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."

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.