Hitting the market in 2020, the Browning Spec Ops Edge is a little more capable than its close sibling, the Recon Force Edge, while also being made with the same attention to detail and overall quality as all products from this respected wildlife camera brand.

Let us take a look at what features, functions and new options are provided by the Spec Ops Edge to give you a better idea as to whether this is the right trail camera for you.



Still photo capture

Day or night, the Spec Ops Edge 2020 will be able to take great photographs of animals of all shapes and sizes thanks to the 20 megapixel capture capabilities that it brings to the table.

Of course, raw pixel count is not the only indicator of a camera’s quality, but it is a useful indicator as to just how much detail will be squeezed into every shot. In this case, Browning’s hardware does an excellent job and you can change to a lower resolution if you wish, whether to squeeze more shots onto your memory card or simply because 20 megapixel snaps are much larger than makes sense for your purposes.


Video versatility

If you would also like to use your wildlife camera to record video footage of the myriad creatures that prowl around your garden, the Browning Spec Ops Edge has you covered. It can be set to start recording video when the motion sensor is triggered, and this smartly leveraged feature can even keep recording for up to two minutes while the animal is within its invisible IR beams.

You can capture video at 1920x1080, otherwise known as full HD or 1080p. The framerate can be set at either 30 or 60fps for this resolution, letting you achieve some seriously smooth recording results if you don't mind using up a little more storage space in exchange.



Trigger & timer settings

Amongst the new features offered by the Spec Ops Edge 2020 are its improved trigger adjustability and timer functionality.

You can change the trigger speed from the fastest level of 0.2 seconds down to a more sedate 0.7 seconds. This is useful for a variety of reasons, and your choice will depend on the kinds of animals you are hoping to capture. Fast-moving subjects will benefit from the quicker response, while slower creatures will benefit from being given a little more time to move into frame.

With the timer function, you can choose to set specific hours of the day during which the camera is operational. For example, if you want to only have it ready to snap and shoot at night, or within a specific window of time, you can do this and then let the device remain dormant in between.



Night vision capabilities

Being able to capture amazing snaps and video clips after dark is something that most wildlife camera buyers will be looking for in a prospective purchase. The Browning Spec Ops Edge 2020 can do just that, and achieves its night vision capabilities as subtly as possible thanks to the array of no-glow IR LEDs set around the camera lens.

Having a no-glow flash rather than a low-glow flash could be a valuable upgrade, especially if you are keen to prevent the triggering of the camera after dark from spooking any especially flighty and light-sensitive subjects that live in your area. Additionally, if you are intending to use this camera as a surveillance device for security purposes in addition to its wildlife-focused features, the lack of a glow from the LED flash will also mean that it is essentially invisible in low levels of ambient lighting.



Storage & encryption

Another of the neat features offered up by the Spec Ops Edge is that it is fully compatible with SD cards that have as much as 512GB of capacity to offer. Of course, if you don't want to use such a large card, it will work perfectly well with lower capacity alternatives.

Managing the storage is simple thanks to the built-in display, which measures 2 inches across the diagonal and is a full-colour unit so that you can change settings and see what photos and videos are stored on the camera without having to upload them to another device first.

If you intend to leave the camera in place for an extended period, you can set it to automatically begin overwriting the oldest photos and videos once the onboard storage capacity has been reached. This will likely be more relevant to users who intend to harness it primarily for security.

A quick update to the firmware of the Spec Ops Edge will let you take advantage of a new feature that allows the SD card to have all of its data encrypted automatically. This will mean that if the card falls into the wrong hands for some reason, it will not be possible to access the files it contains, giving you added peace of mind in a security application.


Conclusion

A quick look through the features and functions of the Browning Spec Ops Edge 2020 should be enough to show even newcomers to the world of wildlife cameras that this is a well-specified model with a lot to offer in terms of photo and video shooting potential. With other new models in the Browning range also available, this is a good year for the brand.



Feedback summary

The focus on the feedback for the Browning Spec Ops Edge wildlife camera, which is new for 2020, has been on its smarter ability to handle video recording. While more basic camera traps will be triggered by the motion of some animal passing in front of them and then record for a pre-determined amount of time, no matter what happens, this model takes an intelligent approach and can instead be allowed to choose its own recording lengths on the fly.

For example, if an animal darts into frame and then lingers for longer, the camera will detect this and keep recording, for clips of up to 2 minutes in length at resolutions of up to 1080p full HD. Alternatively, if only a brief visit is paid, the trap will trigger and then stop recording once it determines that the motion sensor is no longer being triggered.

Positive attention has also been paid to its use of no-glow infrared LEDs to supply its night vision capabilities with a high level of invisibility. Animals and people alike will be completely unaware that the camera has been tripped and that the flash has gone off or the video mode has been activated, making it very difficult to spot after dark.

Another of the major selling points of the all-new Spec Ops Edge is that it features an image processor designed by iCatch, which is a generational leap forwards in terms of the quality it delivers and the host of other features it unlocks in this context.

There are a significant number host of wildlife cameras on the market at the moment and Browning continues to prove that it is one of the best manufacturers around by upgrading its range so consistently and with new features that actually matter, as typified by the Spec Ops Edge 2020.