Which Trail Cam?

[Stalker62]

I was recently lent a trail camera, in order to see if a Badger sett on the ground I Keeper, was "live".

It turns out it was (see thread "Badgers") and this has opened up a whole new area of interest for me.

Whilst testing the camera in my back garden - it picked up a fox, which was a treat.

When deployed at the farm, it picked up me, (loads of times ), badgers and deer.

I have now decided I should like to buy one. A quick look on the titernet and they seem to range from £40 - £250.

Not being very IT literate. What are peoples' view, experiences or recommendations.

As always, thanks awfully in advance.

 

[Andyquadra]

Depending on where you are going to put it, one that you don't mind having stolen

 

[Stalker62]

Depending on where you are going to put it, one that you don't mind having stolen

Yes that thought is fairly uppermost.

 

[Rhodesianjess]

Estate bought me Victure trail cameras. Dead easy to set,good pictures night and day, screen to run through what has been captured so you can save or delete.
My IT skills are rivalled by my labradors so really easy to use about £70 including batteries a pop I think.

 

[75]

I've been through similar - here's my thoughts...

There are loads of websites / reviews suggesting a particular model is best - they're all much of a muchness at each price point. Image quality is ok, but don't expect works of art (see the trailcams pictures thread in Off Topic for lots of examples).

3 types:
1. Traditional card - images saved to memory card and you need to plug the card into your PC to download them
2. Bluetooth - usually have memory card as well but allows you to download images straight to your phone in the field
3. Cellular - sends images via a 4G network to your phone / email

I started with Crenova from Amazon in £40-60 range). They had a 2 year warranty and lasted between 6-18 months being left out permanently. Battery life was good, image quality was very good too. I think I paid for 2 initially and have had a total of about 6 due to warranty replacements (having to send the broken one back each time). Amazon never queried and was refunded / replaced each time.

I got a bit fed up when the last one failed just outside warranty and bought a couple of Browning ones. Image quality is very average compared to the Crenova ones - good enough for identification but they cost well over £100 each. However, they have lasted much longer and batteries seem to last forever in them - way better than Crenova.

Both the above options use SD or micro-SD cards and I have a couple on the go for each camera so I just exchange the card when I'm out and sort images later.

I recently tried to get one of the Spypoint Cell link connections that sends images from a normal trailcam to your mobile. I ordered it from Amazon, turned up from the US and basically couldn't get it to connect to a network so sent it straight back. I'm toying with buying a proper cellular one (camera that sends images to your phone) as I've got a bit of ground where the deer are very transient and would be good to know in advance if they are broadly around before I make 2hr round trip. Haven't bitten the bullet yet as they aren't cheap.

 

[Stalker62]

I'm toying with buying a proper cellular one (camera that sends images to your phone) as I've got a bit of ground where the deer are very transient and would be good to know in advance if they are broadly around before I make 2hr round trip.

Thank you for taking the trouble to post a very compressive reply.

The "proper cellular" ones sound ideal for the circumstances which you have outlined - the ability to 'remote recce'.

No such need in my case. I am just curious to see what is out there when I am not.

Also, if I bought an "all singing all dancing' version there would inevitably be consequences.

I would not be able to work it. It would be stolen on its first deployment. I would weep for weeks as a result.

 

[willie_gunn]

I have a variety of trail cams, from an original Spypoint to more modern Apeman and Ltl Acorns.

After my first experience of a trail cam being vandalised I've tended to opt for secondhand Ltl Acorns sourced from eBay. The quality of photos is pretty good, and the cameras themselves are robust.

For new I've tended to go for the Apeman cameras on Amazon (I have an H68 and an H70), but they don't seem to be stocking them at the moment.

 

[sundog]

I started off a couple of years ago with an Apeman for £40 and it did the job it was designed for but I was always disappointed by the picture quality. It was a 16 mp but recently I bought a toguard camera with 30 mp and the quality is much better obviously as it's double the pixels and three times the price at £120. It's nicer to have nicer pictures.
I've posted some pictures in the trail cam thread

 

[fizzbangwhallop]

I bought a 30mp Victure from Amazon a few months ago but the pir’s were rubbish…side by side to an old Spypoint it picked up way, way less movement.

So, it went back and I bought one of these from fleabay….so far so good. Just wish they had a bit more magnification on them.

4K WiFi Wildlife Trail Camera 30MP Bluetooth Hunting Game Cam SONY Night Vision | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 4K WiFi Wildlife Trail Camera 30MP Bluetooth Hunting Game Cam SONY Night Vision at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products!

www.ebay.co.uk

cheers

fizz

 

[Suilven]

Trail cams were a lockdown project for me. Started with a Victure which I found to be robust and simple to use. This was a present but I think was about £40 from Amazon.

Moved to Campark Trail Cameras. These are a definite upgrade to the Victure. Image quality is great and almost as simple to use. I have the T85 and T86 models (same camera/different camo casing). You can download the images straight to your phone via the Campark app which seems to work well.

These are £60 to £70, used to get them from Amazon but they seems to not be available on there, last I got from ebay. Well worth the upgrade from the Victure and I can't see how you could get better pictures.

 

[Tim.243]

Buy 2 as I often set them both on one trail also as can happen you do nothing wrong in setting it but it fails to trigger so 50% redundancy or 100 if you mess both up...

I use stakes around 2ft they have a bolt welded onto the end which will thread into the brass thread set in the body.

