Best trail cam for the money?

basseyes wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Glenn wrote:</div>
This camera (E3) is back on sale on Amazon for $73 right now.

Does anyone own that particular tcam?

yes, I own several of the E3’s

I will echo the thoughts on the essential model cam. I bought a couple due to the comments on this post and have been VERY pleased. Thanks for the pointers, guys.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their helpfull suggestions, Had a few old ones stolen from the back side of my property last year, and need to get some new ones. I guess my neighbors don’t like me catching them trespassing.

basseyes wrote:

Does anyone own that particular tcam?

Yes, I have 2 of the E3 version now. I notice no difference from the E2, excellent camera, batteries last almost forever even on very busy cams, picture quality is excellent. False triggers are almost non-existant, have to assume the false triggers I do get are squirrels, rabbits, or birds. They are very infrequent.

At $73 on sale currently, it is a total no-brainer. Easily the best trail cam out there at that price.

Grouse

I bought the E3 last year based on Grouse’s recommendation. It takes great pictures and even better video. No complaints after 1 year.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_0072.jpg
   

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

False triggers are almost non-existant, have to assume the false triggers I do get are squirrels, rabbits, or birds. They are very infrequent.

I have to say that the one I have on my garden has had a ton of false triggers this summer. Same cam, last year had virtually none. I did move locations, and I am willing to bet that something in the location change is responsible.

Appreciate all the feed back and ordered one.

Have moultrie tcams pushing a decade old that take better pics/vids than their newer ones. Plus are way more reliable. Have had good luck with browning cams too. Have wanted to try a bushnell for a while now and excited to see how they work.

We have a constant issue with grass and brush, combined with wind that is like false trigger heaven. Good to hear they aren’t prone to that. Sure the grass and brush waving in the wind will still trigger them, but only so much a guy can do about that and that’s not all the tcams fault.

I’ve had similar issues with this type of setup with the trail cameras I’ve used (SkyPoint, Browning, Bushnell). They have all had their issues when it comes to the grass/brush/sun setup. The Browning I have did it in the dead of winter with total snow cover. Move them to a more shaded/sheltered location and the false triggers reduce significantly. My most recent Bushnells are the Essential E2s and my hope was they would be better but they false trigger in that situation too. In all cases each individual setup has its “time” window and it seems to only occur on sunny days but it has universally affected every camera I’ve tried at the $100sh price point.

basseyes wrote:

We have a constant issue with grass and brush, combined with wind that is like false trigger heaven. Good to hear they aren’t prone to that. Sure the grass and brush waving in the wind will still trigger them, but only so much a guy can do about that and that’s not all the tcams fault.

Bushnell E3 on sale on Amazon for $81.

NOTE: these are renewed cams, not new

Cam

Thanks for the heads up!

That’s a good deal.

The kids got me a new E3 for Christmas when they were on sale for $100, which is pretty good for the new camera, although they occasionally go on sale for less.

As other cams in my fleet die, I’m slowly replacing them with the Bushnell Essential cams. I have 2 E2 and 3 E3 versions now. All have functioned flawlessly and the ones I leave out all year round get anywhere from 10 to 13 months worth of pictures on 1 set of regular Rayovac batteries.

Grouse

I’ve had terrible service from my Bushnell’s. You have to use Lithium batteries and cards dedicated to specific cameras. THey do take nice pictures when they work.

martyb wrote:

I’ve had terrible service from my Bushnell’s. You have to use Lithium batteries and cards dedicated to specific cameras. THey do take nice pictures when they work.

Something smells in Denmark here. Never once used lithium batteries and can put any card I want in mine with no issues.

sticker wrote:

Bushnell E3 on sale on Amazon for $81.

NOTE: these are renewed cams, not new

Cam

Anyone have any experience with “renewed” cameras? Only 1 review on Amazon for this camera and it doesn’t look like a 5 star review.

martyb wrote:

I’ve had terrible service from my Bushnell’s. You have to use Lithium batteries and cards dedicated to specific cameras. THey do take nice pictures when they work.

Something isn’t right.

Is this a current model like the Essential line we’re discussing here? Or are we talking about an older TrophyCam here?

On a malfunctioning trail cam regardless of brand, the first suspect is that there is a firmware/software issue that needs an update. Anything that has to do with an SD card issue is almost always either a bad SD card itself or a firmware glitch that needs an update.

Bushnell cams:

1. Have the cam ready and get your model name, number, and firmware version. You can find the software version by scrolling through the menu screens until you see it.

2. Go to the Bushnell software updates website and see if there are software updates recommended for your cam.

I’ve never had to use lithium batteries in any Bushnell and the first Bushnell I bought in 2007 is still snapping pictures. Battery life and image quality were what made me buy Bushnell in the first place, so I suspect you have one of the cams that had a bug in the software and an upgrade is the first thing I’d try.

I have had to do this before a few years back on a new cam that didn’t work right out of the box. I can’t recall even what the issue was, but I went to the website and looked up the model and there it was, update required and the issue was spelled out right there. The software update fixed it with 5 minutes of time invested.

Grouse

Trophy 20MP. I have 2 of them, both are junk.

They work OK sometimes with fresh lithium batteries and formatted cards, as long as they have never been in another camera. I use 16mb Sandisks (which work fine in all my other cameras).

martyb wrote:

Trophy 20MP. I have 2 of them, both are junk.

If you have 2 cams that are doing the same thing, it’s about 80% certain that they had a bug in their firmware from the factory and an update per above will fix them.

You need to know the exact model, almost all Bushnell cams use the Trophycam name, but then there’s a specific model name and number, like Trophycam Essential E3. Model number is usually on a sticker on the back or inside the cam.

Take a look at the site I linked to above.

Grouse