If $300 is low end I have no clue what you would call my budget range!
Good trail camera?
- Thread starter Powder
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If $300 is low end I have no clue what you would call my budget range!
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I have no idea what your budget range is. Low end in that they are built in Chinese factories with very poor quality control and no stress testing aimed at the US market. They have a very unpredictable life-span and camera failures are common. The electronics are not coated and water vapor entering the cameras condenses can corrodes things quickly. Warranty returns are common and warranties are typically short.
Most of what I've seen $300 and under fits this description pretty well. I'm contrasting this with Reconyx and BuckeyeCam at the high end of the market. The high end of the market has a much higher up front cost but when you amortize the cost over the life of the camera (provided you don't have a theft/vandal issue) they end up costing less in the long run.
So cost really depends on your application. For most folks just using cameras for hunting to see what is out there, the low end cams are fine. You can get cams for less than $100 on sale that will tell you that. You can think of them as disposable and junk them when they fail. It doesn't matter if you miss triggers or if they are consistent or if you have mess with them or send them back under warranty. At $300 you'll probably get some of the best picture quality, at least daytime but you still have the reliability/lifespan issues. Again, for someone using them for hunting, they can be great and fun.
Folks using cameras to collect trending data for QDM decision making or those using cameras for research projects where the data is important, the high end reliable cameras are a better fit. Nothing like spending a year setting up a research project only to have the data biased because some cameras got false triggers and others failed to trigger when game was present and others just died. The whole project is lost.
I have a significant chunk of change in my camera network, but all 11 cameras have been running 24/7/365 for many years without a camera failure. My only failures are related to wildlife chewing through things, batteries eventually wearing out, vegetation growing and covering solar panels, and such. Once since I've owned these cameras, I rotated them back into the factory for checking and maintenance. Most only needed some warn out connectors and lexan lenses replaced. None had any issues with electronics, camera, or radios.
That doesn't mean that high end cameras are a fit for you. But cost is relative to how they are used. I started with $300 Chinese cameras and they actually cost me much more in time and replacement cost over the few years I used them than my annualized cost of the high end cameras.
Thanks,
Jack
