Cellular trail cams
- Thread starter dans9670
- Start date
My son uses Tactacam. He has the first models and a couple of the 2.0. They seem to work well enough and battery life is very good over a couple or 3 years of use.
I had great luck with the Spypoint ProForce 30 camera so thought I would try the Spypoint Flex G36 for cellular. I purchased 4 and have 3 in the field so far. I should have heeded the reviews as 2 of the 3 work okay (a few blanks) but one just sends a dump of blank pictures at least once a day. You can set them to send once up to six times a day or on every activation. In spite of it set on activation, it sends a bunch every day at 12 am. Last night it sent 15 blanks so I just shut the cellular off and went to bed.
I did contact Spypoint and they were good enough to add an extra 100 free pics to my account but at 90% blanks it was an empty gesture, pun intended.
I am going to contact Spypoint again but at this time I am regretting my purchase.
I would go Tactacam if buying again.
I had great luck with the Spypoint ProForce 30 camera so thought I would try the Spypoint Flex G36 for cellular. I purchased 4 and have 3 in the field so far. I should have heeded the reviews as 2 of the 3 work okay (a few blanks) but one just sends a dump of blank pictures at least once a day. You can set them to send once up to six times a day or on every activation. In spite of it set on activation, it sends a bunch every day at 12 am. Last night it sent 15 blanks so I just shut the cellular off and went to bed.
I did contact Spypoint and they were good enough to add an extra 100 free pics to my account but at 90% blanks it was an empty gesture, pun intended.
I am going to contact Spypoint again but at this time I am regretting my purchase.
I would go Tactacam if buying again.
Spypoints customer service is brutal.
I have a camera here I sent back to them on a two year warranty claim and they over the phone told me that it had only one year warranty.
Right on their site it lists the info.
Sent it in and they updated the software.
Which for the average 'puter user is something I couldn't figure out.
So there it sits, in a drawer pouting awl by eeself.
Junk.
I have a camera here I sent back to them on a two year warranty claim and they over the phone told me that it had only one year warranty.
Right on their site it lists the info.
Sent it in and they updated the software.
Which for the average 'puter user is something I couldn't figure out.
So there it sits, in a drawer pouting awl by eeself.
Junk.
They all have different plans. Spypoint has the best plans on paper but obviously if the pics are of nothing it doesn't matter. With Spypoint you get 100 free pics a month. For $5 you get basic which is 250 pics a month, $10 gets you 1000 pics and $15 is unlimited pics. If you join the insiders club for $100 you get the basic package on every camera and 20% off any other package you buy. When you use up your pics it just stops sending, it does not bill you per pic. The Spypoint cameras will send HD pictures for an added cost and even HD videos.
IIRC Tacticam is $10 a month for 250 pictures but don't quote me on that as I don't have an account.
My Spypoint micro lte crapped out under warranty. They asked if I’d like to update model to flex for $, I declined. They said the micros were back ordered and shipped me out a flex at no cost. I like that the flex is updated hands free, remotely and has safe guards to only update with certain % battery. The update process is what kills a lot of the micro lte’s. Any issue or lack of power during update process and you’re SOL and stuck with a paperweight. The flex does use A LOT more battery. I bought a cheap Amazon adapter and connected it to a kids ride on car battery.
Friends wife messaged me yesterday asking if I’d recommend a Spypoint. At this point, no. I’d spend the money once, cry once, and look into the coverts subscriptions. I’ve yet to hear anything bad about them.
Friends wife messaged me yesterday asking if I’d recommend a Spypoint. At this point, no. I’d spend the money once, cry once, and look into the coverts subscriptions. I’ve yet to hear anything bad about them.
My first spypoint (4g) crapped out after 5years - in the field 3/4 of it's life.
I had an lte crap out after a few months but it was easily and painlessly replaced under warranty.
I always use external 12v batteries hooked up instead of the 8aa
Ice also used their cell-link device (turns a non-cell spypoint into a cell) but it is so easy to pinch the cable that goes inside to the adapter i didnt bother getting another.
