Digital Trail Cam!

[FullStrutter]

So guys... who uses what? I am on the market for at least one nice digital trail/game camera. I'd like to buy it in the next month so I can start getting pics of what's running around on my props! I bought the StealthCam 3.0 2 years ago and it was lousy. Poor battery life, and horrible trigger time.

I have been looking hard at the new Cuddeback 3.0 digital cam. It seems to be the fastest trigger time on the market, as well as great picture quality. Some reviews I read said it had bad user friendliness, and attaching it to a tree wasn't very easy either? Can anyone verify any of these things? I'd like to see whether people think this is a great camera to go with or not.

Lastly, if the above mentioned one isn't your choice... what is and why? Cost really isn't an issue. Thanks for the input all! I figured this is a great way to get some valuable info from fellow hardcore sportsman!

Scott

[Bond]

I sold my Cuddeback to build a few more homebrews.
It has a great trigger speed - right around a second probably a little less.

It's sensing ability is pretty decent. It would pick up small animals like squirrels and raccoons. If something would walk directly at it, it would be inches away before it picked up motion. Most cams have troble sensing head on motion, but I've never seen it that bad.

The menu screen and changing settings was a joke. I'm pretty familiar with computers and cameras and any kind of electronics. I can usually pick up something - GPS, digital camera, camcorder, mp3 player and figure it out within a few minutes without even looking at the manual. With the cuddeback, I had to read every page, word for word over and over again to understand how to use it.
There's no on/off switch, so you have to "disarm" the cam or take out the batteries. And every time you take out the batteries, the settings get reset so you have to take 10 minutes to set the time and date.

Attaching it to a tree was a joke. They made it way harder than it has to be. I've never heard of any problems with water but the way it's sealed, it doesn't look water-tight..

The flash range was decent. One of the better flashes of the store bought cams.

Image quality is pretty good but not all the time. Sometimes the color was off or it would look too sharp. Closeups don't look too good either.

Battery life was really good, they last long enough that I don't remember the last time I changed batteries.

If cost isn't an issue, go with a Camtrakker, Penns Woods, or Snapshotsniper or something like that. They'll give you better sensing, fast trigger - 1 to 2 seconds. Flash is just as good. Quality will be consistently better. 4 or 6 megapixels. It runs on a 9 volt and 2 AA batteries. The 9 volt will last 6+ months and the 2 AAs will last about 300 to 600 pictures depending on whether or not the flash goes off. And these cams are a lot more user friendly than the Cuddeback.

If cost is an issue, you can build the same exact thing as one of the three mentioned for $200 - $300.

[wtnhunt]

Got a leaf river digital here. Also have a stealth cam 35 mm unit that quit working recently after about 3 seasons of use. Plan on building a few homebrews here pretty soon.

[FullStrutter]

Bond... great info, thanks a lot for your effort! It's EXACTLY what I was looking to find out. I think I will stay away from cuddeback now. I have been hearing some good things about the Penns Woods... but I havent heard anything about the cam trakker... which one would you suggest if you had to pick one?.

Also, you mentioned something about 4 or 6 megapixels... what was that in reference to. Lastly, when you were talking about "it" running on a 9 volt battery and 2 AA batteries... were you still refering to the cuddeback, or one of the other ones you had just mentioned? Thanks!

Scott

[Bond]

I would probably go with the Penns Woods. The cams will perform about the same but Penns Woods is a better company. They're homebrewers theirselves and they help out on all the homebrew forums and will answer any question you have.

I think Penns Woods and Camtrakker use a 4 megapixel Sony but they might offer a new 6 megapixel Sony as well. The 6 megapixel is just a newer model that the homebrewers have started to use.

The Penns Woods and Camtrakker run their sensor board on a 9 volt and the camera runs on 2 AAs. They actually might use 4 AAs or something else to run the sensor board, I'm just going by what I use in my homebrews. The 4 AAs should still last several months.


