best trail cam for the money?

[heronblu]

Might be a topic that has gotten plenty of traffic here but I'm new to the site so forgive me. What is the best trail cam out there for the money? Im looking for deer specifically (not sure if it makes a difference) and would like the option of setting up two or three in my area. Thanks!

[DoubleJ]

Marked.  I'd like to know this too

[Kola16]

This has been brought up, but there is no problem with starting a new one  A couple years ago, I talked to a guy who worked at Cabela's, who got to test all of their in-stock trail cameras. He liked the Bushnell trophy (or Bushnell something) the most, but that was an expensive camer (about 250). For the money, he said that the 5 mp Tasco was the best (100). I like it in the day, and it is really easy to set up, but the night shots suck 

[Turner89]

My wife bouht me a stealth camera at costco for $120.00. It came with sd card batteries and a pretty cool mounting bracket. It takes pretty decent pictures, but I didn't bring the card home because I barely had the buck in the photo. That was because it has a zoom option setting that I had set to high. I now have it set  to zero, and I will see how that works.
 The trigger speed seemed to work well, and the pictures I had were better than my Tascos, and Trophy cam. I feel like it's a pretty good deal. I will Know more this weekend.

[huntnnw]

I own the above mentioned cams and I am not impressed with them..I have more issues with the Bushnell not taking pics cause of cards or just doesnt work..the Tascos dont always work and the switching between IR and regualr pics is slow, so I get lots of super dark pics. I have some wildgame innovation cams and they so far have been hands down the best cams i have! and I paid $50 for them. I also have a wildview IR 8mp and so far its been great and was $100 with batts and a SD card

[Turner89]

I own the above mentioned cams and I am not impressed with them..I have more issues with the Bushnell not taking pics cause of cards or just doesnt work..the Tascos dont always work and the switching between IR and regualr pics is slow, so I get lots of super dark pics. I have some wildgame innovation cams and they so far have been hands down the best cams i have! and I paid $50 for them. I also have a wildview IR 8mp and so far its been great and was $100 with batts and a SD card

I have seen some of your pics huntnnw. My next cameras will be wildview and wildgames. Have you tried the stealth cam that i mentioned? The trophy cams are a big dissapointment, and way over priced.

[bobcat]

The main issue I have with Wilgame Innovation cameras is that they do not offer a "burst" mode. Which means they only take one picture each time the camera is triggered. I have two of the Wildgame W6X's and they do work well, I just miss having the multi shot burst option that most other cameras have. I got them for $50 each but you can't buy them at that price anymore.

For $50 right now I would buy either a Tasco white flash camera from Wal Mart, or a Primos Truth Cam 35 from Natchez Shooters Supply (refurbished.)

For a little more money I might get the Moultrie D55 that Amazon has for $71.89, free shipping. That's a pretty decent camera for the price.

[grundy53]

I would recommend a Moultrie M-80 they take good pictures day and night, They are inferred, I like how small they are, easy to use and with newer models coming out they have dropped in price. If you shop around on the Internet you should be able to find them for about $110.

[huntnnw]

I havent tried any stealths in a long time...I had some moultries and they always worked..I have a 7 yr old moultrie that still works perfect to this day

[MtnMuley]

I havent tried any stealths in a long time...I had some moultries and they always worked..I have a 7 yr old moultrie that still works perfect to this day

I'm betting it's a D-50.  I still run a couple of those and they are hands down the best camera I've ever used in the $50 range.  Only downfall is size and 8 D batteries.  They out preform many of my other cams that were three times the price.

[eltaco]

I'm trying a set of Moultrie M-80xt cams this year. I've read great reviews on them and you can find them for about $120tyd. I read great things on the Bushnell Trophy cams, but couldn't find a new one under $150. I ran done larger Moultries last season and was highly impressed, but they were a bugger to hike back an forth!

[bullcanyon]

I've got a couple moultrie m-80xd cams out and a bushnell trophy out. The moultrie takes way better night pictures. I won't buy any more trophy cams. Unless something else comes out and is better than the m-80 for the price. That's all I'll buy. bought my last one with a bear box for $139 to the door on ebay.

[et1702]

I have one Bushnell trophy cam, one Moultree D55, two Wildgame 6mp's and  just bought another Wildgame 5mp last night.  The Wildgame 5 was only $89.00.  Tried it at home last night and takes great pics.  I like the Wildgame cameras for their size, but only takes pics at minimum of 15 second intervals.  Bushnell takes best pics and has burst mode.  Moultree takes great pics too, but seems a little slow to wake up compared to other cams.

FYI, the Tulalip Cabela's has the Wildgame 6's with 4mb SD card and eight batteries for $139.  With the price of battries these days (plus the SD card), that's about $100 bucks for camera.

