trail cams... which ones?

[phade]

The more i read about these covert cams the more Id like to try. Customer service means alot when purchasing such tools.. primos and cuddeback arent near as good with service as to how your describing covert. Bushnell i have yet to deal with. All good cams from them so far.

Bushnell and Primos = same ownership group.

[RangerClay]

Ordered a Spypoint BF-6 today.  Will let you know how I like it.  Plenty of good reviews for Spypoint out there.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Ive had Wildview, Wildgame Innovations, Moultrie, Coverts, and Stealth. My Moultries were pretty darn good, but my Coverts are great. Best bang for the buck out there IMO. The other three I wouldnt buy with your money.

[greg54]

I bought 4 Moultrie to replace the 4 that were stolen last year, so far so good with them.

[Cabin Fever]

Pygmy posted a link to some good deals on Coverts on Wing Supply.  http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/23833-good-price-on-covert-mp6/  I ordered a couple of the MP6 black's for $115 (free shipping). Best deal I could find.

 

I've only used Scoutguards and Bushnell Trophy Cams. Been satisfied, but thought there might be better to try. Giving Coverts a shot. Just put them out yesterday.

[G-Man]

i have several cuddies that are very old..almost 10 years and use compact flash cards. i have found that sticking with the same brand of battery is most critical... seems if i buy the ones on sale they cause problems.. cuddies use to come with a warning not to use energizer. slight differences in legnth,output or construction seem to be the colpret. i have tried wildgame, and they died in a year. i am now trying some new stelthcams ( got them for free) so far they take great daylight, but ir night photos have no range. i am impressed with moultrie professional series (dec uses them in their fisher studies) good sharp pics day and night with ir. for my money i'll stick with cuddies the new models are quite affordable and 99% of the time i dont need all the bells and whistles of video, timelapse, panoramic, timed field shots, ect..... i just want a camera to take pictures and fast reset to take another one...

[LET EM GROW]

Thanks for the advice. I didnt know anything about the energizer batteries issue with cuddebacks. Energizer is what I mainly used. They seemed to last longer than the rest. Out of the 5 cuddebacks I have, 4 do not work right. With this being said, I did get quite a bit of use out of them. Anywheres from 3-8 years. I called Cuddeback and im going to try their "fix with new" program and get some new attack cams. Hopefully this process wont take to long. We will see.

 

I had bad luck with Moultire back in the day. Their customer service was a joke, so I stopped using them. But now everybody seems to have good luck with them so they might be worth a try.

 

As you said G-Man, i just want a camera that takes good enough pics to where you can see everythign about the animal and or person ha, is durable and reliable for a few years anyways. I believe if you can get a few years out of a camera that is in the element 365 24/7, you're doing alright. especially for a couple hundred dollars  give or take.

[hondamx32]

I have had wildview, bushnell, cuddeback, and moultries.  The wildviews worked great for a year then started working when they wanted after a year.   I had horrible luck with the bushnells, I think I only got  a season or 2 out of each of them.  The cuddebacks used to have great customer service....fix/replace cameras for free then it went to $50 to fix and it has increased since then.  I seem to get 2-3 years out of the cuddebacks before they need to be fixed (I have owned excite, capture, and attack cameras).  I just bought a bunch of Moultrie panoramics last year and so far I haven't had any issues, I get significantly more pictures and pictures of deer that a traditional camera would have missed (even in the middle of the woods).  I have decided that I will run cameras 2 years and trade them in.  Nothing worse than leaving a camera out for a couple months to find out it stopped working. 

[TrophyHunter33]

i had a Moultrie that was working great on its 2nd year until the bear got it and destroyed it.but its ok because i got him in the freezer lol.

[growalot]

 

I sometimes wonder if they have a built in mechanism that causes them to burn out after a set period of time

That is why I will not buy Moutlrie again...I had a rep tell me that they have a diode(?)  that burns out after so long and is not fixable....Causes the camera to shut down and not be able to reboot...That was it for me and Moultrie...

 

Covert...Spypoint...Bushnell...Wildgame...going Covert next one...I have another 180 in Gander cash to use up....

[LET EM GROW]

I sent 2 of my broken cuddeback captures in last week, for the "fix with new program" and got 2 ambush ir in place of them. I figured its a 200$ camera for 50% off. So for the 200$ spent, im getting (2) 200$ cameras. Hoping I made a good choice instead of buying (2) off a shelf for 100$/ea... Ill test these 2 new ambush ir cams out before sending the other 2 broken cuddebacks in. If these dont work Ill replace the other broken 2 with coverts I think. Tho I have heard a lot of good about the new browning cams also.. esp for the price!

 

I thought for the money spent I made a decent choice.

Any thoughts?

 

Trail cams are tough, they can be so hit or miss.. goods with the bads in every model it seems..

[Curmudgeon]

Most of these brands are cheap Chinese consumer electronics. I put at least 3 months of service on 10+ cameras each winter. We use Moultries because we get them at wholesale. If I get 2 years out of a camera, I think I did well. I do recommend using C cell batteries if you use the cameras in cold weather. AAs will need lithiums.

 

If you want quality, buy Reconyx - http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdspace.library.cornell.edu%2Fbitstream%2F1813%2F3074%2F2%2FTop%2520Working%2520and%2520Bridge%2520Grafting%2520Fruit%2520Trees.pdf&ei=8eBgVJf6NZKmyASF_YEQ&usg=AFQjCNEbqmMvwJvOFw-wVyKReRnBwVwZLw&sig2=sOvff2h_rXlmZZD0w7ffDA&bvm=bv.79189006,d.aWw

 

They are not cheap at $5-600. When yours is stolen, you will be really ticked. I will stick to the cheap cameras expecting an occasional one to be stolen and the rest to break.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Curmudgeon

[josephmrtn]

Coverts work great for me

[Marion]

Most of these brands are cheap Chinese consumer electronics. I put at least 3 months of service on 10+ cameras each winter. We use Moultries because we get them at wholesale. If I get 2 years out of a camera, I think I did well. I do recommend using C cell batteries if you use the cameras in cold weather. AAs will need lithiums.

 

If you want quality, buy Reconyx - http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdspace.library.cornell.edu%2Fbitstream%2F1813%2F3074%2F2%2FTop%2520Working%2520and%2520Bridge%2520Grafting%2520Fruit%2520Trees.pdf&ei=8eBgVJf6NZKmyASF_YEQ&usg=AFQjCNEbqmMvwJvOFw-wVyKReRnBwVwZLw&sig2=sOvff2h_rXlmZZD0w7ffDA&bvm=bv.79189006,d.aWw

 

They are not cheap at $5-600. When yours is stolen, you will be really ticked. I will stick to the cheap cameras expecting an occasional one to be stolen and the rest to break.

 

you posted a link about grafting a tree

[Curmudgeon]

Thanks for keeping me on my toes. Mustn't have hit the control C very well. I had just posted a link about apple trees on another thread.

 

For some reason I can't get the link to come up in the message. Google Reconyx. It comes up first.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Curmudgeon