Cellular Trail Cams?

Alberta Bigbore

Alberta Bigbore

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Edmonton, Alberta
Thinking about making a switch to cellular cameras . I don't know much about them.Other than reviews are so all over the wall on any brand you look at

Any insight on how they're set up and models that are working for you and which ones to stay away would be appreciated.

I was thinking of Spypoint Flex M. Or a Tacticam 3.0 Pro. Or other suggestions?

I've never had anything work for me made by stealth So I don't think I would go with their brand

How long do their batteries keep them running in the field or is a solar panel necessary?
 
I run spypoints as I enjoy the ability to be on the free plans until the amount of pics I'm getting dictates me paying for a month or so of added pics. Then I just cancel back to free.

I had 2 spypoints out this season and never had any issues. Always synced. And they were out from like September til end November on the same batteries no problem. (AAs).
 
cptseawolf said:
I run spypoints as I enjoy the ability to be on the free plans until the amount of pics I'm getting dictates me paying for a month or so of added pics. Then I just cancel back to free.

I had 2 spypoints out this season and never had any issues. Always synced. And they were out from like September til end November on the same batteries no problem. (AAs).
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Particular model? Any picture samples?
 
Wanted a cell tied solar powered camera I can access with my phone to mount on the mast of my sailboat(wind hit's 30 or 40 kts I can check the boat that's docked 20 miles away).

Son grabbed me a camera, says they work great. I really know nothing other than that. It has a subscription cost, moveable lens; if that helps. If want I can look at the brand/model and repost. I know nothing about this, I just ask son for stuff like this and it magically happens, lol.
 
Reveal Tactacam, run several, they have multiple plans so will not reference what I pay as you may not want the same.

I gave up on Spypoint quite a long time ago.

I still run Stealth non cellular in the mix, but for cell cameras I will run Tactacam unless something unforeseen occurs.

My cell cams run LION batteries, solar panels, and I change battery 1x per year for continuous operation.
 
My Spypoint Flex-M has been out since early December. I use the rechargable Lithium battery pack they sell, works great

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Check your hunting regs. Not sure about AB but in BC you can't use them during the main bear/ungulate hunting season.

BC Synopsis says

It is Unlawful:
To use a wireless camera for the purposes of hunting from Aug. 1 to Dec. 10, except in Region 1 (where they are not legal at any time)
 
I've had 2 of the Spypoint Flex M cams. My first one crapped out after a few months. I bought another this year and same thing. Both stopped transmitting after awhile. I can see it still has over 50% battery but isn't transmitting. Once I am able to retrieve it maybe it'll work again if I reset it or change batteries. They worked good when they worked, pretty p#ssed that I paid for the subscription by the year.
 
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mcpiper said:
I've had 2 of the Spypoint Flex M cams. My first one crapped out after a few months. I bought another this year and same thing. Both stopped transmitting after awhile. I can see it still has over 50% battery but isn't transmitting. Once I am able to retrieve it maybe it'll work again if I reset it or change batteries. They worked good when they worked, pretty p#ssed that I paid for the subscription by the year.
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Are you sure anything is making it infront of the camera? Go into the camera details to see the last time it synced, it should be at whatever time you tell it to.

Just cause it synced doesn't mean it had a picture to send.

There were days I got no pictures and days I got like 15
 
I run spypoint, mainly as its the only one that doesn't require a monthly subscription, which I just refuse to do. That being said, I've had good luck, and right now the Flex M seems like the best value going.
Trick is. Learn how they work, update the firmware before putting it in the bush. Never let batteries die, and 50% battery level in the winter is pretty much a dead battery. The demand to transmit, will drain that 50%, down to a lower level and cause issues. If using lithium batteries, basically as soon as the level starts to drop they are close to dead. Use quality SD cards, that have been long formatted before use.

I've switched from batteries to the Spypoint solar panels. Pretty much pay for themselves in a year or so. I've had 2 cameras out year round for going on 2 years now with no issues.

