Ursus Nova: A Closer Look at What’s New

How and why we updated our original Ursus trail camera: A developer’s note from James McConnell, Technical Director at NatureSpy

When we launched the original Ursus, we wanted a reliable, accessible trail camera that could handle just about anything, and it's done just that. But who doesn't love an update? After extensive field use and community feedback, we saw an opportunity to do just that. Here’s a closer look at how we updated our original design to create the Ursus Nova — and what we chose not to change.

The new Ursus Nova, designed for usability, durability and results

A Familiar Formula

The original Ursus camera, which was NatureSpy’s first trail camera, has been a resounding success. Thousands have been sold and shipped, not just in the UK, but around the world. They’re busy right now watching hedgehogs in back gardens, bears in cloud forests, and gorillas in the African tropics. Oh – and also in our Pine Marten Pathways project, (successfully) monitoring den boxes on the North York Moors.

We didn’t want to mess with what already worked — but there were a few areas where we knew improvements could make a meaningful difference. These come at a slightly higher cost, and we were also really keen to keep the Ursus line of wildlife cameras as affordable as we could. Adding ‘stuff’ — features, hardware improvements, etc — can get really costly, really fast. But we knew we could strike a balance.

Listening, Testing, Tinkering

We also listened to feedback from customers using the original Ursus and saw the opportunity for minor changes. For example, we updated the SD card slot on this camera to make it easier to remove in early 2025.

An Andean bear captured by our partners Rainforest Concern — showcasing what the original Ursus Trail Camera can do, in tough cloud forest habitat

Video Quality

The biggest thing we wanted to change was a step up in video quality and recording formats. You’d think that’s an easy task, but it takes a lot more work than you’d expect. It requires more than just a simple hardware change — but once we cracked it, good quality 4K video became a reality. We also switched the recording format to .mp4, which allows better compression without compromising quality. The result is much smaller video file sizes compared to the original Ursus.

Audio Quality

Going hand-in-hand with this video quality improvement is audio. Audio quality is really important to us — it’s often overlooked on trail cameras, but it really rounds everything off. Too hissy, too quiet, too loud — all these can spoil your videos. We think the Ursus Nova now has the best audio quality on any trail camera we offer. So, you can imagine we’re pretty pleased with that…

Menu

The menu system has had a refresh too, bringing it in line with the Helarctos camera released in late 2024. This splits the menu into sections, making settings changes more manageable and easier to understand for newbies.

What’s New, and What’s Not

Finally, we also gave the Nova a new custom camouflage — helping it blend more effectively in British and European habitats while distinguishing it from the original model.

Ursus (left) and Ursus Nova (right) – same trusted build, new custom camouflage

But there are some things we didn’t change.

We didn’t want to change the Ursus’ case — IP67 rated, tough, robust and hardy, and now truly well tried-and-tested. We didn’t change its ability to work (and work well) with rechargeable AA batteries — a requirement for all NatureSpy’s in-house wildlife cameras.

Discreet, durable; built to capture wildlife in 4K

We didn’t change the name — Ursus — because that means a lot to us at NatureSpy. Ursus, meaning bear, can be found in our logo and also describes the cameras: tough, solid, adaptable. We’re proud of the original Ursus trail camera. We’ve just used the word ‘Nova’, which means ‘new’ in Latin, to separate the two models.

Not a Replacement — An Option

The original Ursus isn’t going anywhere. It’s still an extremely useful and affordable camera that is well-backed and well-tested. The Ursus Nova gives users the option to step up video and audio quality, along with a sprinkling of other updates.

As usual, we’re excited to see the Ursus Nova go out into the world and watch wildlife be wild!