Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Trail Cameras

Ok these things are all basically junk.I have been through just about every manufacturer.I had settled on Reconyx and Covert cameras.
Scratch Covert off my list the 3rd camera in less than a month is heading back for exchange. The customer service is great they just exchange them for new without a problem but the last one they send me was defective from day one(pink day time pictures)I had one in the woods for 2 weeks went to retrieve my card today an 0 pictures. Batteries are new and it turns on just doesn't take pictures. This is the 4th total that has had to go back,I'm done

My $550 Reconyx is in the shop being fixed new day/light shutter and flash array,new firmware and refocus and test the camera is a 2012 costing me $50 +shipping both ways for the repair.

I have 2 new Browning Dark Ops I'm trying out so I'll see how these hold up

I did just purchase a 2nd Reconyx as it is the best available and only American made trail cam

OK rant over

Tried Bushnell trophy cams Dan? These are all I use....

I've sent two Stealthcams back in the last month.

Greg that's nexted I guess... I've shied away from them because of past experiences with their crappy scopes

Usually keep around 15-20 cameras out on my farm.

Have tried pretty much all of them, from the cheapest i could find, to premium high-dollar cams. Over the last 8 years, the high dollar cams failed about as often as the cheap ones.

The biggest difference i could see was that the high-dollar cams had a better trigger time & took better night pix, and better battery life....but they failed just as often as the el-cheapos . Most common failure was that they'd start taking photos and just keep doing so until the SD card was loaded, or the batteries died; whichever came first.

A few years ago i decided they were ALL semi-disposable products, and if i get 3-4 years out of one, i'm pretty happy....so i got the cheapest ones i can find, a mix of several brands. had fair luck with most, except Moultrie; had quite a few issues with those.

Dicks sporting goods had some Wildgame Innovations cams on clearance this spring at $49, and last month a local farm/ranch chain store (Atwooods) had Wildview cams on clearance at $40, so i bought a bunch. About 4 years ago i bought 7 of the Wildview cameras, and 5 of that batch are still working now, after 4 years of use.

The trophy cams Dan are very good cameras and my HD's have been surprising durable. I like then.

The trophy cams Dan are very good cameras and my HD's have been surprising durable. I like then.

10/4 Greg I have heard that from more than one

Wildgame Innovations cams suck along with Stealth cam and Moultries

I've had good luck with the Scoutguard/Coverts and Bushnell. I have one Browning Dark Opts now that is just OK. Night video sucks.........

I went through 4 this year before giving up and accepting grainy nighttime pictures. At least it takes them.
Two I bought wouldn't work at all from day one.
I have a buddy who bought one of the TRACE cameras at acadamy for 40 that's flawless but takes pictures at every motion. Falling leaves set it off.
He averages 900 pictures a day.

Wildgame innovations have been amazing for me, I used to use them for work almost year round. 4 years and only lost 2. one was to extremely cold temps it became finicky after that, but it was out for 2 years straight, and the other I have no idea where I put it. they are less than a C-note a piece and they plain work.

Dan, we don't use anything but Primos Blackouts anymore. I don't know about cold weather though.

Pat, Primos sucks I've had 4 of them go tits up, 2 were blackouts
They eat batteries also

My experience is that this pretty much sums up the trail cam market.

I will say Reconyx makes a good product.I am surprised to have to have one repaired but they ARE repairing it,its not a throw away like the rest of the trail cams.$50 for parts and labor is reasonable. But how many $549.00 cameras can one guy buy,that's the downfall the price
They are thorough also

Camera Model Serial Number Current Status History
HC600
09/28/2015 Received
10/07/2015 Troubleshooting / Repair
10/13/2015 Ready For Focus
10/13/2015 Ready For Test
10/13/2015 Testing
10/14/2015 Final Checkout

I know, but they work good when they work, and you can buy six of them for the price of one Reconyx. (Twelve if you get them at the pawn shops.)

We run about 28 where I hunt and while some like Reconix (sp?) do a little better, we have settled on the Bushnells for overall reliability, ease of use, etc...

I have 15 Moultrie in RSA all worked fine, never a failure or broken one.

I have a dozen moultrie in the states on my farm and all but one is perfect. The one that is funky will at random not take photo's, the SD card is blank after a few days which is impossible. Never know when it will take photo's or not? Thought is was the SD card but I marked them and it's various SD cards not a bad one.

Other then that they have been just fine for me. The Rnach where I hunt bears uses Recoynx and they have been fine as well. My neighbor uses Bushnell and they have all failed him, he no longer has any cameras.

