I use a stealth cam, G42-NG and I love it. I've barely ever had problems with it. I also have a stealth cam p14. The p14 isn't amazing, but it gets the job done for a good price.
It's a pretty good time to be a trail camera enthusiast! Lots of really good cameras out there from cheap to fair to moderately expensive to stupid expensive. I've gotten by pretty good with Moultries (though the company sucks now), Stealth cams G42ng (current favorite), and primos truth cam (Proof 01-02-03). I really liked the Primos Proof cam I had but gave it to my brother in law as a birthday gift...I'd buy another in a heartbeat. Cams I had and didn't like were primos truthcam 35, bushnell trophy cam (older models sucked eggs), Moultrie newer version M-880 (2014). I'd like to try some new stealth cams, browning strike force and spypoints. Anyone have any experience with a site called "cheaper than dirt"? They have some insane prices on trail cams.
I have a Browning strike force elite hd, which reliability wise, is my current favorite. It also takes great pictures. I also have a stealth cam g42ng which takes great pictures, but can glitch a bit in colder weather when it has lower than maybe 50% alkaline batt life. I find that it acts like the selector switch isn't working. If I move it to the "test" position, and then back to my custom setting , it seems to work again. Have owned many of the old school Stealth cams over the years and reliability wise they are light years better than they were. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
My $0.02 on what I have owned. Stealth G30: Takes great pics when the lighting is right. Struggles to light the foreground if you have too much sky in the frame because it sets the light metering for the sky. Battery life is decent. For $70-80 on amazon or ebay right now they are hard to beat. Stealth Px14 is junk though. Pictures look like water color paintings. Covert: Love the battery life and over all picture quality of my coverts. MPe6 is a workhorse for $75 if you can find them that cheap. I got a couple for $54 last year new. Moultrie: Havent seen a good picture out of a Moultrie camera since 2013 models. They changed something in 2014 and they just haven't been the same. I do own like 8 or 9 of them but most are older. If you can find an M-80 that's new or refurbished grab it. Spartan: I have 2 GoCams... way out of the price range your talking about but the non cellular Spartans are around $120ish. The GoCams can take great pictures with the right lighting. Night time IR photos are a tad grainy for my liking but still good. Scoutguard: If you can find an SG-565 8m for around $100 you will get some great night pictures for a good price. THe newer 12mp cameras I have heard are not as good. Warning though my two 565's wont fire the flash when its below about 20 degrees. Bushnell: I picked up 3 Bushnell's this year. Never like their pictures so I had been holding out. Got grey looking cam for $19.99. It was on sale from $114 so that's just a deal no matter what kind of pictures it takes. They are ok but not that great. I also picked up a couple NV infrared game cameras that were also selling for over $100 and I got them for $39.99. For that price those cameras rock. Pictures are super sharp and clear. Lighting is good and color is great. Starting to become a bit of a bushnell fan. Cuddeback: Had an Attack White flash and it didn't even make it a whole year before the flash bulb burnt out so I'm done with them. Mainly because I try to keep all my cameras below $100 unless its a cell cam. The only pictures I like out of Cuddeback right now are the C1 color photos but I am not going to pay $200 for a non cell cam. Primos: Had a Truth Cam ultra 55 I believe. It took pretty solid pictures for 3.5 months it worked. After that it would eat a set of batteries in less than an hour. I haven't seen any pictures out of their newer cameras that have made me want to buy another yet.
I would suggest getting the camofire app and wait until G30s or G42/45s go on sale or refurbished, you could get 3 great cameras for 200 bucks. Ive done it many times never had a problem. Once a refurbished G42 came with a cracked PIR lense, I emailed Stealth Cam (GSM) and got a RMA number so I sent it in and they gave me a brand new G45. Definitely love the stealth cams and are only behind the reconyx we have by a littel bit and gaining.
