Best Trail Cam for the Money??

[buckhunter21]

Hm, I can't remember the model off hand right at the moment, but my moultry was about $100.  It wasn't an IR version.  Anyways, not sure if it's the model or just the camera but my batteries last maybe 6 weeks and they're kaput!  Are you guys buying a certain kind of batteries and power (kHz) amount?

[gogreen]

I have used trail cameras for about 5-6 years.
Started with a Cuddeback film camera.
Worked pretty good.
Added another Cuddeback film camera latter.
Then tried a couple Stealth Cam (film) that I got on sale for around $50 apiece.
These were motion detector styles and were a waste of money.
Often had pictures with nothing showing but wodds and fields.
I bought a Cuddeback NoFlash a couple years ago and loved it.
Now have another NoFlash camera and just bought a Capture IR unit.
Battery life is very good and the trigger speed is good.
The Cuddebacks are a bit more money, but I guess you get what you pay for.
 

[pa3190]

I check out chasingame.com for trail camera testing--interesting results. I've had five cameras over the years. Of the mainstream brands, my moultrie I-40 performs as well as any of them...Don't be fooled by trigger speed; you need speed AND sensitivity (if if does't sense it well, it'll miss it or shoot late no matter the trigger speed. Now,where I live up in the Big Woods of the Adirondacks, we can't feed. Most any cam will work if the deer stick around. If it is natural trail pics you have to get, trigger speed and sensitivity are very important. I bought an HCO (Hunting Cam Online) that is very easy to use, takes great pics and is smaller than the palm of my hand (I've had one cam stolen before). Most of all, with its 1.-something trigger speed and great sensitiviy, it can't be beat in the $200 range. It knocks the snot out of my Moultrie, the Cuddebacks,etc. Only the very expesive Recons,etc can do as well.
 

[gunther89]

I would have to say the cuddeback capture.  They are a great camera with the fastest trigger speed I have ever seen, the flash goes far so you can see deer a good distance from the camera and the battery life is great.  Had mine out in below 0 weather and the batteries were good still after 2 weeks of that.  Can't wait for the summer to use it.  They are a little expensive but the capture is only 200 bucks which is a good deal.

[WNYDeerHunter]

I use Duracells - nothing fancy.  I have no idea why this camera and batteries keep chugging along, but they do.  I get a pile of photos of all sorts of deer, turkeys, raccoons, coyotes, etc. on every set, so it isn't like the camera is just sitting there doing nothing.  I think the infrared is way better on battery life than a flash in term of using up the batteries.  Winter and cold weather hasn't seem to make any difference either.  If I got the attachments to work, here's a daytime and nighttime photos.  Never even saw the two monsters from the night photo, but I don't think anybody else got them either!

[HoneyHole]

WNY- My I-40's get the same battery life. Usually just shy of a year on a set. FYI- Here is a handy Image Resizer. I usually resize to 800x600. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Down ... rtoys.mspx