Please recommend a good game camera

[Bobby MacAlphin]

I guess I should have been more specific.
The picture quality is okay. Not great, but usable. Maybe it is the particular model that Midway had on sale that isn't as good.

More specifically what I don't like it having to sacrifice one of my good "cobra lock" cable locks that I use for treestands, to lock it, and having to completely remove the cable from the tree and camera each time I pull the card. Also, my CamPark cams are far more programmable. ( I really like being able to get 2 or 3 still shots followed by a video that I can set the length of). The Stealthcam wrote up gave a distance that the sensors are supposed to be able to pick things up at that is quite a bit further than my other cams (the main reason I tried one when I found it on sale) but that distance turned out to be bogus.

Which model StealthCam do you have?

Stealth Cam model number G42NG , it will trigger in daylight at about 100 feet !

 

[Brokennock]

Stealth Cam model number G42NG , it will trigger in daylight at about 100 feet !

Thank you.

 

[Electrod47]

Let me just throw this out there. I currently run 6 cameras on my land. I have 4 spinner feeders on 4 planted patches going and 3 stumps I keep corned and molasses coated spread out over 125 acres. All my cameras used to be Moultrie. After many years no 2 are the same. From Ebay chinese junk, Moultrie, Browning, Wildman's etc. I figured I needed one more about a month ago. At Walmart Bushnell 39.00 model, I figured why not. Wow, for the money its just as good as a couple I paid 4 times as much. Go figure. Here's a day and night example

 

[Brokennock]

Let me just throw this out there. I currently run 6 cameras on my land. I have 4 spinner feeders on 4 planted patches going and 3 stumps I keep corned and molasses coated spread out over 125 acres. All my cameras used to be Moultrie. After many years no 2 are the same. From Ebay chinese junk, Moultrie, Browning, Wildman's etc. I figured I needed one more about a month ago. At Walmart Bushnell 39.00 model, I figured why not. Wow, for the money its just as good as a couple I paid 4 times as much. Go figure. Here's a day and night example

Great images. What kind of programming options does it offer?

 

[Brokennock]

Stealth Cam model number G42NG , it will trigger in daylight at about 100 feet !

Definitely a higher end Stealthcam than the one I got on sale from Midway,

Just found the packaging.
That 80 feet is a lie.
A faster trigger speed would be really good.

 

[COTNTOP]

I have Browning cams that are good and are about 7yr old. One failed because a squirrel ate the top off.

 

[Brokennock]

Cheap Chinese CamPark T45 images,

For some reason some of the T45 pics and none of my Stealthcam pics will load to this site.

 

[oldwood]

Last deer season , my buddy had a satellite camera at our two 16 ft. ladder stands. Camera sees big buck. Images are time , and date stamped ,sent 100 miles to friends phone where he's working, then he sends the Images back to me. I go to the tree ladder couple hr's. before Mr. Big is scheduled to pass by , and get ready. His arrival has been caught on camera and his punctuality has about a one hr. window. Guess I had a little too much coffee. Right as the 8 point is passing beneath the ladder stand , I had the wrong gun in hand. Oops. Got the correct gun in hand , but the only shot he gave me was about 40 yds. and right up his tail pipe. I just don't shoot deer in the A$$ , and he got away. We got the camera out this year , and are waiting to see who shows up. So far , a one legged coyote , and a black bear , and a few does , but no Mr. Big. .....oldwood

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

Bushnell's have given me the best pictures; but they have failed after two seasons. Browning's have been reliable, but poorer pictures. I have some cheaper ones, around, and they work but not great images. Two of every four I have bought over the years have failed, usually the date time stamp option. I stared with Moultries, but they also gave out after a couple of seasons. One Bushnell I left out over the winter produced 8,000 pictures in all conditions: snow, ice, rain, and heat... but mostly driven snow. But some GREAT big nocturnal bucks!

ADK Bigfoot

 

[johnraleksa]

Would be willing to spend between $100 to $200.

Thanks,

Trigger speed is important, to slow and you won't get good pictures of all of the animal walking by. A camera taking pictures at long distance is not always good. You might get pictures of moving limbs or weeds 100 feet out. I have learned that how and where you put up the camera is the most important then.

 

[wilded]

I have had all the top brands and find that here in the Texas Hill Country with the heat and cold extremes they make it a year or two being out all year. Warranty service was terrible. I now use the $30.00 Tascos from Walmart or the $30.00 Muddy cameras from Academy and get just as good pictures and when they wear out I just hang them on the ranch boundaries as a deterrent to trespassers.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Sand trap tells when the deer passed, right?