I run Primos, getting 3-4 years out of each. Been through 3, need to pick up a new one since the last one stopped recognizing any SD card. Wish the trigger was faster, but the pictures are great and price is good.

Running a SuperCharged Blackout now in video mode. Love it, batteries are good for 6 months.

We run up to 14-16 cameras leading up to deer season. Bushnells have been good and the batteries really last. Cuddebacks have also been good, with slightly better night time photo quality.

Regardless of brand, I think simplicity is key. Get something that just takes pictures. Use other implements for viewing and such. With too many bells and whistles, something is bound to go to Hell.

Cuddebacks are over priced crap BT/DT

Looks like Primos is owned by Bushnell since 2012. Didn't know that.

PS: Was about to push the trigger on a Cuddeback last month and then read the reviews on it. Holy crud... to say they were hated was an understatement.

I have had Moultries and they used to be good. Now they seem like junk , although I have been buying the A5 ? for 63 bucks. I have a Reconyx for 4 years now and no problems at all. Rechargables batteries are good to -12F. The night pics are grainy though. I payed $450 plus tax though. The thing I like best is I dont go to check the sd card and find out it died the day after I put it 1/2 mi back in the brush and left it there all summer. One Moultire stopped taking night pics, one doesn't use the flash unless it is dark and I get lots of shadowy pics.

Bushnell Trophy cam works very well for me. Gots 2 of them.

dan go to trail cam pro. good company.

cuddebacks suck
moultre sucks bushnell so-so
primos sucks
browning so far ok

The bushnell black flash is all I try to use... so far so good.

Only had one that went a couple years and then had an issue, and it still works just doesn't count number of pictures...

They were out when I needed anotehr so bought a moultrie... damn thing downloads pics on the ipad way funny, and have to go to slide show to display them normally... won't be buying them again...

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"?

Natchezss has the Primos Proof Cam 02 and Proof Cam 03 on sale, AND there's a $30 rebate if you purchase by Sunday (10/18).

So the Proof Cam 02, which usually sells for $129.99 or $119.99 is $89.99 before the $30 rebate = $59.99 plus shipping. The Proof Cam 03 is $109.99 before the rebate, so $79.99 plus shipping.

The reviews on these are great, the 02 is a low glow, the 03 is no glow. I ordered an 02. Rebate is one per person, but up to 5 per household. Probably have to do multiple purchases and pay multiple shipping to get multiple rebates, but I think every wife wants one.

Trailcampro.com has the trigger speeds for pictures rated at 0.22 and 0.2 seconds and with great pictures both day and night.

http://www.trailcampro.com/primosproofcam02review.aspx
http://www.trailcampro.com/primosproofcam03review.aspx


I don't have one, just passing along what seems like a great price. I'll have $72 into the 02 after the rebate for a 12MP trailcam with very fast trigger and great pics. If it only lasts 3 years, so be it - still seems a great value.

Good luck with it lasting 3 years

ZZTOP played our county fair here in September for the first time ever...

Nephew passes the property on the way to and from town every day... There is nothing much left there anymore, I know where its at casue there are some bee boxes at that area nowdays.

We just got a UTV in our fire dept yesterday.... The back tailgate has a sticker says protectign the chicken ranch since 1866... I about spit out the water I was drinking when I saw that.

It was there for sure. Most towns had em. There were some in the general area for quite a few years after Marvin Zindler came up and muddled around here.

Back to cameras, I"m not a trophy hunter per say, as I kill more culls than anything but I do like to manage the herd like it should be IMHO. The cameras let me know whats going on all year round and what needs to be shot if anything.

Generally the largest bucks of the year are nocturnal by season openers... so its just a luck thing if I get to harvest one of them, and I don't really care if I do or not. But for us, we have up to 20 bucks on 100 acres all summer due to food plots and feeders, and by Oct 1, we generally loose 50% or more as tehy start roaming as we have very few does permanent around.

The cameras are fun for me. I know when I need to take out a few yotes and coons and such when the numbers get high.

And all this while working a job and living a crazy life, not making time to get to sit and watch much like I would like to.

we use em in AK too... helps be in more places than one at a time. Get some neat pics sometimes... first pics of a wolf ever this fall, and first ever of grizz... ones at night that we'd have never had a chance to get other wise.

