Best trail cam for the money?

Hi there, wondering what everybody is using for trail cams, I’ve been using Cudde back attacks both the I.R. and the Black Flash. the ir’s started out with great pics but now throwing the dreaded EC03 code and the EC10 code, and neither camera lets me in to adjust parameters,,,, The Black Flash cams (all 3 )started having problems right out of the box, sent them back and got them back just before opener last year they stated they were good and quit using cheap batteries , well I had been using new Duracells and one had new lithium batteries in it just to compare night pic’s, that kinda ticked me off.
Anybody using Moultrie? I’ve had excellent customer service with the feeder side of the business.

Tom

I’ve got a 5+ year old Moultrie that is still doing very well. Been most impressed with my Stealth cam g42ng. The Browning I have takes great daytime and terrible night time pictures.

For me the $125 neighborhood seems to be a good balance of best value for high quality.

I’ve been testing the new Hawk Ghost 16 cam for the last month. While the picture quality seems pretty good compared to the Browning’s I’ve been using I have some battery life issues with the one I am using. Most reviews have been pretty positive however so I might have found the yellow one. Price is reasonable. Here is one review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyDi3bYWvrM&feature=youtu.be

I bought one of those black flash Cuddeback cameras when Gander went out and the night pics are terrible. Wasted money. Still looking for a black flash camera that takes as good a photos as my Bushnell.

The Bushnell Essential, hands down. No question about it. Go out, buy one, and love it.

I have Bushnells, Brownings, and Moultries. The Bushnell Essential is the best camera I’ve bought yet. Almost no false triggers. Terrific image quality day or night. Battery life even with el cheapo Raovac batts is at least 9 months.

If you send me an email, I’ll email you some photo samples. Posting them on the site does not give an accurate representation of image quality because the uploader seems to dumb down the res.

My Browning cams are very good, but the one hold back on them is the image quality both day and night cannot hold a candle to the Bushnell cams of any age. I have a 10 year old Bushnell that shoots better images at 3 MP than the Browning does at 12 MP. I believe it’s down to actual lense quality and imaging unit, which Bushnell has always had an edge on.

Grouse

Grouse the E2 or E3?
I’m thinking of putting one up at the cabin to see what kind of wildlife we have lurking around.

I have the E2, but I think the E3 is just the newer version so E2s may be harder to find.

I believe Sticker also has Essential cams and has found them to be very good.

Grouse

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

I have the E2, but I think the E3 is just the newer version so E2s may be harder to find.

I believe Sticker also has Essential cams and has found them to be very good.

Grouse

Yep, the Bushnell Essential are by far my favorite cam, great pics, reliable, good battery life.

I’ve become a big fan of the browning cameras, decent quality pictures (night time ones not great but good enough for what I need), fast trigger spped out of a sub 150 dollar camera.

I did a test run of lithium batteries in one of my brownings, put them in when I put the camera out in july 2015. had it out running continuous into Jan of 2016, repeated the same time frames in 2016, and out again in 2017 from August until they finally died in early october (so basically 21 months of runtime, counldnt tell you the picture count but wouldn’t be surprised if it was 10,000+ or at least close). Needless to say all my cameras have lithiums in them this year.

I had an old moultrie I-40, big honking thing but I had a solar panel for it which would keep it fed all season without changing batteries. LCD screen was broke about year 2 but I still ran it from 2008 till 2015 when a squirrel chewed the power cord from solar panel. Loved the bright night IR flash it had. No idea if their new ones work as reliably as that old warhorse did.

poomunk wrote:

Ive become a big fan of the browning cameras, decent quality pictures (night time ones not great but good enough for what I need), fast trigger spped out of a sub 150 dollar camera.

Yes, I have Brownings and when on sale they can be a good value. The Command Ops is an excellent entry level cam and I use mine for close-up work like watching trails.

But at the sub-150 mark, the Bushnell Essential is a better cam all around. Even better when they go on sale as I believe they did last year for $99. I should have bought more…

I’ve been a fan of my Moultrie cameras I got on sale last year. They replaced older Bushnells. If they were both on sale, I probably would have gone Bushnell just because my old ones were good. That being said, I have no complaints on the Moultrie cameras. Almost no false triggers, good night quality, long battery life and they seem to seal out the moisture and dirt good. I have the M-50I’s.

we’ve used Wildgame Innovations, Moultrie, Covert, and Bushnell.
the 4 different Bushnell cameras are easily the best for image consistence and quality. the Covert has been quite good.

at the end of last season i picked up a Bushnell Aggressor wireless camera on a great sale and just got it put out last week. extremely pleased with the pictures, and getting them sent immediately to my phone in Wisconsin from the woods in Minnesota? awesome…

poomunk wrote:

I did a test run of lithium batteries in one of my brownings, put them in when I put the camera out in july 2015. had it out running continuous into Jan of 2016, repeated the same time frames in 2016, and out again in 2017 from August until they finally died in early october (so basically 21 months of runtime, counldnt tell you the picture count but wouldn’t be surprised if it was 10,000+ or at least close). Needless to say all my cameras have lithiums in them this year.

