GardePro Trail Camera ( 29th July 2026 )

Canon R5 Mk2 Review

9th July 2025

15% Discount

Get 15% off purchases with my exclusive discount code: PETER1511770230

Background

I have, over the years, used many types of trail cameras in my garden to see what wildlife visits, and one by one, they've been taken back inside and have since gathered dust on a shelf.

Why?

Batteries usually. They eat them, and it can cost loads to replace, or you're constantly recharging them.

Then there's the set-up of the camera. Is it pointing the right way. Are the settings right for the area it's pointing at? Is the card getting full? Is it taking stills or videos, and are the videos long enough.

You get the picture. Lots of faffing and usually not a lot in return.

I was crying out for a simpler solution.

In my current garden, in Inverness, I have what are I guess, akin to CCTV cameras up, albeit battery powered. I won't disclose the brand, but they're good, are fairly reliable, but the batteries do need to be charged every month or so. And there's a subscription to be paid so I have access to the files on a long term basis.

And they need to be linked to my home wifi, which limits where they can be positioned. So not ideal.

GardePro E8 2.0 Pro Wi-Fi Trail Camera

This is where the GardePro camera has taken front and centre stage. Sent to me by a rep from their company, I was asked to test it and give my thoughts.

If it had been akin to the others I've used, I would have sent it back, and no one would have heard anything else.

But it's not.

No Third-Party Batteries

The camera comes with its own rechargeable battery and it lasts for months! When I received the camera, I was getting ready to head away for a week for work, so I didn't have time to charge it. I just configured the camera, attached it to a post and left it.

The battery charge level had hardly dropped on my return, yet it had been busily taking videos. Impressive.

I think it was out for over two months before I thought that I should charge it up a bit!

Solar Panel

This is a game-changer. Simply plugged into the camera, it keeps the already impressive battery, fully charged all the time. I've got mine resting on a shed roof, but it comes with a support that can be screwed into a wall or something, and angled to face the sun.

Since attaching this, the camera has seemingly been at 100% charge all the time.

Smartphone App

This is something I'm still seeing the benefits of, so I may well edit this more as I use it more. Simply put, it's excellent.

The camera has its own wifi, so when connecting to it, it seems to ping it via Bluetooth, then connect via the wifi to your phone.

The app then has a number of options:

Live - this shows you the current view of the camera, which eliminates the old guesswork needed for older cameras.
Status - here you can see power and memory card levels, outside temperature, number of videos, camera version number etc. Useful for seeing the charge and if the SD is getting too full.
Settings - no need to access the fiddly camera menus anymore. Everything can be done from here. Including a factory reset, SD card format, changing the date and time, video length and quality. Seems very comprehensive.
Gallery - here you can view the images and videos captured. It also allows the files to be downloaded to your phone, or deleted. When deleting, it has thoughtful features that allow you to select all captures from a day, with one button, so they can be downloaded or deleted.

The app is designed clearly and is easy to use.

Final Thoughts

This is actually a camera that could be rigged up remotely, that you could then leave and periodically approach to view the captures. I have no concerns about the battery life. As long as the solar panel is pointing to the sky, it seems to charge.

Image and video quality is as you'd expect from such a device, and while it's designed for larger areas, it seems to work just as well in a small space, like my back garden.

I guess they're not the cheapest camera out there, but the cheap ones need batteries, and maybe don't have a good app to support them.

Time will tell with how well this copes with a Highlands' winter, but it's been fine through some hail and heavy stormy rain we had a few weeks back.

Given that the camera comes with everything needed to set up and use, it's a great solution, and with my discount code, you can get 15% off one.

If you want a trail camera, this is the one you should look at first.