If the above tricks just aren't your thing, then I wouldn't recommend Spypoint. But really after a couple hours of research learning how these things work, the really aren't difficult to use. Problems will be endless if you put a cheap SD card in, don't update firmware and let batteries get too low for reliable operation. The Spypoint Users group face book page is full of people posting problems and 90% of their issues are from the above things.
 
We have 4 SPYPOINT cameras including the flex M and flex M dark. The long life lithium batteries have held the charge well through the winter. The solar powered camera wasn’t quite as reliable as the charge drained but has worked on sunny days at times. The panel could be covered in snow impeding the charging process I assume.
I opted for the insider group plan which cost approx $100 per year which sets you up for 250 pics per camera per month for up to 10 cameras. If you have wild turkeys in the area you can go through the 100 free pics very fast.
We are satisfied with the service but still trying to figure things out at times as this is our first year using cellular.
Don
 

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cptseawolf said:
Are you sure anything is making it infront of the camera? Go into the camera details to see the last time it synced, it should be at whatever time you tell it to.

Just cause it synced doesn't mean it had a picture to send.

There were days I got no pictures and days I got like 15
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The last communication from the camera was in January and it shows 50% on the batteries. UPDATE I ended up taking the Side by Side out to the farm today to check camera and pull down some stuff from treestands. I found the antenna pointing straight down (deer headbutts) and the batteries completely dead. I flipped the antenna and changed batteries and now it works. The batteries must have completely crashed during one of the -20 nights and the camera was unable to update its status making me think it still had juice.
 
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I have a dozen Spypoint cameras out there and have for around 10 years.
The big value proposition with Spypoint is their transmissions plans. If you get anything else, it gets expensive fast.
I've replaced a lot of Spypoint cameras between bears and malfunctioning ones. Not sure if other brands are more reliable because even with replacing 1-2 cameras/year, I'm ahead financially because of the transmission plan. Your mileage may vary...

The Link Micro model seems to be the most reliable even when it's -30 out. I have yet to replace one of those and I've been running some since they came out (maybe 5 years?).
The Flex M is okay but the Flex G36 I've not had great success with. I have one Flex Solar that has been crap - I may have got a bad one but I won't buy another.

When it's cold out you want to get a rechargeable lithium battery. As much as I like buying generic stuff, the Amazon lithium batteries haven't been nearly as good as the Spypoint brand batteries. In fact I had 2 Amazon batteries that lasted only 2 charges. During hunting season when you set your camera to send you each picture right away (instead of twice a day) it eats up the AA batteries pretty fast. AAs get expensive and at some point you're better off investing in a rechargeable lithium.

On a lithium battery transmitting photos twice daily, I can make it from the end of hunting season to spring thaw. They last well and are not affected greatly by the cold.

And a word of warning....cellular cameras are like crack. You'll end up with more than 1. :)
 
I ran 2 spypoint cameras last season. 1 Flex S Dark and 1 Flex M. Always on video. Had them out from mid May until mid November. I had to replace 3 SD cards on the Flex S and 1 on the Flem M. My plot was 3.5 hours away so having to go down just to replace cards really sucked... Both use soler panels and the LIT22 lithium battery packs. No issues what so ever with the batteries.

This year I'm hunting a different plot. I put my cameras out Jan 3rd and thus far, not one issue. Temps have hit -30 and still no issues with the batteries. I also switched from video to pictures and so far the SD cards are holding up.

If they start crapping out again next season I'll give tacticam a try. Its to bad beceause when they do work they're amazing. Picture and video quality are really good.

When I spoke with spypoint they chalked it up to bad cards. 3 were Spypoint 32G cards and the 4th was a Panasonic 32G.
 
Steve_ said:
When I spoke with spypoint they chalked it up to bad cards. 3 were Spypoint 32G cards and the 4th was a Panasonic 32G.
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The Netac 32 GB cards and the Lexar 32 GB cards have worked well for us. I have had a couple brands of cards that they didn't like after a while. Always make sure to format the cards when you swap them out.
 
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