Best Trail Cam for $$$?

[Hornseeker]

I am looking to get a digital trail cam...honestly, picture quality isn't real high on my list of priorities. I want a camera that I can leave "way" back in for 2 months and collect a thousand pictures...

I can rig up an extra battery for life and get a big memory card...anyone else doing this? I have 2 or 3 spots where I can set one, but its a 3-4 hour crawl into them...so I dont want to check them very often...

Thanks in advance,

Ernie

 

[DallanC]

To be perfectly honest, you need to REALLY spend some time researching this, there are MANY tradeoffs right now. Also a GREAT many cam's are having problems, dont just jump into this, trust me.

Goto www.chasingame.com and look at their reviews, they do an EXCELLENT job with their tests showing flash ranges, trigger times, picture quality. Next, head to the forums and search on the camera models you are interested in. Look for people reporting PROBLEMS with said camera types. Its amazing how many of the $400+ cams are just plain junk.

If you have $2225'ish to spend, the top of the line cameras are upto 5 miles wireless image transfer. You could put your base somewere easier to get to and the remote cameras up in the nasty stuff, when they take pictures they send'em on down to the base or even to a computer hooked up to the internet and it will post them online automatically.

The advances in technology in this field is amazing. Very fun hobby though... I went with the Bushnell 119200 due to my not needing night picts (it has a weak flash), it takes great quality pictures and has a .25 second reaction time. I got close to 3,000 pictures this fall of elk from Aug to Nov 1.

Anyway hit up chasingame.com to get started.


-DallanC

 

[Hornseeker]

Dallan...thanks alot. I didn't know remote data transfer was possible that affordably...wow...that could make things very interesting.

I'll be looking,

Ernie

 

[Hornseeker]

For some reason, I thought that was $225...not $2225! So I guess its not that affordable. For that kind of money, I'll be hiking to my camera! hehehe

 

[DallanC]

>For some reason, I thought that
>was $225...not $2225! So I
>guess its not that affordable.
>For that kind of money,
>I'll be hiking to my
>camera! hehehe


I did say top of the line lol! Heres a link to the "drool over" system: http://www.buckeyecam.com/

For the money, Most people are building home brews that are beating most production game cams. Built for around $100-170 they deliver awsome picture and preformance.

There are 4 big features of trail cameras. Response time, Flash Range, Image Quality, Battery Life. If you break down most cameras, at best most of them only have 3 of the 4 features. They will have great flash, poor image quality, average trigger time but great battery life. Or they have great response time, ok pictures, ok flash, poor battery life... etc etc.

I put my camera in a place where I get very few night pictures. Due to not needing flash I went with the 119200 I mentioned above, its Faaaaasst on the trigger (I get pictures of birds flying past), takes great quality pictures but it has crappy flash and it burns batterys like you wouldnt believe (I modded mine and run external rechargable batts now... got 608 pictures on my last charge).

So questions you need to answer are: What is your price range. Where will your camera be aimed at (feeder, waterhole, trail). What percentage of your pictures do you expect to be taken at night? Will you add external battery support?

If you are just wanting to try it out as a hobby to see if you want to get more into it, the Walmart Moultrie unit for less than $100 might be the ticket. Just make sure it has a MFG date later than Sept of this year... ones earlier than that had uber problems with the firmware.


-DallanC

 

[Hornseeker]

Here's what I'd use it for...

9 times outta 10, it'll be set up over a wallow/water hole situation. There will be animals visiting daily. Its in the middle of a dump hole, so I"m not too worried about night pics...i think the biggest critters in there feel comfortable using hte hole at daylight hours.

Image quality isn't real important here, I am strictly wanting to know what is in there...if I can tell its a pig...I'll be happy. The better the image quality, the better...but not so important.

The spot I'm setting up...probably dont need quick response time.

I do have a trail or two in mind that the quick trigger would be good for.

I have an electronic genius buddy who says he can rig up a "gel cell" battery externally and the camera will run for 6 months! Kinda over kill, but I DO NEED 2 months minimum.

Thanks again for the info...throw more at me if you want! I think the wally world cam may be the ticket with an external battery rigged up!