We have not used any of the newer Cuddebacks, the ones we have are the older "classic" version. About $159 new. Most are 3-4 years old and still taking great photos. We bought one new Cuddeback that was more expensive and it was not as good so the new cameras that we have bought are the Bushnell

Our older ones are like this:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/hunting/trail-cameras-feeders/trail-cameras-accessories%7C/pc/104791680/c/104767380/sc/103867380/cuddeback-reg-seen-game-camera/1611930.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ftrail-cameras-accessories%2Fcuddeback%2F_%2FN-1100176%2B1000003160%2FNe-1000003160%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_103867380%3FWTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNU

I agree 100% on the fun but for me the headache of poor quality/expense just overwhelmed the fun.

Bushnells and Moutries are great values and work very well.

Cuddybacks are all marketing bullshit, I tried a multi-hundred dollar model and when it started messing up they couldn't have give less of a [bleep].

I bought a Primos Proof 03 about 4 months ago. So far, so good. Daylight pictures are very sharp while night pictures are not real clear. Battery life in video mode seems to eat batteries.

Are all SD cards created equal?

I have had a few Primos Truth Cams and I'm done with them as of Sunday. The last one, a 46, died sometime between last week and this past Sunday. I have 51 pictures, with no time, or date stamp after the first one. Then it quit taking pics all together after two days. Batteries are new. It wouldn't read the SD card after the 2nd day either.

I have been using Wildgame cams and they're good so far. one is new, and one is on it's 2nd season.

They don't seen to take as nice of pics as the Primos 46 but they work as advertised.

FYI Covert cameras are JUNK don't bother with them now the customer service sucks as well, They had me send in a camera for replacement and now refuse and if I didn't contact them about it they I;d never know. Then lie to me about the situation,one person tells me they didn't have my number then the next tells me they tried to call me but couldn't reach me.
Every camera I got from them has broke in short order

The wildgames are good for about 2 years then they go bad also! had 2 of the worked great for about 2 seasons, then will only sometime work!

I second this. I will never buy a Covert camera again. They SUCK and there customer service sucks also.

What we have seen with the Bushnells is that they take good photos in good light and in pitch black but at the crucial times of dawn/dusk, they seem to not be able to figure out whether to use the flash or not, so many photos are too dark.

That's not limited to Bushnell. Every brand I've used does that.

It seemed to be more pronounced with the Bushnells, looking at those photos side by side with the Cuddebacks. The Bushnell photos during daylight were better, however.

I had my second Moultree die this year. Seems they are starting to go bad now. Many of them after 4 years, of year round use.

I'm closing in on the mental acceptance to buy Reconyx however I did get two Stealth cams to use from a fella. He had used one of them, the other new in box. G42 model no glow flash. Anyone use this model before?

Hoping these last better. Got them for cheap, but feeling that if I originally spent the money on Reconyx, I would still be using them rather then now buying replacements which will put me at about the same price anyway.

I also heard that the Recoynx is completely rebuildable so they can be repaired not thrown away.

In fairness many of the Moultree cameras are used year round, on a tree or post all have been in the UV, heat, freezing cold, and rain. That is not easy duty for any electronics.

Tempted to try one of the Browning models. We try to get a couple of new ones each season as older ones crap out.

I'm getting a new cam soon and it too will be a browning.

I keep several game cams set out year 'round.

I find that viewing the images on the game cams can be one of the high points of the trip to my lease each month.

With that in mind, a few images selected over the years.

It's somewhat unusual to see a boar this size out in "daylight" usually only see these guys after dark-thirty and before daylight. He's getting careless. Our dove season opener is Thursday Sept. 1, I plan to be waiting on him next Wednesday evening. See if I can't perforate him!






Aoudad




Only have one sequence of four pix of this group of Mouflon sheep. Been on this lease since 2004 and these are the first I've seen range through.





Boar





I've got a sequence of shots showing this Sika from the time he enters and gets completely covered in mud, then gets back up. I think he likes the mud.




Grey fox

Up until the time the game cam caught this group I had not seen Javelina on this lease before.





Hunted this lease for 8 years. Got one 3 shot sequence of this buck. Never actually laid eyes on him.





This was taken near the ranch owner's house. He was like Dr. Doolittle. There was no hunting on this section of the ranch. I set up the pen and demand feeders so he could watch the axis. This pix is of one he named "Hartford"






My son took this guy at 35 yds with a cross bow. He said that was a plenty good Christmas present!




And of the thousands of game cam photos, this has to be one of my fav’s




ya!


GWB

Best trailcam I've ever had is a 10 year old Moultrie. The biggest drawback is that It uses a lantern battery which pretty much shuts down at about 15 degrees. Otherwise it's been a great cam. Has fallen out of the truck bed going up in the mountains, thrashed by a bear of which it took 3 pics during the thrashing and just keeps on going.

