Brinno Empower TLC2020 Time Lapse Camera with ATH1000 Waterproof Case - 99-Day Battery Life for Long-Term Outdoor Projects - Captures Professional 1080P HDR Timelapse, Stop Motion and Step Videos

Even after a firmware update the camera uses a lot of battery charge. Sometimes I'll set it to run the next morning and it doesn't start but uses more battery then usual if I start recording the night before. Case gets condensation on lens portion with large temperature changes and humid weather.

Extremely disappointed. We set it up to capture a new build. I tested it for a few days and everything seemed to be working great. Then left it for 5 days to record only to realize it had stopped recording a couple of days in, missing some of our biggest days that we were excited to capture for a final time lapse video. There is tons of storage and battery so it wasn't due to either of those. The schedule was set up properly. It wasn't a user error. Returning.

I have used multiple Brinno 720 P time lapse cameras over the years. They work well but they are not high enough resolution for my construction business. I just purchased this 1080 P TLC 2020 and used it on my first job. The clarity of the time lapse video is incredible to say the least. I am purchasing another TLC 2020 so I can do time lapse videos from multiple angles. This unit is also much easier to change the settings than the older model. I highly recommend it.

I think this camera is great in function, but not completely thought out; great quality, and I appreciate the quick menu options. Cons, price of course. And for the price, I would expect the chassis to be waterproof; it's a shame this is an afterthought, and the necessity to purchase a case required to partake in the events that I believe is the majority of consumers intent (outdoor documentation). In addition to the case issue, I literally had this camera 1 minute, and the SDcard/USB-C cover broke off. A better fixation solution should be considered here.

STRENUOUSLY do not recommend. Downgrading to 2 stars (5 months use). 3 Week Review ============ I've had a TCL2020 for about 3 weeks now, and had it in use for the last 2 of those weeks. I'll get to the other stuff later, but what inspired me to write this review is the abysmal battery life this thing has been getting. It will barely survive 3 days outside before the batteries die. MAYBE 4. It's marketed as 99 days with a 5-second interval. I've programmed it for 6 days/week, 12 hours/day, and have varied between a 10 and 15 second delay between shots, and I'm coming back to either dead batteries or <15% life left. Using brand new, fully charged Energizer rechargeables (the batteries in the package didn't even last 2 days). Needless to say I'm chapped about this. I knew 99 days had to be an exaggeration, but I was realistically hoping for 2 weeks between battery replacement (that's the frequency of my trips to the construction site). Nope. Now I have to either a) blow my site visit budget and do this during the week, b) sacrifice part of my weekend making the trip to do this, or c) sacrifice my tiny fragments of free time during the week. The footage looks pretty good. Probably as good as can be expected from a device like this, and I'm impressed by how it handles varying white balance and ramping exposure internally during changing light. And the videos are definitely good enough for the intended purposes - it's not cinema, but that isn't anyone's expectations. The camera saves as .avi files - I'm presuming for coding efficiency - up to 500MB files, and then splits into a different file if a day's shoot goes longer than that. Total file sizes for a day are about 700MB +/- in AVI. To reduce file size, my workflow involves taking them home first to process them in AfterEffects: joining the 2 avi's it splits a day into, run it through a de-flickering plugin, and export it as H-264 mp4 to boil the files down to about 140MB/day. Our project management staff and the municipal client seem to love the videos, so this is overall a win and I don't want to leave a scathing review at all. But the battery thing is just such a headache and a complication for the person responsible for the camera (me). We have other projects coming up where we'll be shooting long-term timelapses. I will NOT be considering Brinno gear for those projects, but that's exclusively due to the battery deficiencies. I could reconcile the rest. 5-month review ============= Same problems as at 3 weeks. Full battery change on Sunday 11pm. By Wednesday 9am it's at 11-17% life. Replace on Wednesdays. Wednesday to Sunday? Maybe 4-7% life left by the time it's Sunday. Oh, and this thing has now started chewing through microSD cards and corrupting them on a whim. Even if it hasn't fully corrupted the memory card, file transfer hangs all of the time and it's a miracle to copy a few days of files over without problems. That's on CPU-mounted card readers. USB readers. USB-c readers. Using a drone as a USB reader (was the only way that worked for a few times). It'll copy over... until it doesn't. Oh and even if you get your files copied... 1 out of every 10 orso will be corrupted. You can duplicate the AVI file to sometimes cure that. Sometimes it takes once, sometimes twice, or three times. But the corrupted pre-duplicate files? They're now barnacles on your hard drive. The computer can't open them or delete them. They live here forever now. Long review short? I've gotta cut my losses and am actively seeking alternatives. This thing is costing me time, money, sanity, and now hard drive space too. I'll upload my Office Space-style sledgehammer destruction of this TCL2020 with great pleasure.