Looking for trail camera recommendations

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  • Foohaus

    Member
    Nov 22, 2020
    67
    Good morning all. We recently purchased some land a few hours away, and I’m looking for a way to be able to monitor it both for human trespassers and for game.

    Constraints: There’s ok cell service, but no power or landline service (yet)

    I don’t need real-time monitoring, so I was thinking that trail cams might be a good option. Downloading the pictures/video every few weeks when we go out should suit our purposes while the site is undeveloped. We’ll need a real system once there’s a house and stuff, but that’s down the road.

    Wondering if anybody has any specific product recommendations or even just general lessons learned about non-networked trail cams.

    Alternatively, if anybody has any experience with solar or battery powered systems that transmit via cell service, that would be usedul, too.

    Thanks in advance.
     

    mdunphyjr

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 25, 2010
    1,123
    North point / Dundalk
    I used SPYPOINT with success for some years. It's a cell based trail camera. How well those types of cams work really depend on how strong of a cell signal you can obtain.
     

    KRC

    Active Member
    Sep 30, 2018
    615
    Cecil County MD
    I have used several different brands and models of trailcams for the last 10 years. By far the longest lasting and most rugged have been Bushnell. These have been Trophy Cam, Trophy Cam HD's and Aggressor models and I currently am running seven of them. For each trail camera operated I buy two sets of rechargeable batteries, two SD cards, one metal security box and one padlock (keyed alike to other camera box locks where possible). When I visit each camera I can simply replace the SD card and batteries without missing any operational time. During the coldest parts of winter, I sometimes use non-rechargable Lithium Energizers in critical area cams, as they work well in the cold.
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,062
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    I like the moultires because they have power port to run them off 12v batteries. I make battery boxes and stick a 12v 7ah SLA batteyr on it. You get them at the battery store for $15 -17 and they last 5 years or more and run for months on end without having to recharge. Show up and sway 8gb card out. I have A20's A30's and they work just fine. Buy the lower end MP cameras. They charge too much for those high mega pixel cameras. They are playing games on MP counts as I work with security cameras and 2MP camera cost more than the highest Game cameras.

    My battery boxes
    https://archeryrob.wordpress.com/2019/07/31/game-camera-external-battery-box/

    Stake mounts for when you don;t have a tree where you need it. We stopped putting them on trees after using these. Use BRASS bolts if you copy this. We got one camera rusted to a steel bolt on the first one I made. Never to come off again.
    https://archeryrob.wordpress.com/2019/07/28/game-camera-post-mount/
     

    KRC

    Active Member
    Sep 30, 2018
    615
    Cecil County MD
    I have used external 12V "wheelchair" batteries on all different brands of cams, as they all seem to have the external ports for the use of solar chargers that can be used for external batteries. I use Walmart/Tupperware containers for the batteries (spray painted to match tree trunks). The Bushnell's batteries typically last for many months, often longer. My Moultrie Panoramic 150's use C cells and are battery hogs. They pretty much have to have an external 12V battery, but I think that is just that particular model with the rotating camera.
     

    MunkMaster

    Active Member
    Aug 9, 2013
    219
    Eastern Shore
    I have 2 Covert cameras trail cams that are cell based that send pictures right away to an app or your can check them online. They are both really good cams. They are a bit pricey but the one place I hunt isn't close so it's a necessity. I have a Stealth cam that s meh, it it zoomed in way to far. I also have a Bushnell that I've had for years that's good and still running strong
     

    fscwi

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 21, 2012
    1,536
    I've had a Tactacam Reveal cell service cam at my place for about 6 months. I got it for $99 to give it a try. They are hard to find now and out of stock at most places when I have checked. I have since seen them priced at up to $150 on ebay by sellers taking advantage of the low supply. So far its been working fine, picture quality OK not great but you get what you pay for when it comes to trailcams.
     

    Foohaus

    Member
    Nov 22, 2020
    67
    Thanks for all the helpful replies! I decided to go with a SpyPoint Link Micro. I didn’t realize that there were entry-level cell-enabled cameras that weren’t prohibitively expensive. The Link Micro seemed like a good, reasonably priced starter—not a lot of advanced features, but easy setup and ok reliability.

    I also liked that they the transfer plan defaults to a 100 picture free plan of you don’t renew.

    Setup was dead simple; had it going and transmitting to my phone in less than 5 minutes. I put it in the back yard to test it out and play with the settings. Managed to capture a fox and a doe last night, right here in the burbs. Also got a great glamor shot of my dog’s butt this morning as she walked by the camera.

    We’ll see how it works when I get it in place out on the land.

    Thanks again for all the help!
     

    MunkMaster

    Active Member
    Aug 9, 2013
    219
    Eastern Shore
    Thanks for all the helpful replies! I decided to go with a SpyPoint Link Micro. I didn’t realize that there were entry-level cell-enabled cameras that weren’t prohibitively expensive. The Link Micro seemed like a good, reasonably priced starter—not a lot of advanced features, but easy setup and ok reliability.

    I also liked that they the transfer plan defaults to a 100 picture free plan of you don’t renew.

