Advice

[EskimoBlueDay]

So far I've ordered 4 trailcams from Amazon and returned them all. In the past I had a Bushnell Trophy Agressor that is discontinued. I dropped it and broke it. But it worked perfectly before that. Only 12 MP and 720p but took great night video. The one's I tried from Amazon were rated highly in non-Amazon on-line reviews (like "Top 10 trailcams for 2020"). Amazon reviews had fairly high numbers of returns, DOA, etc.

The amazon one's I tried are:
Meidase Trail Camera 16MP 1080P
Bushnell Trophy Cam Trail Camera, Brown (Renewed)
Bushnell Trophy Cam Trail Camera, Brown
TOGUARD Trail Camera 20MP 1080P

Lots of false positives during daytime (I can live with that) but night video was terrible on all these. Things like only a small area covered by IR flash, only one side of area illuminated, terribly grainy, and almost totally black. Also, they all seemed to burn through high quality lithium batteries in a very short time - weeks and even days.

I just want a camera that has a pretty good trigger speed, has a pretty good recovery speed, and takes good clear night video and doesn't need new batteries every few days. Does such a camera exist at a reasonable price? If so what is it? Would buying from somewhere not Amazon make a difference (Are the units they sell seconds or so called renewed?). Would it make sense to find an old model same as the one I had on Ebay? I'm very frustrated. I'd appreciate any and all advice.

 

[Deerhead]

I have been using the Browning Strike Force for several years. I have been very happy with this trail camera. The picture quality (day & night), trigger speed, reliability, battery life, cost of unit,... The past couple of years I have been running four cameras and they all are working fine. Except for the one camera I dropped on my concrete floor. That was my fault and not the camera manufactures.

I am now waiting for their cell plan to lower in cost so I can afford it. But unit then I will swap SD cards.

 

[EskimoBlueDay]

I ordered a new Browning Strike Force Gen 5. All the specs look good. Shipped 2-5 business days. I'll get it out as soon as it arrives and report back once it has a few days in the field.

Also, I didn't order from Amazon. Got it from Factory Outlet Stores LLC. Hope I have better luck with them than I did(n't) with Amazon.

 

[bfriendly]

Unless you want a viewing screen or pics sent to your phone, I’d just go get one off the shelf at Walmart. Folks here will swear by the WG cams and I’ve had good luck with the tasco which is under $40. I buy everything off eBay and Amazon I can find, but Have had better luck with Wally World cams.

 

[EskimoBlueDay]

Already ordered before your post. If this one doesn't work out and gets returned I'll give your advice a try.

 

[splatek]

Since I hang mostly in public land areas tasco is the choice. Already lost two to sticky fingered folks.
Can’t justify spending more than a few bucks when things go missing like that.

 

[Anthony61]

I have always wondered what "false triggers" are. If a user mounts a camera on a skinny tree and the wind blows, resulting in motion photos, I assume people call these false triggers. This is not a camera problem and not a reason to blame the camera. Its doing its job.

Now, if you arm a camera place it on the floor in the back of your closet facing a wall, close the door for two days and come back to find it has take 1000 photos... these are false triggers and what I would call run-away. It is a malfunction and warrants a return.

I just see that terminology used a lot and I see nothing wrong with false triggers. It means the camera is moving or brush and vagetation in front of the camera. this is a user error, not a malfunction. IMO.

 

[XIronheadX]

Infrared says false triggers are temp difference changes. Bright sunny spots on objects on a calm day, or shadows across parts of the detection zone with sun angles. When it gets to be more than a few, I guess it's hypersensitive, or the PIR sensitivity needs adjustment. Outside of that...who knows.

 

[Anthony61]

Yes I did not mention those but I am aware of those too. Hyper sensitivity would be more towards malfunction but I do believe a lot of people would call limbs blowing and triggering a false positive.

Hypersensitivity, can be a one off issue -or- a design flaw. It is a resistor value. A bad resistor can cause a single unit to have or the board designer can choose a value such that all units have it. Any manufacturer can get one bad resistor in a 10k box of them. The best route is to give that manufacturer another shot if you get it replaced. If the second one does it then its likely a design flaw.

I used to see a lot of run away, especially with Bushnell Trophy Cam in the early days. It was not a one off but a design flaw and they had to order more units from China to replace the poorly designed ones. Those were the run-away camera days.