Trail camera suggestions

[golfer]

Looking to buy a few trail cameras, what are everyones thoughts good or bad on certain brand/models? What do you all suggest? No need to have the cellular capability.

 

[kenton]

Let's talk trail/game cameras

This last elk season I found an area in the backcounry that is highly concentrated with bulls, I wasn't able to connect with one but I had eyes on three wall hangers and found myself standing in a bull group "den" of sorts that looks to have been used for years. With that said, I live across...

www.hunttalk.com

 

[BoomerUSAF]

I've had both Moultrie and Cuddebacks. I prefer the latter.
Moultrie:

Cuddeback:

Pic quality is even but dealing with them and battery life goes to cuddeback

 

[belshawelk]

Bushnell trophy HD. I have 6 of them. Each take several hundred pics a year. One of them with get Moo cows and horses watering takes about 2500 a year. I use Lithium batteries. Thye last two years plus in each camera. That includes freezing in winter and heat in summer

 

[Buck Fudder]

@drahthaar has gotten me hooked on the Brownings. I've been swapping mine over to them the last couple of years and have been very happy. Image quality isn't exceptionally better, but the sensor response time and range is fantastic. I also really like the bracket system for mounting them up high.

All my stuff is video, so I don't have a great way to share it here.

 

[Wildabeast]

I’ve got 2 SpyPoint’s (1 cellular, 1 not, both solar) but am not super happy. I’ve gotten some amazing pics on them, but generally have to scroll through lots of pics of just scenery to find the ones that actually have animals. In other words, both take pictures when nothing is there. Lots of them. I’ve tried fiddling with the sensitivity without much luck. In addition, I think they miss stuff as well. I walked 20 ft in front on one a couple of weekends ago out shed hunting, and it never took a pic of me. They also have issues with the wrong dates being embedded on the pictures. They system date is correct, but for some reason the date it puts on the pics are often “reset” to some old date weeks or months prior to the current date. So I would not recommend SpyPoint.

 

[gussyfarm]

I like Browning and stealth cams, battery life and picture quality are good.

 

[gussyfarm]

 

[Buck Fudder]

Here's a couple videos off the same Browning last summer. What really impresses me about the wolf video is how early it starts recording. At that distance and speed, my stealthcams would have just started recording as the wolf leaves frame.

 

[Kaitum]

Here's a couple videos off the same Browning last summer. What really impresses me about the wolf video is how early it starts recording. At that distance and speed, my stealthcams would have just started recording as the wolf leaves frame.

The video quality is really good on those compared to the Stealth Cams I use.

 

[RUT JUNKEY]

I think Ive tried them all.... I like the Browning and the Moultrie the best ( I do have 3 Cuddebacks, and they are good too) I currently have 9 out = 5 Browning and 4 Moultries. I really think that they are all making great cams right now. I even have a few Wildgame that are super small and take great pics.

 

[Mosquito]

I think there all hit or miss. I also depends on where you put them . In highly used public land in ohio im a firm believer in Walmart tascos 28.00 and wildgame terra . Buy no means am i saying they are better than anything mentioned above . I just think when you factor in the cost , theft and the rate that they all break its better. I still get fighting mad when one if my 30.00 dollar cameras disappear but its way better than the 200.00 ones. pictures are good to ok . I however am not trying to publish in hunting magazines i just want to know whats in the area

 

[Jjw4413]

I have owned several brand cameras over the years. Some have been destroyed by elk and bears so I lean towards the less expensive ones and invest in a metal storage/security container.

 

[Dunning Kruger]

Ive done side by side comparisons with bushnell, browning, stealthcam and spypoints, various models, and the bushnells beat out all the others no question. All of those cameras routinely miss animals that walk right in front of them that the bushnells pick up. Thats the most important thing to me is that when an animal goes by the camera, the camera actually takes a picture. If it wont do that much reliably then what the hell is it good for?

 

[NV_ARCH3R]

Bought a couple CamPark T45 last year, only had em out a short time for elk but was impressed with the photos and videos they took. surprisingly good for minimal costs. only drawback I see so far the mini SD card can be difficult to insert and remove especially in the field. Almost need a pair of tweezers.

 

[Mrc]

I’ve got reconyx. I know expensive but the first two I bought are probably 8 years old and stay out year round.I’ve got six others that are probably at least five years old and they stay out all year also. I’ve probably sent cameras back to reconyx six times and were all repaired for free except one they charged $35. I believe they have taken over 500,000 pictures.

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Another vote for reconyx. Up until a few weeks ago, I’ve only run my cams in photo mode. I had been using two reconyx, one browning, and one cheap campark from Amazon. The reconyx blows the others out of the water for photo quality. I was disappointed with the browning photos. I have the dark ops hd pro x. Maybe other models take better pics.
I’ve had a stealthcam ds4kmax out there for a month or so in photo + video mode. Pictures are so-so since they are just screen shots from the video. Haven’t tested it in photo only mode, but I’m guessing it would do better in that mode. I had a stealthcam back in 2008ish and it took great photos...better than my current browning or campark. The new stealthcam takes good video.
I currently have the browning in video mode but haven’t gotten to look at any videos from it yet.
Bottom line, if cost isn’t a concern, I’d go with reconyx. If cost is a concern or if you’re putting it somewhere where theft may be an issue, I’d probably check out stealthcam. Camofire has stealthcam most Tuesdays.

 

[Mrc]

Does anyone leave their cameras out all year and how many years can you get out of them?

 

[VikingsGuy]

Several of you mention the Brownings. Which models are you referring to? On amazon there are a variety of models running from $80-$200.

 

[kenton]

Several of you mention the Brownings. Which models are you referring to? On amazon there are a variety of models running from $80-$200.

They seem to change their models every year so I can't say for sure. They are all good but I would recommend the ones that take 8 batteries. The ones that only take 6 are a step down, still good though.