Also I have a tree fixture which is very good as it has a self tapping thread to you can wind that into a fence post then set the unit on top of the other threaded end. (it looks a bit like a starting handle profile)

One good tip is to check if you fit a low set up or tree set up what happens is you walk in set the unit "looks good" then the cover slowly springs back up or across.

Med settings and don't set any zoom features as 1 leaf will give you 4000 pictures.

They are all made in China so 60/70 quid ones work fine.

@Stalker1962

What every happens it has happened to most of us who use them!!

 

[sako751sg]

Have had loads of makes through the years but now i've about 20 Toguards in different models and have been superb.Oldest are about 3 years old and still going strong but it is worth putting a lid of a kind over them to keep them out of the worst of the rain.I just nail a square of ply over them and that works fine.

Buy them all from eBay and get some great deals at times,and bought a 30mp Toguard for £55 and 3x20mp ones for £117 about a month ago which is great value.

 

[Feugh]

I ended up getting eBay specials at less than 25 quid. The picture quality is not superb but it is also not too bad and perfectly good for recognising stuff. At 25 quid including an SD card I won’t get too upset if one is nicked.
I also bought a battery charger and 8 long life Duracell rechargeable batteries. That has probably saved the price of the cameras in disposable batteries.

 

[willowbank]

Little Acorn 5210a with a steel security box from Alan at Pakatak, bought another 2 cameras from him recently £97 each
Now run 16 of these, oldest being upwards of 5 yrs old running 24/7/365, not joking.

Have learned a lot along the way and can thoroughly recommend these as being up to the job if protected in the box.

Willowbank

 

[angusb1]

I bought a 30mp Victure from Amazon a few months ago but the pir’s were rubbish…side by side to an old Spypoint it picked up way, way less movement.

I'd agree with this. I bought this Victure WiFi Wildlife Camera 30MP 1296P Night Vision Motion Activated with IP66 Waterproof and 120° Detection Angel Design Trail Game Camera and it fails to take photos of stuff a lot of the time. The dog walks past it and it doesn't take photos. Definitely wouldn't recommend it

 

[stalker.308]

I've been through similar - here's my thoughts...

There are loads of websites / reviews suggesting a particular model is best - they're all much of a muchness at each price point. Image quality is ok, but don't expect works of art (see the trailcams pictures thread in Off Topic for lots of examples).

3 types:
1. Traditional card - images saved to memory card and you need to plug the card into your PC to download them
2. Bluetooth - usually have memory card as well but allows you to download images straight to your phone in the field
3. Cellular - sends images via a 4G network to your phone / email

I started with Crenova from Amazon in £40-60 range). They had a 2 year warranty and lasted between 6-18 months being left out permanently. Battery life was good, image quality was very good too. I think I paid for 2 initially and have had a total of about 6 due to warranty replacements (having to send the broken one back each time). Amazon never queried and was refunded / replaced each time.

I got a bit fed up when the last one failed just outside warranty and bought a couple of Browning ones. Image quality is very average compared to the Crenova ones - good enough for identification but they cost well over £100 each. However, they have lasted much longer and batteries seem to last forever in them - way better than Crenova.

Both the above options use SD or micro-SD cards and I have a couple on the go for each camera so I just exchange the card when I'm out and sort images later.

I recently tried to get one of the Spypoint Cell link connections that sends images from a normal trailcam to your mobile. I ordered it from Amazon, turned up from the US and basically couldn't get it to connect to a network so sent it straight back. I'm toying with buying a proper cellular one (camera that sends images to your phone) as I've got a bit of ground where the deer are very transient and would be good to know in advance if they are broadly around before I make 2hr round trip. Haven't bitten the bullet yet as they aren't cheap.

If the spypoint came from America, it was destined to fail as they come with a sim card from the country of origin so you have to buy a British one that has a sim card that will work when it arrives. Marvellous bit of kit, especially as no monthly fees whatsoever, but 100 free photos- what's not to like.

 

[Overlay]

I have a variety of trail cams, from an original Spypoint to more modern Apeman and Ltl Acorns.

After my first experience of a trail cam being vandalised I've tended to opt for secondhand Ltl Acorns sourced from eBay. The quality of photos is pretty good, and the cameras themselves are robust.

For new I've tended to go for the Apeman cameras on Amazon (I have an H68 and an H70), but they don't seem to be stocking them at the moment.

Yep same here I paid out for 6 multi cellular linked cameras, in about 18 months lost the lot apart from one

i now buy the cheapest ones I can and don’t cry anymore, only want to see what’s what don’t want to make a movie, just observe, there are some cracking pieces of kit available which will give you sharp pics or video and pin sharp clarity

i would look at what you want from the camera, the Cheapies don’t last all that long, but by other means neither did the expensive ones
good luck with what you choose

 

[75]

If the spypoint came from America, it was destined to fail as they come with a sim card from the country of origin so you have to buy a British one that has a sim card that will work when it arrives. Marvellous bit of kit, especially as no monthly fees whatsoever, but 100 free photos- what's not to like.

Suspected this was the case... A bit of googling suggested the networks were slightly different so might try and source a UK one to try.

 

[Foxyboy43]

Yep, great tools for seeing what is going on on your ground when you are not there. If you are thinking of one that transmits to your phone first make sure the intended site has a good signal otherwise you are wasting your money. I have Dremmeled my telephone number on mine and inside attached a label which says-
"This camera is one of a number in the area; pictures of any person vandalising or removing it will we sent to the police". I have had no problems.