What's a good trail cam?

Looking to get my husband a trail cam for Christmas so he can put it out by his deer stand. Any of you guys have a recommendations on a good reliable and sturdy trail cam that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and is easily programmed? Looking for something around $200.

CuddeBack Capture, right up your alley.

For $200, that would be the Cuddeback Capture with regular flash:

Cabelas

$50 more gets you the infrared (flash not visible) version.

Don't expect to get something that works everytime/all the time. It's just how that "class" of cameras are manufactured.

I would go with the one with the best warranty, right now that's the Bushnell Trophy Cam...2 year.

The Bushnell Trophy Cam, in my opinion, is the BEST camera on the market for the money. It retails for $199. You can find them on the internet with a 2GB SD and batteries included for the same price and you can also find them a few dollars cheaper. I would highly suggest buying it over a Cuddeback anyday of the week.

For the $200 price range you just cant beat the Cuddeback Capture flash model!

Personally, I like the moultrie d40 gamespy cameras.

They're easy to program and aim and whatnot, they run on 6 d cell batteries and last a good while. I've had the same batteries in mine since last year and they're still taking pics, albeit not as good of pics as with new batteries.

And for 200 bucks, you can get him 2 with sd cards and extra sd cards and batteries for both.

http://www.moultriefeeders.com/Game-Spy-D40

Here's a link to some pics taken with the D40's at my place. The first 4 or 5 pics were taken this year with the old batteries in it, with the new batteries the flash is actually picking up the feeder like it's supposed to. I had to hit the pics it took with the old batteries with a photo editor to add some light to them.

http://s86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/possom75110/Game%20Cam%20Pics/

Man I hate the D-40. For you batteries to last a year you must not get many pics. I had 2 both are broke now, but never got more than a month out of either of them. The M-40 is better, but still not a good cam.

Evelyn, in my opinion, whichever camera you decide on, go with an infrared flash over the regular. You will get better nightime pictures and longer battery life.

Well everyone is intitled to their opinion, but I couldnt disagree more with that statement!

Not only do I believe that the flash model takes far better night time pics, but they are also far more reliable! And with the flash models that I am currently running I get about 2000 pics on 4 D cell batteries.......I dont see how it can get any better than that!

JMO!

How about 20k pics between recharges.

i love my stealth cam IR500...on sale at academy for 119.99. I have 4 of them and they have been in the woods for over a year and they are all still working great

For $200???? If so then sign me up for 5 of them!

LMAO, the scott guard lasts a long time on AA batteries. I would guess about 4-5 months. And probably 5-8k pics. I prefer IR, over conventional flash.

Scout Gaurd is a great camera too! I have never used one, but 99% of what I read about them is positive!

I got one, it could be a great cam, but it needs some changes. It needs more flash, and I hate the fact that you can't even view the battery life without the damn remote. All you can do is turn it off and on.

wild game inovations IR4.....i've tried moultree and cuddeback neither have worked as well as the IR4....most go dead within 2 weeks and my IR4 batterys have lasted for 3 weeks so far and still have life left

Cuddeback Capture all the way for $200. Contrary to popular belief, the flash does not seem to scare away the critters. I have numerous pics of deer and hogs taken with the flash and are of high quality. Over 1200 pics taken thus far on one set of 4 D Batteries, and by far the easiest to set up/program. It's also the top selling trail cam at Cabelas according to the "outfitter" that works there.

The Bushnell Trophy Cam is the same as the Scoutguard. Same company makes them both. Only difference, you don't need a remote for the Bushnell.
Some things to consider.
Trigger Speed
Battery Life
Set Up
Distance
Cost
I have the Bushnell. Trigger speed is about 1 second. Pretty dang quick. Runs on 4 or 8 AA bateries. Don't know yet how long they will last since I'm still on my first set. Just got it a couple months ago. Set up is simple. I can put it on a trail, pointing up or down it, and get great pics. It's a IR, so no flash which would be easy to spot after dark and somebody stealing it. I bought mine for $179.99 thru Sportsmanguide. I will be gettin a couple more.
Trust me, if you buy him this camera, you will have a hard time topping this next year!!!

My outfitter friend up in kansas had two of the cuddeback capture IR's shipped to him by one of his hunters. I helped him set them up, extremely simple to program...not many features but I liked the simplicity. He set them up and all the night pictures were black...this just shows the poor quality control for that "class" of cameras.

If every camera made in that price range would work as intended they'd be great but that's not the case. There is an extremely high failure rate for the sub $400 cameras.

And that is why I recommended the bushnell trophy cam, you will face the same quality control issues but you will have 2 years of support to work through those issues rather than 1 year.

There is not a single $200 camera out there that is worth the money, IMO. I think you're better off spending less on a Stealth Cam or equivalent...at least you know what you're getting.

For a couple hundred bucks I have an expectation that the camera will take good pics (both night and day) with good resolution, reasonable trigger speed, and last for at least a year in the field. The Cuddeback is wrought with problems-batt life, no/poor trigger response, super slow; the Moultrie-lcd failure, slow trigger speed; and the Bushnell/Scout Guard-poor daytime and terrible nighttime pic quality.

