First trail camera for me

[Onin24Eagle]

I have a lot of cameras in the woods.  18 of them to be exact.  I would shy away from the viewers as there tends to be a lot that you might miss on such a tiny screen.  Best thing to do is carry 2 sets of SD cards.  Just swap them out and check them on the computer when you get home.  I don't know how many times I've looked at a picture on a tiny view screen thinking that it must have been a false trigger only to see a bear or deer way in the background once I get it on the computer screen and can zoom around on a large picture.

As to brands, it seems everyone has there preference.  I did a "study" a few years back and posted the results somewhere on the forums here.  What I did was put two different brands of cameras on the same tree facing the same direction and let them sit for a week.  Then I pulled the cards and compared picture quality, trigger speed, missed triggers, etc.  When the dust settled I ended up selling off all of my other brand cameras and going exclusively with Spypoint.  I might add that I have never used a Bushnell but have heard good things about those.

Other brands I have used:  Moultrie, Stealth Cam, Cuddeback, WGI, Covert....probably 3 or 4 more brands but those come to mind off the top of my head.

Also, DON'T PAY THE EXTRA MONEY FOR A HIGH MEGAPIXEL CAMERA!!!  The only reason you would need a high megapixel camera is if you intend to produce actual prints from your pictures.  Most computer screens are only capable of 2-3 megapixels so even if you have a 12MP camera, when you look at the picture on your computer all you are seeing is a 2-3MP picture. 

You can get a 10 pack of 4GB SD cards on Amazon.com for about $25.  Also buy an SD card case to keep them organized.  There are decent ones also on Amazon for about $7.  I don't know why you would pay more than that for SD cards.  I check mine twice a month and have never had them filled up.  A 4GB card will hold about 5000 pictures.  If you're doing video, then perhaps you want more memory.

[hawg]

An update from my previous posts on this topic. I moved 3 cameras to individual scrapes last week and went out to look at the chips with the card reader for my phone. I tried not to be right on the scrapes as to not alert/scare the deer. The pictures from the night pictures from NoGlow cameras, which are pretty dark to start with, were hard to see on my phone. I took the chips back to the computer and they worked noticeably better. The day pictures and close night pictures work fine but don't expect to much for viewing night pictures from marginal distance on the small screen of a card reader. That being said, I wouldn't think the small 2 1/2 inch viewer on some of the cameras that come with viewers can be much better.
Also my Stealth Cam, same model as last year NG45, doesn't take as good  night pictures as last years model. This years model says Pro after NG45, but just not as good of pictures.