Moultrie edge

[sbuff]

Was gifted two Moultrie edge cell cams, I  have been a long time Moultrie fan but got away from them and went to spy point and browning .

Seems like a solid well built camera, anyone using one ?

 

[BizCT]

I think @Jeremy K had issues with them.

[phade]

The idea around not needing an SD is not novel and has been tried before. 

Ultimately, if the internal memory goes bad, so does the cam. Also, you really can't use it w/out cell service because you can't pull a card to swap it in the field.

Moultrie has laid some real duds the past 3-4 years.

[sbuff]

Phade, my fingers are crossed . I do like the idea of 16 batterys for extended life.  I'll give an honest evaluation in time. 

[knehrke]

Got to agree with Phade. I've tried every new "update" that Moultrie has released over the past few years with uniform disappointment. They have all been a step backwards in terms of performance. In fact,  I still run three XA7000i cameras that are about as good as I've seen, albeit getting long in the tooth now and lacking some of the updated sexy features. But they have a solid detection circuit, great color and contrast, ridiculously fast trigger speeds and recovery time, and take reasonable night pictures. Since then...not so much on any of the newer cameras I've tested. I think Moultrie is going for the guy who wants to spend as little as possible on a camera, then making buck from the monthly plans. I mean, a $69 dollar cell cam? Other than the number itself, there's not much to like. I run two Delta that will for no reason whatsoever go from taking mediocre quality, washed out images to green goblin - it's like the entire image is painted in a monotone green palette. Then I have to physically reset the camera to get it back to its marginally acceptable self. 

If cheap is your deal, a buddy of mine has set a few Spypoint Flex, and they seem to be acceptable given the price point. I'm not sure that I'd run the Edge even if they were given to me free.

[sbuff]

They will be placed in woods soon they will do no good sitting on my porch.  

I'll report back my findings in time . 

I do like the added capabilities of an additional 8 battery's.  I grabbed some energizer lithium at Sam's the other day 

[sbuff]

Quick update ,both cams have been working flawlessly. The only thing I like more about spy point in the 100 free photos ,hunting the southern adks 100 pics a month is plenty . Moultrie you have to pay 9 or 10 bucks per month.

Battery life has been superb,I just doubled up for the winter with the additional 8 battery's . Easy to program ,the app is great, and I like how you can do a daily test photo,video all from your phone . 

[knehrke]

I just reread my scathing take on Moultrie's latest offerings, then saw this lol. I'm glad to hear that the Edge has worked for you. I'm still in the once burned twice shy category, but hopefully Moultrie has turned it around. I do like their app, as well as their billing paradigm, where if you cancel early they pro-rate the month. Tactacam takes everything and if you read their agreement, can charge you an early cancellation fee to boot. I've never tested this - I always cancel service with them on the last day of my service period. Happy New Year!

[knehrke]

So, rereading the posts here, I saw that I said I wouldn't take and Edge even if it were free. I shouldn't make statements that I can't back up lol.

After a couple years of complaining, Moultrie finally made good on the malfunctioning Delta cameras that take green pictures and offered my some credit toward new ones. So I picked up an Edge and an Edge Pro. Here's my take, after a month in the field.

The detection circuits seem to be decent, but the Edge illumination must be alerting deer, because a Browning non-cell camera (BTC5HD) that I placed just up the same trail is getting bucks that the Edge isn't...and when I switch the cameras around, the exact same thing still happens. In other words, the bucks are avoiding the Edge camera. In addition, the images seem fuzzy in the thumbnail version on the app and pixelated in HD, even using the "enhanced" setting (33 MP compared to "high" which is 4 MP). No issues with the onboard storage thus far, and the lack of SD card isn't a deal-breaker. Note however that the Moultrie app allows you to delete "HR" images you requested, so if you don't download them to a local computer, they are lost forever - because there's no SD card where they're saved in perpetuity and no way to request a new HR image once the thumbnails are deleted from the app. How do I know this? Don't ask...

The Edge Pro is a different beast. The illumination doesn't seem to spook the deer, although they do know that the camera is there. Nighttime images are decent, with daylight images exceptional. I haven't played with the setting where you can block out a piece of the picture to avoid false triggers, for example if you have weeds or a limb blowing, but I do know that I've had very few false triggers regardless, even looking out into an unharvested corn field. IMHO, it's the best Moultrie entry since the 7000 series. 

Finally, both cameras transmit well with very little cell signal. Battery life is much, much shorter than advertised...I put 16 alkaline AA batteries into each, and got less than a month with ~20 pictures taken per day. I switched them to and highly recommend an external battery source, such as a 12v 10ah lithium, which will last the whole season.

Bottom line: Tactacam still wins over the Edge, but the Edge Pro is a great camera, albeit at twice the price. Would I purchase more of them? Probably not.