ET

[jrebel]

Hands down the M-80 (x, xt...etc.) or the Bushnell trophy cam 8 mp ($150 model) are the best cams on the market for the money.  I have one bushnell and two moultrie M80's and wouldn't buy anything else.  Check out this ebay link....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MOULTRIE-FEEDERS-GAME-SPY-M-80X-MINI-CAM-INFRARED-M80X-Optional-Security-Box-/260860987013?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item3cbc86c685

This is moultrie for a really good price.  He also has the bushnell in his ebay store for 146 ish to your door.   

Oh Yeah....and both these cams take 8 AA batteries.  I buy costco batteries and use in mine and usually 48 AA batteries cost me around 20 dollars and will last me all year for three cams.  The cams mentioned above are really easy on batteries.  My bushnell took 6000 pics in the 13-14 days this year and still had full battery life.  It will truely last 6-8 months.  Night quality will go down well before the batteries stop die so base replacement of batteries on quality of night photos.  There is something to be said for how much the batteries cost so don't buy a cheap camera for 70-100 dollars with D or C batteries....you will end up paying more in the long run.   

[Heredoggydoggy]

I have one Bushnell trophy cam, one Moultree D55, two Wildgame 6mp's and  just bought another Wildgame 5mp last night.  The Wildgame 5 was only $89.00.  Tried it at home last night and takes great pics.  I like the Wildgame cameras for their size, but only takes pics at minimum of 15 second intervals.  Bushnell takes best pics and has burst mode.  Moultree takes great pics too, but seems a little slow to wake up compared to other cams.

FYI, the Tulalip Cabela's has the Wildgame 6's with 4mb SD card and eight batteries for $139.  With the price of battries these days (plus the SD card), that's about $100 bucks for camera.

ET

I got my Wildgame 3mp IR and SD card for $65 from Midway 2 years ago.  Takes great pictures.  I got rechargeable batteries to try this year.  Buying batteries all the time will break you after a while.

[Button Nubbs]

I have a d-55ir, a bushnell trophy cam and 3 tascos. The d-55ir is on its first soak right now, the bushnell hasn't been out yet, and this is my 2nd year for the tascos. I have been happy with the tascos at $50. They've taken lots of pics. I may go pull cards tomorrow so ill let u know how the moultrie does.

On a side note I can't believe how many people support those *censored*s from wildgame innovations.

[grundy53]

All I have are moultries right now. If you want to check out the picture quality here is a link to my trail cam thread. The clearer pictures are from my M-80's the less clear ones are from my D-50's.

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php?topic=98268.0

[D-Rock425]

Im pulling my card from my tasco on Sunday its been in the elk hunting area for about a month now.  I will hopefully post pics sunday night.  Im thinking the more cameras you have in the woods the better.

[grundy53]

Im pulling my card from my tasco on Sunday its been in the elk hunting area for about a month now.  I will hopefully post pics sunday night.  Im thinking the more cameras you have in the woods the better.

That's my theory. I'm running 5 right now. I need more though 

[Hunter Dug]

I second the Truth 35.  Great camera.  I have two, yes I have had to send one back for SD card issues, and yes I had great customer service.  Great pictures in all conditions, and great video in all conditions.  For the price this camera is hard to beat.  I bought all my cameras refurbished, and all are warrentied by Primos.

[AKBowman]

My first camera ever was the Moultrie D-50 I believe...the one that takes the 8 D cells batteries. That was a great camera until a bear punctured the outside shell and rainwater got inside. I did like the menu and multi shot burst options it had, it worked for about 5 years and would still be working if it hadnt gotten bitten.

Along with the D-50 I've been running 4 of the $50 Tascos from Wallmart. I like the fast trigger speed and battery life (~90 days on 4 C's) they work pretty well and take decent pictures. They only have the option for a single shot which is the thing I dislike about them the most. I've had one go down on its own this year (bad sensor) another get bitten by a bear and yet another take pics tons of pics of nothing. I just purchased 4 more from Midway USA for $33 and they came in the mail Friday.

Along with the two remaining Tascos from the original fleet and the 3 new I purchased two Moultrie LX30ir's which are on their first soak. One thing I noticed on the LX30ir's is that the shutter is really noisy when it takes pics which may be a serious issue. I did like the fact that they took 4 C batteries and had options down to 1 minute delay between pics. I am pulling them next weekend after 3-1/2 weeks over my salt so we shall see. I will be setting one on video mode next soak.

[MtnMuley]

Glad to hear the good talk about the $50 Tasco's from Wal Mart.  Size sems pretty decent, and 90 day battery life out of 4 C's is plenty good enough for me.  The name Tasco just keeps me leary.   I was debating about getting a few if they were decent.  Now they're at $40 so I think I will go buy a few. 

