Best Trail Camera Value

[wildcat junkie]

Since my son & his buddy are now willing to work & invest in improving my property, I'm considering investing in a few trail cameras. Probably 3 to start with.

 

I know nothing other than the manufacturers propaganda that I see on outdoor shows.

 

Here are my prerequisites.

 

Cost/value. What am i getting for my $$$

 

Durability/waterproof/temperature range

 

Trigger speed

 

Quality of images under all light conditions..

 

Range. (I have some shooting lanes that have multiple trails crossing/entering them. 50 yds range would be minimal) I don't need wide angle because the shooting areas are narrow openings in thick cover.

 

Battery life

 

Photo capacity

 

What I am not interested in.

 

Bells & whistles. I want a basic, easy to use camera that will capture decent quality images under all conditions that will last a long time.

 

All I need for image storage is a standard, readily available, high capacity image card that I can swap out & down load to my computer. I don't have or plan to have a "smart phone". I do not need something that will "send" images.

 

If I am missing out on some important basic features, please enlighten me.

 

I have a very limited budget & the more value I can get, the more cameras I can afford.

 

Sale prices right now are irrelavant as this is something that will be budgeted along with food plot over the next 9 months. Once the make/model is selected, I can watch for "bargains".

Edited December 21, 2014 by wildcat junkie

[Steuben Jerry]

i've had great performance with Covert MP6 black flash cameras. I've got 5 of them with the oldest being about 1& 1/2 yrs old and have been outside since new. No failures, decent pic quality, and 4 months plus on battery life with literally thousands of pics. Choice of either 4 or 8 AA's but I've always went with 8. They're the older model, but still available online for about $125.

[NYBowhunter]

Ive had very good luck so far with the bushnell trophy cams. Fast trigger speed, great quality day and night pictures and rarely get blurry pictures. I recently picked up a cuddyback blackout which is supposedly 20mp but im not impressed with it at all. If i had to choose i like the function, quality, small size and ease of use of the bushnells.

[thphm]

I do not think you can go by brand name any more, I have one as mentioned above, trophy cam after 8 months the picture quality died, no more colored day time pictures, just red tinted ones.I have a Moultrie at the same price range that has been out for a year straight with one new set of regular AA batteries and takes great colored day time pictures and good night time pictures.Picture Quality depends on the direction the cam is facing ( as not into the sun ) trim all grases and young branches that move in the wind near the cam.

Niether has been affected by the rain and or snow.

[Rack Attack]

I have had great results with the Bushnell trophy cams, the longest battery life of any camera I have ever seen and good trigger speed.  You might want to check out the website trailcampro.com, they have a ton of testing they have done on most of the different brands on the market. 

[NYBowhunter]

I have had great results with the Bushnell trophy cams, the longest battery life of any camera I have ever seen and good trigger speed. You might want to check out the website trailcampro.com, they have a ton of testing they have done on most of the different brands on the market.

Yes i agree forgot to mention that in my post, the battery life in the bushnells are amazing.

[sbuff]

I have three moultrie s and love them all...

[wildcat junkie]

Do all of these use a standard memory card like a hand held didgital camera?

[fasteddie]

I have ------

2 Moultrie Game Spy I-35 cams ....excellent battery life . I have left one in the same spot for 2 years and the deer pose for it ..changed batteries a few times . 4 D batteries

3 Primos Truth Cam Blackout cameras ... nice pics except not much flash distance on lengthy shots ..6 c batteries

2 WildGame AXE2 cams . Bought lockout boxes for $10 on closeout . Uses 4 C batteries ...takes single pics

1 Cheap Wildgame S1.3X .... takes single pics but does night color pics

1 Moultrie D338S ...small camera ... can set user ID onb camera for it to be used and unlock

 

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3 older Stealth Cams that no longer work

1 Moultrie I-40 that no longer works

3 Wildview that don't work ( gave 2 away for decoys )

1 Primos Truth Cam 40 Ultra that works and takes decent pics but date and time is screwed . Primos customer service said there is no fix for that problem . My son had the camera for severl months before putting the camera out and noticing the problem .

 

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So , for the most part , I am satisfied with Moultrie , Primos and WildgGame . I would stay away from Stealth Cam and WildView .

I was looking at a couple of the older cameras and they use the Compact Flash Cards .. Those cards are expensive .

I havn't tried Bushnell or Covert .....yet and I have never tried Cuddeback cams .

[wildcat junkie]

 You might want to check out the website trailcampro.com, they have a ton of testing they have done on most of the different brands on the market. 

Checked out the website. It also led me to some others.

