Cell Cam learnings

[92xj]

For those that use cell cams...

As far as plans go, I see options of 250 pics, 500 pics, or unlimited. Does this mean the first 250/500 pictures the camera takes, it sends those 250/500 to the app for you to view and then all pictures after that, until the end of the month, are stored on the SD card.   Or do you get to pick somehow what 250/500 pictures are downloaded from the app each month?

 I plan to order two Tactacams and one will be used for wildlife viewing and the other for security type stuff.  I'm assuming I will have both cameras on the same plan but also thinking of two plans. I really hope the security cam isn't triggered much and not a lot of monthly pictures on it.  The other for animals will be taking lots of photos, so maybe unlimited on this one and the minimal on the security one.  Thoughts?

And what's average battery life?  I will run lithium batteries.  On normal cams, these will last me many months.  I am assuming the cell cams will go through batteries quickly, but are we talking like dead in a week or will they last a solid month or more? 

[Crunchy]

I run moultrie cams and with lithium get about 6 months of battery lift, but that depends on how good of a signal you get.  I opt for unlimited but mainly I get a discount because I run 10 cell cams so the first if maybe 14 bucks a month and the rest of $8.  Not sure if tacticam has the same type of deal.

[jrebel]

I have had one cell cam for the last 2.5 years.  It is a SPYPOINT with attached solar charger.  It is pretty awesome and I have never had to replace the battery.  I buy the unlimited plan.  And it cost me 120-130 bucks a year.  With that plan I get 50 HD photos a year….I can purchase more if I want.   My batter life depends on how often it send photos to my phone.  If I send photos twice a day, the batter will stay full charged.  If I send photos every two hours, it will drain the battery in about 2 months.   I’ve been very pleased with it.

[pickardjw]

I've had a few Tactacams out over the last two seasons. Running energizer lithiums, two in mule deer high country got hammered with activity and lasted 3-4 months. They died shortly after it got really cold up there.

One this year was set on July 4th and still has 90% battery. It hasn't taken near as many photos though.

I have the 500 photo plan and overage protection, which I believe is an extra $5 for 50 photos. But that only kicks in if you go over the monthly allotment.

Great cameras so far.

[bustedoldman]

I have had one cell cam for the last 2.5 years.  It is a SPYPOINT with attached solar charger.  It is pretty awesome and I have never had to replace the battery.  I buy the unlimited plan.  And it cost me 120-130 bucks a year.  With that plan I get 50 HD photos a year….I can purchase more if I want.   My batter life depends on how often it send photos to my phone.  If I send photos twice a day, the batter will stay full charged.  If I send photos every two hours, it will drain the battery in about 2 months.   I’ve been very pleased with it.

The solar doesnt keep it charged up, is it the built in solar charger? I run Spypoint as well, its the first year i've used them. I run a 12v with a solar charger on it....Seems to be working fine its been down to 40-50% but on a sunny day will recharge full, and if the 12v dies then it will run the Lit 10 battery until it dies. And i DL 6x a day.  Took awhile to work out the kinks and figure it out.

[jrebel]

I have had one cell cam for the last 2.5 years.  It is a SPYPOINT with attached solar charger.  It is pretty awesome and I have never had to replace the battery.  I buy the unlimited plan.  And it cost me 120-130 bucks a year.  With that plan I get 50 HD photos a year….I can purchase more if I want.   My batter life depends on how often it send photos to my phone.  If I send photos twice a day, the batter will stay full charged.  If I send photos every two hours, it will drain the battery in about 2 months.   I’ve been very pleased with it.

The solar doesnt keep it charged up, is it the built in solar charger? I run Spypoint as well, its the first year i've used them. I run a 12v with a solar charger on it....Seems to be working fine its been down to 40-50% but on a sunny day will recharge full, and if the 12v dies then it will run the Lit 10 battery until it dies. And i DL 6x a day.  Took awhile to work out the kinks and figure it out.

No, the built in solar charger will not keep up if you are sending pics more than 4 times per day.   I have it in a spot that gets lots of pictures.  It will keep up and charge if slowed down to 2-4 sends per day.  It is not a very big solar charger.   If I had a separate solar charger like I do on a feeder, it would definitely keep up.   I don’t knees pics more than a couple time a day so it has never been a problem. 

[Sir5Lboy]

For those that use cell cams...

As far as plans go, I see options of 250 pics, 500 pics, or unlimited. Does this mean the first 250/500 pictures the camera takes, it sends those 250/500 to the app for you to view and then all pictures after that, until the end of the month, are stored on the SD card.   Or do you get to pick somehow what 250/500 pictures are downloaded from the app each month?