Now, if you increase the budget to say $350 or above you can actually get a quality camera that lives up to expectations.

Just my

Regards,
Scott

I just bought a Bushnell Trophy Cam and I would highly recommend it! I have filled one 2GB card and most of another, which is nearly 3000 pics and the 8 AA batteries show to still have over half their life remaining. Great photos, day or night!

Ok guys, now I am as confused as ever. Maybe I should just get my hubby another gun. A man can never have too many guns right? LOL

I'll be checking more into the Cuddeback and the Bushnell. May just have to up the budget on a camera. Thanks for everyone's input. Much appreciated.

Evelyn

I've got the Moultrie i40 and love it. Put it up in July, still has 50% battery life, and it takes about 200 pictures a week +- 50.

Haven't had problems yet.

Go to http://www.chasingame.com/
This site reviews all gamecams

i've been using the stealth cam ir500 this year. works like a champ. had been using the regular flash 2.0 but that one quite working due to ants getting in the camera. (my fault. didn't check it for 3 months then found I had only 1 latch closed i/o both.) Academy had the ir 500 on sale a month back for 99.99.

It seems like the majority are split between the Cuddeback and Bushnell. Can someone post a day and night pic for each of these brands so quality can be compared. i know it will not be exact comparison since the setup is different but it would give those of us trying to make a decision something to see.

Prior experience with Cuddeback is hit or miss with the camera and damn near impossible to get through to customer service for warranty issues. Anyone else experience this with Cuddeback?

Thats the beauty of America aint it! LOL its ok to disagree. But Ii get about 2 weeks life from my Regular flash and about 4 or 5 months with infrared! Both take good pictures, so its just a matter of preference.

Here are a couple of pictures from my Bushnell Trophy Cam that is about 35' from my feeder.

Daytime:


Nighttime:

The Bushnell takes pretty good videos also.

TB

Does your husband have to have the best of everything? If not, the regular Cuddeback (with flash) for $199.99 should make him happy.

If he has to have the best of everything, then the Reconyx for $600+ dollars is the way to go.

I had absolutely no problems with gettting through to customer service and they were great. Photo quality isn't an issue with the Cuddeback, nor is battery life, or ease of setting up (top marks for that). Problems, such as they are, are insensitivy in the sensor. I suspect that I miss some animals that go by too quickly or too far away. I still recommend it for something in its class.

Oh heck no. We are just down to earth sort of folks from the country and a semi decent camera will do just fine. Heck we can't afford much more then that. LOL. We are just curious what comes out at night at his feeder and I know he would get a kick out of seeing the critters in the pics.

Bubba, that Bushnell does take some nice pics. Thanks for posting those. At least, if nothing else, we have it down to two different cameras to choose between. That already makes it a lot easier.

Glad to help. The Bushnell has a great trigger speed (I have a couple of pictures of crows in flight), about 1 sec., and it runs on 8AA batteries, cheaper than 4-6 C or D. I haven't had it long enough yet to speak for the battery life but so far I like it a lot better than the $100 Moultree and the 2 $300+ Stealth Cams I previously owned.
I think it takes good pictures. I ain't trying to win any photo contests, I just want to know what and when animals are showing up at the feeder.

TB

Here are a few random photos from some of my Cuddeback Capture flash models!

JCB, looks like you need to do some culling





I'll throw one in, the wildgame IR4. Its cheap, $89 at academy, and takes good pictures. Battery life is great, and I have yet to have any issues. It does have a slower trigger speed, but at least I'm seeing whats out there...

That bushnell looks good too

Treebass, I bought a Wildgame, no IR and am disappointed. I went to my place yesterday and pulled the card. I put fresh batteries in a week ago. No pics since 11/30 and no corn left on the ground but lots of tracks. I'm writing off this as an inexpensive mistake.

JCB, I think you just convinced me on what my next couple of game cams are going to be. Those are some very nice shots. I also think I will be going back to the traditional flash. Thanks for posting those.

At this point I to am not able to determine which is a good reliable game cam, however I can tell you which one I would stay as for away from I as could get and that is the Moultrie I-40. These things are nothing but cheap junk as for as I am concerned.

Apparantly, there have been a few folks that like them and have had good luck with them and they should consider theirselves lucky they happen to get a good one.

I have two Moultrie I-40's and had nothing but one problem after another with them. Both of them have been replaced several times by Moultrie with another I-40 that will not work either.

Good luck.

JCB those are really nice pics. You don't have a problem with spikes by the way? LOL. That last deer looks realy nice and so does that fox. So, is there an advantage over having a flash vs the infrared? I would think that the flash would scare the wildlife away and the camera could also easily be spotted by anyone (meaning "uninvited" folks) noticing the flash in the dark.

That real long spike I have been wanting to cull all year but havent been able to catch up with him.....YET!