 

I'm starting to realize that night time image quality isn't all that important as my primary purpose will be to time daytime movement. The deer on my place aren't pressured much and they sometimes move in mid morning or early afternoon under certain conditions.

 

Early evening/just after sundown PIX might might allow me to set up stands/ambush sites to intercept them during legal hours. I wouldn't need absolute quality.

 

The central area of 15 acres was selectinely logged in '98/'99. Visability in there is in feet, not yards. It is ringed by a horse trail & there are several active trails crossing it. We never set foot in there unless it is to retrieve a deer that ran into it which seldom happens. There is a wide 245yd shooting lane running up the middle. It would be nice to monitor the crossings for daytime useage. So far we are only hunting about 1/2 of the area. Since there will be 3 of us hunting it now, I feel we need to get spread out more so finding out more about the deer movement would be beneficial.

 

Mornings on my place aren't usually productive. I've never killed a buck before 10:00 AM on my place.

[fasteddie]

WCJ -- I have found that after the crops are harvested , the deer change their patterns . I could get pics all summer and once the beans , etc are harvested , the deer aren't there .

[Paula]

Look at posted pictures and compare and also look at the review section. Phade Has put a lot of good information on here. Check out his post in the reviews

Edited December 21, 2014 by Paula

[Taylormike]

Moultrie's are by far my favorite.  I'm not saying they're the best just very good, especially when considering Value.

 

I plan on buying a few more this off season.  Hardly any bells and whistles and a decent pic.  I use them as a tool not for professional photography.  In that case I'd bring a 1500.00 camera with me.

 

It all depends what you want out of them.

[wheelieman]

moultries work for me and the battery life is great,

[wildcat junkie]

WCJ -- I have found that after the crops are harvested , the deer change their patterns . I could get pics all summer and once the beans , etc are harvested , the deer aren't there .

 

 

There aren't that many crop fileds in my immediate area. About 1 mile South is a small Dairy farm that grows corn to chop. There are some small cornfields about the same distance North grown/harvested by the same farmer. He hays about 30 acres on my place.

 

I see deer in/around the hayfields until the last week of October. After that they move into the forested areas to feed more on the oaks that are scattered throughout the woods on my place & some adjoining areas. My place is a funnel that is squeezed in between swamps, some large hay fields to the west, my hay fields & the St Regis River to the east. Once snow cover gets deep enough to cover the acorns & left over corn, they congregate in the cedar & hemlocks to the back end & the north edge of my woods. The thick browse in the 15 acre cut-over gets hit harder once snow cover gets significant.

 

The best deer hunting on my place developes as the season progresses after Halloween. I want to use the cameras to follow deer movement as it changes. I would place them on the horse trails & they could be moved with minimal impact. The deer don't seem to pay much attention to motorized mid-day activity on the horse trails. We quietly slip in on foot in midafternoon for evening hunts from stands. I have pretty well figured out the movements that I can observe from the tri-pod. I have spent many afternoons observing deer & have had to wait until it was pretty dark to leave in order to prevent spooking deer that were in my immediate area.

 

I don't see large numbers of deer until we have snow. Even so, I can depend on seeing deer every other day or so if I remain patient. In years past I saw a lot of yearling bucks. More of them than does. The last 2 years I've seen more does than bucks, most likely due to reduced DMPs & overall reduction in hunting presssure on adjacent properties.

 

90% of the deer taken are from the tri-pod stand that commands good shooting lanes in about 5 directions. The distances range from 50-75-100yds with a 245yds shooting lane directly to the front. I know there is deer movement through areas that we never cover. The tracks in the beaten down crossings reveal this.

 

I have hunted the property almost exclusively by myself over the last 10 years, with the occasional weekend visit from so-called friends that promise to help out, but never seem to have the time when I call them in August. My son has really gotten the bug this year & his friend that has helped in the past clearing shooting lanes just bought a Savage AXIS II in 7mm-08. He plans to start hunting next year.

 

With 3 hunters I need to expand the area covered & I have also explained that we all can't expect to take bucks off the place for any extended time period. My son & I are also exploring some very promising public land about 13 miles to the South to spread out the pressure.

 

I have 2 ladder stands lying on the ground that are not being used & another in a spot that is too often compromised by wind direction.  I think I even have a few hang-on stands in the hay mow that could be used by my much younger & less girthsome hunting partners. I could use these to cover the additional areas being neglected now.

