Cellular trail Cameras

[Alumaweld20]

Looking to get into the wireless game with 3 or 4 cameras. Any recommendations for which ones to get?

[JakeLand]

I got SPYPOINT cams on my Verizon plan and they work great ... as long as you got reception 

[h2ofowlr]

Game department uses them.  Seem to work well for them.  Starting to also see more home owners with property use them, to keep hunters from tresspassing.

[highcountry_hunter]

I got SPYPOINT cams on my Verizon plan and they work great ... as long as you got reception 

Out of curiosity what’s the battery life like on those?

[Caseknife]

Battery life depends on the transmission plan you are using.  Probably about a month with a high transmission rate.
Another option is the Spypoint cellular unit that can be used with any camera, I have two, but for some reason I don't have any cameras out this fall at all.

[spoonman]

Tactacam reveal x are awesome cams. I have my transmission set at instant and my batteries are on 3+ months. Great signal and transmission, images could be better. Had a spypoint and I’d say the tactacam is definitely better.

[Machias]

I have three Spypoint Micros.  I get about 3.5 months.  I have them send photos every 2 hours.

[hunter399]

I have three Spypoint Micros.  I get about 3.5 months.  I have them send photos every 2 hours.

Although the moultrie one is working, I would never buy one again. If I decide to try another brand it will be a spy point.

[highcountry_hunter]

Good info, thanks guys. I’ve got a spot that’s a real miserable hike into but my some stroke of god you pick up lte service around the top of the mountain. It’s also the snakiest looking country I’ve ever been in so I’ve never been able to make myself hike in there in the summer time. I’m thinking a cellular cam hung up in May over a buncha salt would be the ticket. I’ve heard of them with solar panels but never heard any reviews on them.

[CJ1962]

I bought a Spypoint a couple of years ago.  it works at the house in Auburn but I have yet to find a spot in the woods that it works. Granted the spots I hunt have limited cell service.  But in some of those spots I am able to make a phone call on my phone but have never been able to get the Spypoint to lock in. So based on my limited experience if you don't have 4 bars on your phone your camera is not likely to work.

I have Verizon. 

Others mileage may very

[Turner89]

I got SPYPOINT cams on my Verizon plan and they work great ... as long as you got reception 

Out of curiosity what’s the battery life like on those?

It totally depends on the cell reception.   Jake and I put our cameras out about 300yards apart as the the crow flies.  We set them around mothers day weekend I believe.   His batteries were nearly dead after a month or so and mine as of today still have 85% battery life.  I also have 100% cell reception. I believe jake had 40-60 % cell coverage at his camera.
I'm just using normal energizer batteries also.  It's totally dependent on the reception.

 

[Turner89]

I bought a Spypoint a couple of years ago.  it works at the house in Auburn but I have yet to find a spot in the woods that it works. Granted the spots I hunt have limited cell service.  But in some of those spots I am able to make a phone call on my phone but have never been able to get the Spypoint to lock in. So based on my limited experience if you don't have 4 bars on your phone your camera is not likely to work.

I have Verizon. 

Others mileage may very

[Alumaweld20]

Thanks all. I picked up a reconyx to give it a try...

[andersonjk4]

Any updates on how the Reconyx worked out for you?

[Machias]

I bought my first cellular trail camera in Feb 2016.  It was a Spartan No Glow camera.  That camera has taken 46,778 photos as of today.  Really shocked me how many photos it has taken and worked so flawlessly for all these years.  This camera has paid for itself over and over in the amount of gas it has saved me.

[builtfordtough]

I'm running the Bushnell with Verizon.  I have 3 bars where the cameras sit.  Been up for 6 weeks with 2500 pictures and still have 100% battery life.  This was just a test to see how long the batteries will last.  My hunting grounds where I'll put them has 4 and even 5 bars. So super impressed with these

[jrebel]

I have a spypoint micro with the solar panel on top of it.  It has been up now for 1 year and the rechargeable battery is still 95-100%.  I personally wouldn't do it any other way based on batteries alone.  I did run the rechargeable battery down to 70% prior to learning how to use it.  If you have it send pics every time it takes one, it will kill the battery.  I have my pics sent twice a day now and the batteries are not effected.  After I made that change, the solar charger charged the battery back to 100% over the course of about a month.  I primarily use it for surveillance on the property....with the added benefit of seeing what walks by. 

