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Detection & Trigger - 8.5/108.5/10
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Images & Video - 8.7/108.7/10
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Battery Life - 8.5/108.5/10
Review Summary
The G42NG has become one of my favorite new cameras. If you can find it for a good price, I would consider it one of the best trail cameras for your money. It looks great, has a solid feel, takes sharp colorful pictures, doesn’t seem to miss much in its detection zone.
The Stealth Cam brand of trail cameras, manufactured by GSM Outdoors, has gained a strong following and built a good reputation for building quality trail cameras. The Stealth Cam G42NG is their top of the line no glow (black flash) trail camera. The G42NG is touted as being a fast triggering, high definition camera with super long battery life.
What’s great is, even though it is one of GSM’s top trail camera models, it is still one of the more affordable trail cameras available. I have been looking to add cameras to my fleet, and during my research, Stealth Cam kept coming up in forums. I saw a bunch of good reviews online for the G42NG so I decided to buy one and then do a hands-on review.
Contents:
Tech Specs
Tech Specs- (1) Image Sizes: 10 Megapixel, and 8MP-4MP-2MP, with a 16:9 widescreen format for larger Field of View.
- Video: HD, 5 to 180 seconds long with audio
- Trigger Speed: 0.5 seconds
- Recovery Speed: 5 seconds
- (2) Detection Range: 100 feet
- Flash Range: 50 feet, with 42 Black Flash IR Emitters for low light sensitivity.
- Batteries: Operate with 8 AA Batteries, (Alkaline or Lithium Ion only).
- Size: 4.0” Wide, 5.5” Tall, 2.5” Deep
- (3) SD Card Slot – Compatible with up to 64GB cards.
- (4) Quick Set Slider for Easy Setup Changes.
- (5) Battery Compartment Eject Button.
- (6) 2 Line Backlit LCD Status Display that can be seen externally.
Unboxing
Here are all my photos from unboxing the G42NG. It comes in a nice box and clam-shell packaging.
Ease of Use
Like other Stealth Cam models, the G42NG has a ”Quick Set” slider inside the housing for super fast, dead simple setup. There are settings 01, 02, 03, Custom, and Test. Custom allows you to use the LCD menu and buttons to select the exact functions you want to happen when the camera is triggered.
A nice bonus security feature is the passcode setting, which allows you to set a password that is required to operate the camera. If somebody steals your camera, at least it will be a useless brick to them!
Image Quality
Daytime Images – The daytime image quality on the G42NG is very good. Up close pictures are very sharp and the color is vivid, with very little washout. The Stealth Cam has a blur reduction feature they call Matrix, and there are several adjustments to the blur reduction within the setup menus.
The G42NG is compatible with 64GB memory cards, which is very helpful if you plan on taking up Stealth Cam’s claim of 1-year battery life.
Night Images – The night pics are pretty solid as well, the IR flash is very bright and will illuminate a pretty large area. This is due to the Retina low light performance system, made up of 42 black flash IR emitters and the sub 1-second trigger speed.
You will occasionally get some whitewash on near object night photos, this is probably due to the fact the camera has such good close range focus and bright IR flash.
The camera has a 10MP image sensor, and a 16:9 wide image format for a nice wide Field of View. This really becomes apparent when you compare 2 cameras pointed at the same spot.
Operational Modes – Other modes on this camera are the 6/9 image burst mode, HD video with sound, timelapse, and a manual point and shoot mode.
Image Info Bar – All images can be stamped with the standard time, date, temperature, and moon phase information, as well as a custom programmable camera name.
Geo Tagging – The G42NG also has a Geo Tagging function, that when enabled, will store the GPS coordinates in the metadata of each image file. You can use this information to help with trail camera photo management. You can create custom maps with images at their recorded Geo Tagged location.
Trigger Performance
The G42NG has an ultrafast trigger speed of just under 0.5 seconds. GSM calls the Reflex Sub 1-Second trigger. That fast of a trigger will drastically reduce the number of head and butt shots showing half a deer. The downside of the trigger circuit is the recovery time, which clocks in at a pedestrian 6.5 seconds.
