The Tactacam 6.0 Review, is it Better Than The Tactacam 5.0?
Take a look at this in depth Tactacam 6.0 Review and determine if it’s worth the jump from the Tactacam 5.0.
INTRO/METHOD
A couple of years ago my husband and I started our journey of filming point-of-view footage of our hunting adventures when we picked up a Tactacam 5.0. We’ve had a lot of fun reliving the excitement of our kill shots and re-experiencing some of our favorite up-close-and-personal animal encounters. So much so that when we saw the Tactacam 6.0, we knew we wanted to test it out and see if it would be worth the upgrade.
We’ve been testing the Tactacam 6.0 out for about a year. We’ve had it mounted to a bow, a muzzleloader, and a few shotguns. And, we’ve had it in the woods chasing after turkeys and deer as well as destroying a few skeet. After all that shooting and filming, I’m excited to share with you my take on the Tactacam 6.0. I’m even going to throw in some information on how it compares to the Tactacam 5.0.
This review was written without bias and without payment or advertising from Tactacam. The affiliate links below are placed into the article after submission from the author. If you found this review helpful, and want to help support our work, please click the links below to purchase the Tactacam 6.0 (if you plan on buying one!) – thanks!
Tactacam 6.0 – With Mount & Replacement Battery ($349.97)
Tactacam 6.0 – With SD Card but Without Mount and Replacement Battery ($299.99)
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Hopefully when you finish reading this review, you’ll know if the Tactacam 6.0 is worth it, and you’ll be able to feel good about your decision choosing between these two Tactacam camera options.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
The Tactacam 6.0 is a waterproof first-person point-of-view (POV) camera that is designed primarily to be mounted to your bow, crossbow, or firearm. Tactacam’s drive behind these cameras is to help you capture the excitement of those kill shots just like you remember them.
Videos from these POV cameras have also been known to aid hunters in getting a much clearer view of where their shots hit. Knowing exact shot placement can help a hunter determine how much time they should wait before they start tracking the animal.
Tactacam cameras are great because they are small and lightweight, which makes it easy to mount them without feeling like you’re carrying around something extra. Plus, the shape of the Tactacam 6.0 (4 ¼” x 1 ⅜” x 1 ¼”) make it even less obtrusive than other camera options. As a matter of fact, most of the time while hunting with this camera I forgot it was there.
There are other mounting options available for the Tactacam 6.0 if you would rather have your camera close to a decoy or near a food source for that angle of the hunt. However, to me, nothing beats having a video file of that first-person memory you get when it’s on your gun or bow.
KEY FEATURES/BENEFITS
First, I want to point out a few features that are new to the Tactacam 6.0.
Touch Screen Diplay
The new feature I noticed right away is the touch screen display. To me, this display is one of the biggest draws to this camera versus the Tactacam 5.0, Solo, or Solo Xtreme.
The screen features live-view capabilities, so you can see exactly what the camera sees. This helps ensure that the camera has been mounted correctly and is lined up just the way you want it. With the other cameras, it can be a bit more of a guessing game unless you look through the app on your phone.
The screen also provides a great deal of information and allows for some settings adjustments to be made.
The live-view display shows the amount of storage left on the micro SD card, remaining battery life, shooting mode, video settings, and zoom level. With other cameras, I had to rely on my memory (which can be problematic at times) of what the blue, green, and teal colors represented to know which shooting mode I was in.
The touch screen also allows for easily switching between default filming modes and makes it much easier to connect to the Tactacam Connect app and the Tactacam Remote. On that note, discussing both the app and the remote would be another article in itself, so I’ll leave that for another day.
I will state here, however, that I believe the Tactacam remote is a MUST! And, the Tactacam 6.0 works with the current remote!
Battery and Micro-SD Card Compartment
The next upgrade I want to mention may seem unimportant if you haven’t had a Tactacam 5.0. The new 6.0 has a tremendously upgraded end cap. No longer is there tiny picture of a lock that 40+ year old eyes can have some difficulty seeing. As a matter of fact, there is no longer a lock at all.
To open this compartment now, the cap must simply be turned from the vertical dot to the side dot, and viola! The battery, micro-SD card, and USB-C charging port can be easily accessed.
Putting the cap back on is also much easier, as that removal process is simply reversed.
Image Stabilization Upgrade
The next feature upgrade that I quickly noticed when watching footage of my husband shooting his bow and both of us shooting skeet is that the image stabilization (IS) has been significantly improved.
Tactacam’s tag line is that this IS improvement, “takes the shock out of the shot.” From our videos, I would have to concur. We directly compared Tactacam 5.0 and 6.0 footage and can agree that recoil and “shock” are noticeably less with the 6.0. Less shock leads to decreased camera movement, which keeps the filming on the target – where it should be.
