Trail cameras, things to consider when buying

John Y Cannuck

John Y Cannuck

RichPoorMan<br>Super Moderator
Moderating Team
Rating - 100%
15   0   0
Location
The Conservative part of Ontario
Just to share experiences with one of my trail cams, and things I will be avoiding in future cams.

One, this camera uses 4 C cell batteries. Shorter life than AA Lithiums. AA Lithiums can last a year, and work in cold weather, the C cells give me two months, and shut down when cold.

Two, avoid software on off switches, at least on C cell cameras. What is happening, is that when it gets cold the camera stops working due to lack of voltage, and when it warms up later in the day, it fails to turn itself back on due to the software on-off.

This camera used to take great night shots, but when a moose smashed the black flash lens, i put a plastic piece over it to protect it. Poor results, plastic got affected by the sun and hazed very quickly. have to use glass to fix.

I think i'll convert it to a battery on the ground or strapped to the tree with a wire up to it. It's a Hunten Outdoors GSC35-50IR I won't buy another one of these.
 
I have half a dozen cameras or so. My main consideration is that they all use aa batteries so i carry 8 in my pack in case a camera died. They all use sd cards now but that was not the case years ago. I had a scoutguard that took a remote to operate. I was constantly forgetting that remote and when the camera died, i shed no tears!

I still have an old moultrie i 40 that takes d cells it is huge and heavy but wont die. I tried a camera thet took c cells and it would not last a week on them so back to the store it went.
 
i have 2 moultries that take C batteries and i am very happy with their performance
even in the sask -40c winter.
i also use a stealth cam which takes 8 AA batteries and they dont last bugger all.
 
I have an old (5+) year Moultrie that uses 6 C cell batteries. PIA. It takes excellent pix but now I can't program date/time. Also have a newer Bushnell that takes 8 AA's. Works just fine.
 
I have one that takes 4 c battery. So far I am happy with it.three months on one set of battery's. I buy cheaper cameras now as thy get stolen
 
I'm using a combination of Moultrie and Stealthcam, and have mixed reviews for both. The early M80 series Moultries were very good; decent picture quality, good battery life, and they're still running after 4 yrs for some of them. The only negative is that they give off a red glow that will spook some deer. Some deer don't seem to care, others are very skittish, and if one of those shy old bucks spots the camera I can count on never seeing him in that spot again.

The later versions of the Moultrie, M880/990 were no glow, but unfortunately that's the only thing good about them. One won't keep an accurate date, a couple eat batteries, and a couple give very dark, almost unusable pictures when it first wakes up.

Bought a few stealthcams, model G42, and overall they're not bad. Picture quality isn't as good as with the Moultrie, particularly for night shots, and batteries don't seem to last as long. Definitely easier to set up, which was another complaint of mine of the later version Moultries.

I wish I could afford to buy Reconyx. They seem to get the best reviews, but I can't justify $500 for a camera that will spend it's life on crown land.
 
i knew someone that had one of those reconyx cameras .one day he went to check on it .it grew some legs .
 
Funny, i have a c cell camera thats been going on 6 months... Still over half battery left. I also have two spypoint cameras that use AA. They only last a month, but the cameras are awesome as hell. They text me the photo. A huge time savor, and i dont go disturb the area.
 
chisholm said:
Ive been running stealth cam the last 2 years, but just added a spy point solar camera. So far so good, I am more than impressed!
Click to expand...

[youtube]v=krD4hdGvGHM[/youtube]

I'd like progress reports on that set up. I imagine you'd want to be very careful where you put the panel, as game seem to love to "investigate" anything different.
 
I'd love to try one of the cellular cameras that send the pics to you but I would be terrified of someone stealing it and paying the monthly connection fee dose not excite me much either. I only use cheap cameras now so I'm not out much if a bear chews one up or it gets stolen.

I felt pretty stupid Sat morning, I had sat in the stand Friday evening and it's in thick timber with a poor shooting lane, I set it up in a hurry just before the season so I have to make the best of it for now

Anyway, at 5pm I saw a flash of white which I attributed to a rabbit, 15 mins later I see white dancing all around ( it's pretty close to dark now) and realize it is the yearling and doe that had been coming for a month. Nice to see them, I do every weekend. I have no doe tag nor would I shoot one there anyway as the population is just starting to rebound.

Fast forward to sat morning, dropping more bait and checking the sd card. The flash of white at 5 pm? that was a 5 point that had been coming regular but I never saw him. Oh well, I already said I wouldn't shoot him. There's a big 8 coming as well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom