Ok, I've got a 35 mm cam I've been using a few years. It works. Takes pretty good pics. BUT, I am positively convinced it is spooking off the deer. I'll get a pic of them once, and that's it. Anyway, I digress. I just had my most recent roll developed and have a really, really nice buck on film. But the lighting is such that it wasn't dark enough to activate the flash, but not light enough to be good. If it would have triggered half a second sooner, I would have a great pic of that bad boy. So, it's time to go digital. I don't know didly squat about them really.....And I wish I could spend some money and get a really good one.....But facts are facts, and I just can't. I'm looking for value. I want a good camera that is affordable. If I can keep this under $150 I'll be pretty happy. I'm kind of looking at 2. First is a Moultree 4.0. I know several of ya'll use this camera, and it seems to do pretty good.....I think I would like one w/ infrared capabilities though......I don't know.....I'm gonna borrow a buddies Cuddeback for now.....But I'm in the market.... Help me out ya'll ......
Personally, I wouldn't even run a camera if I couldn't get a top notch camera. I have done it in the past, and it has led to nothing but headaches and it really was a downer. I recently tried the new Moultrie I60 and it worked great in some aspects for the two weeks that it did work. It wouldn't take color photos during daylight hours no matter where it was set up. The Cuddebacks, several other Moultries, TrailMac digitals, Stealth Cams, ect.. all didn't perform well or broke without any reason. The two worst were definetly the Stealth and Moultrie Digitals. Some may have luck with them, and they may be totally satisfied with them, but I want a camera that truly performs. I will be trying my last game camera soon, the Reconyx RC60 and I have very high hopes that this unit will perform exactly how I want it to and actually bring some joy back into using game cameras.
I have the RC60 and once in a while it will take infrared pics if the sun is behind a cloud here and there. Its only happened a few times but this camera has high quality pics so far the little I've used it. 3.1 mega pixel day and night.:d
Jeff, I am sure the camera will perform for some people, but Moultrie hasn't had the best record. Honestly, your camera isn't the norm and your pretty lucky. I have a buddy that is pretty cheap and within the past three years, he has probablly gone through more than 15 digital Moultries. They work for a little while and then just give up on him, so he gets a new one. With your unit, having it set-up over a mineral site to inventory deer really makes a big differance. I use mine alot durin the season to monitor certain trails and the slow trigger speeds on the Moultries, Stealth Cams, and TrailMac digitals made it almost pointless. The only times I had luck with these units taking pics is when they were set over scrapes and food. Steve, I am sure that all infrared cams will have a few grayscale photos during daylight, the Moultrie on the otherhand... during the bright hours of the day, I would estimate it to taking around 95-97% of the photos in the infrared mode. The only times that I could get it to consistenly take color photos during daylight hours is if it was set-up on a field edge facing the sun. I had mine on a field edge facing the west and the evening shots were in full color, morning shots were back to the grayscale. On a sidenote, two weeks from now and I will be making my trip to Cabelas to pick up the RC60.... I can't wait!
That many grayscale photo's would piss me off too during the day, not good! I have a feeling your going to like that RC60 Buck. The trigger time is nuts!! The pic quality kicks ass as well. The only thing I don't like so far is the fact that I miss the video's that I had with my no flash cudde.
Man, I just bought a new Ghost camera (by Remington) and I'm thoroughly impressed. It takes a little bit of brain power to set up the bracket, but the camera setup is simple. It has both an incadescent flash and an infrared flash. So far it's worked perfectly. I'll try to post some pictures ASAP, also all the information (date, time, temp... etc.) is shown all at once on the screen. Best of all... it retails for about $120! It is a 5.0 megapixel camera and has a pretty fast trigger speed.
Hey Dubbya, may be a non-factor, but you might want to run a virus check on the memory card and the cd that came with the camera. www.chasingame.com did some testing and research and found that alot of the Ghost cameras came with a Trojan.virus imbedded in either the cd or memory card. Wildgame Innovations and Remington both said that only the first batch came with the virus, but it never hurts to check.
WOW. Like Schultzy said, that is nuts! Not only that, but I would be irate if my computer got infected as a result of buying "THEIR" product. I wonder where they were getting there cards from?
That's one of the cams I am looking at......I'm anxious to see some pics and hear more about this virus thing...
I have the I-60 and it is taking all color in daylight and the black and white at night. IT captures many deer at night and early morning on trails or on the edges of fields. I would use the high res Still mode with three shots per detection. The video just uses up to much time and memory. It is also much better to review still shots and just flick through them one at a time. All the trail cams depend on the PIR to detect the animals and that is it. The electronics that set the sensitivity and reject false detection is the only thing that makes a trail camera work. Any camera can take a picture. I am saying you can run a camera all night and day and see everything if you want. The P.I.R. is so different in every detection device and even on the flood lights at ones home which come on when a person walks on to the property. I would rather get all the animals plus the false detections and have it all, than to not catch the deer.I put in the 4g memory and just let it fly. I believe that I.R. flash is the only way to go. The deer already notice the I.R. flash but don't run. When I was using regular Flash , all I saw was a deer and then it moving quickly away. When I went to I.R. , the deer's stay or walk slowly. The I-60 , I have has some things I don't like. A very weak strap and not a tight fit to a tree. I just put another belt on and stopped that problem. I believe the PIR looks a little too high and a little to low. This gives you a lot of useless pictures along with all the animals that come by. I get the bad with the good. The best thing about the I-60 is it works . My I-60 runs about a month on each battery change. That is when the battery drops to 1.40 volts and a new battery starts at 1.56. I would not recommend using anything less than best battery you can get for any camera. You do not want the camera electronics to be what we would call , "out of bias" just because you by cheap batteries. I have noticed you get what you pay for in these cameras. I started with the 100 dollar range and they eat batteries and stop working. These 200 or up cameras and read the reviews would be the best way to go. Try them fast and if you don't like them, then send them back. I may just be having good luck with the I-60. However , so far it is working like a fine watch. IF you get one, put a strong strap on it when you get it and don't tighten the strap too hard or the plastic holding the straps will break. This seems to be the idiot part of the I-60. Good luck. Jeff from BAMA
I have had good luck with my moultrie 3.1 but it took three of them to get there The first two didnt last long under waranty but am having very good luck with the third. absolutly do not buy a wildview. cheap is exactly what you get with that one. and did i mention its junk
If your just looking for a scouting tool then spend less if your looking for great pics then pay more.
I have one of these as well. Completely happy with it. I had 4 and now only have 3 of the previous year's Gamespy 2.0, I use them as much or more. They have SD card capabilities and run on 6 volt batteries. I know there is better out there but they get the job done. I run cameras for 6 weeks in the winter and all summer long. I really think you will be happy with the 4.0 and 100 bucks spent. If you want more after that, its only 100 bucks and you still have a good back up. I think that there is the Moultrie 4.0 level and then if you want more you need to step it up to the real expensive ones. Good luck. I can't imagine developing film and then having to scan them on to my cpu to organize them like I used to.
I've been using a friend's Cuddeback, and I'm not impressed at all. Especially for the money he shelled out on that thing. It's just not working right. We have it programmed correctly, which took a while to figure out, and it still isn't working right. He's already sent it back once, looks like it will be going back again. So, the Cudde is defintely out. I'm leaning more and more toward that moutrie.
I have nothing but good stuff to say about the I-40, I have been running it since the beginning of the year and I am really impressed with the pic's, I haven't had any issues with daytime pic's not being color yet but I only have a little over 2000 pic's from it. Here's a few pic's from different times of the day Daylight: Ironically, the hog panel is there to keep the hogs out! Night Time: Daybreak, still in IR mode: Hope it helps you out in your search....Good luck with it!!!