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Best Commercial Trail Cams

pete

Member
Well, I think I might break down and buy a couple commercial Trail cameras, I've been running homebrew cameras that were built by myself and a couple other members on here for the past 7 years, a few of them are having problems and I need to sit down and work on them but never seem to have the time anymore. I had a Bushnell for awhile and while the battery life was phenomenal I couldn't get over the poor picture quality or the white pictures at dusk and dawn, so I got rid of it, I also had a primos for a brief period period of time and it clicked everytime it took a picture so I didnt like it either. What I'm saying is I'm picky I have not seen a commercial camera for under $200 that will take as good of pictures as my homebrews will, so I'm looking for recomendations. Thank you!
 
Covert or moultrie both make great cameras. I'm personally a moultrie fan but with the pictures I've been seeing from the coverts and the prices. I may be changing companies
 
I switched to covert cams and am very happy I did,Fifield seed and feed has the best price going(Extreme Black 60 $185)If money is no object go to reconix but covert is a fairly close second in my mind.
 
Pete I have homebrews also but picked up a couple of older Reconyx. You'll never get as good as pictures as your homebrews but you will increase the number of pictures ten times over of a homebrew. But I know for a fact that Reconyx miss some pictures also. I have tried some other commercial cams but very disappointed in them.Still building some S600's though.
 
Pete I have homebrews also but picked up a couple of older Reconyx. You'll never get as good as pictures as your homebrews but you will increase the number of pictures ten times over of a homebrew. But I know for a fact that Reconyx miss some pictures also. I have tried some other commercial cams but very disappointed in them.Still building some S600's though.

I would like a Reconyx but don't want to spend that kind of money. I was reading a review on the Scoutgaurd SG560C and it appears to be one of the better cams under $200. I loved my S600 until it quit took awesome pics!
 

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Moultrie d-55 ir pro, i have 2 of them and they work great got them for 80 bucks each back in November and i have had nothing wrong with them, also they are on sale at Basspro for 80 bucks right now!!!!!! The work great
 
If you don't like white out pics skip scoutguard,I just sold my scoutguards on AT hated those cams every day I would have 10-15 white outs.Chasinggame.com does some great reviews and unbiased as well.
 
If you don't like white out pics skip scoutguard,I just sold my scoutguards on AT hated those cams every day I would have 10-15 white outs.Chasinggame.com does some great reviews and unbiased as well.

Chasing Game and Trail Camera Pro give the Scoutguard SG560C awesome reviews, say besides the mediocre trigger speeds it would rank with or higher than Reconyx, neither mention anything about washed out photos. This model was new in late 2012.
 
Pete

I have the scoutguards and no problem with whiteouts. Very good picture and gets alot of them, I can send you some pictures if you want to look over.
 
I have a sg550 and it misses a lot of pics but at least works. I have owned two other uway products, one after 2-3 months use quit and the other never worked out of the box.

I recommend staying away from Uway products.
 
SKellcat said:
I have great luck with the newer Moultri M-80's. If you get to a Cabella's they have an M-60 also.

I also run m-80's and m-100's. I actually like the 80 line better. Battery life is amazing when running lithium.
 
Have been running a pile of m-80s. Some of them work for awhile before they comoletely crap out. Moultrie has replaced them but its still very very annoying to have a camera quit or fail to take any pics. We have started buying covert cameras and are beyond pleased with them. Battery life is out of this world and pics are just as good as the m-80. The coverts we bought are the mp6. around 10 dollars more than what we were paying for m-80s.
 
Rich77 said:
Have been running a pile of m-80s. Some of them work for awhile before they comoletely crap out. Moultrie has replaced them but its still very very annoying to have a camera quit or fail to take any pics. We have started buying covert cameras and are beyond pleased with them. Battery life is out of this world and pics are just as good as the m-80. The coverts we bought are the mp6. around 10 dollars more than what we were paying for m-80s.

X2 on the Covert MP6. I run quite a few of these and really like them. I also run (and really like) Bushnell Trophy Cam HD. These 2 brands have been the most reliable for us.
 
I have owned several cameras throughout the past 15 years. 2 camtrakker film cameras, wildlife eye, scout guard, coverts and 4 different models of cuddeback. My best cameras throughout this time have been hands down the cuddeback captures. Which I dont believe they make anymore. I know a lot of people have had problems with them and I too have read the reviews about every kind of camera made. Maybe I just got lucky. The worst camera I ever owned was the dlc coverts. 2 of them. Absolute garbage cameras. THey have to have great battery life because in the summers I would get full cards of absolutely nothing in the picture. The trigger speed is so slow, I would be lucky to get a picture of a deer in the picture unless it was over mineral or some type of food. The night time IR pictures were junk you can guarantee 8 out of 10 pictures were so blurry you couldn't tell what type of buck you had in the picture.

Basically you get what you pay for, I have had several friends tell me how great there stealth cams were. Because thats the only cameras they had used and didnt know any better. Until they started up grading from those battery sucking cameras that last 2 years that sell for $89 at wal mart. I think the best camera on the market is the reconyx. But would you rather have 3 scout guards or 1 reconyx. Or 7 wal mart specials. The market is so flooded with cameras it's really hard to sort through and find the best camera for your needs. Good luck
 
I have had at least 5 different brands/models of cameras that would cost less than $200 and the best overall so far has been the Covert. It is also true that I have had that camera for the least amount of time, only about 4 months now. But so far, I have been very impressed and pleased with it.

I paid $149 for it at the archery shop in Agency. I also saw it for the same price at Scheel's in Coralville, so you should be able to find one for less than $200 I think.
 
I have owned several cameras throughout the past 15 years. 2 camtrakker film cameras, wildlife eye, scout guard, coverts and 4 different models of cuddeback. My best cameras throughout this time have been hands down the cuddeback captures. Which I dont believe they make anymore. I know a lot of people have had problems with them and I too have read the reviews about every kind of camera made. Maybe I just got lucky. The worst camera I ever owned was the dlc coverts. 2 of them. Absolute garbage cameras. THey have to have great battery life because in the summers I would get full cards of absolutely nothing in the picture. The trigger speed is so slow, I would be lucky to get a picture of a deer in the picture unless it was over mineral or some type of food. The night time IR pictures were junk you can guarantee 8 out of 10 pictures were so blurry you couldn't tell what type of buck you had in the picture.

Basically you get what you pay for, I have had several friends tell me how great there stealth cams were. Because thats the only cameras they had used and didnt know any better. Until they started up grading from those battery sucking cameras that last 2 years that sell for $89 at wal mart. I think the best camera on the market is the reconyx. But would you rather have 3 scout guards or 1 reconyx. Or 7 wal mart specials. The market is so flooded with cameras it's really hard to sort through and find the best camera for your needs. Good luck

I agree have had the best luck by far with Cuddeback.....hands down. I even buy the original flash ones on ebay when I can find them....never had one fail yet!
 
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