Where most cameras have just one distance and angle, the Stealth Cam G42NG has three. On with a short wide angle zone, a medium zone, and a narrower longer distance detection zone. The result is a consistent detection zone, with a very large coverage area.
Battery Life
GSM advertises a “1 Year Battery Life” on this camera, which is pretty amazing. With that said, you will need a lot of batteries to power the G42NG, as it requires 8 Alkaline or Lithium AA batteries. It is important to note that you should NOT use NiMh rechargeable batteries in this camera. Just like most powerful trail cameras, this camera will not be able to take night photos with rechargeable batteries due to the power needed to fire the IR emitters. There is simply not enough juice to draw on
User Feedback
So far in my research, I have found many reviews from a handful from other stores. I know how frustrating trail cameras can be sometimes, and that number of reviews should inspire confidence. One reviewer commented that they owned 6 NG42 cameras and was the best scouting camera they had ever used. That user and several others even wrote about how they would be replacing other trail cameras with Stealth Cams.
Pros & Cons
Pros – I love the case design on the Stealth Cam G42NG, it almost looks like it was inspired by Star Wars. I found this game camera to be extremely easy to use. Once I got past the initial setup, there were very few button presses required to set the camera up for scouting again. I just used the slider to set the camera to what I needed, and off I go.
The trigger speed is top notch, as are the daytime photos. I really think the widescreen 16:9 images are the way to go for game camera manufacturers. Geo Tagging the GPS coordinates in the image metadata will be useful for organizing all the photos I pull from the camera over time.
Cons – The trigger speed is offset by the only average recovery time, and the G42NG takes a lot of AA batteries to achieve the long battery life. The biggest issue is the occasional over exposed night pictures. Making sure your firmware is up to date will fix most of the issues.
Hi, I have owned one these for over a year now. The camera take good and video. I can’t find a way to get video to last longer than ten seconds I get so frustrated when nice buck walks up and all you get is ten seconds of video. I had a Moultrie 2mp do a better job than this one.
Gary, Thanks for the feedback, it is a really good camera. Try checking to see what setting the camera is on. If it is set to “Q3” it will only take 10 second videos. You want it on “Custom”, then use the arrow key to go to the Video option, press Enter and the option will start blinking, then use the arrow key to change the video length. Press Enter again and it will be set.
can you just set the length of time for the video in custom mode? or do you have to set times etc?
my g42ng stealth camera is locked in the security key mode , anyone know how to free it up? thanks jws
Register it with the manufacture. Then, return it to be unlocked.
Hi
It takes good pictures far away but close up is blurred how do i set blur reduction within the setup menus.?
Thanks from the UK
Hi Steve, The Blur Reduction is under Custom > Mode > PIR Photo > Reduced Blur. But, I believe it is meant to reduce blur on night images. If the animal is moving across the image sensor, the blur will be more pronounced up close. See this sample:
Sent mine back faulty after 3 weeks, replaced with 36 ng new model returned the next day as also faulty.
Why do you think it was faulty? I’ve had so many of these and others and had 0 issues.
Trail cams are tools, not DSLR digital cameras with HD quality and zero blur, so maybe your expectations are too high.
What “card reader” software under Windows 10 do I need to view images on my PC ? And how do I get it ? Thanks. Novice
You shouldn’t need any viewing software for Windows 10. Just insert the SD card into your computer and you should be able to view/copy the images from there.
My camera does not take night photos. Is there a setting I need to use to get night photos?
I have one also that I bought recently and it also does not take night photos.
Try updating the firmware. http://www.gsmoutdoors.com/downloads/92/stealth-cam-g-prog-series/
Is there a difference way to up date my computer does not have a sd slot?
I really don’t think there is.
I have found on mine if you use rechargeable batteries or cheap AA it won’t do night videos. It needs 1.5 volts and rechargeables only do about 1.2 volts. I put lithiums in haven’t had a problem since.
G42NG how do I set it to take a photo and then take a 10 second video????
