What is your favorite trail cam and why?

[S.T.Fanatic]

For whatever it's worth, collection of night and day captures from the same exact camera that showed the buck running up on the doe. Didn't try cherry picking them, instead picking across times of day and night with some captures a bit better quality than others. Will say this as an additional plus for the camera, does the best job of capturing sharp, crisp, clean and relatively loud audio of any camera I've had out to date.

IMO that camera is amazing. Again my newest camera is 5+ years old so it lacks newer technology.

 

[Peplin Creek]

For whatever it's worth, collection of night and day captures from the same exact camera that showed the buck running up on the doe. Didn't try cherry picking them, instead picking across times of day and night with some captures a bit better quality than others. Will say this as an additional plus for the camera, does the best job of capturing sharp, crisp, clean and relatively loud audio of any camera I've had out to date.

Excellent video out of that camera. How’s battery life when running video?

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Trapper - What model (s) of Covert are you using ?? Your pix are excellent.

 

[bigbendmarine]

Excellent video out of that camera. How’s battery life when running video?

Really good so far.

And lest I come across as too much of a Bushnell "fan boy", probably still have more Moultries running than anything, and as stated earlier my Brownings were favorites until at least two I owned developed the same sticky filter / pitch black night capture issue. Newer Moultries I have are the M-40I models. They've given me some great captures too and the images are definitely a step-up over older models. That said, there is a softness about the video that leaves me just a tad less impressed than the Bushnell by comparison and it seems targets are noticably darker at night if not immediately in front of the Moultrie cameras as well. Still, my take on almost all the brands is that they're really stepping up their game imaging wise as time goes by. Glad there's lots of competition out there driving the different companies not to get too complacent.

 

[Livesintrees]

My favorite are the reconnyx cams. I have been reading an incredible amount of great reviews about the exodus lift two cameras. I’m pretty sure I’m going to pick up a couple of those this year and give them a shot. Their customer service from what I read and policy about damage even if it’s stolen is unheard of in the industry. Also going to invest in to plot watcher pros this year to watch a couple of open hardwood ridges during November

 

[IkemanTx]

I almost picked up one of the bushnell aggressors a few weeks ago, but decided to stick with the Dark Ops for consistency’s sake. That way I was familiar with operation and features across my entire inventory. The aggressors tend to get great reviews as well.


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[H20fwler]

For me I don't have to have photography class pics, just clear enough I can get a good look at what's there day or night, reliable, not crazy expensive, simple to use, last 3-4 years or more and I'm happy. The Moultrie works for me, I don't save a lot of pics.

 

[Fall guy]

Reconyx has been best value all around with me. Super fast trigger speeds compared to current and past competitors although some are catching up now. Customer service is great. Exceptionally long life and Serviceability. Battery life when using lithium I run full year and more. Resale value unmatched. I have 14 I just sold 4 HC 600 @ 275.00 and 4 SC 950 @ 325.00 After 5 years of use. They sold with in 24 hrs after putting on Craigslist. So the true cost of cam for me was 55.00 - 65.00 per year. I am changing to some Micro fires and soon to be released Hyper fire 2 that is supposed to retail at 399.00 with 5 year warranty. And lets not forget these are made and serviced in USA. I have 2 older units 10 years old still work fine and if needed I can still get serviced.

Pic from 9 year old unit still in use



Pic from 5 year old unit

 

[Peplin Creek]

Yeah... I wish I had a fleet of reconyx cams... I don’t know a single person who has owned one and wasn’t happy with them.

 

[Plottin'booners]

Browning hands down. I run mostly strike force now. I have bought as many cams anyone in the last 12 years and since I started buying brownings about 4 or 5 years ago I have yet to have a single problem with anyone of them. I still buy a few bushels or moultries every now and then but none of them compare to the brownings for quality, battery, and longevity. When I look at my totes full of junk cams I would say wild game innovations is the worst followed by stealth cam second with cuddieback a close third. Maybe things change this year.......

 

[Huntingbuck101]

I've had cuddeback, Reconyx, Covert and browning and The new Stealthcam ds4k and just got 2 of the cuddelinks yesterday. I'd say they all have been pretty good in their own way. The Reconyx was pretty awesome RC60 HO if I rember right. It was huge and horribly expensive but didn't miss a thing. I didn't like having that much money hanging on a tree so I sold it years later and bought a Browning Dark Ops and it was everything the Reconyx was for less than 25% the cost and size. The Stealthcam DS4K will rune you! Not as good at sensing as my Black Ops but the picures are so good that everything else looks like garbage now! True 16mp non interpolated pics but don't buy one for the 4K video because at 15 frames per second it's useless but the next step down in quality is really good.

 

[indiana boy]

Highest end camera I have is the Exodus Lift II. I’ve been running them on video this summer and they are awesome. I am phasing our all my old cameras to Exodus Treks and occasionally splurge on a Lift II.

 

[bwoods11]

I have a mix of cams, but I prefer the Spypoint Solar. The pics during the day are great, night can be blurry, but I never need batteries. The range and speed of the trigger is great as well on Spypoint.

 

[mtholton]

+1 for Exodus Lift II, been flawless for me so far.

 

[jsasker007]

The best I've owned so far is reconyx. Lithium batteries last a very long time.

 

[yoderjac]

The first few cameras on my network are now over 10 years old. I've had a few refurbish a few because of worn connectors and scratched lexan, but that is about it. They are 10 year old technology, but you just can't beat the reliability and longevity. Because of the cost and complexity of managing your own network, these are not for most folks, but they have been the perfect fit for me.

My pines have grown up enough that I'm now in the process of putting up taller antenna masts. 10 years of 24/7/365 data is nothing to sneeze at for deer management purposes.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Peplin Creek]

The first few cameras on my network are now over 10 years old. I've had a few refurbish a few because of worn connectors and scratched lexan, but that is about it. They are 10 year old technology, but you just can't beat the reliability and longevity. Because of the cost and complexity of managing your own network, these are not for most folks, but they have been the perfect fit for me.

My pines have grown up enough that I'm now in the process of putting up taller antenna masts. 10 years of 24/7/365 data is nothing to sneeze at for deer management purposes.

Thanks,

Jack

For the price you pay for buckeyes.... they better last 10 years.

 

[Mortenson]

This thread just reminded me to order a couple new ones. Went with 2 more Browning Special Ops Advantage.

 

[yoderjac]

For the price you pay for buckeyes.... they better last 10 years.

You are absolutely right, and that was the analysis I did when I went that route. It is not just the cost of the cameras, but added cost of antennas and masts and such to build out the network. One of the big reasons I went that route was the time I was spending dealing with low end camera issues, collecting SD cards, and the large data gaps I had when cameras were down for one reason or another. The initial investment in money and time was high, but when I amortize the cost over the lifespan (especially if I count the time saved), they were a bargain for my application. I could never have collected the data set I have with the low end cams.

They are not a good fit for most simple scouting applications but I have not seen a better fit for mine. I can't believe BEC is still supporting them. I ended up buying a few used ones as backup. They are all still going strong, but they can't keep going indefinitely...can they?

Thanks,

Jack

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Highest end camera I have is the Exodus Lift II. I’ve been running them on video this summer and they are awesome. I am phasing our all my old cameras to Exodus Treks and occasionally splurge on a Lift II.

What have your Trek night pictures like? Mine are a complete joke.