Well, we here at Gear Freak wanted to know....so be bought a bunch of them and tested them out. Moultrie, Reconyx, Stealthcam, Primo's, Bushnell, Tasco, Spypoint, and yes of course Cuddeback. If you are in the market for a new camera, don't spend that money until you watch our review on the cameras and see which camera actually caught what, and how they compared to each other. Check out the YouTube video by clicking here, or search Gear Freak on Youtube. Good Luck this season.
Ha. Yeah, went a little overboard. Think I will keep it to one post under the Gear Section from now on.
Missed a few good cams with that test and there is a big difference between model series in various companies - in both performance and who makes them for the distributer(as bolymedia makes cams for covert and scoutgaurd - other models from covert are made by a different manufacturer...same with WGI).
Something like that. They also didn't have any reference to battery life or durability on the performance side of things. One other important issue they missed is CUSTOMER SERVICE(Covert, Reconyx, Spypoint, and WGI all have it - some others don't and Bushnell is getting better). They should've done a little background check before choosing the cams. One to two hours on chasingame and they would have eliminated 5 of the cameras they tested and might have included a couple that cost around 130$ and perform better than the 200$ and up cams. Even if I wasn't a homebrewer I wouldn't have even looked at the Moultrie or WGI model they tested(couple different models yes). I wouldn't have considered the Stealthcam, Cuddeback or Primos contenders after the last couple years crops from them...there are reviews out there on the issues already anyway. The Reconyx they tested is far from the best performer put out by that company and they will take care of you after the warranty is up. But with limited resources come limited tests with limited results
I just hope no one takes the results seriously and gets a below average cam because these guys said to.
Well thanks for all the comments. Like I stated in the video, it is almost impossible for us to test all the camera's out there on the market. Toward the end of testing Primo's released two new cam's that may be or may not be much better than their Blackout Truth Cam. We tried to find the cameras that the majority of the people had access to that is why we choose the camera's we did because they are carried by some major retailers. DLC Covert is not carried by Cabela's, Sportsmans, Bass Pro as far as we can tell from a quick web search. Not saying they are the outdoor authority's, but they do reach a ton of people. Battery life was not included because most of these camera's are claiming to have a 1 year battery life. Reliability can be such a general topic, are we talking about how long the camera lasts? Is it reliable in catching photo's, reliable in the rain?? Ton of variable we can't cover. Most importantly we don't test only trail cameras. I really like Chasingame.com for trail cam reviews, trailcampro.com is good too, but I am a little sketchy because they are selling trail cams, and not sure if they have some ulterior motives. Also on their Reconyx review they said it had no blur on the pictures. We couldn't get it to take a clean picture, and Reconyx even told us that it was an issue. Bottom line is that if you are using a camera you like, then keep with it man. We just want to test some hunting gear so that someone can make a better decision when they purchase a unit. We tested archery targets, and are going to try some other things. But overall it gets people talking, and if we do another review next year we like to know some other cams we can try. Like the DLC Covert or another one mentioned is the Little Acorn. But we expected to get nailed for not testing someone's favorite. Just like on the Archery Target Review, some guy who makes archery targets in his back yard got all torn up that we didn't test his......that we had never heard of. But he offered us a free target to test, so if DLC Covert wants to send us a camera, we will test it and send it back too if they want. Then if they rock, we will amend our video. If it doesn't hold water....we will give our honest opinion as well. Anyway guys, give us ideas. We all have normal jobs, with family's and love to do what you do...hunt. Trying to give everyone options, so any ideas you have are appreciated. Thanks, and have a great season...good luck this year.
Why should Covert send you a camera to test? There has to be a benefit to a company giving free product away. Did all the other companies that you tested send you free cameras? The only way you could get a years battery life from a cuddeback is if you left it turned off the whole year!!!
Like I said, send it to me and I will send it back. We did an unbiased test. Bushnell, Primo's, Cuddeback.....we don't get a check from any of them if we talk up their cameras. Unlike some who may have "DLC Covert Dealer" under their postings. From the reviews I have read, DLC Covert is an average camera. They have con's about the flash distance and trigger distance at 55 feet. Bottom line is that we are just trying to help some make an informed decision. Now they know about the DLC and can do further research.
I dont have the cameras even on my site any longer, I only sell them to friends to save them some $. I didnt say they were the best cameras either, I said you didnt test them. Since I dont work for them, I sure am not sending you a camera to test. Did any other company send you a camera to test? If you are going to post that you revieved cameras so people are going to be able to make an informed decision on buying a camera, maybe you should test all aspects of the camera, not just a few things.