[phade]

I do not think you can go by brand name any more, I have one as mentioned above, trophy cam after 8 months the picture quality died, no more colored day time pictures, just red tinted ones.I have a Moultrie at the same price range that has been out for a year straight with one new set of regular AA batteries and takes great colored day time pictures and good night time pictures.Picture Quality depends on the direction the cam is facing ( as not into the sun ) trim all grases and young branches that move in the wind near the cam.

Niether has been affected by the rain and or snow.

Your ir filter is stuck. Wrap cam in towel and rap with a rubber mallet to try to free it. If that doesnt work you may be able to disassemble and free it.

[phade]

Theres alot of deals with the holidays that i would spring on now. Covert makes some great models. Spypoint has another cam line that seems to work well. How much money do you want to spend per cam?

The time to buy cams is really this week or jan and feb you may find a line on sale. Come spring...prices are never "bargain"....

Edited December 22, 2014 by phade

[Pygmy]

Yeah...Awhile back Wing Supply had Covert MP6s on sale for $99 with free shipping...I have two of them now (on the advice of knowledgeable members of this forum such as Phade) And they have worked well for me.

[wildcat junkie]

I'm looking to spend less than $150. I don't need professional grade photos, just good enough to identify individual bucks  or even runs being used consitantly by does in hopes of them bringing tag-a-long bucks. I don't need videos either.

 

This one looks interesting.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hunting/Optics/Cameras/Trail-Cameras-Accessories%7C/pc/104791680/c/104752080/sc/104243580/i/103867380/Bushnell174-6MP-Camo-Trophy-Cam-Trail-Camera/1834214.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Ftrail-cameras-accessories%2F_%2FN-1100074%2FNs-MAX_SALE_PRICE%257C1%3FWTz_l%3DSBC%253BBRprd1834214%26WTz_stype%3DGNU%26recordsPerPage%3D108&WTz_l=SBC%3BBRprd1834214%3Bcat103867380

 

There is a long review on this one. (on Amazon) One feature I like is the 1 second repeat feature than would insure getting a good shot at a deer passing by. It seems to have the features I want. The 1 negative comment in this review had to do with IR glow. Is that a deal breaker?

 

4.0 out of 5 stars Great daylight photos, good nighttime, so so video (long review), October 9, 2014

By

Chris Zee Shutterbug (Baton Rouge La) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)

 

This review is from: Bushnell 6MP Trophy Cam Essential Trail Camera with Night Vision (Sports)

Vine Customer Review of Free Product (What's this?)

Bushnell Trophy Cam Essential

Intro Note: I got one of the updated firmware cameras out of the box. Serial numbers less than B140610000 will need to be updated due to a date/time bug. The camera will now keep the date and time even when turned off. If you remove the batteries though, the settings will be kept, but the date and time will have to be reset. Regarding the batteries, my camera worked just fine with the Eneloop rechargeable batteries (which are not recommended, manual suggests Alkaline or Lithium). With 8 Lithium batteries, potential run time is up to a year.

This trail cam is truly an "essential" model. It does the basics very well and the rating is relative to its cost and intended purpose. The photo quality is much better than I expected. The range of the motion detect, with the added bonus of taking interval based photos will work very well for a game trail. The video capture is basic quality only, and the glowing night vision led's may give the camera away.

Out of the box setup was truly intuitive, (I did not have to read the manual first). I do wish the labels on the setup buttons were more legible, or that the buttons were oriented as described in a cross pattern, rather than all in a row. Each time I wanted to change the setup, I had to bring the camera into bright light. I used the camera with both a tripod and the included strap, both worked well.

Performance: The daylight photos have great detail and color, at the 5mp (850k size) and 6mp (950k size) resolution (look much better than my GoPro Silver 3+ at 10mp). Even the 3mp (625k size) pictures look very detailed. I could easily tell the difference say between a raccoon and an opossum at over 100ft. That is probably due in part to the fairly narrow 50degree field of view. In very bright light there was substantial washout of highlights. Night photos are susceptible to motion blur. The lens is specified as f3.1 but the camera Exif data reports it as f2.8. I don't know if I would trust the Exif data all that much as it always showed ISO 100, and 1 second shutter speed no matter what. Every brand of SD card I had worked just fine, and the camera will accept up to a 32GB size.

The camera switches to night mode with a click and does so at an early dusk. The IR night vision LED's glow red similar to a small portable heater red when they light up. So if you are looking in the direction of the camera you will see them. On the other hand they did have a good range, I would fully agree that they are good out to 60 feet, compared to black led's which are spec'd out to only 45 feet. The flash does not seem to throttle down a lot, and images of objects at less than 5 feet will be very washed out.

