I too purchased some of these cams. Let me give you my two cents worth. This is the first cellular trail cam, i've owned. Let me tell you, i researched cameras before hand as well as the service. I have a sprint carrier, but my hunting companions have Verizon; i have no signal in the field and they have 1-2 bars on their cell phones - so 4G should work awesome in that area, and i verified that with the carrier before buying. Purchased 2 cams - Moultrie xv-7000i - from local supplier. Signed up for the mobile app. Let me tell you, I was overly disappointed with how little instruction there was on the cameras functionality, or even the app functionality. So i left everything pretty much set at the factory settings(motion sensor). I received a few pictures from both cameras the first night, and all throughout the week; but then at the beginning of the 2nd week it was if the flood gates opened up, and every little bit of motion captured an image. So i went back into the app (again with very little instruction on what these setting were for) changed the settings to low sensitivity; and yet, i was still getting over 200 images of the slightest movements of trees, brush, etc. So i went back into the app, and changed my plan to purchase more images, as i was going to be out of images within 2 days before the end of the cycle if i didn't. The following day was the changeover period for the monthly billing, so i upped my subscription level to almost the highest i could go on one camera, and medium high on the second camera. The camera that night sent images again at a breakneck pace, so i went in the following day and changed both cameras to Time Lapse. That night the billing cycle hit, and reloaded the max. images for the new cycle. That afternoon, Camera 1 sent out about 120 images on the time lapse, Nothing from camera 2. The following date, about 120 more images from camera 1, nothing from camera 2. the 3rd date, 120 images from camera 1, nothing from camera 2. I'm getting concerned at this point. The 4th day, nothing from either camera. 5, 6.7. 8 days later, still nothing from either camera. I contacted Moultrie customer service with questions, only to be told i needed to go to the camera and see what the physical issue is. The whole point of having these is to monitor from afar; my cameras are 4 hours away from my physical location. I asked if there was a way for the server to send a signal to restart or to force the uploads. Again, the response was that i needed to go to the physical location to check the camera and restart. Sorry folks, that's unacceptable. if you're monitoring a farm close to where you're at, okay, i can see... but the whole point of cellular trail cams is being able to put them in the field and not disturb while monitoring..... Well, the nuts and bolts of it; the cameras are on, i'm being charged $60 a month for no functionality, and no images. At the end of October 2019, i'll be able to physically get to the field where the cameras are, but right now; if you would ask me for a recommendation. I'd say HECK NO! I can't speak for other brands or manufacturers, but if this is how they work, i'll stick with the regular trail cams and stay awake all night the night before season starts going through SD cards.
Kurt, I have purchased 2 of the Moultrie cell cams and unfortunately had a similar experience. Overall, if you have good cell service (example: if you can stream youtube fairly well) then the camera should be ok for consistently uploading pics. If you have 1-2 bars on your phone then its hit or miss if the camera uploads pictures. After 3 weeks, I started to receive false triggers of the grass blowing and got hundreds of blank pictures. My recommendation is, if you place your camera near the grid, and have good cell service then the camera should work reasonably well to justify the cost. If you place the camera in a remote area, I doubt you will get good enough modem signal to send pictures consistently. Even if you have the camera placed in a good signal area, its still likely false trigger, thus eating up your data plan...which is equally frustrating.
I'm chuckling at the youtube reference, as my hunting companion last year got so bored he was playing games on the internet (son of friends of our family; granted he's a 20 year old addicted to technology).... So yes; verizon in that area is really good; otherwise he wouldn't have been able to play online games...which is why i'm so flustered as the cameras worked/connected really well for 2-3 weeks, then crapped out... logically, it doesn't make sense.... there was one camera that i was set on buying, but couldn't pull the trigger because of the pricetag...The Exodus Render 4G. I went with my second choice of the Moultries, and now i'm questioning if i should have just gone with the other and swallowed the price pill.
Depends on the service in your area. Check the providers web pages for service coverage in your hunting area. I knew I would have good service with Verizon as that’s what my co-hunters had for their cellphones and were doing great with. My in-laws had ATT cell service and was crappy in that area, so I thought I was going with a winner with Verizon.
The camera's service is not connected with your phone. Moultrie provides both an AT&T and Verizon camera for coverage purposes. You download an App on your phone, and you can control camera from there. It does not matter what cell service you have.