I have a Browning as well. I was running some Menard’s knock off brand batteries and so far I’ve had the camera up running on the same set since last summer (probably May). I did however pull the camera for Apr/May this year but it’s been running in the field for 13 months or so. I suspect it will die once we start seeing some freezing temps. Image quality does not compare to the Bushnell cameras and I have had some thermal triggering issues with this camera as well.

I also just tried a Sky Point. It’s only been out for a week so I haven’t had a chance to pull any pictures. I am curious to see how this camera compares to the others I have in the $100-$125 range (Bushnell & Browning).

Thanks all for the awesome input it’s like money in my book, I’m looking at the Bushnell Essential and the Moultrie.

Tom in Blaine

Have been using moultries for a decade. They aren’t the best at anything imo, but leave them out all year and have some cameras that are old and still functioning properly. There customer service and warranties have been stellar. Buy everything on sale or clearance and keep an eye out for sd cards on sale. After farting around with cameras longer than I care to divulge, solar panels are the only way to go imo. Got some homemade jobs and some moultrie panels that are old an still plugging away.

Whatever you get, more options are great, but have found for every option upgrade, there’s 3x the issues if the camera is left out for extended periods of time. Essentially in the cold. I’m a little odd and let my cams sit out all winter. Winter pics are kind of a cool way to watch areas.

Have heard a lot of good things about bushnell cams and that seems to be a pretty good given. If I start looking at different cams that’s where my money would go.

The Bushnell E3 is Amazon deal today for $73.

fishingchallenged wrote:

The Bushnell E3 is Amazon deal today for $73.

Alright!

Thanks for posting, that is an amazing price for a great cam!!!!

BTW, my wife is going to be upset, I just ordered one…I couldn’t resist for that price.

sticker wrote:

BTW, my wife is going to be upset, I just ordered one…I couldn’t resist for that price.

\

Same here.

If you apply for the amazon credit card you get the cam for $28 with tax

sticker wrote:

Thanks for posting, that is an amazing price for a great cam!!!!

BTW, my wife is going to be upset, I just ordered one…I couldn’t resist for that price.

X 2. Just ordered one also from Amazon.

fishingchallenged wrote:

The Bushnell E3 is Amazon deal today for $73.

Awesome deal alert. Just got one myself.

Grouse

fishingchallenged wrote:

The Bushnell E3 is Amazon deal today for $73.

I’ve been thinking of getting one of these. Can’t beat this deal. I have 1 on the way.

Well I was leaning Moultrie but that sale got my attention so I picked a few up with Free next day arrival, looks like i’m going to the woods again this wknd

tegg wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>poomunk wrote:</div>
I did a test run of lithium batteries in one of my brownings, put them in when I put the camera out in july 2015. had it out running continuous into Jan of 2016, repeated the same time frames in 2016, and out again in 2017 from August until they finally died in early october (so basically 21 months of runtime, counldnt tell you the picture count but wouldn’t be surprised if it was 10,000+ or at least close). Needless to say all my cameras have lithiums in them this year.

I have a Browning as well. I was running some Menard’s knock off brand batteries and so far I’ve had the camera up running on the same set since last summer (probably May). I did however pull the camera for Apr/May this year but it’s been running in the field for 13 months or so. I suspect it will die once we start seeing some freezing temps. Image quality does not compare to the Bushnell cameras and I have had some thermal triggering issues with this camera as well.

I also just tried a Sky Point. It’s only been out for a week so I haven’t had a chance to pull any pictures. I am curious to see how this camera compares to the others I have in the $100-$125 range (Bushnell & Browning).

Thats pretty good on regular batteries, before the lithiums I was running rayovacs (or Energizer if deal was good enough) and I never made it july-jan on a single set. Apple trees camera I usually had to swap twice a year, but that spot gets 100’s of pictures a week until the apples are gone.

Fyi browning has put out a notice (which i learned the hard way) that rayovac changed up how they make their batteries and browning cameras will not take night flash pictures once batteries reach 50% or less

I picked up one of the Bushnell E3 also couldn’t pass up that deal

I’m a fan of the Moultrie camera that takes Picture and video not one or the other. Not sure there is another lower end camera out there that does without spending $200 plus. The ones we have had are about 4 years old and working good nice to have the picture/video on a camera we got for $78.

fishingchallenged wrote:

The Bushnell E3 is Amazon deal today for $73.

Dang!! Cant find that deal this morn. Day late and a dollar short…..again!

I am in the market for a couple new cams, so if anybody sees a screaming deal on these, please post it!

Timmy wrote:

Dang!! Cant find that deal this morn. Day late and a dollar short…..again!

I am in the market for a couple new cams, so if anybody sees a screaming deal on these, please post it!

Good point. Guys, when we see a totally awesome deal like the Bushnell deal, how’s about we post it on a separate thread?

That way the title shows up in the “Today’s Topics” area on the left-hand side where it’s a little easier to spot.

I see quite a bit of interest in good deals on:

– Trail Cams
– Food Plot Products like lime and Glyphosate (Roundup).

Other items guys are interested in?
Grouse

fishingchallenged wrote:

The Bushnell E3 is Amazon deal today for $73.

Looks like you are the hero here and at bushnell

Mine just arrived.

Grouse

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Got mine last thursday, dang now i have to re-learn myself how to program a camera, wanted to get them up yesterday but ended up spending the day with plot and trail maint.

Tom