Not to the minute, but IF you are good at reading sign you can get a pretty good idea. Old school stuff. Study tracks, including your own. Note the weather and soil conditions and see how the tracks weather out and in what time span. It takes some time to learn.
One of the best ways to learn it is to study your own tracks. Set it up. Step in soft soil; dry, damp, muddy, whatever. Look at your track and see how sharp and clear it is. Come back a couple hours later and look at it again. Go back the next day. Go back in three days. Note how the edges of your track have dried out and crumbled. What has the weather been like? Is the track washed out. When was the last rain? The last frost? Did the wind blow in sand or leaves? etc.
Of course, there is a lot more to tracking then just looking at footprints.
I made my living back in the 1980's by tracking people across the Arizona deserts. I was a border patrolman. We made a lot of sand traps along the trails. People traveling at night usually didn't notice them.
Now, in this electronic age I don't know if they still do any tracking the old way.
I like my trail cameras so I can see a picture what passes, but I still like the old ways, too.

Don't need sand traps anymore, just look for the ones with cell phones, new back packs and Biden T- Shirts.

 

[Electrod47]

Quote (about the bushnell) "Great images. What kind of programming options does it offer?"
Its got all the usual add on's video, various settings same as most minus internet jazz. I only use mine for pic's.

 

[Poguetx]

I've had good luck with the Browning Strike Force models. They have incredible battery life and good depth on night pictures. I set mine up at the deer lease on Labor Day, and the batteries still say 100%, even after 7000+ pics.

 

[Brokennock]

Battery tip, most of you probably already know, especially for cold weather lithium batteries are your friend.
Yes, they are expensive, and in the last 6 months the price has skyrocketed (almost double in a couple of stores). But, they can't freeze unlike alkaline batteries.
They also don't taper off power, they are full strength until dead for the most part. This can be good or bad depending on how you look at things. In most of my cameras they last for several months. I do have the one camera, same model as the rest, that just eats batteries.

 

[sneaky]

Camofire has refurb trail cameras, and new ones, every Tuesday. Trail Cam Tuesday.

 

[Kapntx]

I have been pretty happy with my relatively cheap CamPark T45 cameras, I do like my mini version a little better. The most recent 2 just don't seem to have as good a pic quality as the 1st ones I bought. Also, I bought the tan/yellow camo model, I tried one of the green ones which is supposed to be the same cam but a different color and the battery life is awful in it. The tan/yellow cameras with lithium batteries last for months, the green one I am lucky to get a month out of.



I made up cable locks for them and try to place them in hidden spots or hard to get to spots. A couple of strap on treetops gets the camera high enough to be hard to reach without the steps and one of those rubber wedges used to hold a door open get it pointed down.



I have one "Stealthcam" that I got on sale from Midway,,,,,, Hate it. I'll never buy another.

I concur with your comment on Stealthcam. I bought one from Midway and the picture quality is very bad.

 

[bladegrinder]

I'd stay away from spypoint. I was gifted one last year, an expensive one with the built in solar panel. first 100 pictures free for 30 days, great.
started getting pics sent all hours of the day and night, good so far. 2nd month pics looked blurred, I live on the property I hunt so went to check it out. the lens was fogged, from the inside. it cleared itself then fogged again. 3rd month quit working altogether, I took a few screws out and looked at the guts, the circuit board was covered in corrosion. high humidity in Fl. and a couple rain storms killed it.

I've been using game cameras since they came out and used 35mm film and spypoint is the biggest piece of junk I've ever used.
currently I just buy no name brands off Amazon and have had good luck with the ones I've bought so far, some are 3 years old and still working great. I also have a cheap wildgame thats probably 4-5n years old and it still works.

 

[frankie]

I strongly recommend Spypoint. It texts pictures to your cell phone.. I pay $99 a year for unlimited photos. Just be sure if you have like Verizon cell service you get a spypoint camera that is compatible with Verizon. Have you thought of spypoint? It's easy to set up.

 

[hobbspj45]

You may want to take a look at Trailcampro.com they have a lot of good information plus if you purchase from them there warranty is Fabulous I know because I’ve had trouble with a camera sent it back almost two years later and they sent a brand new updated version of that cam. I run between 15 -20 cams most of the year and mostly use Brownings from trailcampro.com