One more thing about the Cuddeback that turned me away was no viewing screen. A viewing screen to review your pics was one of the biggest advantages of going digital and Cuddeback doesn't have one.

[whitetailarcher]

Fullstrutter, I thought I was reading my own post! I too bought a stealth cam and am dissapointed after a season of slow trigger speeds causing half the pictures to be of the beutiful background I was thinking about cuddeback till I read some replies. I've seen a new digital Moultree Game Spy or something like that in a magazine for $100. At first I thought it was too cheap and probably wouldn't work, but then I saw they just simplified the features giving it only the necessities which is all I need. Has anyone tried these yet or heard of them?

[FullStrutter]

Thanks for the info again Bond... I went to the pennswoods website and they are offering a "blowout" sale on the 2.0MP for $299... what do you think? good price?

archer.. I have heard mixed reviews of the moultries... i may get one as well as the penns woods just cuz they are so cheap. they have been praised as good feeder cams where the deer linger for a long time. slow trigger speeds and other bads things about them though.

[Bond]

No, stay away from that 2.0 mp model. It's slow and has a horrible flash. Get one with a Sony digital camera in it. They're the best.


Here's some more cams to look at and compare. They're all basically the same with some minor differences. Thought you might want to check them out to see if any are cheaper or you like any of them better. They're all great guys that hang out in the homebrew forums. You should get great customer service from them.
Snapshotsniper - http://www.snapshotsniper.com/
Woodland Outdoor Sports - http://www.woodlandspycam.com/
Yeticam - http://yeticam.com/
Vmancams - http://vmancams.com/

[FullStrutter]

aw bummer! I had already purchased it! Oh well... i have read some great reviews of it online. All the Penns Woods cameras seem to get great/good reviews. The 4.1MP was a little more than I wanted to spend... it was more like 450-500, where as I got the 2.0 plus a 256MB SD flash card for under 350.

I appreciate your input greatly though Bond. You definately shaped my purchase. The trigger time for the 2.0 is supposed to be 2.0-2.5 seconds, which is about average I guess.... certainely not as slow as a lot of them out there though, right? I know its not as fast as some of the quicker one. However, I was looking for a total package. Plus, I'm going to use it while putting bait out in front of it so the trigger time wont be as important. When I say I wanted total package i mean I was looking for ease of operation, stuff included in package (software, pylon locking cables, etc) and the 2.0 came with lots of goodies including a 16 or 32 (i forget) internal memory as well. I'm not huge into scouting cameras, this will only be my second, but i think this will be a reliable workhorse of a digital scouting camera? can you refute that? if you really think its a horrible one, since it has a minnolta and all, i guess i can see about cancelling the order. let me know my friend! thanks.

Scott

[Mirage]

I own three cuddebacks. They are a little hard to figure out on how to use. But like everything else you get used to the operation lof it and before you know it you are an expert at navagating the cuddebacks software. I do have to say that my older 1.3 mega pixel cuddebacks seem to have a better detection zone than my newer 3.0 mega pixel cuddeback. And i Like the 1.3 picture just fine sometime whenn the deer is far away its tougher to see but i think they work great and would recommend a cuddeback you should ask ktmike he sells scouting cameras

This is a 1.3 megapixel picture


And here is a 3.0 picture from my cuddeback

[whitetailarcher]

Yeah the mp aren't too much of a concern for me as long as I can make out that its a deer and can count points, I just want good trigger speed that won't miss my deer. I'm still thinking hard about cuddeback.

[PAWhitetailhunter19]

Go Moutlrie... buy three or four of them for the price of a penns woods...

[Bond]

I don't know what to say. It's up to you whether or not to cancel the order. It's still a pretty decent cam. I just don't think it's worth that much....
Sorry

[TreeWalker]

You can't beat the price on a Leaf River Digital either........especially if you can find them used, I've seen them in the $150-175 range a few times.......