Trail Cameras?! Which one is good.

[MTCOMMER]

Alright fellas, another question for you guys.
I am looking to buy a trail camera, the one we were using a few years ago decided it didnt want to flash anymore so its night pictures are no good - It will only take videos (IDK whats wrong with it)  Anways, I am not looking to spend alot $150 is my max - I have looked at a few and it seems all have mixed reviews, either they work well or dont work at all.
There is the Wildlife Innovations D8 at Walmart for $125
-- also been looking at the older Moultries that I can get for around $100, but they are only 4.0MP.  What would you all recommend, what has worked for you guys.  Thanks.

 

[The General]

I have a Moultrie that I got for Christmas last year.  Everything works perfectly but about in August half the screen quit working.  I googled it and found this to be pretty common.  I guess Moultrie will give you a free upgraded screen but you have to put it in yourself.  I can still read enough of it that I can make it work and it's my only camera and I wanted to keep it out in the woods.  I'll throw up a pick for ya.  I really like the Infared (sp?) so no flash.

[MTCOMMER]

Yeah, I heard IR is the way to go, I was looking at this one.....
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=14977162&findingMethod=rr

I just feel anything from Walmart is junk.... but if it breaks, I can keep returning it, which is alot easier than if I get something online or at Cabelas (I suppose there is a Gander close).

Ive been checking Craigslist, but I think that there is usually a reason that somone is getting rid of something.

Would I really need a 6 or 8MP camera or would a 3 or 4MP be just as good - it seems that 8 is a little excessive, I wont be blowing up my pictures, I just want to see the deer and other animals.

[The General]

I just checked the box and mine is a gamespy I40 4mp.  Does the job for me.  One thing I know is i probably have 200 pics so far this year and it still has 55% battery life the last time I put it out.  But it is the only one i have ever had.  My buddy did win a wildview at a deer banquet this year.  He through that thing in the garbage a month later.  I'm sure it was probably their cheapest model.  I do know it had a flash.  But that was just one instance. 

[MTCOMMER]

I also need to make sure that it takes a picture when it senses something (within a few seconds) - the one we have now takes a picture after 1 minute and i have a feeling it will miss alot of photos.....    IDK, maybe im just confused.
I think i may have to spend a little extra and buy a nice one - or keep checking the sales (maybe day after thanksgiving....)

[The General]

I think the norm of time between pics is 1min, 5min, 10min on most cameras.  Plus mine has video but I have never used it.

[Onin24Eagle]

I have several different trail cams out.  For the money, I don't think you can beat the Primos Truth Cam 35.  It's only about $75 and performs as well as any $150 camera.  It's also super easy to set up and you can set the delay to as little as 10 seconds if you want.

Here are some pics from that camera:







As for picture quality, my best camera is a Cuddeback.  However, this is a $250 camera which is outside of your stated budget.



I really like the Primos camera though, considering what it cost (I got mine for $72 from Amazon.com - that includes shipping).  At first I noticed that it seemed to spook a lot of the deer, but then I realized that the small red light would blink on the camera every time it takes a picture.  One small half inch by half inch piece of duct tape seemed to cure that problem lickety split.  Didn't get a single picture of a deer looking directly at the camera after that.  If the deer are moving quickly it can get a little blurry as shown in the third picture above, but I've seen worse from cameras that cost twice as much.  I have a Moultrie that is super blurry when they move.  Just look at the picture below:




I'm recommending the Primos Truth Cam 35.  If you're willing to spend $150, then get two of them.

[The General]

The primos one looks nice.  I take it the cuddie is a flash camera?

[MTCOMMER]

Well, I couldnt help it and bought a SpyPoint on GanderMt.com.... its on 'sale' for $99, but I got free shipping and added a $4 Acorn scent stick, so I could get another $20 off for spending over $100.
It got good reviews on the website, much better than the Wildlife Game 2pk (i thought about getting that, since its 2 for $100)  But we will see how it works, if I dont like it, I can return it, and get something else.  I figured I had to get this online deal while it lasted!

