Game Cameras ?

[birdswacker]

I'm looking at buying a new digital. Looking for opinions on the best unit out there. Right now I've got a stealth 35mm it's time to update. Any info would be great

[Powerstroke]

I'm interested too, but I'm not in the market for the best out there. I was hoping to pick up 2 of the mid-priced digitals.

Anyone know or like the new Moultrie's I40, D40. Seems like the CUddleback has dropped in quality the last 2 yrs. Lots of complaints about those now.

[Shwangman]

I have a couple Wideviews and Stealth Cam owns them but, they are not bad for under $100.00. Not 100% perfect but for under $100.00, what would you expect!!!!!!!!

[tealitup]

What do you need them for? Making a poster? Being very defined? Some people like the high definition, but I prefer to save some money and buy one for $100 or so. I have the Bushnell series that I bought online for $105 and can not complain. I would say.. buy one with a 6v battery and one that can take a 1gb SD card. You can leave it in the wood for a long time and get many pictures.

If you baiting bear and check in once a week.. then it does not matter. Get one that you can afford and dont break the bank.

[RogersMN]

Take a look at the stealth i450. It's $139. You'll want to buy the 12volt kit for $37. That camera is getting really good reviews. Wildviews are good too, except they have really slow trigger time and are also bad on batteries.

Stay away from the moultrie d40. It's a piece of junk, even for $99. the i40 is better and ther is a m40 that will be coming out soon. those are much better then the d40. People seem to be having a lot of issues w/ them. be warned.

I've heard that the '07 cuddebacks have been updated and they have fixed most of the problems they had last year. the models are the same but there's supposed to have been some fixes. I think they are WAYYYY! overpriced. the stealth i450 is the way to go as far as I'm concerned.

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good luck!

[Antler_Creek_Taxidermy]

I don't have any complaits for my moultrie camera, not sure if it is a I40 or d40 but it's a 2.0 mpg model. I got it for bear hunting because I didn't want to take a chance leaving my cuddeback on public land or take a chance that a bear might get a hold of it. The camera speed is a little slower than my cuddeback but way faster than the stealthcam I originally had. My stealth cam took over 8 sec to go off P.O.S.!!!!!!!!! and the batteries went dead in about 3 days. The moultrie cost less than $100 but by the time you buy a couple memmory cards and a couple batteries your going to spend 150-175. I have heard the moultrie rechargeable batteries tend to build up memmory after repeated recharging, so I run my off of a 6 volt bigwheels rechargeable battery. I get over a month of battery life or untill the memmory card is full (around 500 pics) whichever comes first. Here is just one of several thousand pics I have gotten since i bought it last fall: The top one is form the moultrie and the bottom one is from the cuddeback. I still prefer the cuddebackover any of them, but for under $100 you can't go wrong with the moultrie. You will probably have to put the moultrie over looking a mineral lick or bait to get the picks you want. Just my thoughts.

P.S. here is the buck after I finally figured him out,it was good to see my dad get a nice buck:

[Dahitman44]

I have a two-yeaqr old Moultrie 2.1 and I like it -- to an extent. I think there are nicer ones out there, but for the price -- on sale this week for $70 -- it is a lot of bang for the buck.

[BLACKJACK]

The Moultrie's aren't bad for the price, I have one. It needs to be set up over a salt block but it takes decent pics. Make sure you go digital!!

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[Dahitman44]

BJ --

Do you8 think salt block is as good as mineral block? Does it depend in what part of the state.

Anyone? Please advise.

Hitman

[Powerstroke]

For those interested with the Moultrie's the I40 referes to the Infered or IR flash 4MP camera. The D40 is with the conventional flash 4mp camera. I actually heard pretty good things about the D40. Obviously the IR camera is better, but as far as differences go thats about it. The D40 is nearly the same, but with a conventional flash. I found them for $89, but I'm still leaning towards the Stealth I450.

Its a tough call. I know the stealth is better, but now that its a $50 difference..... I could buy 2 cameras and save $100 to get a new rest for my bow.

[RogersMN]

Quote:

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For those interested with the Moultrie's the I40 referes to the Infered or IR flash 4MP camera. The D40 is with the conventional flash 4mp camera. I actually heard pretty good things about the D40. Obviously the IR camera is better, but as far as differences go thats about it. The D40 is nearly the same, but with a conventional flash. I found them for $89, but I'm still leaning towards the Stealth I450.

Its a tough call. I know the stealth is better, but now that its a $50 difference..... I could buy 2 cameras and save $100 to get a new rest for my bow.

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the d40 is not the same as the i40 but w/ conventional flash. the m40 (not out yet) is like the i40. the d40 even has a completely different case then the i40 or m40. the d40 is a piece of junk I returned mine.

[BLACKJACK]

I've had lots better luck with straight white salt blocks. They'll disapear in a season while some of the mineral blocks will sit for years, the deer just don't like them. Face it, whether you put out a mineral block or a mineral mix, the deer are after the salt. The minerals might help antler growth - how do you prove that? - but the the deer are after the salt.

[Antler_Creek_Taxidermy]

I have had good luck with both salt and mineral. But it seems that I get more and bigger bucks coming into the mineral mix called black magic or the mix from frigid forage. The bucks always seem to start hitting the mineral sites around mid April until mid August. Use both at a site and set up your camera, then you can see for your self what the deer prefer.

[Dahitman44]

Excellent point. I will put them both out and see what they hit on.