 I plan to order two Tactacams and one will be used for wildlife viewing and the other for security type stuff.  I'm assuming I will have both cameras on the same plan but also thinking of two plans. I really hope the security cam isn't triggered much and not a lot of monthly pictures on it.  The other for animals will be taking lots of photos, so maybe unlimited on this one and the minimal on the security one.  Thoughts?

And what's average battery life?  I will run lithium batteries.  On normal cams, these will last me many months.  I am assuming the cell cams will go through batteries quickly, but are we talking like dead in a week or will they last a solid month or more?

I have two Tactacam cell cams and there’s many factors that go into longevity. One is the average temperature you’ll be using your camera in, 2 if you plan on using the instant mode that sends pictures as soon as they get taken or have them upload to your phone once a day and 3 if you plan on using regular batteries, lithium batteries, a small car battery which I’ve used before it works really well a solar panel that works OK and now I have a Milwaukee five amp battery that 18 V and I put in an in-line reducer down to 12 V and just bring up a Milwaukee battery every time I checked the cam. 


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[pickardjw]

Yeah, keeping the setting on a single daily transmission of photos definitely helps.

One nice thing is being able to adjust the camera settings from your phone. If it's getting blown up with pictures just adjust the delay settings from your couch. Same with trigger sensitivity. I had to go to 5 minute delay and the lowest trigger sensitivity on one of my mule deer cameras.

[92xj]

For those that use cell cams...

As far as plans go, I see options of 250 pics, 500 pics, or unlimited. Does this mean the first 250/500 pictures the camera takes, it sends those 250/500 to the app for you to view and then all pictures after that, until the end of the month, are stored on the SD card.   Or do you get to pick somehow what 250/500 pictures are downloaded from the app each month?

 I plan to order two Tactacams and one will be used for wildlife viewing and the other for security type stuff.  I'm assuming I will have both cameras on the same plan but also thinking of two plans. I really hope the security cam isn't triggered much and not a lot of monthly pictures on it.  The other for animals will be taking lots of photos, so maybe unlimited on this one and the minimal on the security one.  Thoughts?

And what's average battery life?  I will run lithium batteries.  On normal cams, these will last me many months.  I am assuming the cell cams will go through batteries quickly, but are we talking like dead in a week or will they last a solid month or more?

I have two Tactacam cell cams and there’s many factors that go into longevity. One is the average temperature you’ll be using your camera in, 2 if you plan on using the instant mode that sends pictures as soon as they get taken or have them upload to your phone once a day and 3 if you plan on using regular batteries, lithium batteries, a small car battery which I’ve used before it works really well a solar panel that works OK and now I have a Milwaukee five amp battery that 18 V and I put in an in-line reducer down to 12 V and just bring up a Milwaukee battery every time I checked the cam. 


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This will be in the NE, so it will get cold.  I plan to use lithium batteries.  I'm hoping for at least a 2 month life span.  I do not need instant photos and honestly didn't even know there were options on receiving photos.  Thinking about it now, I would imagine I would be fine with once a day sending of photos.

[Sir5Lboy]

For those that use cell cams...

As far as plans go, I see options of 250 pics, 500 pics, or unlimited. Does this mean the first 250/500 pictures the camera takes, it sends those 250/500 to the app for you to view and then all pictures after that, until the end of the month, are stored on the SD card.   Or do you get to pick somehow what 250/500 pictures are downloaded from the app each month?

 I plan to order two Tactacams and one will be used for wildlife viewing and the other for security type stuff.  I'm assuming I will have both cameras on the same plan but also thinking of two plans. I really hope the security cam isn't triggered much and not a lot of monthly pictures on it.  The other for animals will be taking lots of photos, so maybe unlimited on this one and the minimal on the security one.  Thoughts?

And what's average battery life?  I will run lithium batteries.  On normal cams, these will last me many months.  I am assuming the cell cams will go through batteries quickly, but are we talking like dead in a week or will they last a solid month or more?

I have two Tactacam cell cams and there’s many factors that go into longevity. One is the average temperature you’ll be using your camera in, 2 if you plan on using the instant mode that sends pictures as soon as they get taken or have them upload to your phone once a day and 3 if you plan on using regular batteries, lithium batteries, a small car battery which I’ve used before it works really well a solar panel that works OK and now I have a Milwaukee five amp battery that 18 V and I put in an in-line reducer down to 12 V and just bring up a Milwaukee battery every time I checked the cam. 


