight, ferociously and to the death.

The Scottish Wildcat Association website is both a huge source of information and one of inspiration, with some thrilling and magical coverage of these quite magnificent mammals.

We include two photographs in this article to give you a visual fix but, especially with hybridisation with domestic cats, there is wide species variation. So if you think you are seeing wildcats, or someone you know thinks they have done, it is better to inform the Association and be wrong than miss possible confirmation of some of the population.

If you observe wildcats or have any information on wildcats in your locality, please email jason@scottishwildcats.co.uk

Any information you can give will be valuable and very much appreciated.

Where to see and photograph Red Squirrels in the Highlands

A new leaflet has recently been published by the Highland Red Squirrel Group

It shows where to find 12 red squirrel viewing hot spots around the Highlands.  These are great places to see wild red squirrels feeding.  All have car parks so they are easily accessible.


The map and information below are reproduced from the leaflet for anyone who isn't able to get a copy.


Leaflets are being made available free from most public places, shops, cafe's and tourist destinations around the area;

Stop the biomass blackout: say no to the UK's destructive bioenergy policies - The Ecologist

Sustainability is a word that has become associated with biofuels and biomass. We believe that the biomass 'standards' planned by the UK Government are not worth the plantation-derived paper they are written on. They are based on flawed carbon accounting that ignores most carbon emissions and carbon debt and take no account of human rights abuses, land-grabs, food security, food sovereignty, biodiversity loss and adverse affects on soil, water and air quality. Companies can meet standards through a range of dodgy and discredited voluntary certification schemes..........Read more

New discoveries in charity’s ‘Lost world’ Highland estate

Larva of sawfly
(Amauronematus sp.)
feeding on dwarf birch
(Betula nana)
 on Dundreggan. 

Biodiversity surveys carried out on Trees for Life’s Dundreggan Estate, in Glen Moriston, Inverness-shire in 2011 – the first year of the United Nations Decade of Biodiversity (2011-2020) and also the International Year of Forests – have revealed a range of rare and endangered species.

The new discoveries on the 10,000-acre estate include the first Scottish record of one species of sawfly and what may be the first British record of another; the second-ever British record of a waxfly species; and species of spider, cranefly and dragonfly all listed in the UK’s Red Data Book of endangered species.

At least 60 priority species for conservation have now been identified on the site........Read more

The making of wildlife documentary Last of the Scottish Wildcats

Buy Last of the Scottish Wildcats DVD

Fungi Discovered In The Amazon Will Eat Your Plastic | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation

Polyurethane seemed like it couldn’t interact with the earth’s normal processes of breaking down and recycling material. That’s just because it hadn’t met the right mushroom yet.

I like the idea of anything that can eat plastic waste. Imagine what would happen if something that can eat plastic in an oxygen free environment was active globally.

Fungi Discovered In The Amazon Will Eat Your Plastic | Co.Exist: World changing ideas and innovation:

Ltl Acorn 6210 packaging

6210 boxed

Following on from my review comments about the packaging of the Ltl Acorn 6210, we have received these images from the manufacturers.

This is apparently how they leave the factory, so something is obviously happening to them during transit.

If we manage to get to the bottom of the issue I'll post the results.

6210 outer packaging