Backyard Wildlife Trail Camera, 16MP

Strap it to a tree and find out what actually comes through your yard. Most people are surprised — raccoons, possums, deer, foxes and neighbourhood cats move through at hours nobody is awake to see.

A motion sensor wakes the camera when something crosses in front of it, so you are not scrolling through nine hours of empty grass. At night it switches to infrared, which lights the scene without a visible flash that would scare the animal off.

What it does

• 16MP stills and 1080p video
• Infrared night vision — no visible flash
• Motion-activated, with date and time stamped on every capture
• Weatherproof housing, made to be left outside
• Adjustable strap — fits round a trunk, a post or a fence rail

Where to put it

Point it along a path rather than across one — an animal walking toward the lens stays in frame far longer than one crossing it. Waist height on a trunk covers most backyard traffic. Avoid aiming into open sky or at west-facing ground, where afternoon sun triggers false captures.

Good to know

Takes a microSD card and batteries, neither included. Check your card before you leave it out for a week — an unformatted card is the most common reason one of these comes back empty.