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This will be in the NE, so it will get cold.  I plan to use lithium batteries.  I'm hoping for at least a 2 month life span.  I do not need instant photos and honestly didn't even know there were options on receiving photos.  Thinking about it now, I would imagine I would be fine with once a day sending of photos.

You can set it to transmit every 12/24 hours and frequency of snapped pics/sensitivity. I’ve tried spypoint cams and prefer the user ability with Tactacam. I have the Pro now too and like the pro over the XB. Plus you get an option to either use Verizon or att what ever gets the best reception.


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[92xj]

Do the cameras themselves tell you the "number of bars"?

I have a Verizon phone, but no device on ATT.  I get decent service with my phone, but not sure how good at the exact location I plan to hang the cameras.
When I set the cameras, turn on and put in the SIM card for each carrier, will I be able to see which has the better service?  Or just pick one and let it run for a month, then switch out SIM card to the other carrier and let it run for a month and then decide after that?

[Sir5Lboy]

Do the cameras themselves tell you the "number of bars"?

I have a Verizon phone, but no device on ATT.  I get decent service with my phone, but not sure how good at the exact location I plan to hang the cameras.
When I set the cameras, turn on and put in the SIM card for each carrier, will I be able to see which has the better service?  Or just pick one and let it run for a month, then switch out SIM card to the other carrier and let it run for a month and then decide after that?

Yes once the SIM card is installed you can choose which one has the best service with the bars on the camera. I recommend the pro because it only uses one SIM card and you can choose through the app or camera setting l. Very nice


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[Sir5Lboy]

Do the cameras themselves tell you the "number of bars"?

I have a Verizon phone, but no device on ATT.  I get decent service with my phone, but not sure how good at the exact location I plan to hang the cameras.
When I set the cameras, turn on and put in the SIM card for each carrier, will I be able to see which has the better service?  Or just pick one and let it run for a month, then switch out SIM card to the other carrier and let it run for a month and then decide after that?

Also, IMO I would splurge on the Pro. Reasons being you get way better options for $40 more dollars. You get a screen, only one SIM card with both carriers included, better app control and easier set up. Also better pictures and 3x battery life. I have both and prefer the pro and not just because it says “pro”. Very useful options and easier to set up. Also, Tactacam recommends a U3 rated 32gb SD card. Make sure you get that specified card. It needs to be able to write and download to send through the carriers network. A slow card doesn’t work well with cell cams of that makes sense. I have used a micro SD card with the mini SD card option and it works great too. Just made sure it was U3 rated.


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[Sir5Lboy]

Do the cameras themselves tell you the "number of bars"?

I have a Verizon phone, but no device on ATT.  I get decent service with my phone, but not sure how good at the exact location I plan to hang the cameras.
When I set the cameras, turn on and put in the SIM card for each carrier, will I be able to see which has the better service?  Or just pick one and let it run for a month, then switch out SIM card to the other carrier and let it run for a month and then decide after that?

Also, IMO I would splurge on the Pro. Reasons being you get way better options for $40 more dollars. You get a screen, only one SIM card with both carriers included, better app control and easier set up. Also better pictures and 3x battery life. I have both and prefer the pro and not just because it says “pro”. Very useful options and easier to set up. Also, Tactacam recommends a U3 rated 32gb SD card. Make sure you get that specified card. It needs to be able to write and download to send through the carriers network. A slow card doesn’t work well with cell cams of that makes sense. I have used a micro SD card with the mini SD card option and it works great too. Just made sure it was U3 rated.


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Tactacam makes there own card and one of my cams utilizes this one in the pic below. Note the rating and you can find your own SD card instead of buying the Tactacam version. But they are only $20 and you know it works.


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[92xj]

Thanks everyone.

Sir5Lboy, this is what I ordered...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7SMC3K5?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X7G85JC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

They should be here Saturday and I hope to get them in the woods on Sunday.

[Sir5Lboy]

Thanks everyone.

Sir5Lboy, this is what I ordered...
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B7SMC3K5?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09X7G85JC?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

They should be here Saturday and I hope to get them in the woods on Sunday.

You will be hooked up like a tow truck, buddy. Enjoy!!!


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[pickardjw]

One way to check out which carrier has the best service in your area is the FCC cell coverage map. So far, it's been very accurate for me.

For Verizon LTE Voice, I'm getting 1 bar of service on the camera but it's still transmitting. Verizon LTE Data should have even better connection. May be similar with AT&T.

https://www.fcc.gov/BroadbandData/MobileMaps/mobile-map