[Gissert]

I have had better action with blocks that have been smashed to bits and mixed in with the surrounding dirt.

[USDA3]

Have tried a couple brands but have found nothing comparable to the cuddeback. I hunt public lands and don't bait in front of my camera, that being said, the most important thing in a camera in my opinion is trigger time. if your trying to capture critters on trails, trigger time is of upmost importance. Nothing faster than cuddeback i've seen.

[Powerstroke]

Quote:

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the d40 is not the same as the i40 but w/ conventional flash. the m40 (not out yet) is like the i40. the d40 even has a completely different case then the i40 or m40. the d40 is a piece of junk I returned mine.

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Sorry if they have a different case.....look out. Their internals and how they function are almost identical. Because of the different flash and the way the camera senses, it doesn't produce the same quality. Its minus a couple items that are mot necessary like having a moon phase on your photo. Otherwise, its the same sensor and programs. DO some research. Al the reviews I've read, minus your detailed analysis, said it was pretty decent.

The Moultrie's are as fast as a Cuddleback. Another thing that was new to the Moultrie this year was they claim a sleep mode, so they take 1-2 seconds to wake up after sitting a while. You might miss a running animal, but its still faster than some of the other cameras out there. The sleep mode helps preserve battery life.

[Mark Christianson]

Nothing faster and more reliable than building your own. Hands down.

If you have a little ingenuity and patience, you can build your own for under $200, and smoke nearly ANY commercially built camera on the market.

[RogersMN]

Quote:

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Sorry if they have a different case.....look out. Their internals and how they function are almost identical. Because of the different flash and the way the camera senses, it doesn't produce the same quality. Its minus a couple items that are mot necessary like having a moon phase on your photo. Otherwise, its the same sensor and programs. DO some research. Al the reviews I've read, minus your detailed analysis, said it was pretty decent.

The Moultrie's are as fast as a Cuddleback. Another thing that was new to the Moultrie this year was they claim a sleep mode, so they take 1-2 seconds to wake up after sitting a while. You might miss a running animal, but its still faster than some of the other cameras out there. The sleep mode helps preserve battery life.

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Actually, I've done my research. It's you, powerstroke, that didn't. look up at your previous post - you said the d40 is basically the same as the i40 but w/ a conventional flash. that is 100% not true, the M40 is basically the same as the i40 (but w/ conventional flash).

There are a lot more differences then just the case. I mentioned the case because it's almost exactly the same case moultrie used in their '05 and '06 models, which should tell you something. all other '07 moultrie cameras have the new case. other differences: flash range, picture clarity, battery life, downloadable upgrades, and the imprints on bottom of pic.

Also, the sleep mode is not a good thing. It makes you miss pictures of deer.

I actually owned a d40 and can tell you first hand - it's junk. I had the camera for about 3 weeks. I got about 400 pictures - 11 had deer/bear in them the rest had nothing!! The camera was in the same spot, on the same tree as I've placed many different cameras.

It takes the worst pictures, has the weakest flash, moving deer are ALWAYS blurry, and has more 'missfires' (pics of nothign) then any other camera I've ever owned (many). NOT A GOOD CAMERA!

Like I said before - take a look at the stealth i450 (i have 2 of them) it's a great camera! The wildviews are good too (i have 3 of them).

[tealitup]

Rogers,

I have had a lot of pictures with nothing on them - until I sat in the treestand and noticed all of the birds coming in and out.

I was getting shots of the birds flying down and leaving.

[Mark Christianson]

Another thing that will trip cameras is having them pointed where direct sunlight hits the face of the camera. You will get false triggers from the sun. ALWAYS, position the camera so that its either got canopy cover above so that the sun doesnt hit it, or point it in a direction that the sun won't hit it. Otherwise, plan on lots of false triggers.

[RogersMN]

my point in that post is I get the false triggers from the moultrie d40 and not from my other cameras. I have 3500 pictures from that one particular tree this year alone from my wildview, with only an occasional false trigger. when I put the d40 on the tree I get 400 false triggers. Big difference between the two cameras.

oh, and the camera is not facing direct sunlight and most of the small branches have been removed to prevent false triggers. my wildview (and my other cameras) works just fine in that location.

[Mark Christianson]

Understood.

That being the case, it is a good tip for anyone using trail cameras to be aware of the sunlight factor too.

[Powerstroke]

Thanks for that. I disagree with you and thats fine. It sounds more like a software issue to me or maybe just a lemon. Almost everything I've read about the D40 has been good. It does contain some of the problems you mentioned, but most seem to agree that its a great camera for the money, far better for what you used to get for $100.

I do agree that the I450s are a better camera, but $40 is alot of money to me. I have one cheapo 35mm stealth cam and that costs more to operate than what I paid for it.

I agree with BLB that a homebrew camera is the way to go as far as quality and price, but I have no patience or creativity for handiwork so, I'm stuck paying. Which is why I read everything here and many other places to get as much info to know where to put my hard earned money.

[RogersMN]

powerstoke - most of the stuff i've read about the d40 is good too, except from the people that have had it in the field for a while. There was a lot of hype about these cams. I feel strongly (no kidding huh?) that the d40 isn't what it's hyped up to be. hopefully, moultrie will make a couple tweaks and they'll have an awesome camera for the money.

if you are looking for the absolute cheapest camera to own and operate - it's the d40 hands down! the tradeoff is that the camera doesn't perform very well.