Adjustable Red Dot
When shooting skeet or birds, Tactacam cameras have the option of including a red dot, making it easier to watch where the gun was aimed. This is a pretty neat feature to help determine any patterns to misses – shooting too far in front of or behind the target.
The downside to this feature is that on other cameras, the red dot is in the middle of the screen, which doesn’t always align with the gun’s point of aim. The upgraded feature with the Tactacam 6.0 is that now the red dot is adjustable. Once the camera is mounted, the dot can be moved along an X and Y axeis to give a much more accurate view of point of aim.
Now that I’ve covered the upgrades on the Tactacam 6.0, I want to share some of the features that have carried over.
Up to 4K-60fps Filming
The Tactacam 6.0 has so many different settings for filming, that going through all of them would take a whole other article. Just suffice it to say that you should be able to find a setting you like.
From what we’ve seen in the daylight, the 4K-60fps setting seems to get the clearest footage, but there are plenty of adjustments that could be make based on lighting, action, etc. I recommend trying them all and then settling on a few favorites – three to be exact.
The three default modes I mentioned earlier can be customized for any setting and type of filming. So, once you settle on your favorite settings, save them to those defaults and make your life much easier.
Camera View Provides “Human-Eye” View
Unlike most POV action cameras, the Tactacam 6.0 does not use a wide-angle or fisheye type lens. So, instead of that somewhat strange “rounded edge” look often seen with footage from those cameras, the Tactacam 6.0 picture looks much more like what a human eye sees. This also means that objects being filmed will appear closer than with fisheye lenes.
I definitely prefer the look of Tactacam videos for first-person coverage, especially of the kill shots we discussed. However, the lack of a wide angle does make using these cameras for filming yourself hunting or for interviews a bit more challenging, as the camera would likely not be far enough away to get everything you want in the shot. So, keep that in mind before buying a camera, depending on what you want it to do.
Up to 8x Zoom
In addition to not being a wide-angle lens, the presence of a zoom function with the Tactacam 6.0 also brings the footage in closer. And, this one goes up to 8x.
I do want to point out, though, that the zoom is a digital zoom. It functions much like if you took a picture with your phone and then zoomed in and cropped the photo. This is important to note because using the higher zoom levels with the Tactacam 6.0 while filming could lead to grainy images.
Although the zoom is a neat feature, I’ve found that the clearest images are in either 1x or 2x. Then, if I want the final product to be closer, I can just do some cropping during the editing process. Filming in 1-2x also helps ensure that everything I want in the video will be there.
One Touch Operation
The last feature that is probably one of my favorites of the Tactacam family of cameras is the one-touch operation. When ready to film, simply push the power button. The camera vibrates to alert you that it has turned on, and then it immediately starts filming. To pause recording, simply hit the button again.
In order to save battery, after about three minutes of being on pause mode the Tactacam 6.0 will turn off, vibrating again to let you know.
In case I didn’t emphasize it enough, the Tactacam remote works the same, and all cameras connected to it can be controlled exactly the same way – just by pushing one button!
WHY WOULD YOU BUY
We’ve enjoyed using our Tactacam 6.0 to capture POV footage without the fisheye look. Being able to go back and watch some of our favorite kill shots has been a blast, and the Tactacam makes it easy to do.
If we were looking more to self-film hunts or interviews, there may be other, more appropriate options. Here are a few Pros and Cons to the Tactacam 6.0:
PROS
- Touch screen allows for clear Live View
- Touch screen also provides easy switch between default mods
- High quality video
- Battery cap is much easier to use
- New shape makes it easier to level the camera
- All Tactacam batteries and the remote work with this camera
- New bow stabilizer mount is easier to use
- Upgrades to image stabilization do take some of the “shock” out of the shot
- Mounts for Tactacam 6.0 will work with other style Tactacam cameras
- One touch operation is super easy
- Easily capture those kills shots so you can experience them all over again.
CONS
- Have to buy new mounts if you switch to this camera from another Tactacam
- Microphone still lacking in sound quality
- Footage can be grainy if zoomed in too far or when in very low light
- Must connect the camera to your phone to adjust settings
- Unable to adjust zoom while filming
- Not ideal for interviews
- Camera can “freeze up” if trying to control it through the app
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, the Tactacam 6.0 is an excellent option if you’re looking to film your hunting adventures, especially if you’re trying to capture that first-person POV look.
Most of these quality action cameras are not cheap, so make sure you know what you want your camera to accomplish for you before you invest. Hopefully this review has answered most of your questions to help you decide if the Tactacam 6.0 is for you.
