Game/ Trail Cams? Bushnell Trophy Cam?

[HOBBSTER]

Looking to buy my first game camera. Done some research already and I am thinking about the Bushnell Trophy Camera. Looking for comments, reviews, rants, raves, etc. Not just on the Bushnell, but if you really like, or dislike your cam and why, that would also be great to hear. Pics for proof would be appreciated as well, might as well show it off eh?

I tried looking into other forums for a game cam review thread and didn't see one, if someone knows of one going on, please re-direct this thread, thanks, Hobbs.

[northerndave]

We have several at our camp.

Based on our collective exp, I'd stay away from moultrie, spend the $ on the bushnell trophy cam if you like, but bang for the buck we really like the Primos truth cams.

[HOBBSTER]

Thanks. I've heard mostly good things about the Primos. My hunting spot is 3 hrs from where I live so the Viewer on the Bushnell has me interested. I was at Scheel's the other day and saw hand held viewers you can pop the SD card in and scroll through your pics quickly while your in the woods. Just weighing my options...

[northerndave]

You can view your pics with most digital cameras as well, as long as you aren't trying to use an SD card with more memory than the digital camera can handle.

A lot of new trail cams are formatted to accept big memory cards, and a lot of inexpensive point and shoot cams will only handle up to 2GB or so.

As long as you check that out (card size compatibility) chances are you may have a point and shoot digital already, so you might have the nviewing portion of your goal covered.

I use a very abused and aged kodak easy share that beats around with me. As long as I don't try to read a 4GB card or bigger it works fine for viewing trail cam pics.

Newer point and shoots handle bigger cards, mine is pretty old.

I have a truthcam 35 and it's a lot of cam for the money. Dependable, long battery life, good pics, IR... dam good cam for the money. I have quite a few friends that have 1 or 2 of these same cams themselves.

I'm pretty sure you can find them for under a hundred bucks.

[sticknstring]

I'd see if I could find a deal on a 2011 Bushnell TC 119466 or hold off for the new 2012 models which will have a faster trigger speed and better nightshots.

[WaveWacker]

I think I have 5 or them now. Bang for the buck they are super. The #1 thing that I LOVE is the battery life. Nothing beats loading up with AA's and basically (depending on your settings) running an entire season. I was so sick and tired of burning through D's on my old moultrie's every month. Also beautiful daytime pics.

The down side is the night time pics. Unless the deer is standing still, the pictures are a bit blurry. Sounds like this might be something that's changing with newer models. This has led me to change my setting to take multiple shots (3 photos) as most times one of them turns out decent. Still not great but decent.

My old moultrie flash camera's are better with the night photo's and I know the primo's one takes good pics as well but know they won't touch the battery life of the Bushnell.

I have two SD cards per camera so I can just pull a card and replace it with an empty one and I'm out of the area.

[HOBBSTER]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm toying with the idea of using the external power to link up with a 12v battery. (I'm assuming thats what the external power slot is for?) I want to leave it out year round, that way I wont risk burning through the batteries. I've seen the same with cams that use C and D batteries hardly lasting a month. Any idea how long will a good shape 12v battery lasts on higher quality settings?

I don't know if I can post this link, but I've found it helpful in my research as most stores don't carry on hand every make & model. Just wondering if you guys agree with what they say about your models.

http://www.trailcampro.com/ If we are not allowed to post links let me know or remove it. Thanks.

[jerkbait]

I have had good luck with the Moultrie M-80. The batteries lasted from April through November when I took it down. The night time pics are super bright, but still get the blur like any IR cam does. With this cam or the Bushnell your battery life will be great. You probably won't need to spend the money on the external batteries.

Here is a link to the discussion about the M-80 & M-100 with pics

Moultrie link

[midwesthunter]

If you are using the Bushnell Trophy Cam with 8 AA Lithium batteries there is no reason to use an external battery source.

I had my camera out from April to November on the same set of batteries, taking 5,000+ pictures and the lithium batteries are still going strong. It's pretty amazing how efficient this camera is compared to my old Moultrie that uses D batteries.