[highcountry_hunter]

I have a spypoint micro with the solar panel on top of it.  It has been up now for 1 year and the rechargeable battery is still 95-100%.  I personally wouldn't do it any other way based on batteries alone.  I did run the rechargeable battery down to 70% prior to learning how to use it.  If you have it send pics every time it takes one, it will kill the battery.  I have my pics sent twice a day now and the batteries are not effected.  After I made that change, the solar charger charged the battery back to 100% over the course of about a month.  I primarily use it for surveillance on the property....with the added benefit of seeing what walks by.

Is everything pretty user friendly? Easy to find a solar panel that pairs up, easy to get it outfitted with your wireless provider and easy to program how often it takes and sends pictures?

[jrebel]

I have a spypoint micro with the solar panel on top of it.  It has been up now for 1 year and the rechargeable battery is still 95-100%.  I personally wouldn't do it any other way based on batteries alone.  I did run the rechargeable battery down to 70% prior to learning how to use it.  If you have it send pics every time it takes one, it will kill the battery.  I have my pics sent twice a day now and the batteries are not effected.  After I made that change, the solar charger charged the battery back to 100% over the course of about a month.  I primarily use it for surveillance on the property....with the added benefit of seeing what walks by.

Is everything pretty user friendly? Easy to find a solar panel that pairs up, easy to get it outfitted with your wireless provider and easy to program how often it takes and sends pictures?

The cam comes with the camera already attached as well as with the lithium ion battery.  It's literally a plug and play system.  I bought the bear box to protect it the best I can.  I also hung it 15 feet up in a tree to keep the bears off it.  It would suck to have bears eat your cell camera. 

You can set it up to take pics in 1, 2, 3 shot burst in different time intervals.  You can send after every picture...but if your in a target rich environment, the battery and solar panel cannot keep up.  You can have pics sent at different intervals as well.  I do twice a day and it keeps the battery fully charged. 

You can change the settings from your phone and request photos to be taken / sent at the communication time to confirm it is working for the times it is not getting a lot of pics. 

Overall.....I would rate it an 8/10. 

Cons being:
1.  Picture quality is not the greatest.  When you subscribe to the service you get X numbers of high quality pics on request.  I had 50 per year and it has been plenty.  If I get a big deer, elk, moose,   I just request a high def pic and I get it pretty quickly.  The average pics come in 10 mp which is sufficient but not great. 

2.  I have marginal cell service so I have had times when the camera has gone offline.  Only once in a year did I have to manually reset it. 

https://www.spypoint.com/en/products/solar-cellular-trail-camera/product-link-micro-s.html

You can find better deals.....140 ish dollars if I remember correctly. 

[Scruffy]

Are any of the cams out there passcode protected anymore?  I have a Moultrie that is about 15 yrs old and just started using about 3 yrs ago.  It is passcode protected.  The wife bought me some Cuddieback cams but they are not passcode protected.  I think it would cut down on the thieving of these if they needed a passcode to operate them. 

I just purchased some property and it had 5 cams that were supposed to be left.  All 5 cams are gone but they left the bear boxes that are only strapped to the trees.  Why would they not take those also???  I just bought 6 of the new Moultrie Micro cams with boxes and locking cables.  But nothing was mentioned about being passcode protected.  Since there is no cell service these are not cell cams. 

[Jingles]

Wishing you the best of luck at not getting them stolen even with lock boxes and cables, friend had his bolted to s tree and some lowlife cut the bolts with a saw , took camera and lock box. Have found only real deterent is to have them high enough a thief also needs a ladder of some kind to get to them.

[Cougartail]

How much does the cellular plans cost for spypoint?

[hunter399]

How much does the cellular plans cost for spypoint?

ALOT
For any brand if you want unlimited pics.

[carpsniperg2]

How much does the cellular plans cost for spypoint?

It's not bad at all, 15.00 unlimited month to month plan or 10.00 a month for a year plan.

[hunter399]

How much does the cellular plans cost for spypoint?

It's not bad at all, 15.00 unlimited month to month plan or 10.00 a month for a year plan.

120 for the year isn't too bad.
Last year I paid 160 to moultrie for 1 year unlimited pics.

[BeerBugler]

I’ve been running the Muddy (rebranded stealth cams) cell cams off of Camofire $79, I have 4 now. I have had NO issues at all, great cams, great battery life, you use the stealth cam command app that is very user friendly. I had to pull all of my cams for a firmware update but the update itself was very easy. I don’t think you can beat them for the price. I pay $10 a month for each camera, I believe there is a 600 picture limit under the $10 plan which can be a issue if you get a animal that hangs out for long periods of time. They take AA batteries, 8 I believe. Rule number one with cell cams is test them at home before you leave and test them after you set them up. Don’t walk away until you receive a picture on your phone from that camera.