Thanks for the pics Orin, I will keep those in mind if I need a different one.  That Cuddeback picture looks great, but yes, a little out of my price range!  Ill be setting mine out in the back yard and seeing how it works!  Thanks fellas

[steiny]

I have a Moutrie IR and hate it for night pics.  It takes to long to get the shot and the animal is half gone out of view before the picture gets taken.  I think (I maybe wrong) the IR takes a few seconds to heat up and shoot.
My Cudde is the best camera (it is a flash) I have used - quality as you can see above is topnotch and it nearly always catches the creature in the center of the screen (as advertized).

[Mayfly]

I have a Moutrie IR and hate it for night pics.  It takes to long to get the shot and the animal is half gone out of view before the picture gets taken.  I think (I maybe wrong) the IR takes a few seconds to heat up and shoot.
My Cudde is the best camera (it is a flash) I have used - quality as you can see above is topnotch and it nearly always catches the creature in the center of the screen (as advertized).

Thank you thank you thank you!!

I hate the Moultrie IR with a passion. I run cams all year round and this by far is the worst cam I have ever ever used.

The trigger is horrible. I walked straight to the cam before and it didnt even think about taking a pic. I had a gut pile out and the thing was gone... no pics! I should send it back.. actually I am going to.

[whiteoakbuck]

i have a wildview extrem 2 it works great for me and as many options but not sure how easy they are to find now and my brother just bought the $50 tasco one from walmart and i put it out takes really nice pics go check out the pic the title is cool buck that was taken with the $50 camera

[rvdoc]

I have a Moultrie IR 40 and it works ok but after a year the screen is unreadable on the top. I see from another post that it is replaceable. Thanks, will contact Moultrie. Will abmit though that the batteries seem to last for a season.

[Cody Gruchow]

i have a wildgame came as well 45 dollars a cabelas a few years ago. takes nice pictures, not the fastest trigger speed BUT if you position it right you always get good pics. all the pics of bucks i have posted this year are from that cam. i also have a stealthcam, runs through batterys WAY to fast so it sits on the self in the closet to look pretty. and i also just bought a wildlife innovations cam but have yet to get a good pic of a deer on it. the background pic looks nice but all i ever see is the backside of the deer.

[MTCOMMER]

I will be interested to see what bucks are still in the woods - ready to grow for next year.

We saw a monster that was under my stand as we were driving into our property, but ran off as I walked up to the stand.  Never saw it again, but the neighbors didnt shoot a buck yet, so hopefully he is around for next year.  should be a high class deer.
 

Ill post some pics when I get them to show you the quality im getting with the SpyPoint.

Thanks for all the input guys, if this doesnt work, I will be returning it for a better one!  

[stevejedlenski]

my brother purchased the wildgame inovations cams and they took 200 plus pics of nothing. he sent them back to fix the trigger speed as it was super slow. well they work better but still most of the time you have to do jumping jacks to get them to go off. so we both bought a IR cudde wich set us back $500 but they dont miss any deer. i am thinking of trying one of those truth cams as they look pretty good and are reasonable.

TIP. use a 512mb sd card. the bigger the memory card the slower your camera will be (so im told). apparently nobody makes these any more but you can get them on ebay.

[Swany]

I've had good luck with:
Covert II - It's IR, takes good night pictures and has a good trigger speed, pretty decent on batteries as well (6 AA's last about 3-4 months).

Bushnell Trophy Cam 8mp - About the same battery life as Covert, trigger speed is actually too sensitive so I had to tone the sensitivity down. Really good night pictures and great during the day.

I have had really bad luck with Wildgame Innovations cams and their customer service, bad battery life, cheap camera body. Supposedly got their act together and are much better then the clunker that I have (IR4).

The old Moultrie I40 that I have is rock solid for battery life. Night pictures are not the best, but I switched it to video mode and that does much better at night. Although the trigger speed is slower than I like. I know I have missed deer because of it.

The only knock I have read about on the Truth Cams is a noisy shutter spooking deer so I haven't tried one yet. Perhaps if the Red light is covered that will take away a little bit of their suspicion though. Good tip.

[Mayfly]

I have never used either but I agree with Swany. Been hearing that the bushnell is a sweet camera and hearing the same thing about Coverts as well.

And as far as the 512MB card, its not possible that the camera trigger speed would have anything to do with the memory card. The trigger is just a laser sensor that triggers the camera.