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General Discussion => General Forum => Topic started by: vaturkey on July 04, 2011, 11:58:38 AM

Title: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: vaturkey on July 04, 2011, 11:58:38 AM
Hey folks

I want to get a couple of game cameras. What are some good ones to get as far as cost, pic quality,& battery life. I have a Wildgame that takes decent pics but eats battery's like candy. Any advice will be greatly appreicated. Thanks for any help.

  vaturkey    :newmascot:
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: 2INCHHOOKS on July 04, 2011, 01:07:07 PM
I suggest a cuddy back ( capture) or the digital capture if you do not want a flash.. long battery life real quick cam trigger.. can also get a bear box and bolt it to tree to prevent theft and bears.. great camera ..

good luck with your purchase

Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: longspur on July 04, 2011, 01:57:27 PM
I'm quite fond of homebrews.
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: VaTuRkStOmPeR on July 04, 2011, 02:17:58 PM
bushnell trophy is a fantastic camera.  we run several of them and have been extremely satisfied.

we also run 1 scoutguard and it has proven to be extremely reliable while taking great pictures.

cudde's have improved their trigger time but they have been plagued with unit reliability problems.

the thing with trail cameras is that unless you're independenly wealthy, you have to find the perfect compromise between cost/performance if you really want to have the quantity of cameras to take inventory on all of your properties.
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: scoot12 on July 04, 2011, 09:53:50 PM
I have four trail cams,  for the money the scoutguard sg550 is an awesome cam.  It takes great pics,  long battery life and is extremely reliable.  I believe I paid $179 for mine.  The trigger speed is great also.  It has great reviews so you can't go wrong with it.  Another cam I have for $79 is wildgame innovations ir4.  It works great and the pics are really good.  The trigger speed is a little slower then the scoutguard and the battery life isn't as good but its less then half the price.  Good luck on your purchases.  Scoot
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: 4nwtf on July 04, 2011, 10:41:04 PM
I have tried several brands over the years.  For the money I have been happy with the primos cameras.  I also have been impressed with the wild game ir4.  Both have good trigger speed and good battery life.  I get about 4-5 thousand pictures off one set of batteries.
(http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv47/4nwtf/802c6592.jpg)
(http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv47/4nwtf/deer/PRMS0017.jpg)
(http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv47/4nwtf/deer/PICT0009.jpg)
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: hookedspur on July 04, 2011, 10:48:44 PM
I like the stealth cams for the money  I dont get a lot of false trips and the pics are very good.
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: HARDCORE on July 04, 2011, 10:51:54 PM
QuoteBest Game Camera For The Money

How much are you willing to spend?

HC
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: Tail Feathers on July 04, 2011, 11:36:59 PM
I just got my second Primos Truth 46 game camera.  The first one has  make a clunk when taking a pic but it didn't seem to spook the deer.  They say the new ones don't do that but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.

$105.33 to my door off Ebay.  Good on batteries.  I run it from late August to early January and it uses two sets of D batteries (4 per set) during all that.  Probably 3500 pics or so during that time.
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: njdevilsb on July 04, 2011, 11:53:59 PM
I'm a fan of Moultrie myself.  We have 3 of them on our lease and they take good pictures.  We have one older model that has taken 2 white pictures out of around a thousand, and 2 D55IR models that haven't had one problem yet.  We could probably have a little bit higher megapixel, but I think they are great for a decent price.

Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: Reloader on July 05, 2011, 10:33:54 AM
I'd have to say my favorites are my Bushnell Trophy Cams.  I'm running 6 of them and only had one that gave me trouble(LCD screen went out and Bushnell replaced it).


I have about 12 cams, 2 flash and 10 IRs.  I gave the flash cams to my FIL, but still run all of the IRs.  I have 1 Wildview IR2, WGI 4IR, WGI 2IR, Stealth IR430, and the 6 TCs.  The TCs have outstanding batt life (7 months on Energizer Alkaline AAs), fast triggers, easy set-up, they're silent, and take pretty good pics.  The WGI take ok pics, but they are super slow and loud.  The Stealth is slow and loud as well. The Stealth also gives a ton of whiteout pics at times.

I say loud due to the filter noise, some click and the WGI makes a growling/gear moving sound.  We've seen deer bolt at the click and walk back up to investigate.  That said, none of my IRs have made deer blow out like the silent digital flash cams.  Some deer are not bothered by the flash and some get the heck out of dodge.  With the flash cams I always had pics taper off drastically, but with IRs the same deer come by for weeks, even months.

The toughest I've had is the WV 2IR and I can only say that as I've had it the longest.  The thing is faded and old, but very reliable.  It's silent as it doesn't have a moving filter(black & white day pics) and it's fairly slow(2-3sec), but works like a champ on a plot, feeder, or scrape.

I get about 4 weeks out of the batts on the WGI, Stealth, and WV. Those all run on C cells.

We also run some of the Primos I35s and they work quite well, but they also have a loud thump when the filter moves, which gives some deer the spooks.

The TCs I'm running are the older 2009 models, the 5mp models. Some say the newer 8mp models are not as good.  We only have one of the 8mp models and it seems to work great as well. You can still find the 2009 5mp models on the net, ebay had some for around $130-150.

Good Luck,

Reloader
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: Dbrnmllr on July 06, 2011, 11:00:16 AM
Running a moultrie m80.  Very impressed so far.  Battery life is great, and picture quality is awesome even at night.  Only draw back is a 15 second recovery.  Hasn't been a problem, but still a negative.  But for $129 it is the best cheap cam on the market I think.
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: limhnger on July 06, 2011, 12:25:23 PM
Got a NIB Primos Truth Cam X 7.0 MP 62 LED. Need the money more than the camera. $200...
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: Tail Feathers on July 06, 2011, 02:24:18 PM
Day and dawn photos from my Primos.
(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a308/TailFeathers/Big8.jpg)

(http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a308/TailFeathers/10pt.jpg)
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: goblr77 on July 06, 2011, 03:05:57 PM
Moultrie D-55 with flash is my favorite cheap camera. They have good battery life and I've never had a problem out of one.
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: honker22 on July 06, 2011, 03:20:10 PM
another vote for the small Bushnell cams.  I have 3
Title: Re: Best Game Camera For The Money
Post by: Gobble! on July 06, 2011, 03:43:56 PM
Quote from: honker22 on July 06, 2011, 03:20:10 PM
another vote for the small Bushnell cams.  I have 3

Bushnell Trophy Cam FTW