Here is my personal thoughts and I am sure some people disagree but this is what I think of the cameras that I have tried and the brands I have not. I found cameras that just work (Stealth Cam, Reconyx) and I am to the point where I dont want to be "testing" with my own money. To each their own I don't knock anyone if they think differently. Primos 46 Ultra HD - Solid camera, great battery life great day pics, night pics can be blurry if deer are walking decent Primos Bullet 02 - Same as above, with a few IR lense hiccups Stealth RX24 - Grainy but good battery life and detection circuit. G30s, - grainy night pics ocasionally but great day pics and decent battery/detection G42s - One baby step above the 30s G45s - to new to tell GXW Wireless G45 - to new to tell Wild game innovation (All Mdoels) - garbage. I wouldn't buy one for 20 bucks Wildview Xtreme 2 (Predecessor to Stealth Cam) 50/50 half of them are kick ass, half of them are grainy as all get out. Old cameras not in production anymore Primos 35 Truth Cam - Great cameras, tanks of a build. Both are retired and buried. <--- these started us into trail cams besides one old film camera. Brands I would stay away from: Moultrie - heard enough bad things to make me shaky on them. No personal experience Wild Game Innovations - Personal Experience. Bad Detection Circtuit, horrible functionality, bad battery life, horrible range. enough said Simmons - Heard some stuff that made me want to stay away. No personal Experience Cuddeback - Same Spypoint - Same HCO - HC who? Brands I am interested in but haven't tried: Browning Covert Exodus USA Like my post earlier, I would buy 3 refurbed G30s or G42s for $200 than one new cam. If you are dead set on a new cam, I would suggest a G series Stealth Cam. the P series I believe are low quality. Not sure on the RX series, but my 24 is grainy,. maybe the 36 is better. Also the RX is 6 AA not 8. Per quality picture, the Reconyx is kicking major ass. I think we have broke 100k pictures on this unit. $500/100k = $.005/picture $500/8 years = $62.50/ year and going strong. IMO If you can stomach it, buy a reconyx, if you can't buy 3 stealth cams for your $200 budget
Just bought two browning strike force pro HD from trail cam pro. One of them was broken right out of the box. They arrived on thurs.and I was going to take them to my camp a 5 hr. drive away on fri. and set them up to start scouting for me. I had written a nasty Email to trailcampro about my situation with the brand new broken cam. Fri morning I rec. an email asking how they could help resolve the situation. They offered to overnight another cam out to my camp. Problem was not only does camp not have an address there isn't even any power on the rd. its on. We spoke on the phone and then was offered to have the new cam delivered to a UPS station in the closest town to me near my camp. I ended up not accepting that offer cuz it was too much for a 1.5 day trip, but I will say they bent over backwards to try to remedy the situation. A new cam is supposed to be on its way to my house. I'll let you know if this story has a happy ending. Or should I say as happy of an ending as it can have. I was counting on placing those cams this wk.end as I can't get back there now for 6 to 8 more wks do to other commitments.
I see that you recently purchased a stealth Cam GXW Wireless. I too recently purchased the same camera. I have had it out for approx. 30 days and so far I'm pretty pleased with it. I purchased it because I acquired an out of state property that is about 4hrs away. So obviously I won't be able to scout as thoroughly as I would a closer spot. My concern is the battery life. I plan on putting it on the out of state property around August, so I'm hoping to get at least 3 months out of it. Let me know how yours is progressing once you get it in the field. Blessings..........Pastorjim
I will be putting lithiums in it and putting it on a trail so that should help with total picture count, and thus battery life. I could see this camera dying fast if it were over a mineral site or food plot! Also, I have heard if you do the batch upload instead of instant upload that helps with battery life.
I have used and owned most brands out there. For the $ I have always felt that Covert had the best all around cameras out there. Reconyx are top notch, but at $600 a pop for their XR6 model they really aren't feasible for most guys to have more than 1. I have recently become very impressed with Radix cameras. They are a brand new company out of Iowa. If you compare specs side by side, they are a camera comparable to a Reconyx with a $159.00 price tag. They are super small too, which I like...they are harder to spot. I am still testing my first batch right now, so I can't comment first hand on battery life, but the company claims 20,000+ pictures on 4 (yes 4) Lithium AA batteries. Thus far what I can say is the image quality is spectacular. clearest pictures I have ever gotten out of a camera. They have pretty much every feature of a Reconyx (1080p video w/ sound, codeloc protection, burst mode, time lapse) with better picture quality (12mp). I can say this with certainty because I do own Reconyx cameras as well.
That Radix cam and those pics look impressive. With the (15% off) code they have now I have one on the way will be interesting to see how it does!
I'm not disagreeing with you that Radix may be better than reconyx, but just cause they have all the same features on paper does not make then eqyuivelant to reconyx. Reconyx are more expensive because they probably use higher quality materials like a PCB with a high Tg to reduce expansion and better solder joint processes. I would love to see a side by side comparison of a new Reconyx vs the new radix and see which camera pics up the most motions, (actual deer, not wind) and which one is running better after 5 continuous years in the field. Maybe someday when I am rich I will buy one of each top brand camera and put them on the same tree at the same time so everything is equal and do a true side by side comparison!
The cost difference comes from manufacturing. Reconyx are made in USA. Radix are made oversees. Plus the micro size uses less material. Reconyx have proven their reliability for years. I haven't had an issue with any of mine. It will take time to test the reliability of the Radix cams. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
But with less size the PCBA cost will go up, or they will lose functionality, or more likely, they are using cheaper components and more basic circuits to fit them all in there. I don't see the need for trail cams to get smaller. I love the size of the G42s Sent from my SM-G930V using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
heres another guy for Radix.. love the fact that its almost half the size of iphone 7 and can literally fit several in your pockets if you are taking them deep into the timber. That and previously mentioned they only take 4 batterys... batterys by far are my biggest trail cam expense.
I think the Spartan's which are part of HCO are a darn good camera myself. Customer service is pretty good too.
