well my cuddyback camera craped out again.makes #5 allthou cabelas will give me a new oneat no cost it a pain exchanging it every 5 or 6 months .....so who do you think makes the most durable camera?

I've owned cheap ones that I bought years ago and they still work but you have to get the film developed and it eats batteries, but it works.

I know of others personally that have bought the latest and best and they didn't make it past one season.

I believe what some others have said, and that is you just take your chances and hope you get a good one, and it's more of a crap shoot.

We have used the mid-priced Moutlrie cameras for years and never had a problem with them. I just bought two more for this year. Battery life is good with the IR and they take nice pictures. For the price you can't beat them.

same here, did have to send an I40 back for LED display a couple of times though

The saying is true, spend more and get more. IMO if you want a reliable camera, there really are only two options. One is (my favorite) the buckeye, and the other is the Reconyx. All the others are hit and miss, but I have never had a moultrie go more than 2 years, most barley made the first year.

I have one old Cuddeback NoFlash that I had to send back when it was a few months old. They said they fixed it and sent it back to me with the same problem. I sent it to them a 2nd time and they sent me a new one. I have been using it for the past several years with no problems. I also have some Moultrie cams that are at least 5 years old. They still work great but none of them will keep the correct time. I just use them like they are. I have never had a buckeye Camera but I gotta say that from the pictures I have seen posted here they don't seem to take very good ones. My Moultries take better pics. I'm sure they are reliable though.

[quote=BowSlayer I have never had a buckeye Camera but I gotta say that from the pictures I have seen posted here they don't seem to take very good ones. My Moultries take better pics. I'm sure they are reliable though. [/quote]

I have to disagree with that. My buckeye is only a 3 megapixel, but takes better pics than any of my other cams. And I have a leaf river, a couple moultries, a stealth cam, a scottgaurd. Also looking at the little pic on these threads does not do the pic on the buckeye justice. You can zoom in on the buckeyes pics and you won't get any distortion until it is zoomed way in. Also in my buckeye pics you have to remember that the cam is about 40 feet from my feeders. None of my other cams will reach out that far with clarity. The buckeye allows you to place the cam much further away than the others. It will pic up a deer at prbably 50 yards easily.

stealth -mine has worked everyday for a year i havethe12v on it

I have to disagree with that. My buckeye is only a 3 megapixel, but takes better pics than any of my other cams. And I have a leaf river, a couple moultries, a stealth cam, a scottgaurd. Also looking at the little pic on these threads does not do the pic on the buckeye justice. You can zoom in on the buckeyes pics and you won't get any distortion until it is zoomed way in. Also in my buckeye pics you have to remember that the cam is about 40 feet from my feeders. None of my other cams will reach out that far with clarity. The buckeye allows you to place the cam much further away than the others. It will pic up a deer at prbably 50 yards easily. [/quote]

I went back and looked at your thread again and yes, those are the pictures I was referring to. I thought they were all taken with the buckeye cam. I guess just the first one was though after going back and looking again. The first picture is not bad. It was the rest of the pictures that didn't look too great but I guess those were a different camera. My Moultries still take better pictures than the Buckeye, but they are flash cameras, not IR so that makes a big difference on night pictures.

The moultrie cams add a lot of color that does not really exist. It does make the pic pretty, but it is not an accurate representation of the actual colors and such. Yes most of the pics I posted where a different cam, I think my leaf river 6.5 mega pixel. You really see the difference when you zoom in. That buckeye has been outside for I think 3 years, and has never given me any trouble. Charge the battery every 6 months or so and that is it. I have also put all my cams next to this cam and left them over night. All the other cams miss pics of game. I have watched many deer in front of my moultries, and the went to check the cam hoping for a pic of the buck and nothing. The buckeye will get pics of birds flying by, that is a fast trigger speed.

Yes night pics won't be as pretty with a IR cam, but will be clear. Post of pic of a day time pic from you moultrie and then I will post a day pic from the buckeye.

I have never had a game camera that adds color that does not really exist. That's weird. Here is a picture from one of my $69.00 Moultries that has been in the West Texas heat for over 5 years now. The camera is 55 feet from the other side of the feed pen that you can see in the picture. I think this is not bad for a cheap camera.

I have used all kinds and have found them all to ultimately be disposable after 2 years. We currently use the Wildgame Innovations and they work fine and are priced low enough that after two years I don't get too upset.

