Thoughts on new cameras

[Telemark]

The reason is that you need to change batteries so the camera can't be sealed. Any moisture that gets in through the battery compartment vaporizes when the sun heats up the camera and it then condenses when it cools down at night. Without coated electronics, eventually you get corrosion

I put silica gel packets in mine. Seems to help.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

My Exodus takes terrible night pics. The camera I have is the Trek which is there low end model.

 

[mtholton]

I have a couple of Exodus Lift 2 and a Trek. Been happy with all three of them. Never had an issue like I do with my other cameras (Moultrie, Cuddy etc). Been very impressed with ease of use, pic quality and reliability. Will be buying the cellular version once available.

 

[john volkman]

I dipped my toe in the water on the Cuddelink system and bought only 2. I'm glad I only bought 2. I hate to say it, but I've never spent so much time screwing with deer cameras and being frustrated. I just bought one of the SpyLinks, We shall see. I've had 2 Reconyx for at least 5 years, but they are expensive. Best overall value and ease of use, battery life and reliability, I would have to say my Moultries. If I was going to buy a plain trail camera that's what I would buy today.

let me know what is frustrating you. once these are set up there shouldn't be anything that makes it difficult to pull your pictures. feel free to PM or post what your issues were, id like to get them working for you.

 

[bwoods11]

Il like Spypoint and Bushnell. Spypoint takes great day pics, but not as good during the night. The Spypoint Solar is great for farms that are a long ways away, not need to change batteries.

 

[Nova]

I have switched most of mine to Bushnell, but I still have some Moultries left. As they die I will replace with more Bushnell essentials.

 

[yoderjac]

I think Jack brings up a good point - a good camera for you may not be a good camera for me. I have had a couple Reconyx - and while they took good pictures - I can afford $15,000 in game cameras - and the reconyx - in my opinion, are not twice as good as a lot of other cameras out there.

In my experience - a higher number of $150 cameras is going to show me a lot more information than a fewer number of higher priced cameras. And I am not one of these that believes you have to stay out of the hunting area or you run off all your deer - I live on my land and am out on it everyday. I have walked through a food plot coon hunting at three in the morning and the biggest buck in the woods is in there fifteen minutes later. We have duck hunted in the morning shooting three boxes of shells and pull camera cards and find out the biggest buck in the woods was feeding in a food plot 400 yards away in broad daylight while we were banging away. So, I dont need a camera that lasts for a year without changing batteries or every camera to be a cell cam. As far as inventorying my deer - we have killed one buck in the past ten years we did not have on camera - so I dont feel like I am missing many pictures.

So, for me - it is about an affordable camera, that I can buy in quantity - without breaking the bank. And they need to have good longevity and decent quality, decent flash range, and a reasonable trigger speed. A lot of the $120-$175 cameras do pretty well all of that - and it comes down to how long the camera lasts before it breaks down.

For me - the various $150 Brownings have been the best. I have some going on five yrs old. I run about thirty cameras and have never had a Browning quit on me that wasnt flooded. Yet a buddy of mine asked me for a camera recommendation and he bought two brownings - which worked fine the first year - but he claimed neither worked the second season. I try a few new cameras every year - just for the heck of it - and have not found another model that works as well - for me - as the Brownings - yet. I have not found another in that price range that is as reliable.

But - maybe you dont need or want 30 cameras. Maybe you want year long battery life. Maybe you want everything delivered to your phone or computer. There are lots of things that may make a camera good for you but not for me.

Exactly. If I was using cameras just to see what was on my land, and I had plenty of time to fool around with them, I'd probably go the low end route too. If you are not trying to extract data for QDM or a research project, there are a lot less demands on the camera. Who cares if it misses triggers or doesn't last long? They are fun to play with. If a camera misses a picture of a deer, another camera will probably get it, and if no camera get it, you won't know it and won't miss it. If you see the deer during the season you didn't expect it is a nice surprise.

In addition to needing data fidelity, my biggest issue was time. I was running a lot of inexpensive cameras and when I wasn't sending them back under warranty, I was checking SD cards, changing batteries, and diagnosing issues. When I switched over it was both a big initial investment in time and money both buying the expensive cameras and then setting them up. RF at 900 MHz is not for the faint of heart. However, my only recurring cost now is the SLA batteries they run on. With a good balance between the solar panel and programming, a $20 battery will last me about 2 years on average and some go 3 years. The biggest return after I got it all setup is time. No more checking SD cards and any maintenance is infrequent. Occasionally, a bird craps on a solar panel or a battery drops below the 80% point and I change it, but these kinds of things don't happen often.

Data just keeps pouring in. I have most of the process automated. The only time consuming part is identifying the animals in each picture. I typically do this once a month or so and it takes me an hour or two.

While the high end works for me, it may not be a good fit for others. Just like food plots and other habitat projects, it all depends on your goals and application. Folks can talk about the pros and cons of the cameras they use, but no one can tell you what will work best for you.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[yoderjac]

I put silica gel packets in mine. Seems to help.

I do that too. It is better than no using them, but doesn't solve the problem. Every little bit helps.

 

[Jordan Selsor]

I am not sure if you are serious? If so, have you been using them already? How have they worked? I had a Wildgame Innovation camera out, it took decent day time pictures, night pictures sucked, but it was loud, and spooked deer. In fact it spooked the biggest deer I had coming to my land ever away, it had 2 pictures of the deer on it, one looking directly at the camera, and one with him running away a few seconds later. Never to have him on a picture ever again. He was a regular the entire month prior to putting out that camera. So just because its cheap, and gives decent pictures, doesnt mean it is a decent game camera. I know use it as a gate camera, set out in plane site, so people see it. It does work, but it does 2 things, it is cheap so if someone wants to steal it, I am not out much, and it lets people know, I have cameras on my property.

Sorry for delay. Yes, serious. The above model performs just as well as my browing dark ops. Good battery life. Descent night time pics. Dont spoke deer any more than any other IR cam in my experience. Happy with them for the price.
I had a wildgame as well that was a real turd.

 

[buckdeer1]

Exodus has been telling me for 6 months they have a upgrade for the night pic problem but haven't seen it yet

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Exodus has been telling me for 6 months they have a upgrade for the night pic problem but haven't seen it yet

I'd like to know about this asap. The night pics on the Trek are a joke.