Most trail cameras today stick to the tried and true methods of straight-ahead motion sensing and capturing of images. What caught my eye about this Moultrie trail camera, is how it breaks out of that mold with an array of 3 sensors and wide view panoramic photos.
Before I get into the full Moultrie Panoramic 150 review, ask yourself: How often have you pulled your memory cards, only to find pictures of just faces or rear ends of a deer, leaving you wondering what else you might have missed? The Panoramic 150 has the potential to make that a problem of the past.
Contents:
Technical Facts
- Trigger Speed: 1 second after motion has been triggered.
- Recovery Time: Approximately 6 seconds to be ready to take another photo.
- Detection Range: 60 feet.
- Field of View: 150-degree wide view.
- Flash Type: Low Glow Infrared Flash
- Flash Range: Up to 70 to 100 feet.
- Display: 2 lines, 16 character LCD screen, with backlit menu buttons for use in low light conditions.
- Size: 5 inches tall, 4.5 inches wide, and 4.5 inches deep.
- Housing: Weatherproof housing, with Mossy Oak Treestand Camouflage, standard tripod mount on the bottom, and mounting loops on the back.
Unboxing
- (1) Moultrie Panoramic 150 Camera.
- (1) Olive colored 1-inch nylon mounting strap.
- (1) Moultrie window decal for your truck.
- (1) User Guide.
- 1 Year Manufacturer’s Warranty.
Sometimes trail camera manufactures will bundle in image management software, but if you buy a Panoramic 150, you won’t find any extras in the box. That’s not really a big deal to me, because I can’t remember a time where the software was good enough to justify the added cost.
To use the camera right away, you will need to buy an SD memory card (32GB max), as well as 6 C cell batteries.
Modes of Operation
- Motion Delay Mode: Delay mode puts the camera into sleep mode for a specified time immediately after taking a photo, conserving battery life.
- Multi-Shot Mode: The camera will capture 2 to 3 images one after another each time the motion sensor has been activated.
- Panoramic Mode: When one of the 3 motion sensors are activated, the Panoramic 150 records one image at each location, creating one panoramic image of the area.
- Single Shot Mode: The 150 will take a picture, or multiple pictures when one of the sensors is activated.
- Timelapse Mode: Motion detection will be disabled, and you will get an image at each time interval for the set period of time.
- Hybrid Mode: If an animal comes into the range between time-lapse images, the PIR will be triggered and you will get the picture of the animal.
- Night Mode: The Panoramic 150 has a bank of 30 “Low Glow” LED lights for the flash.
Image Quality & 150° Field of View
The wide angle field view is by far the most interesting feature of this camera. The Moultrie 150 accomplishes this by using an array of 3 detection sensors, and a rotating camera lens.
Where a normal trail camera would miss a deer moving in on either side, the Panoramic 150 will pick up that motion with a side sensor and rotate the camera to capture an image of the target.
Right away, I can see 2 awesome applications for this camera. First, if you have a large food plot, farm field, or woods opening, the 150 makes it much easier to watch over a large area.
Second, sometimes I have suspected deer were around but my regular camera wasn’t getting pictures. The rotating camera lens will triple the coverage area and make sure I’m not missing deer in the area
While they advertise the FOV at 150°, in reality, it ends up being more like 120°, which is still several times wider coverage than a standard game camera.
Here are a few sample images to judge for yourself. The day and night pictures both look pretty clear, and I like how it picks up animals near and far no matter which sensing zone they happen to be in.
See the full gallery here.
What About Noise? There is a rotating lens on this camera, so yes, there will be some noise. But Moultrie has done a great job keeping the noise to a minimum.
In all of my searching around the web, it’s pretty clear that it runs nearly silent, and really bothers the hunters more than the deer.
Battery Life
This camera runs on 6 C cell batteries. Moultrie tells us that the batteries will last long enough to capture 9,000 photos, but I would expect to get 5 to 6,000 based on my research. Here are some tips for longer battery life:
- Do not use rechargeable batteries in the Panoramic 150. Stick with Energizer or Duracell alkaline or lithium batteries.
- Stick with Single Shot or Panoramic Mode for the longest life. Timelapse and Video modes will especially draw down your batteries faster.
- Keep in mind that battery life will be negatively affected if the outside temperatures are extremely low. Cold temperatures will draw down the batteries faster than in warmer conditions.
Security Features
This camera has a nice little optional security feature requiring you to enter a 5 digit passcode to use the camera. It won’t prevent someone from stealing your camera, but at least they will be sorely disappointed not being able to use it! If you forget your passcode, you’ll have to call Moultrie to get it unlocked, so choose your numbers wisely.
Like every other trail camera today, this one is compatible with a Python style cable lock, as well as the Moultrie Security Box.
Video Review
Pros & Cons
Pros > The Moultrie P-150 is an innovative design using 3 sensors, and a rotating lens, giving you 3 times the detection area compared to standard point and shoot trail cameras. This camera has outstanding 8MP image quality in both Day and Night modes, and has excellent detection and flash ranges.
Cons > The panorama pictures are not always perfectly stitched together into a seamless photo. You may get an occasional picture showing deer with back legs cut off, and this is due to the rotating camera lens taking slightly overlapping images to create a panoramic image. It also requires 6 C cell batteries to operate the camera, which is not ideal but is a necessity to power the rotating lens.
If you aren’t sure yet, you might want to check out our trail camera reviews.
The Verdict
While the panoramic images are not always perfectly stitched together, and you will need to buy a bunch of C cell batteries to run it, the Moultrie Panoramic 150 is a great camera for anyone looking for more coverage, or has large areas like food plots and fields to cover. The day and night pictures are crisp with very high quality.
Bottom Line – This trial camera offers scouting capabilities that no other trail cameras can. The 3x detection area, combined with high quality images, opens up new possibilities for innovative uses to gather more information about the movement of deer and other animals on your land.
Leave a reply