I had a moultrie that would take great pics, but when I stood there looking at the background in person the colors where not as bright. The moultrie cams add a level of color that just doesn't seem to exist in the real world. At least that is my personal experience. I had one moultrie that went about 3 years, but I have had about 8 moultries that didn't make much over one year. Had two that didn't last 6 months. You do catch a good one every now and then, but the QC is not there. And no it is not bad at all for a 70 dollar cam. I am not knocking all of them. The buckeye is just in a different league. What is the megapixel on this cam? Now give me a few minutes and I will try to zoom in on your pic and one from the buckeye to show you the difference.

Crap should have tried to make them larger.

Both of these pics where blown up to 350%, and then cropped to size. And this cam is only a 3 megapixel.





And here is a daytime pic zoomed in to 400% the highest photobucket will let me go.

Hard to tell from those small pictures but mine look brighter to me. I rarely zoom in on anything anyway. My cameras are the D-50 5MP cameras. I just googled the Buckeye cam to see how much they cost. Holy Crap! The cheapest one I found was $700.00 and some of them are $2000.00. I think I would rather have 10 moultries than 1 Buckeye.

I zoom in all the time to see just how many points they have, and to tell any differences in them.

I paid 400 for mine, got it on sale. And for that price I got a battery, charger, and a SD card. When I see another sale I am going to pick up another one. The new ones are a level above mine, they are the black IR.

The thing is you will probably go through 10 moultries instead of 1 buckeye. How many have you had that have lasted more than 2 years? I know if I would have bought a buckeye when I first started buying cameras that I would have spent less money and would probably still have a working camera. Right now I don't have a single working Moultrie cam, and I bet I have bought over 10 of them. That does not include the returns and getting a new one back. I have sent at least 3 of them back to moultrie. Now there customer service is top notch.

I am glad you have had good luck with moultrie and I hope you continue to. Wish I would have had good luck with them. If I had I probably would not have a buckeye.

I originally bought one of the Moultries. It lasted about 2 weeks and started having trouble. I took it back to where I bought it and they gave me a new one to replace it. I used that one for about a month and liked it so well that I bought another one. I have had the same two for over 5 years without a glitch other than they don't keep perfect time. I just made a homemade solar panel/battery kit and put it on one of them about 2 months ago but I have not been back to the lease to see if it's still working or if I fried it. Before adding the battery/panel I would get about 30 days and about 1300 pictures on a set of batteries. I am hoping to make a trip to the lease Labor Day weekend to see how the one with the panel is working. If it's still going I should have around 3500 or more pictures to go through.

Wow, glad they are holding up for you. Not to question you, but are you sure they are as old as you think they are? Because 5 years ago they only had the one that takes the 6 volt latern battery I think they where called the D-100. I didn't think the D-50 has been out that long. I might be wrong though. I bought the D-40 when they first showed up at walmart, and I think that was less than 3 years ago. I can go back and look in my pics to see. I have a D-40 sitting here that the flash has gone out on, it is the third D-40 I had.

It's hard for me to remember when I originally bought them. I know I have been on my current lease for 3 years and I used these cameras for at least one year before changing leases. Maybe they are just over 4 years old....it's possible.

I have (3) Moultrie I-45's, (3) Moultrie Modems, (3) Moultrie Solar Panels, and a Moultrie picture viewer. The picture viewer is the only thing I haven't had to send back, but that's because I just got it Wednesday, but already problems turning it on or not being able to keep it off. My camera problems were the common LED issue and they replaced entire camera. Others must have Moultrie problems because most of the time 1-2 hour wait to get customer service. Good news is every time I've sent something in they have given me a new replacement within a few days.

The new Moultrie M80 and M100 seem to be getting good reviews and have pretty nice quality pictures. I personally like the Bushnell Trophy Cam, but if you don't want to spend that much, the Wildgame Innovations x6c is pretty cheap and takes better pics than just about any camera I have seen. You can also check out http://www.chasingame.com/ for lots of good review info on trail cameras.

I have had 3 Moultrie D 40s that never came out of sleep mode, a Wildview 2 Megapixel that took terrible pics for 9 days then died, a Cuddeback Capture that worked ok at close range last season died this year (I just received a replacement this week), and 2 Wildgame Innovations S 2.0s that work great. I bought them in a 2 pack for $80 at BPS. They have a one year warranty just like the Cudde and if they die I am out $40 instead of $200. I bought my Mom one 3 years ago it is still working like a charm. So I don't believe you get what you pay for, I am of the opinion buy the cheapest because they all suck. I haven't tried a Buckeye yet however.

$50 Tascam's at Walmart work great. And if I found one cheaper I'd buy it.

I bought a wildgame inovations 3 MP game cam today. i'll let yall know and post pics monday when i swap cards out. 59 bucks at wally world. IR flash an all.

I use wildgame cameras. Both on external batteries and solar panels and been in the field 2 years without problems.