Which Trail Camera?

TombstoneT

I am considering buying a trail camera basically for watching wildlife by day or night and also the garden birds. I have been researching on line but that can also cause confusion. There are so many models and prices.I would have thought that Bushnell was a good make but some reviews were not so good.The Spypoint Smart (camo) models look good. I would be willing to spend around €200ish. Hopefully someone can simplify the process for me.
Thanks in advance,
TT.

TopTec

Tombstone, I am into my 5th cam now. I am currently using a Bushnell Nightvision Hybrid Trophy Cam which I paid £138 in April this year. I use it on a stream near me where there are Otters.

I have had to return the first of the Bushnell's due to failure of the LCD display, and Amazon replaced it pretty quickly.

I had started with an Acorn 5210 Pro, which I found pretty easy to set up and operate. The display on that one stopped working after a couple of weeks, although the picture results were surprisingly good for the cheaper end of the market. The best feature of this one is that you can view pictures on the display whereas you can't on the Bushnell.

The replacement Acorn lasted about 4 months until after a storm I found it was submerged in the raging torrent. I bought a replacement and that only lasted a couple of months, and just stopped working.

I replaced that with the 1st Bushnell which is more awkward to setup. You are very much guessing what is in your field of view when aiming it and I take a small point and shoot camera to show pictures from the SD card to make sure it is aimed correctly.

As I said that display went all fuzzy so Amazon replaced that with my current one. I find the Bushnell awkward to set up and the company says you shouldn't use rechargeable batteries in it which is a major drawback for me. I use 4 duracells and 4 rechargeable's and that seems to work ok.

The field of view is better than the Acorn although the delay, 1 second between pictures is a nuisance as you frequently find the arse of a fox in view and nothing else. I find it is better to film a trail head on for more activation's. I also have it set on high sensitivity to make sure to catch everything that comes through. Both give good quality pictures and video.

You have to be careful of anything closer than say 8 feet as you will get a white out reflection from that object at night which ruins the picture.

My advice is to go for the basic Acorn first, use that for a while and then upgrade if you need to.

As far as reliability goes I may just have been unlucky, but I haven't abused any of mine.

TT

philstar

got this one in maplins, it lasted for about 2 years then gave up the ghost..fairly reliable but no sound and max video file is 1 min long

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philstar wrote: »

got this one in maplins, it lasted for about 2 years then gave up the ghost..fairly reliable but no sound and max video file is 1 min long

That one also has a delay of 4 or 5 seconds from the pair picking up movement and it recording. As a result you get many empty frames or the back of an animal.

TombstoneT

Hi TopTec,
Thanks for your prompt response.Your info will certainly help me in choosing a camera.All of what you say makes sense to me so that makes thing easier.I will do a bit more research over the next few weeks. I understand where you are coming from when you suggest buying a cheapie first and then upgrading later but I would rather buy a decent one and figure it out over time. My wife will actually be buying the cam for me for xmas so it's also an excuse I suppose to get a decent one. By the way I enjoyed the read, the otters, the flood disaster etc.
Regards,
TT.