Best cell game cameras?

[35 whelen]

Originally Posted by 501s

I have a bunch (5) of the Spypoint Link Micros, both LTE and Solar models.



Pros:

- Cost of the camera

- Free Plan



Cons:

- Everything



Super duper unreliable, poor picture quality, bad cell service.



Overall, they are a low end cost effective camera, but I have ZERO faith in them to work when I need them too.

Yes I've had five of them also from the microlink to the the new one the flex they're all garbage

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

[Rickster123]

Originally Posted by pikeslayer22

And the customer service is second to none! Unlike Spypoint that won’t even answer calls.

I would disagree. I have 4 Tactacams (3 of them cellular). On 3 of them battery life is great. Most recent one I got (Reveal X) gets about 3 weeks out of 12 batteries. I thought it was a bad batch of batteries so went out (2 hour drive and 45 minute hike) and replaced them. Three weeks later batteries low again. I emailed Tactacam and they said to buy a solar panel for it. So I did and it can barely keep up charging the battery. One other camera started getting poor quality images (Foggy). So I went online filled out a form and got an auto reply with a link to fill out a form and it sent me to the same form I had filled out. Thought I had done something wrong so filled out the form again. