Trail cam recommendations...

The neighbor just gave me permission to hunt a small parcel that abuts our property. I'd like to set up a trail cam or two, but just discovered my old Bushnell trail cam bit the dust. There are so many options today, so I thought I'd look here for recommendations. Doesn't have to be fancy - no WiFi, cellular, etc. Just a plain ol' camera with decent resolution, range & trigger speed and of reasonable quality that'll stand up to the weather. No need for an expensive one, either. In fact, I'd like it to be under $100-ish, since I'd like to pick up a couple of them.

 

Muddy has a deal now with their BOGO offer on their Pro Cam 18 Bundle. Camera, SD card and Batteries. Put one in your cart and two appear, at a cost of $99.99. I have a couple and they work quite well for $50 apiece.

https://shop.gomuddy.com/the-pro-cam-18-bundle/

 

Bushnell trail cameras have served me well for over a decade.

 

I respect your opinion of the cellular cams they are more money, but soo much good pics right to your phone. Mine sends two per day. I use it as security camera on my hunting shack.

The cell coverage is $13/mo for unlimited pictures. You can suspend that account in the off-season if you like.
These are from my dad's cellular cam. He is 88yo and still wants to be informed about the happenings on our beloved river trail.

These pics are texted to you in real time to your phone. The camera account is NOT with your cellphone....it is ran through the camera company and is not much of a hassle at all.....not like a cellphone bill.

The app that comes with the camera allows you to check batteries from your phone and make settings changes by phone also.
I hope @MrBorland you aren't aggrevated that I posted in your thread about what you said you DIDN'T want...but I truly like mine and I know my dad does too. We think they are worth the extra$ to get your pics in real timer and so much more....right to your phone.

 

I have owned countless models and brands. One thing I have learned is that brand quality is meaningless. What matters are specific models as given brand may produce some outstanding models of cams, and some that junk. Most of the cost effective units (all?) are made overseas and branded for US market anyway. Many of the expensive one are made overseas as well.

Cellular options are a little easier to research as there are fewer models. I would strongly suggest going cellular if you can afford it. The experience is just so much better if you don't live really close to the property and it is really convenient if you do.

One more than one occasion, I have called my neighbor (close to my land) to go shoot hogs that were on my property (I am an hour away). He often can make it over and pop one or two.

 

We seem to have the best longevity out of Browning cameras but have and use a bunch of different ones.

The only cellular ones we use are for security and trapping. For trapping they are used along with another cell phone at the trap, so I have control.

Get a notification and photo of what’s in the trap.




Call the trap up and drop the gates.




Then they wait on you (or a neighboring land owner that also wants them gone) to get there.

 

I've bought 5 or 6 different brands. They were all $40 or less and are all made in China. They all crap out after a year or two. The only real feature I look for is a fast trigger speed of 1/2 second or less otherwise you just see landscapes or the tail of some animal.

Amazon shows quite a few and some are the same cameras but with different names that can be $20 to $50 dollars apart. Since the property is right next to you, buy a couple of cheap ones and check them manually.

 

I have been quite happy with Browning cameras as well. I like the StrikeForce model in particular. I have only used one kind of cell camera - the Cuddelink system. I have one main cell-enable camera and four smaller cameras that radio their photos back to the main unit. The main unit then emails the photos to me.

I've really liked getting the photos (my property is 2 hours away), but I cannot recommend the Cuddelink system. Trigger speed and detection range are nowhere near as good as the Browning Strikeforce. Neither is resolution. They eat batteries like candy in the winter. I could go on.

 

Two from today.
Cellular cams.

 

I tend to go cheap as well (if not using cellular), mostly because I have gone expensive and have gone cheap and the results were similar overall. Fast trigger is very important as is IR light throw distance. If going cheap, see what photos you can find from the camera that you want. For example, people reviewing them on Amazon often post sample pics from the cameras they have purchased. I also look for how much of the image is covered by the IR light. Some of the cameras have great throw, but it is a narrow beam and you don't get the full benefit of seeing your entire night picture as a result.

Many years ago, I purchased 7 Moultrie camera. The were $99-109 each, good mb for the time, ran on 6 D cell batteries, and at that price were among the cheaper trail cameras. One died the first year and got replaced and the replacement didn't do much better. A couple died around year 2. Six years later, 2 were still working, but 6 others had died). I got rid of the last 2 simply because the D cells were costing me a lot of money compared to the AA rechargeables I was running on other cameras.

One thing I have noticed on several of the cheap camera is that they have some convoluted firmware and controls. The last 2 or 3 I purchased have not been intuitive to operate without the instructions. By that I mean that on some, I can take them out of the box, put batteries in them, turn them on, and figure out the menu system and program them without cracking the manual. One no-name Chinese made camera didn't even have the buttons labeled in the camera as to what their function was, LOL. It worked great, but the directions went missing, batteries went dead at some point several months, and I could not get it programmed anew.

Last suggestion: Buy from a reputable dealer where you can get your money back if it doesn't work. China can make good stuff, but some is iffy. You don't want to have trouble returning a unit that was DOA out of the box.

 

Browning Strike Force HD Pro. Good combo of price, battery life, features and reliability. Check out a few of the recent posts regarding trail cams in this section.

 

I am using four different brands.

The Primos and the Browning are best in terms of detection range and photo quality. If I bought another camera today, I would buy one of those brands.

The Muddy has a shorter detection range and night photos are lacking. Difficult to set day/time and does not display the number of exposures taken. I would spend a few more $$$ and buy a Primos or Browning instead.

The Stealthcam is junk. Photo quality is OK but detection range is very poor. Anything beyond 10 or 15 feet may go undetected. I would not waste my money on a Stealthcam brand camera.

 

Thanks for the input, folks. I won't be using it for security purposes, or for live trapping, so I won't need the cellular instant notification feature. I'll be hunting close to the house, and just want a basic, but reliable, camera to check the photos weekly between now and next season. I went with the Browning recommendation, and chose the Command Ops Elite. We've also got quite a lot of wildlife around our place, so I ordered a second one. If they work well, I might even pick up another 1 or 2.

 

I am currently using Browning cameras because they take good pictures, are easy to use and seem to last longer. I started out with Moultrie cameras and the pictures were great but they didn't last very long. The first thing to go was the night pictures. They should have had a function where they could be set to take day pictures only.

 

I still have one that takes great pictures but it goes through batteries like those old 35mm ones that took 6 D cell batteries.