The motion detect trigger range is very interesting. Based on heat difference of moving body compared to the background it could be as little as 15 feet (human body against a warm sunlit background), to 45 feet (same body against a shady background, or as much as 150 ft (lawn tractor against shade). I usually set it to capture 2 consecutive photos on trigger (one second apart, this pretty much assures one good one) then set it to wait 10 sec before next trigger (both settings are adjustable. There is a sensitivity setting, which includes an auto mode, which worked well. The camera is aware of the outside temperature to shift the sensitivity. It can record this temperature (photos only) along with date and time (both photos and video) on the display.

The video resolution is adjustable from 320x240 up to 720x480. Even at the highest 720 resolution (6.5mb per 5 seconds) the picture is not great. Its usable, but if you are at all interested in video, I recommend that you buy one of the trail cams that offer 1080 HD video, it will have six times better resolution.

The field scan (taking photos at predetermined intervals of every 1 to 60 minutes) works very well. If there is something just outside of motion detect range, you will now have an opportunity to see it as well.

In summary this trail camera fits its purpose and price very well. Unless you need high quality video and have no tolerance for any IR glow (in which case I suggest Trophy cam HD Max Bushnell 8MP Trophy Cam HD Max Black LED Trail Camera with Night Vision, twice the price though) it should suffice for both game and surveillance.

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Edited December 22, 2014 by wildcat junkie

[moog5050]

The covert MP6s are nice.  If you can stretch the budget a bit, the covert black 60s are better because you can actually see the photos on the camera monitor, plus true black flash.

[wildcat junkie]

The covert MP6s are nice.  If you can stretch the budget a bit, the covert black 60s are better because you can actually see the photos on the camera monitor, plus true black flash.

I can't seem to find much on the MP6. Are they discontinued?

 

Lots of info on the MP-E5 & MP-8/MP-8 black.

[wildcat junkie]

This would fit my budget to purchase 3.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Covert-Black-Invisible-Camera-Mossy/dp/B00JBH7M7W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419260496&sr=8-1&keywords=covert+mp6

Edited December 22, 2014 by wildcat junkie

[chiefbkt]

I don't think you can go wrong with the Covert cameras.  I personally don't have any, but have heard nothing but good stuff about them on here as well as from a friend who uses nothing but the Coverts.  I just recently got 3 Browning trail cameras and have no issues with them so far (knock on wood).  I have a post on here you can check out.  The black flash cameras are about $150 a piece, they come with 8gb memory card, and 2 year warranty from trailcampro.com.  I am very pleased with the battery life so far.  I have only seen a 1-2% decrease on rechargeable batteries since November.  

[phade]

Here's a cam, if someone was solely looking for value right now (as in, putting the money down) and was trying to stretch the value...

 

http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Spypoint-Eclypse-5-0-MP-Black-LED-Game-Camera&i=726167

 

Black flash, decent cam, very cheap for the price. The cost could mean getting an extra cam or two based on your $150 per cam limit. You can find coupons codes online for even more money off. I have owned and used these cams and believe they'll work well for your needs.  This cam loses its value at the normal price but is a bargain at the current rate.

 

Covert's black flashes are really really good. They are about as true of a black flash as you can get without paying ALOT more money. The MP6 or MP8 Black lineup is good. The Black 60 is really the best overall cam on the market in my opinion. That's not to say it's not infallable, but the cam takes great video, good nighttime pics, and battery life is best on the market at the moment. The MP6/MP8 Black (darn near same cam, small tweaks in the 8 model), is good for pic mode. It's not a cam where video is desired.

 

If I were you, I'd probably look into buying one Covert Black 60 and then buying a couple of these linked Spypoints above. The Spypoints would be good for general use and the Black 60 can be deployed to get more info on bucks - ie over a scrape and set on video to see just how good that buck is.

Edited December 23, 2014 by phade

[wildcat junkie]

Hey, thanks for the link phade!

 

Buying right now is out of the question. Maybe after the 1st of the year, but before the spring turkey rush.

 

At $80 a pop, I could afford about 6 of them. I like the 4-shot burst feature.

 

Another option would be 4 of them & 1 of the Black 60s.

 

Not sure if video would be a priority. Not looking for absolute trophy quality bucks, just the better specimins on the property.

 

Since I took the big dominant 4-point out of the gene pool ten years ago, The genetics seem to produce some nice symetrical 8-points.

 

I would like to take a 125-130 class but for a buck to survive past 4 1/2 years old in these parts would be rare.

 

I did find a 4-point (1/2 rack) shed that scored 57 7/8" several years back. I shot his great, great, great grandson in '09. He scored right at 100" at 3 1/2 years old. Almost a perfect smaller copy of the shed.