I think long term success with cheap trail cams is the exception. The guts of the inexpensive cameras are the same or similar and made by the same 12 yr old chinese kids and are all in the process of dying as soon as the plastic wrapper is removed. To the manufacturers these cameras are disposable.
$400+ cameras to strap to a tree are out of the question for me
I had an old Cuddeback that took beautiful pics for many years but when it eventually died it was replaced by a POS Cuddeback. After a few conversations with the female ogres at Cudde customer service I just tossed it under a running brush hog. (yes, it felt good)
I've got a box of Primos and other cheap cameras that have died.
I've now come to the conclusion I don't need trail cams to enjoy my hunting. I'm not an outfitter, I'm not a trophy hunter looking for a specific deer. Since I hunt the same general areas every year I was using them strictly out of curiosity to see what was in the neighborhood. Most pics were a bunch of squirrels, crows, coyotes, bobcats, maybe a hog, blowing leaves, of course plenty of does and fawns with occasional bucks until November then more bucks. The expense, time and aggravation just isn't worth it any more. I'm going to hunt regardless of the trail cam photos. I move my stands based on what I see, not camera pics. Plus with the money I've saved I've paid for my non-resident elk tags.
rost: is there really a "shack outside La Grange"?
