How long does your batteries last in your trail camera

[Shwangman]

I purchased a Wildview and the batteries lasted 3 days, put new batteries with same results. Called the company and the average is 7-10 days. Is this the normal time frame for most camera's? I'm sending it back and they will send me another one to try, hopefully with better results.

[Gofishleech]

Not sure what you paid but you might want to consider getting your money back. Even 7 to 10 days is not very good. In my leaf-river's I have got 2 months on a set of batteries. When its coold they don't last long but that the batteries. And the camera is also great. A slow trigger but has been more depenable then the cudde I have.

[fishermn]

My leaf river went almost a year on one set. Now it wasnt out all the time, I ahd it out sporadically, but it went almost a full 12 months! My 35 MM's however are a different story. For those, typically I get about 3 weeks on one set of batteries.

[walterman]

get the 12v lead acid battery....it will last you a very long time in the woods

[tealitup]

I have a digital Bushnell Trail Scount; batteries lasted about three weeks plus (with about 400 pictures-mostly birds )

[Shwangman]

Paid $49.00, can't return it due to the fact, I sent in the UCP number for the reabate. I will try the acid battery, I assume any sporting good store will have them. Thanks.

[Knute78]

I think between my 4 hunting buddies we have 6 Wildviews raging from the .3 megapix. to the 2 megapix. We have never had the batteries last more than a week at a time. I think alot has to do with the weather and how many pics it is taking. Tell me if a different battery brand would be better over any other, I'd like to know. It gets expensive changing those things all the time. I should have just bought a Cuddyback or Leaf River!!!!

[Mark Christianson]

Leaf River is about as good as it gets with battery life.

My Cudde C3000 isnt far behind it.

My Bushnell Trail Sentry eats up a set in less than a week.

Go with an external battery source when you can. My Cudde and Bushnell dont have a jack to hook up an external battery, but there are simple mods you can do to the cameras to enable yourself to use a rechargeable sealed lead acid battery.

The beauty with the external batteries is that you can get weeks out of a camera(even the battery hogs), and you have yourself a battery to recharge. They will pay for themselves in no time on the cameras that eat batteries.

I have tested the external battery on my Bushnell Trail Sentry, and it works VERY good. I am gonna test my Cudde with the external soon. (I dont really need the external for the Cudde, but it will save in the long run by using a rechargebale system anyway.)

This winter, my project is making a homebrew camera. Best of all worlds.

[LABS4ME]

I got 18,000 images on my Silent Image camera off 6 (or 8?) AA batteries... it finally had enough after the last day of the WI season. That was since setting it out the 1st week of Oct. It was taking three photos per event with no lapse time between events. I averaged 2-4000 photos a week. It uses an infra red flash which really cuts down on the battery use...

Good Luck!

Ken

[Shwangman]

Well, that is about how I feel, should have just purchased the Leaf River!! Do you hunt in the Rochester area? I have traveled down to Rochester 5 times this year and hunted out by the airport. Lots of deer, just not the right one!!

[BLACKJACK]

The Leaf River may have great battery life but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody. I have two of them and each one has been in to the shop about 4 times in two years. Not reliable enough for the money.

I also have a Moultrie that takes the 6-volt battery. It burnt thru batteries in a week, then I went to the rechargeables, thats the only way to go (or as others have said, an external rechargeable battery). The rechargable lasts longer, it will go 2-3 weeks, and I just swap out the battery and the memory card. For the $100 that I spent on it, the Moultrie is a pretty good camera, but it is slow, it needs to be set over a salt block or feeder - which you can say the same for a lot of cameras.

[Mark Christianson]

Oh yeah, ditto on the Leaf River. I have 4, and 3 have been sent back for repairs at one time or another(one has been sent in 4 times).

[Grandee]

I also have a Leaf River--sent it in to get fixed to. Good Battery life and fair Pictures. I bought a Penn's Wood this year and it has great battery life and takes great pictures. Would strongly recommend Penn's Woods if your serious about picture taking.

[Mark Christianson]

Penns Woods or a Camtrakker is best of breed.

But beware of the prices on those... Whoa!

Basically making a home brew gives you exactly what Penns Woods and Camtrakker makes. There is a lot of great info on making your own. You can make one for less than half the price on the above listed.

[MNmikew]

I have a Cuddeback Expert that only gets, at most, 7 days on a fresh set of Duracell D's. This camera is supposed to last weeks not days. I must have a lemon. Some varmint chewed out the red lens cover on it so its going back to the factory to get that fixed. Hopefully then can do something about the pathetic battery life issue. Otherwise I'm switching brands.

[Mark Christianson]

Hey Mike,

You are not alone on the battery life problems with the new Cuddes. Thats a widely reported problem.

I have no idea if Cudde has any fix for the battery eating, but if not, you should consider an external battery mod for it. I have not seen the Expert modified yet for an external battery, but I am sure it can be done.

[B. Amish]

I bought a cudde expert this summer and the battery life was never more than two weeks or 50 pics in the field, then it just stopped taking, saving pics and drained the batteries to dead in less than a week. i started researching on the internet and it seems to be a common problem with the new models. so, i decided to send it in. i called the company to get it fixed, the lady said they would replace the "insides" and it would fix the problems. i just got the camera back about a week ago and i have it in a tree right now.

i'm not sure what you should expect if anyone was buying a new cudde right now.......

[Shwangman]

Thanks guys, good impute as one would expect from this site. I going to take the advise, one way or the other on both of these cameras I have.

Thanks.

Ken

[Shwangman]

I would be interested in how that home brew trail camera turns out, and I'm sure others on the site may also like to hear.

Ken

[Mark Christianson]

Just for starters, the camera I am going to use is a Sony S40. I have not decided on which set up I am going to try.

There are basically a couple choices that I have researched.

Pix Controller and Snapshot Sniper

Total cost will be around $200 when its done. That does not include memory cards or external batteries if I go that route.

Once Xmas is done and some of the bills are paid for all the gifts, I am gonna pull the trigger and get underway.

For anyone interested in this, there is a lot of good info on the web. Basically there are recipes on whats needed and you can get the complete kit of things needed from a few places on the internet as well.

PS - Perchjerker made a couple last year or the year before, so he definitely helped sell me on going this route versus messing around with commercially made cameras any more.

[archerystud]

My Cuddeback Expert went about 1.5 months on D batteries in the summer. I pulled my cameras out of the woods by the end of Sept. I know the battery life wouldn't have been as good when the temps got colder.

[chucker34]

I have a Wildview 2.0. Excellent camera. A real workhorse for the money and above average resolution. Not as good as the fancier ones but nice. Only complaint is the slow trigger time but I manage to get pics with a salt block and the camera angled down trails.

Anywhoo. My batteries last about 2 weeks in above freezing weather but drop to about 1 week in very cold temperatures. To get that kind of performance, you have to use good batteries, not the cheapos. I have switched to rechargable energizers. Costs me $20 for a set of four Cs, which will probably last longer than the camera. Charger was $25. The combo will save me much dinero in the long run.

[MNmikew]

Thanks for the info BA. I'll ask them about the batt. issue when I send it in.

[basskid]

i bougt a wildview and had the same results when it was cold so i switched to a nickel recargealbe battery and they work a lot better even in the cold

[Shwangman]

Ok, I see that Fleet Farm has the acid battery 12V DC 7 amp with charger on sale for $12.99 so I'm assumeing that is what I need to get but, I have no jacks to hold on either unit so can someone tell me how to hook up the camera's to the battery?? Thanks.

Ken