advice on buying a trail cam

[westsidebuckslayer]

I am looking to buy a trail cam would be my first one just woundering if mabe you guys can help me out and tell me witch one are good and bad not a big budget eather around $150 probley thank you

[Titan-1]

I like the Moultrie cam's my self. They are inexpensive so if it gets stolen it's a tad less painfull and they work just fine. Slow on the trigger speed but if you position them right you will be fine. good luck.

[Jellymon]

I think the mid level bushnell cam is the best for the price. I think around 150?. Mine had very fast trigger speed and a long range. Took great pics too....till a bear ate it. I know you said 150 but the new little bushnell cam at 199 works awesome! The trigger speed is faster than my cuddeback and it has every feature you would want. Video, 3 shot burst, Infrared, and it fits into your pocket. The batteries have lasted longer than one month with cheap batteries too. I think bushnells cameras are overlooked for how good they are! If my cuddeback ever gets eaten(stolen) Im going to get the bushnell.

[bonkellekter]

$100

One of the most important things that a camera needs to make it worth a $#!% is decent battery life. Moultrie D-40, Bushnell trail sentry and wildview game cams have terrible battery life especially in cold weather (2 days to 2 weeks average depending on temp) but an external 12v battery can be used to help them perform better.

$150

My Moultrie M-40 has a reported 150 day battery life - I have not had my M-40 out for and longer than 12 days and it still was reading 99% battery life. In march I will be putting this camera out with an external 12v until it dies.

$200

My next camera (when I can afford it) will be the Bushnell trophy cam - with a full set of AAA batteries it has a reported battery life of 12 months and it is half the size as my other cameras.

There are many other cameras out there but these are the only ones that I have experience with - hope this helps

[Shawn Ryan]

Westsidebuckslayer,

I had the same question a short while ago.  After hours of internet research I decided on the Bushnell Trophy Cam.  Amazon had the model with the view screen for less than $200--only $10 more than the text screen.  (I got mine on Ebay.  Hope I'm not sorry about that later.)  I don't have any experience with the camera, but that is were I ended up.  Its size, battery life, view screen, range, and how those features met my needs were my deciding factors.  If you get one, read the manual.  All of the bad reviews I read appeared to have been avoidable by following the instructions.  This review and the Chasing Game website were really helpful:  http://www.chasingame.com/index.php?id=85.

Good luck with your decision; hope your dollars are well spent.

Shawn

[buckmaster_wa]

I just bought the two pack of the wildview 2.0s. They take really good pictures but the battery life is terrible. I believe the two pack was in the bargain cave at Cabelas for $129.

[DOsborn]

My wife bought me a bushnell trophy cam at bi mart before X mas for $169. Its been in the woods ever since on the same set of batterys, last week was still 50%. Take good pictures, easy to use, and alot of features for the money. I added a bear safe box to help keep it safe. great camera.

[Skyvalhunter]

Just remember with the Bushnell Trophy it only has a 2 gig card size and if its out in a busy area for a while it will fill the card up. The Moultrie I40 has a great battery life and can take a 4gb card. Ryan has a decent breakdown but there are so many other trail cams out there.

[bonkellekter]

Just remember with the Bushnell Trophy it only has a 2 gig card size and if its out in a busy area for a while it will fill the card up. The Moultrie I40 has a great battery life and can take a 4gb card. Ryan has a decent breakdown but there are so many other trail cams out there.

The new trophy cam for 2010 will take up to 16 GB card. That is the one I am saving my money for.

[markts]

Not sure where the test results on the Moultrie D-40 came from but I love mine and the battries last over a month with hundreds of pics taken.(we didnt get very cold here while mine were out) Mark

[addicted]

i looked and looked for quite some time. didnt want to spend more than 150. wanted descent pictures. SD slot. ended up ordering the moultrie D40. after seeing itget descent reviews through hundreds of writeups and still cost less than 100$ it became the one for me. it is still in the mail. takes a little longer to get things from the states sent over here.  i'll do a write up when i get it.

[bonkellekter]

Not sure where the test results on the Moultrie D-40 came from but I love mine and the battries last over a month with hundreds of pics taken.(we didnt get very cold here while mine were out) Mark

These are my personal test results from NE WA. in Nov/Dec. It was very cold (down to 7 deg a couple days). The Cold weather hammers the batteries. These cameras were also set on the 3-shot mode and overnight I was getting anywhere from 150-350 pictures. So lots of activity, mostly all flash pics and cold weather so It was really the extreme test for battery life. My moultrie M-40 test was in Montana for 12 days and it got down to Zero a couple days and I don't think it ever made it out of the teens but I had very little activity on this setup and when I removed the camera it read 99% battery life.

[Skyvalhunter]

The I-40 works great for me as far as winter use and long battery life. I also leave mine out up to 5 months over the summer with no battery life problem. I have a few Stealths with external batteries that have treated me well also. I am just figuring out the external battery for home brews but the clarity can't be beat.

[Snowman]

I bought the the Busnell Trail Sentry for $100.00 and like it. Other than the fact of the only pics I got so far, are barn cats!   

[bonkellekter]

The I-40 works great for me as far as winter use and long battery life. I also leave mine out up to 5 months over the summer with no battery life problem. I have a few Stealths with external batteries that have treated me well also. I am just figuring out the external battery for home brews but the clarity can't be beat.

So far I really like my M-40 (the only diff. from theI-40 is the M-40 is Flash rather than IR). I know that eventually I will build a homebrew

[Skyvalhunter]

I have found out that the flash makes the bears(and people) more intrested in the cam. Lost a couple to bears so now its security boxes for me.

[bonkellekter]

I have found out that the flash makes the bears(and people) more intrested in the cam. Lost a couple to bears so now its security boxes for me.

I have yet to have trouble with bears or people but I am sure my day is coming. At least for bears - I am pretty selective on where I put my cameras. It is really too bad that we have to worry about theives. there are alot of areas that I would like to put cameras but I'm not willing to loose them to some *censored*. If I loose one to a bear than that is acceptable to me (atleast until it happens ).

[bowhunterforever]

Moultrie D40,Decent pics,Decent battery life and you could proabably get 2 for around $150 2 is better the one right

[Skyvalhunter]

The new trophy cam for 2010 will take up to 16 GB card. That is the one I am saving my money for.
[/quote]

The Bushnell Trophy won't be out until March.

[bonkellekter]

The new trophy cam for 2010 will take up to 16 GB card. That is the one I am saving my money for.

The Bushnell Trophy won't be out until March.
[/quote]

Really - Not till March? I'm not sure if I can wait another 2 weeks or so for them to hit the shelves 

[bigcountry]

Has anyone found that cameras with a flash vs IR disturb the animals and alter their pattern at all?  Seems to me that a flash going off would make the deer and elk very spooky..?   this is a great topic as I am deciding which camera to buy right now.

[Bob33]

The 2009 Bushnell Trophy Cam is great. The new 2010 model holds a larger SD card, but are you sure that you need it?

[bonkellekter]

The 2009 Bushnell Trophy Cam is great. The new 2010 model holds a larger SD card, but are you sure that you need it?

Most of the time it is probably not necessary but I do have an area where I would like to leave a cam for 6+ months and I may not be in the area to check it. So if the batteries hold up that long I just may need the extra memory. In the past I have gotten anywhere from 60 to 400 pics per day in this area.

[grundy53]

is there a big difference in the quality of photos from IR as opposed too regular flash? is it worth the extra money?

[markts]

I have hundreds of photos of critters and the flash doesnt spook them in the least. I like my flash pics better than IR because they are in color. :twocents:Mark

[grundy53]

thanks mark