The 8 point in the last picture I was going to shoot as soon as I saw him but but he broke a G-3 and brow tine before I could kill him! He is safe untill next year now!

One huge advantage of the flash over the IR is the flash is waaaaay more reliable! I did a ton of research online before making my decision and just about all the IR cameras are very unreliable! I have been running Cuddeback flash models for two years and have NEVER seen a deer spook because of the flash! That big 8 point in the last picture was at that feeder for over an hour and the flash never spooked him despite the fact he was looking right into the camera when it flashed! I have NEVER seen any animal (pig, cow, coon, deer, yote, porkupine, goat, sika, etc.) leave because of the flash!

Yes the flash is likely to be detected at night by those in the area that shouldnt be, but most trespassing takes place in daytime hours anyway!

How good is the trigger on the cuddy? I'm looking to get another camera, and my pick up the bushnell or cuddy.

Lots of god info here, thanks

I dont remember what the trigger speed is exactly on the cuddy, but I think Scoutgaurd had the quickest trigger time on the market at the time! I have caught plenty of birds in flight with the cuddy though so it must be pretty decent!

Just looked it up and the trigger speed for the Capture is 0.24 seconds! That sounds pretty fast to me!

Here is some good info on the Capture!

One thing I disagree with is the battery life! They claim it will get 1000 pics, but I am getting twice that with my three cameras and also with my dads two!

http://www.trailcampro.com/cuddebackcapture.aspx

oh yea, thats fast enough. I think Im missing alot with my slower trigger speed. I like the pic of the corn coming down

Trophy Cam all the way,

I have a 3 moultres out of four. I would like two buy some other cams. But the guys that hunt with me have cuddys have problems more then me. They take great pics but ive seen moisture in them and the flash went out on one in the first yr. Who makes one that will take a 6 volt and hook up to solar panel, thats what I want.

Well I finally made a decision and ordered the Cuddeback Capture IR Trail Cam via Amazon for $224. I'll let you know how my husband likes it after Christmas. Thanks for all the input you gave. It really helped to make a decision.

Im sure he'll like it fine!

BTW, someone has a new-in-the-box Cuddeback Capture for sell on the Trading Post Forum.

My favorite cam is our Stealthcam Ir540 it is infared 5 megapixle and works great for us. So far it take just as good of pictures as my budies cudeback and has been more reliable.

it only runs about 115, you could get him two of them.

I love this cam and am getting a couple more soon.

matt

Here are a couple of shots from my Wildview EZ-CAM. I have been happy with it so far. Very simple to operate.

On the D40's, I checked them today and one is at 60% battery and the other is 70%.

That's on the same batteries that I put in at the end of Oct, first part of Nov.

Granted, I set them out for about 7 or 8 days at a time and pick them back up for a few days to get the pics off and keep them from being in the pasture too long in one spot.

The most pics ever on either camera was 800 and change, most taken in the day of cows that got through the feeder pen and that was after the new batteries.

I haven't had any problems out of them, the only thing that I wish they had, was a quicker reset time for the next picture set. If it does, I haven't figured out how, so there is a 1 minute delay between each 3 picture set.

800 pics would last one week at my place. That is really a horrible battery life. That is why I stopped using the D-40. Anything less than a few thousand pics per battery is IMO unacceptable. Heck even the M-40 can take several thousand on the D batteries.

800 pics in one setting, not one set of batteries. I probably should have made that a bit more clear.

On the first set of batteries I put in them I'm not sure how many pics they took altogether.

So far, on this set each camera is around 3k pics, give or take a few.

In one of the 7 or 8 day stretches I usually end up with around 2-400 pics per camera, depends on which one is set where.

I had two D-40's and IMO are the worst cam out there. They are expensive to feed batteries to. And some of them take good pics but others do not. I could never get more than 2 weeks on a set of batteries from either of mine. I can promise that I spent more on my D-40's than I did on my buckeye, if you add in batteries, and shipping to moultrie. And now I have no D-40's left, and my buckeye is still going strong.

I have 3 Bushnell Trophy Cams and couldn't be happier. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is physical size, which may not matter to some people, but the Bushnell TC's are about the size of your hand, which makes them easier to conceal than the Cudde Backs, which are probably 2X larger. The other advantage of the Bushnell TC over the Cudde is that the sensing range of the Bushnell TC is much wider. This means that with the Cudde, the animal has to be almost dead center for the camera to take the pic, whereas the Bushnell will take a pic as soon as the animal enters the field of view. The bottom line on this is that you will get more pics from the Bushnell than you will from the Cudde when they are mounted side by side. The Bushnell also has a 2 yr warranty versus the Cudde's 1 yr warranty, and you can take video with the Bushnell, but not with the Cudde. The picture quality with the Cudde is very good, but not good enough to outweigh the advantages of the Bushnell. Good luck with your Cudde purchase, they spend A LOT on marketing and advertising. If it doesn't work out, try the Bushnell Trophy Cam next time, you'll also save a lot on batteries. Enjoy.