I had an lte crap out after a few months but it was easily and painlessly replaced under warranty.
I always use external 12v batteries hooked up instead of the 8aa
Ice also used their cell-link device (turns a non-cell spypoint into a cell) but it is so easy to pinch the cable that goes inside to the adapter i didnt bother getting another.
Just spent an hour on chat with Spypoint. Absolutely useless. The camera obviously has a soft ware issue as it dumps a bunch of blank pictures every night at 12 AM. I was offered nothing. My bad for not heeding the reviews but please do not make the same mistake as I did and have these people profit from poor service. Camera is not even a month old.
I've been using Spypoint both the older Link-S and the Micro Link-S. Both models working great with strong signal strength at my old hunting location but at my new location about an hour away the signal strength is hovering around 25% sometimes 0%. Pictures are coming through thou. If you get a Spypoint with solar I would strongly recommend putting a bead of clear silicone sealant around the seams of the solar panel so it won't leak water after time. Ask me how I know. For me CS was not an issue and received my replacement unit it short time but that was back in 2021.
Another option that I use in addition to Spypoint Cell Cams is my Reolink GO LTE. I like the option of going live view whenever I want. Only con to the Reolink is you have to provide you own sim card. Not an issue for me, I just added a Tablet Data Only plan to my Telus cell account for $10 on a corporate plan.
Cdnhunter117
CGN Regular
- Location
- Northern Ontario
Spypoint would never reply to me or my calls so what I did is I purchased cheap amazon camera that work way better for half the price, and I will never go back to them, in fact, I always make this comment so they lose more business. All I wanted was them to answer a question but that was too hard.
Try again, if it is a month old then it is still under warranty
They were screwing with settings and now it is not even showing on the Spypoint map. So much for being able to find your camera if stolen.
I have had great luck with the Amazon cameras but haven't found a cell camera on there to purchase other than the big names.
I have Garde Pro A3 and Meidase in several models and they work well. The cheap Tascos work well too but they discontinued them. The replacement Primos are quite a bit more.
When they work, Spypoints are pretty good and I have 2 link micros with solar panels and 1 cell link. The one solar panel camera has been up for over a year, lithium battery has never gone under 95% and has used 1.2gb on a 32gb card. Have the cell link hooked to an older Bushnell trail camera. Worked great all winter until a bear shredded the cable in June.
However; Spypoint customer service SUCKS!!! Most of the time the people on the other end of the line are less than useless. Had a software issue with the other micro link, when I called the customer service representative had a rooster crowing in the background making her even more difficult to understand.
Had a huge issue just trying to get a replacement cable for the cell link. When they shipped me a shirt and cable, there was no cable in the box. They send you emails wanting to get you to answer questions from a no reply email address. Then they wanted a picture of the box, which I received 3 weeks previously. I sent them a picture of the landfill site and told them it was there, go find it..
Finally I dealt with a woman named Hannah and she got things straightened out and I received my cable (after I bought 2 off the EE here).
Bottom line is keep calling until you get satisfaction with a customer service person. I won't buy anymore from them when these units die.
However; Spypoint customer service SUCKS!!! Most of the time the people on the other end of the line are less than useless. Had a software issue with the other micro link, when I called the customer service representative had a rooster crowing in the background making her even more difficult to understand.
Had a huge issue just trying to get a replacement cable for the cell link. When they shipped me a shirt and cable, there was no cable in the box. They send you emails wanting to get you to answer questions from a no reply email address. Then they wanted a picture of the box, which I received 3 weeks previously. I sent them a picture of the landfill site and told them it was there, go find it..
Finally I dealt with a woman named Hannah and she got things straightened out and I received my cable (after I bought 2 off the EE here).
Bottom line is keep calling until you get satisfaction with a customer service person. I won't buy anymore from them when these units die.
Last edited:
I’ve had 4 Spypoint’s. The first failed, was replaced by Spypoint, the second failed, was replaced by Spypoint, the third failed - I can be a persistent sob and made them replace it - the 4th got sold “new in the box on FB”. I now run Tacticam.
