Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Which Trailcam to buy w/o breaking my bank?

I have never purchased, used, or researched which trailcam to buy. Which would be the best one for +/- $150? Any input will greatly be appreciated. I would like to have a unit that uses a memory card so I don't have to develop 35mm film.

IMO and IME with trailcams $150 doesnt get you much.

I am trying to keep the price low for two reasons. 1. I have had 3 ladder stands stolen off of this property (I figure they will steal it if they can find it) and 2. I am in college and have a limited hunting budget. How much should I look to spend for a basic but quality cam?

I am trying to pattern the deer and the theives. I am worried that a flash will lead them to my camera

I bought a 2.0 megapixel StealthCam two years ago for $160. So far, it has worked great. I know it's no Cuddeback, but with a 512MB memory card, it has had upwards of 850 pictures on it at times. The pictures are all good quality, nothing you'd put in a magazine, but you can see what's coming in.

It runs off of 8 D-cell batteries, and those would last from late September to January.

It has pretty good range on it in terms of what it can detect. We've got lots of quail, and they usually set it off when they are walking around under the feeder. So, I figure if it's sensitive enough to pic them up, it will pick up a deer.

Like I said, not the best on the market in terms of the highest megapixels and infrared flash and all that, but I have had no complaints with it and would buy another.

Thanks for your input! I will look into the StealthCam brand. You are describing what sounds like all I need out of the cam.

I've got a SteathCan also. I bought a 512MB card off Ebay for $5.00 which gives it mnore meomory than I realy need. I've had iot for two years now and it does the job very well I bought the accessory battery pac as the 8Dcell batteries didn't hold up in the real cold weather.
IMO it's the best camera for the money. They have a sale on now and you can get one for $119.90. MOdel 450 which is a nice camer and will do the job for you.

Here you go: http://www.nativeoutdoors.com/scout...p;OVADID=442679021&OVKWID=1219275021

I think the best camera for the money is the Moultrie Game Spy 200 (3.2 mega pixel). Moultrie will stand behind their stuff if you have any problems. Buy 2 SD cards and 2 rechargeable batteries so you can swap out when you check for pictures. They can be had for under $125.00. Also, you can get a solar panel battery charger if you want to use one, and never worry about the battery.

For what you want to do, trigger speed is the only thing you are worried about. All the camera's people have suggested so far will basically do you no good, as the time from detection to actually taking a picture is too long. Go here http://www.chasingame.com/ and do some research. Probably the best site on the web to get real info on what most of the camera's can and cannot do.

I have given up on them since mine was stolen off private property.

I've not had very good luck with the Moultree cams. Two others on my lease have had problems as well.
I think it's time for me to pony up and buy a Cuddeback or something similar.

DT

I have two Moultrie 3.1 mega pixel cameras and a Cuddeback Expert. The Cuddyback does have a faster trigger speed but I still get plenty of blank pics and "rear end only" pics. I haven't noticed the battery life in the Cuddyback to be any better than the Moultrie nor have I noticed any better quality in the daytime pics. I would say that nighttime pics are a little better with the Cuddyback, my Moultrie's flash seems to turn eyes into bright spots. (I called Moultrie and they told me to email them some pics and they would repair/replace as needed but I haven't taken time to do it because its really not that bad) Some of the features on the Cuddyback are nice like the theftstop password but I really doubt that would stop a theif. I like the temp and moon phase option that Moultrie provides. I like my Cuddyback but for the money there is NO question next time I'll buy another Moultrie (or two). I use my cameras to see whats out there and where/when they are moving and for that use the benifits of the Cuddyback just aren't worth the extra money to me.

Here are a few pics I just pulled off of my Moultrie 3.1 (paid $119.00 for it). It does what I want it to do and at that price, I can buy 2 or 3 for the less than the price of Cuddebacks. The camera needs to be raised a bit above the vegetation, and pointed away from the west. The picture of the doe got washed out because of the sun in the late afternoon.

Mine worked fine during moderate weather. When it got really HOT or really COLD is when they would go belly up!!! Looks like you are having better luck than my pards and I have had. I hope it holds up for ya.

DT

Bushnell 119200. About $130. Great pictures, and great battery life (do an external mod with a 6V battery and use a solar panel). 1/4 second trigger time. I've had Moultries, Cuddes and this. This one hasn't let me down.

Mike

After spending big $$$ having film processed I finally decided to go digital about a year and a half ago. Some of the places that I hunt / scout I was a little afraid to go all out with a $300-$500 unit so went at it with a budget in mind. Nothing quite like having a new high dollar cam stolen. Right now I've got three. A Moultrie Gamespy 100, a Moultrie Gamespy 200, and most recently a Bushnell Trail Sentry. The two Moultries both take great, clear pics with the 200 naturally making clearer ones especially when blown up but the trigger speed is a little slow on both. With a little trial and error it's not that bad to figure out how to quit getting shots of butts by moving it a little further off of the trail and setting it at a little more of an angle. Both cams are a little heavy due to the 6V springtop battery so you have to take a little care in hanging them or the wind will move them around and they'll slide down. They come with two 1/4" bungee straps with spring hooks on the ends but I've found a small ratchet strap works much better. Battery life is excellent and I've had NO leaks with either. I got the 100 from Cabelas and the 200 off of eBay. I think that they were $125-$150 each from the catalogs but I got the one off of eBay for about $100. I've only had the Bushnell about two months and it's a pretty good cam for the $70 price tag (eBay again). The pics aren't as sharp but the trigger speed is much better. The cam is pretty sensitive so you'll have to watch how you position it. I generally set my cams about head high and point them down but the first time that I tried it with this one I got about 150 pictures of the ground the next day. By the best that I could tell it took a pic every time that the sun came out from behind the clouds and heated the ground up a little. On the other side it got two or three pics of a small rabbit about 25 feet from the cam right before dark so the sensitivity can be a plus if you set it right. So far I've had no leaks with this unit either and it's about 1/3 the weight of the Moultries. It runs on 4 "D" cell batteries and so far it's still on the first set of batteries (about 400 pics in two months) though it hasn't been out the whole time. The back of the cam is rounded and has knobs and strips to help grip bark. It comes with a 2" nylon strap with an adjustable buckle. I've had it on some trees that I can barely reach around and some saplings that you can wrap your fingers around with no problems having it stay in place. Controls on all three cams are pretty much idiot proof and they all have password protection and the door can be locked with a padlock. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have a pimped out cam from one of the bigger companies but the way that I look at it, if you're afraid to put it anywhere but your back yard is it really doing you any good? As soon as I can figure out how to sneak another one in without the wife knowing about it I'll probably grab another Bushnell.
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You generally get what you pay for. I tried to go cheap with a $99 unit C cell batteries, 1.2 meg., etc and didn't get a single picture. Then I got a "top of the line" Moultrie for $149 and have used it for two seasons with good results, soooo! which was cheaper?

By the way if you buy their rechargeable 6V battery you really only need one per camera. I bought two thinking I would have one to take home and charge while the other was in the woods. The rechargeable has lasted for as long as two months and only requires about 12 hours to charge so you can get by with one without missing too much activity.

Ennis

I have a 35MM and I too want to go digital. My question, if you get one that has the memory card, do you remove the memory card and attach to computer to see the images? This may sound very basic, but when it comes to computers and such I am very basic!

yep, just pull the card out, and replace it with a empty card. My computer has a card reader on the printer. You can also purchase a card reader and plug it into a USB port. If you have a digital camera (I guess you probably don't or you woukld not have asked that question) that uses the same type of card, I guess you can view the pictures in the monitor of your camera.

You can save the pictures on a CD, or on your computer hard drive.