Suggestions for purchasing a new trail cam

[wheels]

Moultrie.

i have  2 thinking of a third   make sure invisible IR animals cant see it

[bearpaw]

We have only been buying the older Bushnell trophy cams the last couple years, I buy them when I see them at a good price on the internet, usually get them for $50 to $80, they seem to outlast other brands we've tried, they are small and easy to carry, the batteries last pretty good, and security boxes can be found on sale cheap for $15 to $20.

We were using smart phone adapters to read chips in the field, but a friend suggested getting a Wildgame Innovations SD Card Viewer for Game Cameras, we bought one and like it, we have since bought two more, it's way faster to scan through photos and has a good sized screen to see them. This is a good price $52.99 for these viewers:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Wildgame-Innovations-Trail-Pad-Swipe-SD-Card-Viewer-for-Game-Cameras/559835224


I've been considering buying a cuddyback cuddylink system, I'm wondering if anyone has much experience with this system and your thoughts on it?
https://www.cuddeback.com/cuddelink

[jrebel]

We have only been buying the older Bushnell trophy cams the last couple years, I buy them when I see them at a good price on the internet, usually get them for $50 to $80, they seem to outlast other brands we've tried, they are small and easy to carry, the batteries last pretty good, and security boxes can be found on sale cheap for $15 to $20.

We were using smart phone adapters to read chips in the field, but a friend suggested getting a Wildgame Innovations SD Card Viewer for Game Cameras, we bought one and like it, we have since bought two more, it's way faster to scan through photos and has a good sized screen to see them. This is a good price $52.99 for these viewers:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Wildgame-Innovations-Trail-Pad-Swipe-SD-Card-Viewer-for-Game-Cameras/559835224


I've been considering buying a cuddyback cuddylink system, I'm wondering if anyone has much experience with this system and your thoughts on it?
https://www.cuddeback.com/cuddelink

I don't run the link system from cuddyback but do run two of their cams and have been very pleased with the picture quality and trigger speed.  Here are a couple pics. 

[jrebel]

Couple Moultrie for comparison.

[bearpaw]

 

[huntnnw]

havent spent over $60 on a trail cam in 5 years. They are electronic devices in the elements that do not last forever, plus thieves and bears.

this is from a $50 cam

[BeerBugler]

I go for quantity when I comes to cameras. Today’s $30-$40 cameras are so much better than $150-$200 cameras of yesteryear. I buy them, test them, put them in the field, If im not happy with them, I’ll just sell them. It’s not hard to sell a $40 cam for $30. Once you find a $30-40 cam you like, buy a bunch of them. The viewers are great and really convenient, but I’m usually in too much of a hurry when I’m checking cams so I just swap sd cards and go. That way I can view and delete picture when it’s convenient.

[smithkl42]

I go for quantity when I comes to cameras. Today’s $30-$40 cameras are so much better than $150-$200 cameras of yesteryear. I buy them, test them, put them in the field, If im not happy with them, I’ll just sell them.

Totally agreed on the quantity over quality, though I suppose it may depend on what you're trying to get out of the cam.

If you want to have 10 cameras out in the field, and are checking each one once a month or so, this is precisely what you want.

However, I *have* had issues with cheap camera reliability. The last camera cheap I put out to soak worked fine for the first day, and then … no pictures. And I've had that sort of thing happen a number of times - only to have the camera go back to (apparently) working again.

Given the number of cameras I'm running, I'm OK with that tradeoff - I can still get a good feel for the area. But if you're the sort to check your cameras maybe a couple times a year, and they're a real pain to get to, I can understand why you'd want to spend more, for some reasonable guarantee of reliability and quality.

[huntnnw]

Ive had $100 plus cams mess up just as much as my cheopo ones and thats when i learned to quit buying them.