Well the Primos Truth 03 has been out for over a year now, still working on the same batteries.

I was out cutting some brush today and found the little Browning Strike force BTC-5 trail cam I put out last year (and forgot about) and it was still running on the AA batteries! Battery meter shows 53% battery life remaining.

I looked at the SD card and it had 594 pictures. Mostly just deer ears, I had it a little high on the tree I guess.

It's an old thread I know but finding the game cam reminded me of it.

How high are you setting them? I put them about waist height, maybe a bit lower.

That's about right, however due to the terrain I have set them different heights and angles. One instance, the cam was set on a old ladder stand about 15' in the air.

I use a couple HCO Spartan Blackout GoCams (Verizon Edition) on my 117 acres, since my property is 6 hrs away. Also use some Bushnell HD Agressors(blackout)in various locations. Pretty impressed with the Bushnells, trigger speed and day pictures. Night photos pretty good as well, similar to other cams. HCO cellulars I'm pleased with, except for the spendy price. Monthly Verizon service charge of $5 per camera pretty good deal though.

First photo HCO cellular of the entry into my property. Pretty much know when someone enters. Property is gated just about 250 ft. below the dogleg uphill.

Second and third pictures are at upper feeder with same HCO cellular cam.

Fourth photo HCO cam different location last year. Bear tilted cam so trees appear to lean.

Last photo....from one of the Bushnell Agressors. Took five nice gobblers off the ranch this past spring. Several toms, including these two guys were granted a pardon....lol.


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http://s98.photobucket.com/user/SS30ANV/media/buck_zpscdzn2rdf.jpg.html]

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I've thought about that because some are getting stolen in the area we hunt. How do you know it's aimed correctly?

I had this one higher than I normally place them because of a knot on the tree.

After set up I walk into the area I aimed at, say cheese, pull the photo chip and insert into my Acer tablet for review.

Gotchya

anyone knows what causes this line?

Too much beer is usually what causes me to mate a buffalo. Quite common in northern WI.

I have a couple of older Moultrie that I might try out again this year. They really run through batteries quick compared to some other brands....

Are the Minox trail cameras any good? See them on Camofire for $140 DTC 650

Not worth really starting a new thread but on the topic of game cameras as an FYI for those that shop The Cabelas bargain cave, I bought what I thought was a great deal on a returned Stealth Camera at $170 with a normal price $300. When I took it out of the (sealed) box it was in fact a very old Stealth camera model that was available for about $70 on the web.

Spoke to customer service and pointed out that they had gotten ripped off by whomever returned a camera worth a lot less and I got ripped off by spending a lot more than it was worth. Policy is "as is" and not returnable. Same answer from supervisor. Lesson learned. If you shop the bargain cave in person, feel free to slip out your knife and open their sealed packages. I won't ever buy from the Bargain Cave via the web again.

As a 40 year customer of Cabelas, Dick and Tom Cabela should be aghast at what the gold standard of customer service has become. There appears to be no differentiated value from them and anyplace else you can buy stuff.

Couple of possible solutions for some cams. I have a Truth Cam Supercharged Blackout HD which has a name that is waaaay too long. Shortly after the warranty expired it started eating batteries even when powered off. As in new Duracells. They would last maybe a day. Obviously a short somewhere. Didn't figure it was worth the hassel of sending it back for repair. But I never had tried running it with the external battery box that holds 8 or 16 extra AAs and plugs into the bottom of the cam via a 12V input. Bingo. Circuitry for the external power source bypasses the short in the internal battery supply. Operation is back to normal. Only problem is a sometimes whiteout on pics into the sun early morning or late evening. Some pics it has taken are on General Big Game of some bear.

Failure to recognize the SD card in cams or other devices, or issues saving data, can many times be cured by doing a full format of the card in a computer, not with the cam. THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON THE SD CARD. Save whatever pics you want to keep to your hard drive or thumb drive or disc or whatever otherwise you'll never see them again.

For Windows systems:

Plug the SD into a laptop or desktop.
Open your Computer folder.
Right click on the SD Symbol/Description and select Format on the menu that appears.
On the next menu that appears de-select Quick Format (this automatically selects Full Format though that description will probably not appear).
Click Start and let the program run until notified of completion.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep an eye out for that stuff at my local store.

“When he was young, I told Dale Jr. that hunting and racing are a lot alike. Holding that steering wheel and holding that rifle both mean you better be responsible.” -Dale Earnhardt

http://www.gamecamerareview.com/