I'm a few days late but I'll chime in as I've been running both cams since they were released this spring. The G42 has more LED emitters which means it throws out some additional light and will give you a longer flash range. I've had quite a few photos at some pretty long distances in bean fields that have been great. However as I transition my cameras to other food sources (apple trees, acorns) or scrapes I anticipate the need for that long range to diminish. My G30s have been performing just as well and I've been happy with their flash range in both open fields as well as in the timber. I would say overall flash range is a toss up between the two. The 42 is nice but the 30 certainly gets the job done. What I will stress is that with a standard set of Alkaline batteries your flash range is going to start to diminish as the batteries wear down. This is true for any trail camera you use them in, not just the Stealth Cams. Alkaline batteries lose their charge in a slow gradual curve so the flash will get dimmer and dimmer as time goes on. Lithium batteries will hold their charge and deliver virtually the same flash range all the way up until they give out. I know they're more expensive but Lithiums give you not just better flash range but will last longer as well. When I'm not checking my cameras very often this is a HUGE benefit. Here's a chart that illustrates how alkalines wear down compared to lithiums. This isn't from a trail camera test but you get the point. The lower the volts the shorter the flash range. As for the video size everyone is correct - they're big. Full HD video with sound takes up a ton of space. In cameras where I run video mode I typically won't use anything less than a 16 GB card. And keep in mind your batteries will run out much sooner than they will on photo mode. For me it's really a toss up between the two. I don't see the black IR being any sort of real security benefit over the standard IR if you're putting the camera up high where people (and deer) are less likely to see it. Although I will admit I do like the camo face of the 42 to the brown of the 30. For that reason alone I'd say it's worth the few extra dollars. Here are a couple pics from the G42 And a few from the G30
Nice info Justin, thanks! Just for the record...if you ever market your own brand of trail cams...I hope you label them "Zarrcams"
I have a g42. I've had it out for a coupla months. It takes great daytime pix. The pure night time pix are not impressive and I'm pretty sure I have the motion blur reduction setting enabled. this doesn't mean the night pix are not OK, they are fine... they are just not impressive. and for whatever reason, I don't even have a lot of night time pix which is even more confusing. I expect plenty of critters at night, even if it's coons, possums & armadillos. it is even working right? who knows. it does take great low light pictures. this cam is in the deep woods and never gets lots of light. the dawn and dusk pixs are good & clear. as others have said, battery life is not so great, at least using the settings I have configured. I think I'm on a 5 pic burst, 60 sec delay, full resolution. in 2 months, the standard alkaline batteries only had 20% life remaining and it has only taken about 1000 pix. I replaced with lithium batteries this past weekend. We'll see how much better they perform; I certainly expect them to be better, but we'll see.
If your G42 won't take photos at night the batteries may be too low on power. Try a fresh set of Lithium batteries and my bet is that problem clears up right away. Also, have you updated your firmware recently? I know there's been a few updates this summer and they've dramatically helped my night time image quality. If you haven't updated recently try that out and see if it helps. Last thing - when using the presets the motion blur reduction will be set to Standard despite what you have set in the menu. The only way to get it to stay on Advanced is to use the custom setting. I made the mistake of putting the motion blur reduction to Advanced and using a preset which negated that option. Personally I've been running 8 MP, 3 pic burst, 30 second timeout on my G30's this summer with the best results.
http://www.gsmoutdoors.com/downloads/56/stealth-cam-2014-products/ i run min on custom 3 picture mode/ 10 second delay/8mp and advanced blur reduction. Good to know that the presets kicks it out of blur reduction mode. And thanks for the other good info on battery's too.
Thanks for the tips, JZ. I updated the firmware when I got it (first part of July) but I have not checked since then. And I'm running in custom mode, so the motion blur setting should be sticking but I will verify. The other thing is that this cam is in a deep hollow near a river that can potentially be foggy/hazy as seen in that one night pic, but I'm having a hard time believing that there have been that few critters at night. It really only had less than 10 night pix for the last month. I'll check the FW and update next trip if there is a newer one available. Hopefully the new batteries help also.
It's a fairly simple process. 1. Download the firmware update files from the Stealth Cam website and put them on an SD card 2. Put the SD card in your camera and then turn the camera on 3. Go into the menu and select SW Upgrade From here the upgrade pretty much runs on it's own. When it's done running you want to turn the camera off, pull the battery pack out for a minute or so and then put it back in. That's about all there is to it.
Every stealth cam i have owned seemed to have crappy battery life and takes alot of white out pics, probably wouldn't recommend them to anyone
Woohoo...I received my new G42NG Stealth Cam today! I like it so far, love the case and interface...it's really similar to my Moultrie M-880's!
First Stealth Cam G42NG pics that I received on Thursday. For some reason my desktop wouldn't read the card, my laptop did. It worked fine on my desktop when I tested it so don't know what happened. After I read it on my laptop, it worked fine on my desktop...freaky.
Your tude sucks! JK Jk! Yeah, you know I love to try new cams and just new stuff all together but so far my Moultries are still my best performer all around. They take twice as good a night time pics as either of the other two brands. Out of 14 M-880's though I did get one that has always taken pink daytime pics and Moultrie basically ruined the M-880's in 2014, they were the 2013 camera of the year. I don't know what the hell the brass at Moultrie was thinking when they re-worked 2014 models but they need a kick in the sack over it....stupid.