Ernie

 

[DallanC]

In a waterhole setup yes slower reaction time is acceptable usually. Lots of cams will be ok to you as the animals will hang around for some pictures. If you need true trail camera performance for a critter on a trail you need to find cams with less than .25 second reaction times... and there arent many of those.

You still didnt mention how much you are willing to spend, so I'll guess $150 range.

There is a StealthCam WD2 that is reliable, has great flash, 2-3 second reaction time and is supposed to be good on batteries (you will still want to add external battery though). It, imo, takes crappy pictures. I had one for a short time and returned it for the bushnell.

Here is a picture comparison I did between the WD2 and 119200.

http://www.chasingame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1237&highlight=119200

Will it matter to you? If you seriously dont care about image quality I'd say WD2... for me, I wanted clearer pictures to make out animal detail in the distance.

Oh yea one more thing if you are going to be watching Elk. THEY WILL PLAY WITH THE CAMERA NON-STOP!!! Pick something durable! One problem I forsee is them smudging up your lense by licking the camera... I had to clean off my lense every week due to elk slobber and mud rubbed all over it. I finally built a box to put the camera in, with a 1.5" hold for the lense that they couldnt get into to lick... well to much anyway.

WD3 takes great quality pictures and has good flash, ok reaction time but its a bit more than the wd2 in cost. I'd rather have a couple cheaper cams than a single expensive one.

Oh yea, memory cards are way cheap so dont sweat that. I bought my 512's back in Aug for $9 each... brand new.


-DallanC

 

[DallanC]

Heres some of my better picts this year:

And of course, the infamous LEROY THE RETARDED ELK!

-DallanC

 

[Hornseeker]

Cool pics...Those comparison pics are good and there is NO WAY I'd accept the first...so, there ya go, there's my image quality statement shot to Chit....

I am thinking $150....$225 max.

I was thinking I'd climb a tree and mount my camera up about 10-15 feet...that would good and I'd try and keep it protected from the bears. Lots of bears where I'll be.

I have a film cam that has had elk lick it too...its pretty cool, but a pain! I have some pics very similar to yours but they are all on film! I dont have a scanner!

Thanks a lot for the info.

SO....150-225..."decent" picture quality...not too worried about reaction time...

Ernie

 

[schmalts]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-09-06 AT 11:46AM (MST)[p]for wallows and water holes consider the newer moultrie from walmart. 2 things i have found with these is that the newer ones are more sensitive ( i get squirells that trigger it) and you can get a gel cell rechargable battery that will last a long time and pay for itself in a couple of recharges. that camera will cost less tha 100 bucks and the pictures are great!! I opted to buy 2 moultries rather than one expensive camera. SD cards are cheap too. here is a few from my cameras

 

[bigbulls1]

From what you are describing, I can only think of one camera that will work well for you. It is above your price range, but it will be worth it. Leaf River for $279, batteries will last 2-3 months, and 1000+ pics. also you can adjust the sensitivity, you dont want a 1000 pics of squirells. takes an awesome picture, has quickshot and video options, IS completely waterproof. you wont be disappointed.

 

[DallanC]

> Leaf River for $279,
>batteries will last 2-3 months,
>and 1000+ pics. also
>you can adjust the sensitivity,
>you dont want a 1000
>pics of squirells. takes
>an awesome picture, has quickshot
>and video options, IS completely
>waterproof. you wont be
>disappointed.

Lots of people on chasingame.com reporting LR problems... just fyi.


-DallanC

 

[JimmyAZ]

What is your opinion on the Cuddebacks?

 

[schmalts]

they are awsome, but expensive. they are a true "trailcam" because of the superfast trigger time. but like i said before, it is overkill for wallows and waterholes, anf the cost brings more fear of them being stolen

 

[DallanC]

>What is your opinion on the
>Cuddebacks?

I *thought* they were the premier camera until I started seeing how many people have problems with them and how crappy cudde's customer service was.

The older Cuddeback 3.0 seems to be the best unit they ever made. Almost everything else is crap, software issues, leaking water into the case etc etc. The single longest thread on chasingame.com is about cudde issues, and its over 15 pages long.