You should be able to set that in the “Custom” mode.
you can’t with this cam…disappointing that you can’t do video and pics together like other cameras
My camera taking videos during the day flickers on the video when I watch it. (Bad). At night its perfect. Has anyone else experienced this?
Yes. That’s why I’m looking through this forum!
I am having that same problem and I do not know why. I would love some help with this.
Same here.. There has to be something wrong with some of the units if others are doing the same thing.. Night time works great but most all the day videos flicker..
Can the animals see a flash at night?
It’s No Glow so they won’t see a flash.
I like my g42 but the problem I’m having is the the shutter doesn’t open all the way and I get a line in my pics and when it take the next pic it like clear as day.it has to take to pic to get a clear picture what do I have to do to clear that up
I think you’ll have to ask Stealth Cam about the slow shutter. Glad you’re getting clear pics otherwise.
I have been getting some videos with no animal life. Will leaves blowing trigger the camera?
It can happen. Try mounting it a little higher, and try to keep any loose branches out of the view of the sensor.
What is the best card to use in G42NG?
Hi Walter, I use Sandisk 16GB memory cards, just make sure they are the fast Class 10 type like these: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Class-UHS-I-Memory-SDSDUNC-016G-GN6IN/dp/B0143RTB1E/
I got the ame card in 64 GB and it says card error when I turned my new camera on. it says on the box additional features are that it up to 64GB. can u help me to fix it
Hi My g42ng stealth camera does not take night photos. Is there a setting I need to use to get night photos?
It should work on any of the Quick Set options. Make sure you are using good alkaline AA batteries (not rechargables) because night operations takes alot of juice. Make sure you have a good SD card (Class 10 is best). Make sure your firmware is up to date. Here are the owner manuals http://www.gsmoutdoors.com/downloads/86/stealth-cam-g-pro-g-series/
How do I find out which version of the N42NG I have so I can update the firmware? There is no label on it anywhere to tell me. In Test Mode, it displays V02.02.13457. Is this possibly version 2, firmware version 02.13457? Thanks.
I suspect you are right. Get in touch with GSM to confirm.
http://www.gsmoutdoors.com/page/customer-service/
Hi i bought one at a pawn shop and prgramed it but wont take pics have no manual say card is locked.is this a problem should i take it back to store or am i just doing something wrong
Check your SD card first. There is a small sliding lock on the side, make sure it’s in the unlocked position so that the camera can write data to it.
I think this camera is really good, I’ve been using Bushnell for a while, but I really think this one is verubeasy to use. The main issue that I find with this camera, is the night video length, apparently it records 3 minute videos at day, but only 30 seconds at night, which is kind if lame because the animal I monitor are mainly active at night.
Out of All the Brands in the last 3 years this has been the better one I have had… There is No Both Mode as to get a Pic & a Vid. You can turn off the audio which is a nice feature other brands and models you cannot and it is such poor audio it makes it nice if a game camera can! You will need to Call StealthCam for any kind of Support they never reply to emails but suggest you Call Them. The Label on the Rear of the Cam there is a V for Version but they have several versions and heard if you do a firmware update with the wrong File it will lock your cam. And last if you have an Issue and return one for a Warranty issue you will only get back a Refurbished Unit not a “new” one. Sent back a G26NG and that is what I got I contact them and was told that is what they Offer not New… Also just be aware the file size is larger than other Brands if that is a concern I always use a 32 GB SD Card Extreme 45MBs The ones StealthCam offers are only a 20 MB’s if I recall but more $. You can find one for 110.00 sometimes even less…
What’s the best setting to use? I just want to see what kind of deer are coming in. Does the flash work automatically or do I have to set that up?
Went to check game camera and I noticed it had a Diamond shape code on it, and wasn’t on, what does this mean with the Diamond?
I bought one primarily for the 100ft detection range. It’s hooked up to a SpyPoint cell adapter, and I’m testing it in my back yard. It’s taken pictures of me when I walk in front if it to make an adjustment. Today I’ve been watching a fawn walk back and forth in front of it from 10′ to about 50′, but no pictures yet.
Have use this camera for years, tried other brands and this g42ng is the best, love the feature of camera active.