On the verge of "closing" on a northern Minnesota property. I would like something that will record day/night based on motion/infared. Something that has a reasonably long battery life that would work for > a week or two? I am most likely way off here because I haven't paid attention to the technology advancements. The house has high speed Internet if that helps. Ok, I'll be taking notes and checking out your responses. Thanks in advance.
I just bought several WildGame Innovations 18 megapixel for like $30 each and they are decent cameras for the money. I’ve got over 4K pics on a set of batteries so far.
Stealth Cam has worked well for me.
With what you need there are lots of choices.
Thirty something $$ Stealth Cam or Muddy, buy your own card and batteries have been the only ones that haven’t flaked out on me. I’ve spent upwards of $140 and each one has flaked. not stopped working but wouldn’t detect, ir weird, battery latches broken, and other crap.
You didn’t specify a (connected) cam like cellular. Barn Owl or Reconyx is the most dependable ones if you wanna spend the money.
Another vote for Wild Game Innovations in the cheapie class. I gave up on expensive trail cams over 10 years ago. If I get 2-3 years out of a cheapie I'm happy, with a couple at least 5 years old and still going. They are out year round, and mine are now all the 8 AA battery type and I run Lithium batteries in the winter. They cost a lot more but hold up longer in the cold.
I've used several different brands over the years and now only use Stealth Cam, all others failed eventually from the fall rain & cold winter temps
I've left Stealth Cams in the field over the winter where they took vids of animals until they got buried by snow, with no activity to set off the cam, it stays off and saves the batteries, when the snow melted & exposed the cam, it started taking video of passing critters again
You'll be lucky to get a year of operation out of any Chicom made brand camera regardless of cost.
Only had 1 wildlife Innovation but it was great! Battery leakage killed it. Now need a replacement. I was gifted 2 bushnell cams, used the 1 and no real complaints. A little harder to setup but works decent.
I run 30+ cameras on our place, mostly to catch deter trespassers. For years the cheap Coverts were the best bang for the buck. Weren’t the fastest, clearest or took the best pics, but you could count on 30+ months of 365 a year use. The new ones have taken a serious reliably hit (50% aren’t lasting a year).
Because I’ve had a number of cameras stolen, I prefer the cheaper cameras. Having said that, my Reconyx are are perfect after 6 years.
Today, I tend to purchase two year old model new stock Brownings. They have a quick trigger and take good photos and video, day or night. With Lithium batteries, I’m getting 9 months of life (through brutal upstate NY winters).
My experience with Widlife, Bushnell, Stealth and Muddy has been mixed. I typically get 12-14 months out of these.
I’m getting ready to order another half dozen and I’ll probably just stick with the Brownings. They are lasting 24-27 months.
If you want a basic camera without any network access, about any of them will work today. I've had good luck with WildGame, Bushnell. Moultrie and Browning. If wanting cellular access, the Tactacam Reveal Pro-X cameras are pretty nice and come with both AT&T and Verizon sim cards offering you the ability to choose based on best signal. Their $5/month plan gives you 250 pics a month.
If you have Wifi on your place and are within WiFi signal, I'd recommend something like the Wyze outdoor camera with the rechargeable battery.
There is nothing that can compare to Ridgetec cellular, either reliability, ease of operation or app interface.
There are a lot of manufacturers you can settle with and give up something, but there is nothing that even ranks close to the Ridgetec.
I had an original out going on 5yrs of continuous use, hooked to a customized solar battery pack, I ran it for a while with no internal batteries just to see what happened.
In 5yrs it literally took 100s of thousands of pictures, unknown number of videos and the only time it went down was because of some outside intervention.
Hell, it even caught a couple of poachers a few years back.
The only drawback is the initial cost, they are not cheap, but you get a package that requires very little maintenance, leaves you to worry about hunting and forget scouting, simply review the images uploaded daily and make your game plan.
I run 30+ cameras on our place, mostly to catch deter trespassers. For years the cheap Coverts were the best bang for the buck. Weren’t the fastest, clearest or took the best pics, but you could count on 30+ months of 365 a year use. The new ones have taken a serious reliably hit (50% aren’t lasting a year).
Because I’ve had a number of cameras stolen, I prefer the cheaper cameras. Having said that, my Reconyx are are perfect after 6 years.
Today, I tend to purchase two year old model new stock Brownings. They have a quick trigger and take good photos and video, day or night. With Lithium batteries, I’m getting 9 months of life (through brutal upstate NY winters).
My experience with Widlife, Bushnell, Stealth and Muddy has been mixed. I typically get 12-14 months out of these.
I’m getting ready to order another half dozen and I’ll probably just stick with the Brownings. They are lasting 24-27 months.
Similar to my experience. I've run cams since the 35mm days and at one time I was running maybe 10-12 cams about 9 months of the year and even pro staffed for one for about a year. I've ran many different brands, I think a lot boils down to preference and what someone expects but for me the WGIs were mostly junk, though had one that worked well for about two years.
I haven't had good luck with Moultrie either. Bushnell has been mixed, I have a Bushnell 446 model still running after 9 years, but other models (466's) crapped out in a year. Stealth Cam has been decent. The most reliable have been the Coverts (I still have a couple of the MP6 line still working that are 9-10 years old) and the Browning's. I have a first year Browning Recon Force still working and another that just quit. All the others still going strong. Most will take rechargeables so that works out well. The Covert MP line are $100 or less and take great day pics and battery life that's forever. Trigger and recovery isn't as good as Browning, but most Browning's are also a fair amount more. Anymore I'm mostly Browning and Covert, they've delivered.
I just bought a muddy and a spy cam that both send photos to your phone, both decently easy to set up. The muddy only works with Verizon the spycam works with any. Both were 100 bucks but I think the muddy takes better pictures I’ve deleted them all so far I’ll post some when the next batch come in.
Covert. You can thank me later.
I have had good luck with Covert too.