Coolife H881 in the test: Inexpensive game clipper


Thanks to motion detectors, night vision and camouflage optics, wildlife cameras keep your property undiscovered and in view even in the dark. Some models like the Icucam 4 even send their recordings via LTE – but they quickly cost several hundred euros. The Coolife H881 does not have LTE shipping, but is available from the manufacturer for around 80 euros (as of March 3, 2022). Does she convince? The test!

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Coolife H881 in the test: (Almost) everything included!

The packaging of the Coolife H881 is bulging. In addition to the essentials such as a 180 cm long fastening strap, operating instructions and a USB cable for data exchange, you will receive a stable wall bracket with a tripod and an AV cable that allows you to view the picture on the television.

Coolife H881 general view

More stable than it looks: the Coolife H881.

Also great: When you buy the Coolife H881, you get a 32 gigabyte microSD card on the house. This means that the game camera is almost ready to go after unpacking – only eight AA batteries separate it from use. The Coolife H881 makes a haptically stable impression. Well, wherever you reach, you can feel hard plastic, but that is common practice with game cameras. In the test, it finally proved its resilience: neither falls nor continuous rain could harm it.

Coolife H881 scope of delivery

Perfectly equipped: The Coolife H881 has almost everything you need to get started.

Good menu, weak display

On the side of the Coolife H881 you will find an eyelet that allows you to attach a padlock. Although this is not effective protection against theft, it at least prevents unauthorized persons from quickly deleting recordings. Strangers would have an easy time without a padlock, because the operation of the Wildcam is child’s play. On the one hand, this is due to the large buttons with easy-to-read labels and, on the other hand, to the easy-to-understand menu. After switching the language to German, all menu items are translated cleanly and agree with the points in the very detailed operating instructions – unfortunately not a matter of course. The only drawback in terms of setup: The 2.4-inch (around 6 cm) display only offers a small viewing angle tolerance. If you don’t look at it in the middle, the colors are distorted.

Coolife H881 interior view

Thanks to large and high-contrast labeled buttons, operating the Coolife H881 is child’s play.

Bright spots and dark sides

49 infrared LEDs on the Coolife H881 ensure that foxes, raccoons, cats and squirrels are clearly visible even at night. If you venture in front of the lens, you snap pictures with up to 21 megapixels. Before that, however, it is worth taking a look at the settings: There you can set, for example, whether one or up to ten photos are taken in a row when the motion detector is triggered. The Coolife H881 also produces Full HD videos (1920×1080 pixels) with a sound track – if you wish, even automatically after a photo is taken. In order to check the image quality of the wildcam within an appropriate framework, COMPUTER BILD received support from the Lüneburger Heide wildlife park. On the 60-hectare area, which is the habitat for over 1,200 animals, not only visitors have a lot to discover, the game camera also had its hands full there. In the end, the choice fell on the fallow deer enclosure. Over the course of around 72 hours, the Coolife H881 took 104 pictures and videos. This is how the recordings perform in the evaluation:
  • Day shots: The Coolife H881 achieves good results during the day. Shots are quite sharp, fur patterns and details on the ground such as pine cones are easily recognizable. However, it exposes bright areas a little strongly, and there are also distortions at the edges of the image. In terms of sharpness, photos and Full HD videos are about on par. However, the wildlife camera only records the latter at 25 frames per second – the playback is a bit jerky.
Coolife H881 day shot

It does pull the trees towards the center of the image at the edges, but the photos are still quite sharp during the day.

  • Twilight shots: In low light, the Coolife H881 switches to night mode. The contrast should be a bit stronger here, the sharpness decreases slightly. Nevertheless, usable pictures and videos are created even in twilight.
Coolife H881 Dusk

At dusk, the Coolife H881 takes passable pictures. In weak light, however, there is a slight image noise.

  • night shots: The Coolife H881 shows weaknesses at night. Visible image noise and an overexposed image center result in a point deduction. However, the recordings are definitely sufficient to identify the animal species.
Coolife H881 night shot

Not very impressive because of the image noise: the night shots of the Coolife H881.

Coolife H881 in the test: conclusion

Good day and sufficient night shots at a relatively low price – that’s what the Coolife H881 offers. If you can do without remote access, such as the Icucam 4, you get a solid game camera that is easy to use. A fairly generous memory card is included – this saves further costs. Especially if you only want to keep an eye on your garden, you are well served with the Coolife H881.



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