Needed! Scouting Camera Advice - I'm ready to buy

[lilcoon1975]

I know I'm new to the site but, I recommend HCO Scoutguard 550 cameras. You can get them through Amazon.com or Sportsmans Guide. They run between 200 and 250 but in a week I have 1500 pics that are of excellent quality. They are 5.0 mega pixels and can be lowered to 3.0 they are also infra-red and take amazing pictures. See for yourself.

[8uck5nort]

ORIGINAL: Patriot

Thanks for the advice and follow up.  I went ahead and spent a chunk of money on some scent lok / scent blocker gear recently.  I am waiting for some after Christmas sales on the cameras.  I'm pumped to get into it!!

 
LOL,
 
Sounds like me. [:)] 
 
I have a long list of I "hunting needs and wants" and not enough money.
 
I am looking at addind some addtional ladder stands on some new stand spots I have found for the late bow season and next year. Dicks Sporting Goods has a stack of them for 50 bucks.
 
Good luck.

[HoneyHole]

Kevin- I spent about $200 for the I-40 and really like it. I've had some of the flash Moultries in the past and they worked good, but I really like the infrared. No deer has even been scared away since I got the I-40. And the battery life is awesome. I'm getting almost 11 MONTHS out of one set of batteries. 

[bkwtr]

I agree. www.chasingame.com is an interesting trail camera review site. They seem upright and fair in their reviews. Also they don't sell any trail cams!

www.trailcampro.com is also interesting. They do sell cams.

I'm close to picking up a ScoutGuard SG550v - fantastic reviews from everyone. $229.00 with a 2G SD card and free shipping.
"keep yer nose to the wind"
bkwtr

[Jdbllung]

I have 3 wildview cams and they are hit and miss when it comes to performance.  Battery life can be from 3 days to 2 weeks with the same brand batteries in different cameras.  The trigger speed is OK at best and the pictures fog out occasionally.  I think thats due to temp. change.  The price on these cams is great for the area I am using them in, 3 ladder stands stolen in 2 years.   I do everything I can to conceal the cams and none missing as of yet.

[hunt4ever]

OHhunter/Brad, Since this was posted in Oct. 08, you may have all the responses you need.  However, I thought I would weight in on the flash spooking deer.  I purchased 3xD40 Moultries (with flash) 4.0MP in Sept. 08 @ $100 per and they have been working great.  I always have the cameras set on 3 multi-shots per event.  I think the shots are 5-10 seconds apart.  With the 600+ events photograhed and 1800+ photos (75%+ night shots), I have NOT seen any of the deer being spooked by the flash.  If a deer was not looking at the camera in the 1st photo, they weren't looking at it on the 2nd & 3rd photos.  Even if they were looking @ the camera, I saw NO reactions to the flash in the 2rd & 3rd photos.  It seemed that what ever they were doing in the 1st they continued to do whatever in the 2nd and 3rd.  The 4.0MP IR Moultrie cost $200 vs $100 for the D40 flash and I can't see the additional cost, especially when the night photos I am told are not as good.  My buddy disagrees, but the "proof-is-in-the-pudding" when you look @ the 2nd & 3rd shots, check out the attached 2 sequenced photos. I have a 3rd in this sequence, but it exceeds the max I can load.  Before purchasing the D40, I spent about 6 weeks researching various brands of cameras' pros & cons on (1) price, (2) flash vs IR, (3) battery life, and (4) resolution.  The performance of the D40's in warm and 10 degree temps in the "still" or "video" mode tells me that I made a good decision.  I have heard about the complaints about the "sleep" mode (saves battery life) and the cheesey straps, but I found neither has been a problem. I may buy more cameras for next fall & will go with the D40's. With some other brands, I believe you pay a lot for the name and the performance isn't any better or at least what I get with the D40 is more than satisfactory.  I would welcome to hear from others who have a different point of view.  Brad, thats my take & I hope this helps,  [size="4"][font="courier new"]Tom Mac[/font][/size]

[jake11_30]

I purchased a moultrie I40 last spring and used it through the summer/late season. toward the end of the season the infrared videos and pictures became really black/blurry. i did some research and saw a lot of good reviews about the HCO Scoutguard 550. i bought two of them ($370 for both, including shipping) and put them out after christmas and they work awesome. i loved my moultrie before its little problem, but would never go back. highly recommend the scoutguards.

[brian aish]

Here is my experience with Moultries (I believe they are I-40s) infrared. They run $200.00 each at Scheels and we are in West-Central Wisconsin. We have 3 of them and utilize them for our hunting outfit. We have only utilized them for approx. 6-8 weeks during the fall-winter in everything from sunny to rain to snow. A couple times, they would take 300-400 photos (be sure to trample down any weeds or leaves in the view of the camera!). If you go to our website at www.huntnlandwisconsin.com, you will see the quality of the photos they provide. In addition, we have had all 3 cameras back out for another month (this month) and they are all still on the same batteries we began with back in September!! One of the complaints I have read with many camera owners is how fast they go through batteries! There is no reason a camera should last less than a month (let alone two) with one set of batteries unless you are running the video for long periods of time.
A few suggestions:
1-Get a camera that CUSTOMERS SAY the batteries last a long time (as well as performance) not the companies selling them.
2-Somebody else had suggested watching the East and West directions because of the sunlight (great suggestion!)
3-Trample down weeds and anything that will accidentally snap false photos as this seems to be problematic with all cameras and reducing the areas that have easily blowing winds will help reduce wasted battery life and false photos!
4-2 SD cards for every camera was also suggested by somebody else and that is a great idea as you can make one trip (especially if you have more than one camera) to exchange all current cards with replacements eliminating unnecessary trips.
5-Remember to de-scent just as if you were going hunting (wise advice: ALWAYS RESPECT THEIR NOSES!!). I have watched hunters that did little or no scenting at the same time hunters were in the similar area and completely scented and the results were obvious and consistent that the hunters that were de-scenting themselves often see deer while the others don't!
6-To reduce the amount of battery life utilized, keep the video recording to a minimum or utilize the still shots. Also, experiment with the quality of the photos (you may not need the higher quality photos).
7-Be sure to keep the inside lens dry! I got a drop of water on the inside lens that ruined my night photos when I first purchased the cameras and it took approx. a week to realize that the water was the culprit).
Good luck!! Hope this information helps!

[coach]

For your money, Moutlrie 4.0....is about the best one.
Reliable....flash is great....battery life is good.....you can hook up a solar panel....
get yourself 2 memory cards of 1 GB.....when you go over to check your camera....
bring your home digital camera, switch the cards from the Moultrie... go back to the truck and look at
the pics.  You can look at them at the camera site....but me its in and out.
 
They are clear ....night and day.
 
 

[Demoderby4]

I like my Moultrie D-40 a lot so far. Unfortunately, no pictures of deer yet but some nice coons out there the day pics were great, the nights pics were a little blurry but im hoping that was because of the rain/snow that was falling. But for 89 bucks shipped i cant really complain too much! Battery life is pretty good too, been out 2.5 weeks still got 72% left.