Put mine out last night. There will be a lot of photos of my wife picking beans and tomatoes on it. 
August 19, 2018 at 5:20 pm
#1792431
Best trail cam for the money?
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August 19, 2018 at 8:04 pm #1792444
Why did I decide to look at this today and not 4 days ago…
August 20, 2018 at 10:51 am #1792549Put mine out last night. There will be a lot of photos of my wife picking beans and tomatoes on it.
I did a back yard test drive with mine last night as well. I test every cam before deploying it because I’ve had one cam a few years back that was DOA, everything looked good, but it would not take pictures. Learned my lesson on that.
Last night’s test of the Essential E3 was successful! Great pics.
So up to the farm it goes!
Grouse
August 20, 2018 at 12:51 pm #1792578Same here, it has been out testing and I will check pics tonight, then off to the farm this weekend.
August 31, 2018 at 10:03 am #1794680Hose cat? Chupacabra? Cougar?
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August 31, 2018 at 11:11 am #1794696Without a doubt a hose cat!
August 31, 2018 at 11:14 am #1794697Not sure, but it looks heavy.
September 13, 2018 at 5:31 pm #1797441Hey grouse – Is this the correct cam?
If so, it looks to be a great deal?
September 13, 2018 at 5:31 pm #1797442September 13, 2018 at 8:01 pm #1797454Hey grouse – Is this the correct cam?
If so, it looks to be a great deal?
Yep. That’s it.
September 13, 2018 at 8:19 pm #1797459Get one quick before the price goes up.
The Back 40September 13, 2018 at 8:27 pm #1797460Not to be a Debby Dallas Downer but I’ve heard the e3 is not as good as the e2. Any reviews yet? Seems the battery life is kinda poor along with a few other flops. Fingers crossed but you can still find the e2 under $90 online.
Forgot to add Amazon has e2 for $82…
September 13, 2018 at 9:05 pm #1797463I’ve tried many different brands. I only take videos these days, I ditched pictures a couple years ago. A 10sec video provides a much better look and more info on movement and patterns.
Worst: Cuddeback, returned it within a week.
Best: Moultrie and Bushnell
September 25, 2018 at 8:10 pm #1799724I finally got some nighttime pics of my garden pests with my new Bushnell E3.
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November 27, 2018 at 11:03 am #1812930With the garden gone, I moved my cam onto a bird/squirrel feeder on our patio. I put out corn to keep the squirrels occupied and off of the sunflower seeds, and often times I will have all the corn disappear overnight. So, is it raccoons, deer, or something else?
Mystery solved!
The camera is quite sensitive, as I also have a lot of pics of mice on the feeder, too.
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November 27, 2018 at 12:26 pm #1812963November 28, 2018 at 10:42 am #1813277bushnell is on sale again
Dang, I might have to get another one. Can’t have too many at that price!!!
Thanks for the heads up
December 31, 2018 at 1:59 pm #1821985I have both cabelas and moultrie and have no complaints about the images day or night. Although the cabelas brand has no way to lock the camera shut so technically someone could take your sd card and batteries
December 31, 2018 at 4:02 pm #1822024My kids got me another Bushnell Essential E3 for Christmas. This is the third Essential cam in my fleet. My wife saw it come up on sale on Amazon as they occasionally do.
Unless Bushnell does something to screw this camera up, this will be my go-to cam brand/model. No false triggering, terrific image quality both day/night, and battery life is outstanding.
I put out my first Essential E2 cam last April with fresh batteries and I wrote the date on them with a sharpie. The batteries were my usual el cheapo Raovac batteries bought on sale at Menards. That cam was still out in the woods taking pictures with the same set of batteries in it when I last checked cams on December 15. I suspect they will die in December or January, but come on! A buck fiddy worth of Raovac batteries powering a cam for 9+ months!
Grouse
December 31, 2018 at 4:12 pm #1822033@thefamousgrouse are you liking these more than the moultrie a5 gen 2’s? I have a bunch of those and for the price they are a great cam.
DTDecember 31, 2018 at 5:03 pm #1822047@thefamousgrouse are you liking these more than the moultrie a5 gen 2’s? I have a bunch of those and for the price they are a great cam.
DTTotally agree, A5 G2s were a terrific cam for the price. Back when they were on sale for less than $60 they were a great deal and the 2 of them I bought back in 2015 are still running.
But the image quality of the Moultrie A5s is passable, but nothing near as good as the Bushnell Essential. Just night and day difference.
And when the Essential E3s go on sale for $75…
I use my Moultrie cams on mineral licks where the deer are going to be within 10 to 30 feet of the cam. I also use the Moultrie cams in places where I frequently see bears because, well, they’re cheap and bears are hard on cams. Battery life is good as well.
Grouse
December 31, 2018 at 5:23 pm #1822051Thanks.
DTDecember 31, 2018 at 8:24 pm #1822083Dating the batteries with a sharpie, great idea!
April 18, 2019 at 3:52 pm #1851759I’ve always run Moultrie but from the looks of it, I’m gonna be checking out Bushnell and the Essential series.
Looks like they’re around $87 on amazon right now.
I remember when we were spending $150-$200 on cams and running 5-6 of them a year. I’ll take $87 for a Bushnell and have them last 9 months on regular batteries instead of my 2018 M-40i lasting 3-4 months on a fresh set of bats. The older Moultries are comparable to the Bushnell battery life but the new ones don’t even come close. Having said that, I do appreciate Moultrie’s customer service. They gave me a 50% discount code off of a camera on their sight because one of my older Moultrie’s finally died after 7 years.
April 18, 2019 at 5:18 pm #1851782I put out my first Essential E2 cam last April 2018 with fresh batteries and I wrote the date on them with a sharpie. The batteries were my usual el cheapo Raovac batteries bought on sale at Menards. That cam was still out in the woods taking pictures with the same set of batteries in it when I last checked cams on December 15. I suspect they will die in December or January, but come on! A buck fiddy worth of Raovac batteries powering a cam for 9+ months!
Grouse
Guys, just an update. My Essential E2 that I referenced in the above post back in December is STILL out there taking pictures with the set of batteries I installed in April of LAST YEAR (2018). I wrote on this set of batteries with a Sharpie marker so I’m sure this is the same set.
This camera has been out taking pictures every day for one year including all winter with el cheapo Rayovac batteries from Menards. It sits on a field road that leads between two of my plots, so there is traffic on this cam every day of the year.
Very impressed with the Essential cams from Bushnell. I now have 3 of them and if you get them on a good sale, there is no beating them.
Grouse
April 18, 2019 at 5:38 pm #1851789^
^
^Great info!
Tried some different brands this winter at home, with diy tripods and solar panel setups.
Browning makes an incredible tcam imo. Pic/video quality with sound is very good.
Still have moultrie’s, but imagine quality has really fallen behind. They had good cam’s but personally think they are falling behind in image quality and reliability. Have nothing but good things to say with their customer service over the last decade, but have been gradually leaning away from their cam’s because of quality issues across the board.
April 18, 2019 at 8:43 pm #1851817Damn!!! Thanks for the info Grouse!
April 18, 2019 at 8:44 pm #1851818Damn!!! Thanks for the info Grouse!
September 3, 2019 at 10:17 pm #1877141This camera (E3) is back on sale on Amazon for $73 right now.
September 4, 2019 at 12:14 am #1877146This camera (E3) is back on sale on Amazon for $73 right now.
Does anyone own that particular tcam?
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