Need help in picking out a trail cam

[stebo]

I really want to buy a trail cam, but I am very confused as to which one to buy. I was just on Cabela's site and there are 3 pages of cams with prices ranging from $100 or so to $450. I really can't justify spending $450 for the latest Cuddeback, although I would love to. I'm really not too sure on all of the features and differences between the different ones out there. I was thinking of spending $250 or so on one. Will this get me a good digital one? I'm primarily going to use it in the woods behind my house which is private land, so I hopefully don't have to worry about anyone trying to steal it. Is there anyone out there looking to upgrade their current cam and trying to sell their old one? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would like to get one sometime this summer so I have plenty of time to play around with it and make it pay off for the upcoming bow season. Thanks in advance!

[joeyd50]

Go to: http://www.chasingame.com/ they have a real good camera review section.
Good Luck
Joe

[NorthJeff]

I just bought my 4th Leaf River. I have 2 digital/flash and 2 digital IR's. They are built like tanks, strap to the tree extremely solid, get at least 6-8 weeks on a set of batteries and range in price from $250-$300 (more for the IR model).

I'll be buying all IR from now on, because I do notice over the years that a flash DEFINATELY spooks some deer a lot of the time, especially more mature bucks.

The thing about the LR is they slower trigger delay, but I just plan accordingly with where I set up the camera. The new Cuddeback that has color during the day, and IR at night would be great with such a short trigger time, but I can't justify the $450 for the camera....would buy it if I had the money though!

[stebo]

Go to: http://www.chasingame.com/ they have a real good camera review section.
Good Luck
Joe

Wow, that's a great site! I'll have to sit down for an hour or two and read all the reviews. Thanks for the link!!!!

[M1Garand]

I just bought the Cuddeback and now see that they have the IR model and am wondering if I should try and return it and get an IR myself.

[HunterHads]

stebo, The reviews on that website are find but I greatly disagree with them. They say that the Cuddeback is the worst cam that they tested however as an owner of one I would have to say that it is the best on the market. Not only does it have the fastest trigger time but it takes the best pics and almost never takes one with nothing in it. I have owned other digitals and will never buy them again Cuddeback far outdoes them. You can get one of the new ones for $300 now. I like the looks of their new IR at night color during the day cam. I think that will be my next one. Or if you wanna go on the 35 mm side the Deercam is a solid cam for around $100 I wave had one for 4 years and it works great. You can look at some of my Cuddeback pics in my gallery I have the first one ever made the 1.3 digital so I am sure that the newer ones outdo mine.

[Terrific_tom]

My suggestion to your question is build your own or buy a homebrew. Much better than than any commercial unit and if you build it your self it will cost you less than cuddeback or leaf river. Here is a link for you to check out. http://realdealhuntingchat.invisionzone.com/

[tdejong302]

My first camera a 35 mm that was somewhere around $75. It worked alright but film processing got expensive. Most of the pics were of trees blowing in the wind or nothing at all. I upgraded to the cuddeback. It has worked flawless. Great pictures easy to program and alot of options. The biggest draw back is the price. Everytime I walk to where I put my camera my stomach aches hoping that some jackas! hasn't stolen my camera. I use a ladder to hang mine in a tree so you can't see it unless you look up. This helps however I still feel terrible knowing that I have $500 invested in a camera, disks, reader etc..... and if someone steal it I'm out alot of money.

Mines on private land however I have had tresspassers on our property and have had things taken. So the investment in the camera is my main concern.

If I could do it all over again I would buy a cheaper digital for say $200 and hopefully not regret it soooo much when its stolen.

Difinitely Digital though.

[joeyd50]

I have a Cuddeback 1.3 very fast on the first picture and SLOW on the 2nd picture ( it takes over a minute to load picture to memory card) I have 2 Leaf River IR, these are my favorite, good pictures ( not much color in the day and none at night ) I also have a Wildview Extreme, this is a very inexpensive and very good camera, And last is my Moultrie 100 that I changed to IR, it works as good as a Moultrie can. I would not recommend a Moultrie, it took 5 cameras before I got one that worked.
Joe

[FznYupr]

I agree with Tom.

It may seem like a daunting task building you own trail camera but IMO it is well worth the effort. There are forums dedicated to cam building and not to mention 24/7/365 support if you run into a pinch. I not knocking the commercial game cameras I admit some are good, just another option.

[joeyd50]

stebo, did you pick out a camera yet?
Joe

[rmw]

I also vote build your own . I have 3 Sony p-41s I have made into trail cams and they work great . But I do have to agree with NJ about the flash spooking them . I was going to just live withought night time pics until I learned I can convert my cams to IR . I just got the parts yesterday but the results I have seen on some websights is promising .

[bjmad]

My Father in Law has a homebrew that someone built for him. It does a great job. Only problem with it is the batteries don't last very long and he isn't technology challenged. He forget to flip the swith to turn it on most of the time. :) Homebrews are great cameras.

Leaf River are also good. I own a Cuddeback 3.0 and am extremely happy with it. I don't care about the second picture taking another minute. I still get a butt load of pictures with it.

You may want to try the Cuddeback 1.3 or whatever it is. Little more affordable.

[zeronine]

Now that i purchased the new Cuddeback and have had the opportunity to test it day/night.....I'm sold.

Here is what i would have into a cam if i built it myself:
camera $100 minimum
pix controller board $70
battery setup for long duration with D cells $30
glass slides/ rubber/ marine goop / wire and connectors etc $15
pelican case - i forget what size i use, but it's not the little one $30
paint $5
cable lock $10

I'm sure i left something out, but the total there is already $260.00.
My time is extremely valuable to me and i find time management to be my biggest enemy of all time. There are a few hours of labor time involved in assembly, and those are hours i already dont have.

The camera above would have an incandescent flash only and no night vision (flash and dash). I wanted a night vision cam, and while the leaf river is close in price to the mock up i wrote, the trigger time on the leaf river is long (4 seconds on the short end and 6 seconds on the long).

The new Cuddeback triggers within one second and could catch me at 22ft crossing it on a slow jog in total darkness. The pic was slightly blurred, but it did not miss the event and that's the important part. I got the Cuddeback no flash for $449.00. Bear proof box for $30.

I guess whether or not you build your own depends on whether or not you have the time. You dont need to be an electrician or have any experience to do this, the first cam i ever built stil gets fielded regularly (on day time only mode to keep it from flashing).

[stebo]

stebo, did you pick out a camera yet?
Joe

No, I haven't. Unfortunately, my job situation has gotten very shakey lately and until it gets more stable, I don't think spending $300 on a camera would be a wise purchase. Hopefully before bow season comes around, I will have one though. Thanks for everyone's input!

[rmw]

I guess whether or not you build your own depends on whether or not you have the time. You dont need to be an electrician or have any experience to do this, the first cam i ever built stil gets fielded regularly (on day time only mode to keep it from flashing).

And how many you want :) by this fall I should have 4 IR cameras ready to go . It can also be an addicting hobby

[KrazyKletus]

Stebo,
Cabelas has the Leaf River 2.1 on sale for $279 right now. I believe it's last years model, but not a bad price for a digital.