Trail cameras?

begreen said:

A buddy wants to get a decent trail camera and asked what I would recommend. Anybody have one they like and can suggest?

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They have come a long way in the last 5 years as for quality and battery life, Moultrie, Cuddeback, and Bushnells have all been good for me so far. Hard to pick just one I guess. Like anything else you get what you pay for here.

I am partial to moultrie as they seem to have a good price and have performed well for me. I just got a new panoramic moultrie camera and really like it. Is he taking pictures at a feeder or a game trail or an edge of a field?

The only thing I find with moultrie is they can have a bit slower shutter speed so if it is on a game trail you'll want to set it up along the trail, not across it, otherwise you can get alot of deer asses. That's another reason I like the panoramic one, as the slow shutter speed doesn't matter as much due to the wide angle picture.

cd36 said:

I am partial to moultrie as they seem to have a good price and have performed well for me. I just got a new panoramic moultrie camera and really like it. Is he taking pictures at a feeder or a game trail or an edge of a field?

The only thing I find with moultrie is they can have a bit slower shutter speed so if it is on a game trail you'll want to set it up along the trail, not across it, otherwise you can get alot of deer asses. That's another reason I like the panoramic one, as the slow shutter speed doesn't matter as much due to the wide angle picture.

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I agree...good points

You hear about Cuddyback a lot but I think it's mostly from professional endorsements and advertising. I have had a Primos and a Moultrie and my wife has a Cuddyback. I am not impressed with hers at all. My Primos isn't great but I love the Moultrie. The batteries last forever, the images are good and the sensitivity is great as well. I think I paid around $150 for the one I have.

We need pics!
We started out with cheap Moultries, maybe 12 years ago. Then we upgraded to Cuddebacks that served us well for several years. Both of our Cuddebacks started to fail a couple of years ago. The Cuddebacks model we had been using wasn't offered anymore, and after reading lits of reviews we went with new Moultrees. They've been pretty good.

Primos truth cam 46 ultra. Not really that impressed with these but they do the job.

I've been running Bushnell Trophy Cams for years. I use them on video mode. Battery life is amazing. Video quality is great.

I really like my browning and covert cameras, check out ( trailcampro.com ) they have some good reviews. as does chasinggame.com trail cam reviews.

Can some of these automatically upload pics or vids, or email them?

Like, via cell service & data package?

I believe moultrie offers that functionality, they call it gamespy. I've never looked into it as I am in Canada (I think it may be us only, but don't quote me on that) and my cameras are in locations without cell service.

You can also get WiFi enabled SD cards. They won't upload automatically but the idea is you can get the pictures off the camera without going right to them. Not sure what the range of them is I haven't used them.

cd36 said:

I believe moultrie offers that functionality, they call it gamespy. I've never looked into it as I am in Canada (I think it may be us only, but don't quote me on that) and my cameras are in locations without cell service.

You can also get WiFi enabled SD cards. They won't upload automatically but the idea is you can get the pictures off the camera without going right to them. Not sure what the range of them is I haven't used them.

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I'm in Canada also. Someone told me that but I know nothing about these things. This would be a case of setting one up to keep an eye on a camp in the woods, not so much animals. Well, maybe the 2 legged kind.

maple1 said:

I'm in Canada also. Someone told me that but I know nothing about these things. This would be a case of setting one up to keep an eye on a camp in the woods, not so much animals. Well, maybe the 2 legged kind.

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I've known people to do that but the cameras often go missing as well. If you get one make sure to get a no glow version, as opposed to a low glow version. Normal infrared game cameras emit a red glow when the flash goes off which is easily visible to people. The no glow versions are supposed to be completely invisible, but I don't have one to confirm.

Thats what i do, moultrie camera, 990i i think, with wifi card (eye-fi). It does a decent job. The wifi range is marginal. Internal battery life is good with alkaline, not good with rechargeable. i use 18650 cells pulled from a laptop as an external battery, lasts forever. Moultrie sells a solar external battery, really cool option.

I also have their panorama camera, its cool, but i dont use it much, its very finicky... sometimes will just take pictures continuously...the 990 does an awesome job. Have had both for about 2 years now, constantly outside, have lasted well.

What trail cams can be used at night but don't use a visual flash? I'd like to put one up around the woods at my house to make sure there aren't any weirdos around or to just see game I normally wouldn't see.

sportbikerider78 said:

What trail cams can be used at night but don't use a visual flash? I'd like to put one up around the woods at my house to make sure there aren't any weirdos around or to just see game I normally wouldn't see.

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You'd need a no glow infrared flash then. A normal infrared flash (also called low glow) glows red when a picture is taken. No glows are supposed to be invisible but I've never seen on flash to confirm if there is a hint of flash at all or not.

Are these cameras good down to -30 F?

I agree at - 30 is probably more a concern of the battery. Your best bet would be to rig up a car battery and solar charger to power it. Easy to do with moultrie camera as they have aux power plug (as I'm sure some other do to) .

Right. Some of the high-end cameras are rated for an extended time at -40 which includes the battery performance.