$70.00 cam
- Thread starter buckdeer1
- Start date
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
Let our Gardepro soak on a turnip/rye plot for a week. Checked pics now and I'm impressed enough that I'm buying more. Better than I expected, both day and night pics. Thanks for this thread. Also discovered in the pics 1 of the bucks we were hoping has survived so far, has.
SWIFFY
5 year old buck +
Lets see some samples Mort!
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
Most of these clips are from two generations ago (A3) of the Gardepro linked above. One is 4 generations old and has no sound. I have been running these cameras for 2-3 seasons at least. Of the 4 more recent cameras, one has a pretty shoddy microphone.
I run Cuddebacks mostly but these are put on high traffic areas that are right on trails. I love getting the videos to see some of the interactions you miss from photos.
I run Cuddebacks mostly but these are put on high traffic areas that are right on trails. I love getting the videos to see some of the interactions you miss from photos.
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
Yeah, the buck grunts and other vocalizations are always fun. Even if it is a doe group keeping their eye on a bobcat and blowing the entire time.
The camera is only about 5 feet off the ground, but the creek embankment is about 10-12 foot drop. That is a pretty good estimate on your part.
All of these cameras are about 5-7 feet off the ground. If you put them at eye level they definitely can pick up on them and it makes the bucks nervous. I had several videos of where I put them at waist height with bucks looking at the cameras for the first time and turning around and walking away. I don't think it has happened since I started setting them higher.
Brian662
5 year old buck +
Are you using a swivel headed camera mount to place them higher and angle them downward?
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
Yes. These are the best ones that I have found to work. They were originally marketed as Ozonics holders. I think other ones can't get quite as tight and will eventually be knocked out of alignment by a squirrel or racoon.
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
The latest models of these cameras have an even higher resolution. I am not sure if that means they are any better, though. I bought one and am currently trying it out now. On the older cameras, I was getting about a month on rayovac high energy batteries in the highest quality setting using 20 second videos (350-500 videos or so) in the winter.
I just remembered a quirk with these cameras. It apparently uses more energy for the nighttime videos. When batteries get low, it will shorten the length of nighttime videos but not daytime videos. If the batteries get near dead, the nighttime videos may only be a second or two long. For what it's worth, I think they do just fine and don't chew through batteries too badly.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
I have returned 4 cell cams to trailcampro. In all cases I was unhappy enough with the particular model that I wanted credit towards something else (which they were happy to offer) AND in all cases if they followed the actual terms of their warranty strictly they wouldn’t have owed me a thing. The experience was painless each time. If they are ever remotely competitive with price, they’ll get my money.
I saw the positive reviews for the garde cams but kind of wrote them off because they also gave positive reviews for cams that have been absolute garbage for us (browning defender ridgeline), they look like some Amazon cheapies that were also lousy, and the trigger speed is quite poor. You guys might have swayed me to try a couple in locations where trigger speed is less important though.
I saw the positive reviews for the garde cams but kind of wrote them off because they also gave positive reviews for cams that have been absolute garbage for us (browning defender ridgeline), they look like some Amazon cheapies that were also lousy, and the trigger speed is quite poor. You guys might have swayed me to try a couple in locations where trigger speed is less important though.
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Brian662
5 year old buck +
What instances would trigger speed be less important? On food plots maybe? Over a scrape where the deer likely spends a few seconds (at a minimum)?
Most of the videos provided here were on trails and they seemed to catch a good amount of the action. I think I'm going to try a few and bury them in the woods for the winter in sanctuary areas just to see what I'm missing after the season is over. Most of my stand locations nowadays have cellular cams by them, but it wouldn't be bad to add some of these for video purposes as well, I guess.
Most of the videos provided here were on trails and they seemed to catch a good amount of the action. I think I'm going to try a few and bury them in the woods for the winter in sanctuary areas just to see what I'm missing after the season is over. Most of my stand locations nowadays have cellular cams by them, but it wouldn't be bad to add some of these for video purposes as well, I guess.
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
Last week my kid put his Christmas gift (a Gardepro A3) set to video on a year long scrape. He pulled the card after a week and we were pleased with the results and the action. Bucks hitting the scrape like crazy in mid Feb. It took very decent videos, but most of them were daylight, making us question whether it was working correctly in dark. He did a little research and decided to buy an E5 on Amazon when he saw a quick price drop from 89 to 53.
Brian662
5 year old buck +
So the research told him it wasn't taking night videos? Or am I reading between the lines?
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
No, he just was reading some conversations where people said the E5 might be a slightly better camera than the A3. Wanted to try it out. We have 5 of the A3 now and I'm very happy with it for being a $60 cam. We'll have to investigate the night video issue further before. Don't know enough yet. Maybe nothing came thru in the dark in only a week's time?
Brian662
5 year old buck +
Hoytvectrix
5 year old buck +
That is weird about the lack of night time activity. If nothing else, next time you go out there to change out the card or the batteries you could just put a sweatshirt over the sensors and try to manually trigger the camera. There's also a test function that you could try by just pulling the card at night by triggering a video and or running the test function.
