Need a good deal on a game camera

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

wahoowad

Minister of Fire
Dec 19, 2005
1,669
Virginia
I don't keep up with a lot of hunting magazines and shopping websites but hope one of you do and have seen a good deal on a nice game camera. I'm looking for a middle-price wise camera but hopefully at a bargain basement price. Anybody seen one deeply discounted online and think it is a good camera?
 
watch out for the super deal sites, tried them. The camera will never call up and you call and they just try to sell extras. I ended up canceling my order.

Amazon has great prices. i have also had good luck at abe's of maine.

BUT if you want something middle of the road, thats cheap. Go on ebay and order a camera that was on the higher end a year or two ago and get it used. Thats where a deal will be... otherwise its MSRP plus shipping.
 
I went through this last week cause right around Christmas our Sony ended up dieing on us, it was time the camera was probably 10 years old.
I ask some of my friends from FB and around, they all had ideas of Sams Club, Costco and BJs. Then my mom sent me a link to a really nice GE camera from Home Shopping Network. I ended up buying it from them cause it was that days special at (I think 40%) and I could break it up into 4 payments.
http://electronics.hsn.com/ge-power-pro-x5-14mp-15x-zoom-slr-style-digital-camera_p-6181265_xp.aspx?sf=ec&dept=ec0108&prev=hp!sf&cm_re=shopping_grid*element_1_link*CamerasandCamcorders&ccm=EC|ec0108
 
I did a little write-up, I think in the Picture section, some time ago. I've owned several but last year was turned onto a different one that is very low cost compared to most and it works excellently. I found it at Dick's Sporting Goods and bought it while on special. This meant less than $100 and it also came with an SD card and a USB cable for direct hookup to the computer. It is an IR camera which means there is no flash for night pictures so it won't spook game or people. You can set it for taking still pictures or video. The pictures during the daylight hours are color but the night pictures are black and white. It has excellent range for taking pictures and the battery life is a lot longer than any other cameras I've used. They last for several weeks with easy. It takes 4 c-cell alkaline batteries.

These are very easy to set up with very simple instructions.

It is made by Wildgame innovations. It is the IR5D digital game scouting camera. At first I was reluctant to buy this thinking it was so cheap it would be junk. Not so! A neighbor bought one and I was pleased by the pictures he got and he got more pictures than he did with different cameras set up side-by-side.

If you would like some sample pictures I can provide pictures and video. Just send me a PM with your email address and I'll send the pictures direct to you and will also answer any other questions you may have.

I have taken lots and lots of pictures with flash cameras and IR cameras and will highly recommend the IR cameras even though you only get black and white at night. I used to think the game was not bothered by the flash.....and some game is not. However, the bigger bucks do seem to become shy of the flash cameras but don't the IR.
 
Backwoods Savage said:
I did a little write-up, I think in the Picture section, some time ago. I've owned several but last year was turned onto a different one that is very low cost compared to most and it works excellently. I found it at Dick's Sporting Goods and bought it while on special. This meant less than $100 and it also came with an SD card and a USB cable for direct hookup to the computer. It is an IR camera which means there is no flash for night pictures so it won't spook game or people. You can set it for taking still pictures or video. The pictures during the daylight hours are color but the night pictures are black and white. It has excellent range for taking pictures and the battery life is a lot longer than any other cameras I've used. They last for several weeks with easy. It takes 4 c-cell alkaline batteries.

These are very easy to set up with very simple instructions.

It is made by Wildgame innovations. It is the IR5D digital game scouting camera. At first I was reluctant to buy this thinking it was so cheap it would be junk. Not so! A neighbor bought one and I was pleased by the pictures he got and he got more pictures than he did with different cameras set up side-by-side.

If you would like some sample pictures I can provide pictures and video. Just send me a PM with your email address and I'll send the pictures direct to you and will also answer any other questions you may have.

I have taken lots and lots of pictures with flash cameras and IR cameras and will highly recommend the IR cameras even though you only get black and white at night. I used to think the game was not bothered by the flash.....and some game is not. However, the bigger bucks do seem to become shy of the flash cameras but don't the IR.

I'd love to see some pics Dennis if you wouldn't mind sending them to me . . . just a small sampling would be fine.
 
[quote author="firefighterjake" date="1302536876]I'd love to see some pics Dennis if you wouldn't mind sending them to me . . . just a small sampling would be fine.[/quote]

Better still please post a couple here, so we can all see :)
 
not wanting to sidetrack here but saw the bit on the IR not spooking game or people.
Are you saying that the IR light is not visable to humans ?
or
minimally visable ?
rn
 
Rusty, if you look at the IR camera you will see a very light red glow but no bright lights. The deer can still see it but it does not spook them like the flash can.

I at first was a believer that the flash did not spook game as I figured they looked at it about like they would a lightning strike. Then I got to watch a few bucks pass the camera and was amazed at some how fast they left the area. It was also brought to my attention to go back through my pictures and see how many pictures I got of the same buck. When I did I found that only the very young bucks would come back. If a nice buck, most times you would get one picture and that is the end of that buck in that area. I'm thinking only one time did I get a really nice buck to come twice and this at our famous scraping tree that usually has from 4 to 6 scrapes around it every fall. I do doctor it up a bit to get them started but then they take over and it is amazing how much that tree gets visited.
 
bws,
I've got a dark area that i would like to monitor and thought i'd heard that the IR lite
was visable to humans but didn't know anyone that had one. thanks.........
hope you're getting back up to speed
rn
 
Thanks Rusty. We're getting there but slowly.

It might be interesting if I try to take a picture of the camera after dark when it is taking a video which would give you a better idea of how much red glow there is.

One thing you might think about is how you could conceal the camera. For example, I had one spot I wanted to film but was a bit afraid someone might spot the camera. So I climbed a tree and hung it about 12' up and just aimed it down at about a 45 degree angle or less. It worked. Of course you cover less ground that way but it keeps the sticky fingers away. Sometimes we even brush them in a bit. For sure if in the open areas you do not want the sun to hit the camera as then it is easy to see. Also not good to take pictures directly into the sun so we try to aim most of the cameras north and south.

Another thing, and perhaps most important is to not try to take a broadside picture. The camera has to have time to switch on, so if we're taking a shot of a deer runway we aim the camera down the runway to get them coming or going.

These ideas might or might not work for you for what you want but you might come up with some better ideas. Good luck.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.