Reconyx trail cams

gorky

gorky

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What is everyone's take on Reconyx motion activated cameras ?

I am looking at buying a few cams for different purposes. The first purpose is just to see what kind of animals make their way through my back yard (especially after my neighbor told me about a double drop tine buck he has been seeing). The second purpose is covert surveillance at properties that do not have good accessibility to electricity at gates and driveways.

From what I have read, the Reconyx cams have good range, their infrareds do not have the LED glow that other cams do, and so no. However, they are not cheap ($650ish) and only have a 1yr warranty :cool:

They also have room for 12 Li batteries which they claim are good for a year's worth of operation. However, I would love to be able to hook up a solar panel to it, just in case. Possible ?
 
I was also looking at them but have two problems..
One being the price, 650 dollars is a lot of money for one camera( you will probably need a few) but it is suppose to be the best out there that can handle cold temps, no red-glow at night to alert people or animals, 1 year warranty which I don’t think anyone else offers. So in that case it is well worth the money if you have it.
Secondly, leaving this 650 dollar camera in the woods unattended. Sure they sell a security case but if someone wants it, they will get it or they could just destroy it.

You say you are going to be using it on your property so you could have some control on that, but I would think long and hard on this decision


Here was a website with reviews on all the camras out there http://www.trailcampro.com/reviews.aspx only CON was the price but they claim "This is literally the best camera I have ever used. I can't find faults with it."

Best of luck
 
I haven't used a bunch of different trail cams...but of the three differnet brands I have used Reconyx is leaps and bounds better as far as image quality, trigger speed, etc. goes. The night time pics can have a bit of blur at times but I also have some that are top notch. I have personally used them to monitor access onto private property and know of others who have done the same....If you have the bucks to buy one do it now...b/c you will eventually buy one anyways...
 
Thats a lot of cash for one camera. If you really want an IR that does not glow strong, you can always buy a less expensive camera, and just buy a black IR separately for about $100 to add to your camera.

I find this site to give real good reviews.

http://www.chasingame.com/index.php?id=150

Its an independent review site, and do not sell any products and do not receive any kick backs.
 
It seems like the reconyx 600 is the creme de la creme of cameras. I guess the one year warranty threw me off a bit, as it seems a bit low to me given the apparent "quality", but it seems like the norm or even a bit on the higher end of the norm.

Where is the best place to buy in Canada ? Cabelas.ca has em a bit cheaper than the reconyx website... anywhere else ?
 
Well I just do not see the sense( for me) in spending that kind of coin when I can buy 2 cams for that price. I have never used a reconyx so I cannot compare, but just for the hell of it, lets say they have the best photo quality out there, do I really need that ??? Will I be blowing these pics up and putting them on my wall...... probably not. Other than photo quality, you want fast trigger times, good battery life, and a decent IR flash, and you want it to be weather proof and many of the less expensive models offer all of this.

I have used a Moultrie I40(up untill last year), and still have a Bushnell Trophy 5mp cam. The Moultrie took great pic's, but needed a lot of daylight for color pic's, and also made a click noise when it took pic's, which the deer always heard. The Bushy is very small, makes no noise when taking pic's, takes nice pic's, and has many settings. I wish I bought two of them.

The reason I want to try the Scottguard is they are made by the same company that had made my Bushnell. I heard the newer Bushnels have a few problems, but the Scottsguard SG-560 has a great review.
 
I have a Moultrie D55IR that I use to see how many coyotes cross a culvert. I am disappointed in the trigger speed as I can walk by and not get photos before I am out of view. We have got some very good daylight colour pictures and up to 3 coyotes in one picture at night, but they have to move slowly or they will be gone before the picture is taken. The reconyx sounds very impressive, but the price for my use makes no sense. Heck, the moutrie probably didn't either.
 
DFarmer said:
I have a Moultrie D55IR that I use to see how many coyotes cross a culvert. I am disappointed in the trigger speed as I can walk by and not get photos before I am out of view. We have got some very good daylight colour pictures and up to 3 coyotes in one picture at night, but they have to move slowly or they will be gone before the picture is taken. The reconyx sounds very impressive, but the price for my use makes no sense. Heck, the moutrie probably didn't either.
Click to expand...

Is your cam set up across the trail, or following the trail ?? You should set it up so its looking along the culvert, not across it.
 
heavyBullet said:
Is your cam set up across the trail, or following the trail ?? You should set it up so its looking along the culvert, not across it.
Click to expand...

To start with it was setup across the culvert and we had many misses. Now, it is set up a ways away so that the coyote will trigger the camera and still be on the culvert. This works much better. I had read this suggestion somewhere earlier after our early misses. Thanks
 
Got a Reconyx and love it. 3 months, probably 3000 pics, (about half are me working on a deer feeder and trying to keep it from being only a bear feeder LOL) and still 98% battery. The covert IR while it may not spook animals is still seen by them. I have several pics of huge squirrel and bear eyeballs, and deer looking right at it. While it doesn't do true video it takes 3 picture bursts - day or night -which look like video when you advance the pics fast on the PC. serious coin though.

the steel security case is a must - i'm convinced the bear would have destroyed it by now without it. and given it's a $650 camera, the extra $50 for the case is a a small price to pay.
 
Just a few comments on trail cams. I have built my own for a lot of years now. I have yet to see a "store bought" that can match the picture quality of the homebuilt. Why? They simply do not use top of the line parts that the hand held camera market does.

Scrape1.jpg

Deer1.jpg


A steel security case will not give great bear protection. Bear will give a case a good workover. Don't be suprised if you find a claw has gone through the PIR or lense. Just ask me. They are better for 2 legged protection.
Bear.jpg

A bear box that works
BearBox.jpg


Battery life in the cold has more to do with the temps than the camera. I run about 15 cameras year round. When temps reach around the -25c degrees most batteries start to fail. A fellow I know builds and sells cameras. He has done a lot of testing of batteries in cold temps. You can see his info here:

http://www.monarchimages.ca/
 
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I use a lot of the same parts that Monarch does and I have seen his work. It is very good.

To give you an idea of quality, the picture I posted above of the does is taken with only a 4.1 meg pix camera. (Sony P41). Many of the "store bought " units boast high pix count but there is a lot more to the story than that. If you want quality pictures you need good lenses, fast and high quality capture cards to name a couple of the items . Most comercial units do not use these good components. They relie on a high pix count for their advertising.

A lot also boast fast shuter time and it has its advantages. To me proper camera placement will overcome any issues with trigger speed.

If you are not looking for quality pictures there is nothing wrong with some of the manufactured units. They work fine for scouting. I purchased 2 to try out. One was a moultrie and I could not keep it working. They replaced it for me bt I had to pay the shipping. I think I ended up going through 4 of there cameras and had never did get one that worked for any length of time. The other one I purchased was a Stealth Cam and it has worked fine for several years now. The flash has finally failed on it but it has taken thousands of pictures.

Warning. If you start building them it is worse than a heroin habit.

Cameras.jpg

CamoCamera1.jpg
 
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