[carpsniperg2]

How much does the cellular plans cost for spypoint?

It's not bad at all, 15.00 unlimited month to month plan or 10.00 a month for a year plan.

120 for the year isn't too bad.
Last year I paid 160 to moultrie for 1 year unlimited pics.

Yeah I look at it this way. How much gas am I going to burn switching out cards once a week? So 4 trips? Heck of a lot more then 10/15 a month. With todays gas prices even my close cams at the ranch would run 30/40 a month in fuel.

[NOCK NOCK]

I'm running the Bushnell with Verizon.  I have 3 bars where the cameras sit.  Been up for 6 weeks with 2500 pictures and still have 100% battery life.  This was just a test to see how long the batteries will last.  My hunting grounds where I'll put them has 4 and even 5 bars. So super impressed with these

Which Model?

[Skyvalhunter]

One thing you will find with bushnell models and their battery life indicator is it will go from 100% to 0% really fast so don't bank on it.

[actionshooter]

I have been thinking about a couple of these for security cameras at a cabin... We have verizon and get 1-2 bars of service, do you guys think that would be enough? When we were there last week you couldn't make a call, but a text would go through.

[grundy53]

I have been thinking about a couple of these for security cameras at a cabin... We have verizon and get 1-2 bars of service, do you guys think that would be enough? When we were there last week you couldn't make a call, but a text would go through.

Yeah, should be enough. The antennas on the cameras are stronger than the ones on cell phones.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[grundy53]

Here are some pics for example. I have stealth cams.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[grundy53]

.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[actionshooter]

I have been thinking about a couple of these for security cameras at a cabin... We have verizon and get 1-2 bars of service, do you guys think that would be enough? When we were there last week you couldn't make a call, but a text would go through.

Yeah, should be enough. The antennas on the cameras are stronger than the ones on cell phones.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

Thanks for the reply... Camofire has the Spypoint Micro cell/solar on sale right now for $129

[NOCK NOCK]

I'm running the Bushnell with Verizon.  I have 3 bars where the cameras sit.  Been up for 6 weeks with 2500 pictures and still have 100% battery life.  This was just a test to see how long the batteries will last.  My hunting grounds where I'll put them has 4 and even 5 bars. So super impressed with these

3 bars .... on your phone? 
What does the camera say for cell reception, great-or moderate?

I just tried to set up mine, in mountains my cell was receiving video notifications from our home security cameras and i could watch them. The camera had a yellow light which means moderate signal. Was not able to get them to link together and work.

[phildobaggins]

One thing you will find with bushnell models and their battery life indicator is it will go from 100% to 0% really fast so don't bank on it.

^^^ I've had that happen to me, too!

I'm loving my Tactacams. Turn the sensitivity down, have the pictures send twice a day. $5/month/cam for 500 pics. Batteries last a real long time, and I've been in areas where my cell phone says "No Service" but the cam will have one or two bars.... and it sends me pictures

[NOCK NOCK]

I'm running the Bushnell with Verizon.  I have 3 bars where the cameras sit.  Been up for 6 weeks with 2500 pictures and still have 100% battery life.  This was just a test to see how long the batteries will last.  My hunting grounds where I'll put them has 4 and even 5 bars. So super impressed with these

3 bars .... on your phone? 
What does the camera say for cell reception, great-or moderate?

I just tried to set up mine, in mountains my cell was receiving video notifications from our home security cameras and i could watch them. The camera had a yellow light which means moderate signal. Was not able to get them to link together and work.

Quote myself   lololol

Did not take pics when i set it up or during the entire week it was there, then..........When I went back to switch cam out to a regular one, it took 3 pics and sent them to me while i was there. WEIRD 

[pickardjw]

One thing you will find with bushnell models and their battery life indicator is it will go from 100% to 0% really fast so don't bank on it.

^^^ I've had that happen to me, too!

I'm loving my Tactacams. Turn the sensitivity down, have the pictures send twice a day. $5/month/cam for 500 pics. Batteries last a real long time, and I've been in areas where my cell phone says "No Service" but the cam will have one or two bars.... and it sends me pictures

Setting 2 of my 4 Tactacams this weekend. Got them on sale at Cabelas plus the ActiveJunky cash back, but plus tax and shipping I think they came out to about $100 each.

Wanted to set two last weekend but there was zero service in my new elk spots...I've been impressed with how easy they are to set up and I like the app. Pretty confident that they'll work great.