[mfswallace]

I've got a few moultries and a few wildgame innovations- 
Go Moultrie all the way- better options and better pictures.  Price is good as well.

Doesn't have to be the best most expensive camera to let you see animals where you want to hunt. 

[whitetailslyr]

Moultrie m-80 is the best i've found for around the $100 range

[coop2424]

Personally for me it is the bushnell trophy cam 8mp mainly because of battery life.  Have had one for over a year and have only changed the batteries once and they are crappy batteries not name brand.  During that time for about a month it was taking about 300 pics a night in freezing weather.  It also takes great pics looking to try the video feature next week.  Just picked up 3 more from cabelas when they were on sale for 149

[KFhunter]

I got a bushnell trail cam soaking right now in the same spot I had the moultrie M80 soaking,  I couldn't find a 3 pic burst mode on the bushnell either 


It was from walmart and is a smaller cam about the same size as the M80




I'll be buying more M80's for sure, really pleased with it so far.   The video (with sound) even plays nice, it snaps a pic first then takes video up to 30 seconds.
The 3 picture burst is very nice, when you got 300 pics of one deer in 3 pic bursts its like watching a movie when you scroll through 

[CplRaines]

I have a Leupold RCX-2.
I would not recommend it if you are going to put it up anywhere that there is any possibility of someone getting to it. It is very expensive. Closing in on 400 bones after tax for the initial kit. 
The quality of the pics, videos and variety of settings is top notch. The casing has held up to several bear gnawing on it without even a tooth mark.  Just wish it was cheaper. Extra cams to go with the controller/viewer run more than most other complete cam set-ups.

[bobcat]

I got a bushnell trail cam soaking right now in the same spot I had the moultrie M80 soaking,  I couldn't find a 3 pic burst mode on the bushnell either 

Must be the "Trail Sentry." I think it's the same, or at least similar to, the Tasco.

[heronblu]

wow thanks everyone! Still not sure which one Im going to get but at least now I have a lot more information so that I will be a more informed buyer when I do get one.

[DBHAWTHORNE]

I have went with all the brands. For the price my Tasco's have worked fine. Not to say they haven't crapped out...but then so have all my other more expensive cameras.

The cameras I currently buy are the Moultrie and the Wild Game innovations... I generally get the models between 100-130 range.

[Sneaky]

I got a bushnell trail cam soaking right now in the same spot I had the moultrie M80 soaking,  I couldn't find a 3 pic burst mode on the bushnell either 


It was from walmart and is a smaller cam about the same size as the M80




I'll be buying more M80's for sure, really pleased with it so far.   The video (with sound) even plays nice, it snaps a pic first then takes video up to 30 seconds.
The 3 picture burst is very nice, when you got 300 pics of one deer in 3 pic bursts its like watching a movie when you scroll through 

 

mini cams are the way of the future. All the quality of larger cams with cheaper batteries and increased convenience/ease of use. I have a truth 46 and it pales in comparison to the quality of my cousin's m80's.

[Jason]

I got a bushnell trail cam soaking right now in the same spot I had the moultrie M80 soaking,  I couldn't find a 3 pic burst mode on the bushnell either 


It was from walmart and is a smaller cam about the same size as the M80




I'll be buying more M80's for sure, really pleased with it so far.   The video (with sound) even plays nice, it snaps a pic first then takes video up to 30 seconds.
The 3 picture burst is very nice, when you got 300 pics of one deer in 3 pic bursts its like watching a movie when you scroll through 

 

mini cams are the way of the future. All the quality of larger cams with cheaper batteries and increased convenience/ease of use. I have a truth 46 and it pales in comparison to the quality of my cousin's m80's.

My D-50 has been a die hard cam.

I really really like my Moultrie M80, great day and night pics and decent trigger speed, it's been very reliable and has great battery life.

If anyone is looking for a Bear box for there M80/M100 or other brand cams check this guy out
http://www.custom1enterprises.com/custom1enterprises_010.htm
I have made bear boxes in the past but cant come close to this guy's prices and have it be worth my time.
He sells his M80/M100 boxes for $50 shipped, really well made from lazer cut 1/8 steel. Ordered mine on a Wednesday and had it in my mail box on Saturday.

[Whitetail freak]

Cuddeback

[Miles]

Cuddeback

Why?

[Heredoggydoggy]

Just for info, I just got the Midway August sale flyer, and they have the Moultrie I65 IR 6.0 MP camera on sale for 99.95.  Says you save $250.  Checked the description, and it's got loads of features.  Tempted to spring for one, but have only had experience with my Wildgame Innovations 3MP camera.  Any opinions on this model?

[grundy53]

I love Moultries.