No, that "P.C." does NOT stand for politically correct. Anyone who has read my writing for more than a month or so knows that my name and politically correct rarely, if ever, belong in the same sentence. That PC stands for Pacific Concepts. I found this company displaying a new tactical camera at SHOT Show and had to stop to take a look. What caught my attention was the fact that the camera was both wireless and waterproof and I could have one for under $200. Of course, I had to see how easy it would break with a price like that. Here's what I found out.
First, the price: Could you really get a camera to mount on your weapon for under $200? The answer was and is yes. In fact, as I type this, I see that the price has been reduced to $189 on the Advanced Tactical Camera website. Of course, there is an old saying:
"Fast, Cheap or Good: pick two."Such saying makes us wonder if an $189 camera is worth having. THAT is what the rest of this review is for.
The next thing I wondered was what kind of performance - as far as capture and transmission of imagery - you got for the price? The answer is a mixed bag: You get great imagery capture but not transmission. Designed to capture action as it occurs for use in After Action Reviews and/or court evidenciary proceedings, the TacCam doesn't transmit the images it captures. It stores them on an SD memory card (standard and inexpensive in computer media storage) for playback as necessary. To achieve playback after the fact you can either connect the USB or RCA cables to play the video back on your computer or television, or you can remove the SD card and put it in your computer's chip slot.
The TacCam runs on two AA batteries. Obviously these batteries are quite common, easy to find and inexpensive (compared to other battery types). I wondered if lithium batteries - such as those so common powering handheld flashlights - wouldn't be better to use for size reduction if nothing else. I was surprised at the answer I got: using lithium batteries IS recommended if using the camera in colder conditions - at or below freezing. BUT, since there are AA-sized lithium batteries available, why limit the camera's power source to a more expensive and harder to find battery size? Thus, the decision to stick with AA.
When you look at the memory capacity compared to the power supply you find that - at the best quality settings - you can get about one hour of audio and video onto a 2 gigabyte SD card. The published material says the TacCam "works with up to a 2 gig card" although I've not tried putting in a larger capacity memory card. It may work with larger. So, one hour of a/v capture. The batteries? One new pair will operate the camera for up to two hours. Okay - so the batteries will last long enough to fill the SD memory card - even if we CAN buy and use a 4Gb card.
What kind of quality of video are we talking about? At a 30-frames-per-second capture rate the video is 640 x 480 VGA resolution. What does that mean in plane English? Anything faster than 24-frames-per-second is generally viewed by we humans as uninterrupted flowing video. 30 frames per second is 25% faster than what we need to "see video" as video. 640 x 480 isn't huge but has been a standard in digital recording for a number of years now and is more than acceptable for the intended purpose. After all, you're not making movies for huge audiences to pay you millions of dollars (although don't we all wish they would). We're capturing video so that, after the mission is complete, we can have it reviewed by some admin individual who will give our performance his blessing.
The camera, without the SD card or batteries installed, weighs only 3.2 ounces. That's less than a quarter pound. With the SD card and batteries in place it weighs 7 ounces - still less than a half pound. It can be easily mounted on any picatinny rail system. It's listed as waterproof down to 3 meters (about ten feet) and shock resistant for extreme conditions. I didn't test it to ten feet, but I did leave it in a bucket of water overnight with no indication that any water had leaked into the system. I performed five drop tests - dropping it from a height of three feet to my concrete patio - with no failure to function noted. It LOOKED a little worse for wear, but it still functioned fine.
Oh, and I've forgotten one of the most important pieces of information: it's just over 4 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter (give or take because it's not perfectly round). Given it's size and weight, it can be conveniently mounted on any long gun, helmet, etc. Because of the fact that the camera body can be rotated inside the mounting ring, you can orient it however is necessary depending on where you want to mount it. For example, if you have a quad rail system on your AR-style rifle, you can mount this on either side or the bottom and still have the video being captured right side up. A push of a button turns it on - although you need to have your capture preferences adjusted before hand. You can adjust the frame rate of capture thereby extending your SD card's capacity from an hour to much longer. It all depends on what your needs are.
All in all I like it and am fairly impressed. It's a small package that has the ability to capture video with which you can save your butt after you've had to take some action that some administrator or investigator will question after the fact. $189 plus the cost of an SD card and a set of AA batteries is fairly cost effective for an insurance policy you just never know when you'll need.
Check out more info about the TacCam on their website.
Stay safe!
