Cheap Trail Cams
 

Has anyone tried the cheap Chinese Trail cams that are offered off of Amazon or Wish?

I see lots starting to show up in Amazon when looking at brand name trail cams. Lots look the same with different names, most are under $100 and are take HD video.

Also, just a note that CT has Tasco 8mp trail cams on for $45. They seem to get Ok reviews and take good day pictures and Ok night pictures. For $45, will not be a kick in the pants if a bear or elk destroys the camera.

Cheers

SS

I picked up a set of 3 Stealth Cam QS Series on Black Friday. The trio was $150 so $50 each. Not bad. My thoughts are similar to yours, at least if they get ripped off it's not too bad.

What do you guys find is the most convenient way to check cards? Before this I never had more than one game camera.

I’ve tried all the cameras around $100 and the better moultaires when on sale are the best value in my opinion. I won’t ever buy another stealth or primos or wild game innovations. Browning’s are pretty good although more expensive.

Watch camofire they have trailcam tuesdays and have some good deals

I always decide based (usually) on one factor: range of motion detection. 60’ is far too little for me. I try to get 80-100’ for around $90-$100. Best bang for buck I’ve bought would be cabelas brand and spypoints. The stealth cams are hit and miss IMO.

Buy an adaptor from your smart phone to sd card. You can import the photos right to your device and pop the card back in. Waaaaaay better than carrying multiple cards, a camera or even a laptop.

I have had my best luck with brownings; tried many brand names. Catch them on sale when the new model is about to be released. Try to keep the same SD card with the same camera in my opinion to avoid SD card issues.

You guys do realize that all brands of trail cameras are made in China.

And some of the brand name cameras are simply off the shelf cameras labeled for whomever buys them in bulk.

I have not bought any unbranded cameras, yet. But I don't doubt that some are as good as brand name cameras.

Given that I have two different brand names that have had issues, I don't see where there would be much more risk, especially considering the prices.

I just swap cards and do the checking in the comfort of my office chair.

Cards are cheap.

Yea I bought some stealthcams and wildgame innovations in the US and have had issues with them. Cabelas claims that browning makes their cameras, but I am not sure. The stealthcams I had were a pain in the butt, always corrupt files and it was worse because I would see huge bucks for the first 5 videos and then corrupt 80 files:angry3::angry3: God only knows what came to my cameras.

I bought the cheap Tasco and did an unboxing video on youtube. Bought the two pack for 69.99 and from what my friends told me, they are a good camera for the money. Plus I have had issues with people stealing my cameras, so I stopped spending so much.

Moultrie has some good internet specials sometimes. Always got good pics with moultries.

Moultries
 

Another vote for moultrie! Easy to use, good battery
Life and good pic quality. Although, I did buy a 2 pack of the really cheap, small , square models and they only run on 4 AA batteries and therefore don’t work for long in cold weather temperatures and the pic quality is not as good as my other moultrie models, good enough for preseason scouting though!!

Spypoint 10 or 10d on amazon goes on sale for $115, cheap enough for me and reviews are great. I used them this year and was happy with them.

To be honest though my friend did order the apeman camera from Amazon for $80 and I was surprised. It had more features than my cameras that cost twice more than that. It has sound, options to take 3 quick pictures and a video after (5,10,15,20,30 and 45 seconds). Maybe these things arent so bad after all?

Buddy had one. Not so good. Apparently a common problem and not repairable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSZk3lOVL8


Grizz

Works good for pics but not so much for vids, really sucks back your cell battery down fast! I couldn't charge my cell fast enough to keep up with checking my cams. Good for a couple/few cams with vids.

I recommend having pre-formatted/cleared high quality SD cards to swap out. Very rarely an issue with the quality SD cards in game cams, the cheap one's seem to make the odd game camera grumpy and won't work. Always test your cam before leaving to make sure it's taking pics no matter what, especially if you live far away!

I should have stated my question more: was looking at the Apeman, Camopark etc that are $80-$100 and are sold by either Amazon or Wish.

I use Spypoint, Browning, Bushnell, Simmons, Stealthcam and now Tasco and just looking for backup as the Spypoints are 2012 (one died this year), the Bushnells and Simmons are 2014. Just wondering if those rebadged ones are worth the $$$ as I know all are a crap shoot.

How was the picture quality? Video? night time pictures?

Cheers

SS

I have bought 6 Stealthcams in 2 years and 2 have failed, I will be trying a new brand this spring.
I am happy with the pictures, distance, speed of shutter, but the cams need to last for more than 16 months.

I'm going to purchase a cellular trailcam next. The one place I want to put another camera has cell service.

I have a Microsoft Surface that I hike in with me and just plug in the memory cards, view in place.

Regardless of brand i would recommend looking at the average battery life. Its all nice getting a trail cam for less money but if they suck batteries then it ends up costing you more. Personally i steer clear of any of the cheaper models but i run mine dam near all year.

My Browning cams will last a good 3-5 months on 8 AA batteries while some "cheap" cams will last 2 weeks if i am lucky.

If you are running cams for a few weeks here and there or have a problem with theft then give these Chinese ones a try, they might surprise you.

To be honest I am impressed. It has good sound and picture quality. Good enough to see it is a cow elk haha

https://ufile.io/i9j0p

In regards to still photos, I think it is ok as well. Not high def but you can see animals.

Why would it matter what brand name is on the case if they are all made in China?
It's not like one can look it up on a cross reference to see which brand name uses that camera.

You have a recommendation from a highly respected source. Seems to me you can't do much better then that.

Picked one up this summer. Amazon $64.99 , they’ve gone up a bit but I’ll buy another couple. No issue and over 8000 pics since August. Changed out dollar store batteries for energizers in the fall. Not an issue. Believe it’s 10.8mp and has no problems with a 32gb card.

Talk about going crossed eye'd trying to get through those pics in one sit!
I sit through a couple hundred and I am about to loose it......:)
I check once a week now to minimize the monontany

I have 8 cameras on my home quarter and just have spare cards. I believe all are moultries. I have an adapter for my phone and it is just a pain scrolling through all the pictures from my phone and slow. Also I just have to go through all the pictures again to keep the ones I want anyway.

Stealth cam when they go on the package sales, seem to operate well for the price.

My "waterproof" apeman seemed like a good deal. Decent pictures and not as many false triggers as my other Chinese camera. Then it got blasted on the side by driving rain and filled up with water. It's garbage now.

$107 on amazon right now. I don't know if hotlinking is allowed here so I won't post the link unless someone clarifies.

I bought a "wildgame inovation" on sale for $140 and it is a piece of junk. Terrible picture quality, multiple false triggers. My worst cam yet

I too have had good luck with my cheap stealthcam pack. Both are running on one set of batteries, been out since june. I carry sd cards and just swap them check the pictures at home. I do have the iphone sd reader but i find the time it takes i just swap cards.


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Another vote for spypoint here , have 4 of them and no problems . Easy to program and good on battery life . Great pics