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Best wildlife cameras 2025
Trained horticulturalist Sarah grows our flower and veg trials. A perk of the job is tasting all the veg varieties so she knows which are the best.
The best wildlife cameras will give you clear images of birds on your feeders, while others may show you the scene after the deer has bolted.
Our expert tester spent weeks trying all the wildlife cameras on test, including models from Browning, NatureSpy, Zeiss and more.
We found four models that impressed our expert enough to become Best Buys.
These wildlife cameras are simple to set up and capture high-quality images both day and night.
How our tests find you the best
We've tested 11 wildlife cameras
We assess models from top brands to ensure you get the best performance.
Image quality
We compare how well they take still pictures and video in daylight and at night.
Ease of use
We'll tell you which are the easiest to set up and use.
We also test
the speed at which the camera is triggered by movement, the area it covers and more, so you'll find a wildlife camera you'll enjoy.
The best wildlife cameras from our tests
The biggest brands and the most popular 11 wildlife cameras are listed below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the wildlife camera test results.
Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and Best Buy recommendations.
| Product category | Price | Score | Picture quality day | Picture quality night | Video quality day | Video quality night |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sign up to reveal Get instant access to this and all our scores and recommendations Unlock tableDigital £8.99 per month, cancel any time. Already a member? Log in | 94% | |||||
| 94% | ||||||
| 92% | ||||||
| 89% | ||||||
| 83% | ||||||
| 81% | ||||||
| 71% | ||||||
| 68% | ||||||
| 61% | ||||||
| 54% | ||||||
| 37% |
Sign up to reveal
Get instant access to this and all our scores and recommendations
Unlock tableDigital £8.99 per month, cancel any time.
Already a member? Log in
Ignores price. Based on: picture quality in daylight 20%, picture quality at night 20%, video quality in daylight 20%, video quality at night 20%, ease of use (includes clarity of instructions, setting up the camera and programming camera operations) 10%, performance (combination of scores from a controlled test including detection angle, focal length, trigger speed and recovery time) 10%. Page last checked: November 2025. We are not able to show every retailer, and cheaper prices may be available.
Selected wildlife cameras we tested are listed in alphabetical order below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best wildlife cameras from our tests.
Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and Best Buy recommendations below.
Browning Dark Ops Pro X 1080
Available from: Wild View Cameras £164.99; NatureSpy £169.99
Browning Defender Pro Scout Max Solar
Available from Wild View Cameras £164.99; NatureSpy £169.99; NHBS £169.99
Browning Recon Force Elite HP5
Browning Strike Force Pro x 1080
Greenfeathers Garden Wildlife Trail camera HD
Greenfeathers WiFi Outdoor Wildlife HD camera
HikMicro M15 4G cellular trail camera
Available from: Mountain Warehouse £129.99; Optics Warehouse £129.99
NatureSpy Helarctos Solar Trail Camera
Available from: Wild View Cameras £134.99; NatureSpy £139.99
NatureSpy Ursus Nova Trail Camera
Available from: NatureSpy £119.99
NatureSpy Wifi WildCam 2
Available from: Wild View Cameras £114.99; NatureSpy £119.99
Zeiss Secacam 5 Wide Angle
Which? Don't Buy
Our tests uncover the best and the worst. If a product performs so poorly that we think you should avoid it, we call it a Don't Buy.
We've tested one wildlife camera that we've named a Don't Buy.
To find out which it is, and which wildlife cameras earned our Best Buy and Great Value recommendations, log in or join Which?.
How we test wildlife cameras
We chose cameras from major brands that are widely available online.
We carried out a controlled test at our site in Hertfordshire using rows of markers to gauge the field of view, focal length and trigger speed of the cameras.
We then set up each camera to take still pictures and video in daylight and at night for at least a week during the summer.
We attached the cameras to fence posts and sturdy logs in an area we knew was frequented by a variety of wildlife.
We assessed the still images and videos from each camera for quality and clarity. We also rated how easy each camera was to set up and use.
Why you can trust us: at Which? we're free from manufacturer and retailer influence. Find out more about our impartiality and how your support helps us to stay editorially independent.
Wildlife camera features explained
Low glow or no glow
Low glow cameras use brighter LEDs that give off a red glow that could be spotted by wildlife, while no-glow ones are invisible when triggered.
Trigger speed and recovery
Fast trigger and recovery times give you the greatest chance of capturing wildlife pictures. The best cameras have trigger speeds of 0.2 seconds and recovery times of 0.6 seconds.
Wi-fi and app enabled
All the cameras we tested save photos and videos to an SD card which you then put into your computer to view and download images. Our test included cameras that send pictures to an app via a local wi-fi hotspot or your home wi-fi. We also tried several that use the 4G network to send photos; these require a paid subscription to the app, so you need to bear in mind the additional cost.
Still pictures and video
Most cameras can take still and video images, although not both at once – some can be set to take a still shot followed by a video if the animals are still there. Night videos tend to be a bit grainy compared with still images and those taken in daylight.
Power source
Most cameras are battery operated, although some are now powered by solar panels with batteries as a backup. NatureSpy sells a separate solar panel that can be linked to some of its own-brand cameras. We tried one livestream camera that ran off mains power, which we found to be impractical even in a small garden setting.
Livestream cameras
These monitor an area constantly and send an alert to an app on your phone when motion is detected. You can then watch the live video via your phone. We tried two basic models and found the image quality was low-resolution and couldn’t match that of the other cameras on test. Both needed to be screwed to a post so were more hassle to set up.
Programmable timer
You can set the camera to operate at particular times of day to focus on hedgehogs at night or early morning birds, for example.