    Setup was dead simple; had it going and transmitting to my phone in less than 5 minutes. I put it in the back yard to test it out and play with the settings. Managed to capture a fox and a doe last night, right here in the burbs. Also got a great glamor shot of my dog’s butt this morning as she walked by the camera.

    We’ll see how it works when I get it in place out on the land.

    Thanks again for all the help!

    Let us know how it works out for you.
     

    StantonCree

    Watch your beer
    Jan 23, 2011
    23,932
    I don’t use cell or WiFi cameras. It’s not cost effective or time effective for me. I have about 120 cameras now.

    I probably won’t be sourcing anything wild innovations ever again. I’ve bought 3 styles.....junk.

    Browning is the gold standard for me. I have cameras that are 5 years old in constant use 24/7 in a city setting.

    I also love primos.
     

    Foohaus

    Member
    Nov 22, 2020
    67
    I’ve been testing the cameras in my suburban backyard for a few weeks now. We’ve gotten some foxes and does, and a healthy collection of photos of my dog’s butt.

    Still starting to work out the right sensitivity and trigger speed settings. The sample size has been too low to really get good comparisons between results at various combinations of settings.

    Putting them up on our land this weekend; I’ll let you know how it goes.
     

    Foohaus

    Member
    Nov 22, 2020
    67
    UPDATE:

    Drove out to WV this past weekend to putter around the property and put up the trail cams. I found two good spots along an old logging road that bisects the property that had deer, rabbit, and squirrel tracks—snow cover made it pretty easy to find the tracks.

    Got both cameras installed in lock boxes and they *appeared* to acquire signals, but wouldn’t transmit. One camera showed up as having connected, no photos got sent. Left them overnight and came back Sunday.

    I pulled the cards, and they were taking pics. The cell connection logs I pulled off the cards seemed to show them connecting, but nothing was coming through. I did get some good shots of a couple whitetail does, so at least it wasn’t a total zero.

    Updated the firmware on both cameras, formatted the SD cards, and put in brand new batteries. Long call with SpyPoint tech support....got the 2nd camera to connect, and the company pushed it some firmware update that isn’t available from the website.

    48 hours later, still no transmissions, and the cameras haven’t connected again.

    Next steps: another tech support call; trying a $15 external antenna from Amazon (appears to be a no-name Chinese version of the $90 SpyPoint antenna, which is also made in China, probably at the same factory).

    Fingers crossed.
     

    MunkMaster

    Active Member
    Aug 9, 2013
    219
    Eastern Shore
    UPDATE:

    Fingers crossed.

    Do those cams show how much signal you're getting? The ones I have (covert) shows bars like a cell phone. I hope spypoint does something for you. If the external antenna doesn't work I would bring it to your house or a known good cell location near your house for a week while you talk to customer service. The worst is trying to do this during deer season.
     

    Foohaus

    Member
    Nov 22, 2020
    67
    The cameras only have a single “status” light that shows the signal strength as red/orange/green. You can get more detailed status from the app or the website, but only if they connect and transmit.

    Also, the red and orange are virtually indistinguishable, which is a nice bonus.
     

    Foohaus

    Member
    Nov 22, 2020
    67
    Update: still no joy

    So, a while back I bought an external antenna for like $15 on Amazon. Appears virtually identical to the one SPYPOINT sells for $90.

    Installed it and the camera connected…once. When it did, it showed 25% cell signal strength. It never connected successfully again.

    I’m starting to think that these cameras are just kind of crappy, which isn’t super shocking given the price point vs claimed features.

    I’m going to bring them home and give customer service another whack at sorting them out, but I think the likely end result is going to be just resigning myself to the fact that the cell functionality isn’t going to work on our land.
     

    JWBanshee

    Active Member
    Jul 1, 2009
    399
    Spartan camera work

    I had spypoint they worked , then stopped working, gave them away. I switched to spartan cameras , they work awesome in in questionable cell service , Battery like is great, , you can add to your cell service for 5 bucks a month.
     

    Foohaus

    Member
    Nov 22, 2020
    67
    Thanks for the recommendation. I may check one of those out next. I only really *need* cell transmission for the camera that looks at the driveway, so maybe I’ll get one of these and give it a go. Just move that SPYPOINT and consider it a “dumb” cam that I just need to go pull the card on periodically. Either that or put them on Craigslist.
     

    KRC

    Active Member
    Sep 30, 2018
    615
    Cecil County MD
    If where you want to place the camera to monitor your driveway is close to your house (80-100') you should be able to use a Blink camera and your existing WiFi/internet connection rather than having to pay for an additional cell service. Distance from your wifi router can be increased with the use of an indoor or ourdoor wifi extender. Blink images are then available wherever you have internet access (with the correct device), and are stored in the cloud.
     

    StantonCree

    Watch your beer
    Jan 23, 2011
    23,932
    I had spypoint they worked , then stopped working, gave them away. I switched to spartan cameras , they work awesome in in questionable cell service , Battery like is great, , you can add to your cell service for 5 bucks a month.

    We’re your spypoints the ones with the solar panel that charged a lithium battery?
     

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