Trail Cam Review – Moultrie A5 Gen 2

I wanted to add another trail cam to the fleet. This one was as much for security as for deer. The woods tend to come alive with weekend warriors in October and I wanted to see if anyone was using my driveway and was entering my property. I also wanted a camera that I could put in places where it was more likely to get damaged or stolen.

I’ve only bought higher end cams until now and the average cost is about $150 each, so when I saw the Moultrie A5 Gen 2 on sale for $59.99, I had to give it a try. For the price, I figured as long as it has reasonable picture quality and range, it would be good enough for guard duty.

After a week in use, I collected the pictures. While obviously not as good as my higher end cameras, they are perfectly acceptable pics both day and night. Range appears to be very good, the center of the driveway in the pictures is 20 feet from the camera. Trigger speed also appears to be very good.

There are a few features that I’m used to that are absent on this camera. It only comes in matt green, not in camo. I’ll be adding camo duct tape for better concealment.

For the pictures, you have only the choice of 1 shot or 3 shot burst. Picture quality is controlled by either a higher or a low setting, 5 MP is the best quality, so I assume the lower quality setting is around 3, but the manual does not say. There is also no battery level indicator that I can find, which leaves you guessing as to the state of your batteries. The cam uses 8 AA batteries.

Overall, for less than $70 out the door, the new generation A5 gets the job done very well. Battery life will have to be determined, but I’m impressed so far.

Grouse

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Good to know, the prices keep coming down, which puts more cams in the woods…

Hope that is your truck Grouse?

Grouse talked me into getting one too. I bought mine at Gander and got the 2 year service plan for $10 so for $70 I got a cam that is warrantied for 2 years against just about everything except theft. Did a test in the house and it seemed to work great. It’s deployed on a food plot now. Will post pics on Monday after I let it soak for a week.

sktrwx2200 wrote:

Hope that is your truck Grouse?

No, it wasn’t my truck, but it belongs the ranch that owns the adjacent land. He’s in checking on cattle. BTW, I got about 15 pictures of a very photogenic bull.

sticker wrote:

Grouse talked me into getting one too.

Yes. And FYI, everyone, it was VERY difficult talking Sticker into buying more cams. Here’s the transcript of the conversation:

Grouse: Sticker, have you tried any of those A5 Gen 2 cams? They’re on sale at Cheapmart.

Sticker: Yeah, I bought 8 of them yesterday, I was waiting at the door when Cheapmart opened.

As you can see, I can sell ice to the Eskimos.

Grouse

I never said you twisted my arm Fine, I am going back tonight and buy another one if you are going to be that way

Hey! There’s no coordinates on those photo’s

sticker wrote:

I never said you twisted my arm Fine, I am going back tonight and buy another one if you are going to be that way.

I knew I could talk you into buying more if I tried hard enough.

super_do wrote:

Hey! There’s no coordinates on those photo’s

No, no GPS capability on this camera. I suspect your comment is partially in jest, that is a feature that is out there and is seen more and more on cams.

Two of my Bushnell Trophy Cam HD cams have GPS functionality to stamp each photo with the coordinates. Since I’m operating my cams 90% of the time in fixed locations on my property, I haven’t used the GPS features to any extent, but I can see where it would be handy for those who move cams around a lot.

Grouse

So there Grouse I got another

The first set of pics on the first one I got are good, both day and night. The cam seems to be working quite well.

sticker wrote:

So there Grouse I got another

The first set of pics on the first one I got are good, both day and night. The cam seems to be working quite well.

I didn’t go to the property this weekend, so I’ll have 2 weeks of pics on the cams when I check them next.

I’m with you, it’s kind of hard to resist these cams at $70 out the door. I was impressed by the range, my cam was picking up deer at least 30 feet away. The sharpness of the pics isn’t there compared to higher end cams, but it’s good enough for the price.

Grouse

I pulled my card again last night, just cause I was going by on the way to the stand. I seem to be getting some false triggers. Anyone else have these? It is very possible that it’s turkeys right under the cam because I do have a bunch around and have gotten some false triggers on my bushnells. I think they might be just high enough to trigger the cam, but not quite high enough to get in the picture. I think every time I have gotten the false trigger the turkeys are in the area according to other cams. Just curious if anyone has gotten this on the Moultrie A-5 gen 2

Just pulled the card yesterday on my A5 Gen 2 after 2 weeks of pictures. Had over 800 pictures and very few with nothing in them. Probably 12-15 total out of 800 pictures.

So why so many pictures, you may ask? Well, I have identified the culprit. By number at least. Good ol’ Number 199.

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Mine are still going strong on the original cheap batteries I put in them in October. They have been running non stop and still going. Pretty impressed with these low end cams battery life