The single best cameras out there right now for under $200 are homebrew kits. You buy a used Sony P40/P41 off ebay for $50, they buy a prebuilt curcuit board and case, follow the instructions and wire it all up yourself. There are alot more settings and modifications available to the cam owner going this route (you can even change them into IR cameras).


-DallanC

 

[JimmyAZ]

Dallan, thanks for the info!! Great to know!

 

[Hornseeker]

After looking alot...I'm thinking Homebrew or the cheapo deluxe from WalMart...I like those pics Schmalts...and I think 9 times outta 10, I"ll be in a situation that does not need a fast trigger...

Thanks for all the info everyone..especially all your help and advice Dallan.

Ernie

PS...hopefully by next September I'll havea bunch of pics to share.

 

[drahthaar]

Its the offseason for most guys now so ebay is full a guys trying to get cameras. You wont get a p41 for less than 130-140 bucks. The cheapest are the sony s40s, tough little cameras, easy hack, good pics.

 

[schmalts]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-11-06 AT 01:04PM (MST)[p]>After looking alot...I'm thinking Homebrew or
>the cheapo deluxe from WalMart...I
>like those pics Schmalts...and I
>think 9 times outta 10,
>I"ll be in a situation
>that does not need a
>fast trigger...
>
>

The trigger is about 3-4 seconds on average. I have literally hundreds of pictures every week by putting the cameras on a hot scrapes as you can see in the pictures all deer are working the scrape. in summer i put it on a mineral lick. I put the camera in 2 picture mode as well in case the first one is a bad angle or the deer is moving a lot and gets blurry. I have absolutely no complaints for the money i spent on the newer ones. most guys who are dissapointed wanted a trail camera and find the trigger is too slow on these. For the 98$ it cost to buy the walmart, its not worth building a homebrew camera unless you want a trail camera. I wish i had one of each though, as a trail cam would come in handy but i just tell myself the bucks will hit the scrapes anyway.
if you want i can email you more pictures of bucks from the cheapo units

 

[Hornseeker]

I have a film "tral" camera with a quicker trigger...I"m probably going to go with the wal mart...I am going to look at chasingame.com for another few hours first though!

Dallan...are there "plans" for homebrewing on chasingame? Or do you just buy "kits" off there? If so, can you link me?

How are the night pics?
Flash range?

Ernie

 

[DallanC]

Within their forums, in the "homebrew" section, they have this sticky to get people started:

http://www.chasingame.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=39

Really you should register and post questions there. They are good folk and answer alot of questions. SSS and Pix are two of the board MFG's I've seen discussed there. I have not built a homebrew so I'm not an expert on them. A guy reciently posted he got a P40 off ebay for under $50 though which is a heck of a cheap start.


I agree with schmalts in that the current walmart cam is pretty hard to beat for someone getting into the hobby. MAKE SURE it is a reciently made one though, the ones walmart was selling through the summer had a ton of problems, card read/write issues, whiteouts etc etc. Check out the moultrie forum at chasingame.

BUT! I disagree with schmalts about homebrew not being worth building if you dont need a true trailcam, the quality of a homebrew and its flash simply blows away most storebought trailcams. Check out the pictures forum there to compare.

Fun hobby but be warned... fun = $$$ and soon as you get started you start looking into new additions like slave flash, external battery mods, solar chargers etc etc


-DallanC

 

[Hornseeker]

hehehe...right on Dallan...I simply dont have the $$$ to spend, so I cant let it get out of control...

ON the homebrew issue...I like to build things myself anyways and I have a buddy that is some sort of an electrical genius, so I am gonna have to look into the Sony P40 and check out some plans..

I'm registered over there...just haven't thought up the right question yet! :0)

 

[schmalts]

LAST EDITED ON Dec-11-06 AT 07:04PM (MST)[p]one thing though Dallan, the range of the flash on some of these cameras is not a problem. If you are placing it on a scrape or wallow, as long as you are putting it close, your flash range on he cheapos are fine. Trail cams once again need the better flash if used on something like a food plot where the critters are ranging but on a wallow, you should be able to get it close enough i hope, or the thing wont trigger anyway.
I try to get the camera about 12-15 feet away. this may be a problem on some wallows

 

[DallanC]

My 119200 triggers out to nearly 40 yards... its weak flash is pretty much useless unless the critter is inside of 10 yards. I will be ordering and trying the freshnel lense flash mod for it and possibly even a slave flash.

