Recommendations for a trail cam?

[tkdguy]

Any ideas? Do they work daytime and night-time? At night-time is there a flash? There is an SD chip which will play where? Or will the camera show the images? How do they set up? Thanks.

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[Howard1955]

There are a lot of options and brands to choose from.

You'll probably get a lot of good information here - but check the reviews online, and the comments on hunting forums as well. YouTube will have a lot of videos for you.

I have a Covert Wireless Blackhawk LTE trail camera that works fine for me. It can take still pictures or videos, and has more settings and features than I use.

Right now, it's set to take a 30-second long video when it detects movement. Videos taken at night (no flash) are black-and-white, and videos taken in daylight are in color. It also records sound.

When it's triggered, it takes a video and then sends a thumbnail to my phone (text message), using Verizon. It has an SD card that can be plugged into a computer to watch the videos. I believe the videos can be watched on the trail cam, but I just bring the whole thing into the house and use the SD card to see the videos on the computer screen.

I can open the app on my phone and have the camera take a video anytime. I think there's a fee of 2 cents per video when I do that, but they haven't charged me for it yet. Maybe they're waiting until I owe them a sizable amount, and then they'll bill me for the hundreds of times I've used that feature.

I believe the camera cost about $400. The monthly fee is $7.99

The batteries (12 AA's) don't last for a very long time. But for me, it's worth the trouble of changing them out after 6 or 8 weeks. Of course, they last longer if the camera isn't activated very often.

I've had this one for 3 years this coming Christmas. I'm sure there are better/fancier ones available by now, but this one does all I need it to do.

For me, there was a bit of a learning curve. I called the technical 'help line' a few times before I got the hang of how the camera works.

Good luck! I hope you get some great pictures of Sasquatch.

 

[Koda]

Any ideas? Do they work daytime and night-time? At night-time is there a flash? There is an SD chip which will play where? Or will the camera show the images? How do they set up? Thanks.

There is no flash but the cheaper ones emit a faint red glow when triggered at night. They all take pics or vids day or night and use an SD chip (sold separately). The devices dont show the imagaes you have to remove the SD card and download the pics from it... get a cheap card reader that plugs into your smartphone is what I did and just view and move the photos off the SD card into my phone to transfer to my computer later.
They all come with a nylon strap to secure to a tree but a security "python" cable is sold separately if you want to lock it to the tree.
The really cheap ones work fine for hunting purposes but the image quality sucks. If your need is for home or property security then get the very best you can afford to quality pictures or videos.

 

[TNThomas]

There are all kinds of settings. Do know that most new cameras require BOTH movement AND a difference in Infrared to "trip" the camera. I had to hunt this down as its not really advertised. Basically, don't stress about plant movement falsely triggering your camra. You will get a few from sunlight/wind combos, but nowhere near as much as old units that would trip off of movement alone.

 

[tkdguy]

Do any of these capture audio?

 

[TNThomas]

Yes, they do. I usually just do photos however.

 

[Koda]

Not all of them capture audio.

 

[cowboykid8]

Every feature drives up the price. Faster trigger speed will help with getting better pictures, if your window of what you want to see is pretty close like setting up on a game trail where the animal may walk right next to the camera I used video to help snag better views. Video sucks a lot of battery and card space.

Most use an SD card, which you can get a card reader that works with your phone, or a cheap tablet with a card slot.

I went with multiple cheaper camera's when I bought a bunch last time, so you can space the cameras out. From that you can sometimes have an idea how long til a patterned animal will get to the next camera (if they pattern at all). I like the Wildgame Innovations for the money.

Those cameras tend to over expose if facing even slightly south, so we always pointed them north. You could hear the shutter click, so early on learning if the camera was in a good place we would walk by. That being said, less human scent is better, which is a huge advantage to the Cellular cameras.

Some cameras have locking cases or theft deterrent systems, which could be a huge advantage to you if you are worried about camera getting stolen. Keep in mind most people who can find the cameras usually have a way to defeat the locks.

 

[pjallenjr72]

Go to: https://www.outdoortrailcams.com/

You can find a lot of good information on this site. I suggest you purchase a security box for each camera you deploy, especially if you leave them out all year. Every camera I've had stolen or vandalized was during archery season, so beware.

I archery hunt for elk in the coast range, so I'm not picking on archery hunters, just reporting my experience.

Have fun with it!

 

[coyote223]

I won't recommend specific cameras, they all work, none of them last in my experience. Night pics are infrared, unless you buy a white flash cam. Lots of dirtbag thieves out there too. Have fun,,,

 

[belshawelk]

Bushnell HD Blackout. No camera has better battery life or takes any better pics. Mine take thousands and thousands a year. I have 6 of them set up on my property Day, night, hot, cold. Pics always good. Lithium batteries will last for years.

 

[tkdguy]

Any updated recommendations for am easy to program and operate trail camera? thx.

 

[osprey]

Moultrie edge series are as easy as it gets for a cellular capable camera. I have always used moultrie non cell cameras as they seem to be the most reliable and the cell versions are fantastic as well.

 

[Nosferatu]

I have 3 different Moultrie cameras at my MT property. Up until about a year ago, I would not have recommended, them. Firmware updates have changed that though. I was having constant problems with them not connecting and having to manually power them on and off, which is - needless to say - an inconvenience when I'm 500 miles away from them.

All of mine are cellular enabled so I get images and videos uploaded to a Moultrie cloud account and I can view them from anywhere. They trigger at night and capture fairly good detail, depending on what triggered it. The false triggers from sunspots and other environmental things have been greatly reduced over the years as well. I used to get a ton of useless images.

They aren't always in focus, but you get enough to see what's going on. I'm not looking for something to hang on my wall.