LOL lots of fun things to try out.


-DallanC

 

[RockyDog]

Im interested in building a Homebrew with Hornseeker. Im curious why it has to be the sony or the olympus cameras? Not a big deal, but I have a kodak and it would be nice to stick with the same software on my computer.

 

[Hornseeker]

Kodaks Blow....

Just kiddin..I have no idea. I do know this though, if you have windows you dont even need the cam software..so that shouldn't be a big deal. I have an Olympus camera and I dont use its software at all...

Ernie

 

[ram100]

I too am looking for a good digital camera and I went to the chasing game site. All I could find were palces to buy cameras and I couldnt get the reviews you mentioned. Where do you go to get the info.

 

[DallanC]

1). Goto www.chasingame.com.

2). in the upper left Menu, click on "Scouting Camera Reviews"

3). Choose a MFG, then select camera model you are interested in. Lots of info in there.


-DallanC

 

[Hornseeker]

The one thing I'd like to see is a comparison or a recommendation page....the way its set up right now, you simply have to start reading about every camera...

I guess you could make a post on the board, "which camera is best for me?" or something like that....

 

[DallanC]

>The one thing I'd like to
>see is a comparison or
>a recommendation page....the way its
>set up right now, you
>simply have to start reading
>about every camera...
>
>I guess you could make a
>post on the board, "which
>camera is best for me?"
>or something like that....

They had it set up that way until Sept.

They had a recomendations page with the best camera in a price range. The problem was everyone places different value on different features. People argued with a choice in a range because they thought some other feature was more important. Due to this, Anthony decided to just present the unbiased results and let people make their own minds up based on what they feel is most important.

Best way to decide on a cam is to look at the test results, make up a short list of 4 or 5 cams, then go ask on the forums which of the ones on your list should you get. You will learn alot from people who have or had them.


-DallanC

 

[treekiller]

Hornseeker...if you can leave a trailcam alone for 2 months, you're alot tougher then I am! I have a tough time leaving mine a week at a time.

I've used an old 35mm homebrew for 3-4 yrs and had decent luck, but many times the film would get used up the first night and the trailcam would sit there for a week without taking any more pics.

Last winter I bought an original 3.0 Cudde, great camera! I had great luck with it throughout the spring and summer. The batteries(4-D's) lasted for close to 2 months and 1200 pics, most at night using the flash.

In September I had it set up at a wallow and caught this bull bugling right after he wallowed. My best pic so far!

Unfortunately, some bunghole stole my camera the following week! It was password protected, so it's not usable by the thief. Some good folks on another website passed the hat while I was gone elk hunting and came up with enough money to replace my trailcam, so I bought a Cudde Expert. I'd read the reviews from "chasinggame", but so far I haven't had any problems with the new cam. The new mounting system isn't nearly as good as the old camera. A friend built me an "apb"(a$$hole proof box), I'll post a pic of it. If the older 3.0 was still available, I would've bought another one of those. Don't know why they changed them, the original was a GREAT camera!

I know several guys who the Moultrie Game Spy, and they get good pics. One model comes with a solar panel to keep a big 6V battery charged.

I know a guy with a Leaf River, he get's some good pics also. I also know several guys who get good pics from a new digital homebrew. Like mentioned above, some cameras have a slower trigger then others. So you have to place the trailcam accordingly.

But some guys complain about only getting pics of an animals tail when they have the cam aimed across the trail and not aimed down a trail where an elk will walk into the photo.

I've had my trailcam placed at wallows, trails, across openings, and have yet to get a full pic. Occasionally I'll get a partial of a deer running thru, but that's rare.

Anyhow, just thought I'd give my 2 cents on the subject.

 

[treekiller]

Here's the pic of the "apb". I use two 3.5 inch lag bolts to secure the box to the tree. Then a 4 inch screw thru the camera and box into the tree. It has a hinged door that covers the door of the trailcam that protects the memory card. The door is padlocked inside another welded box on the side. Almost impossible to cut the lock with a hacksaw or boltcutters.

Someone could still vandalize the camera, but it won't walk away very easy.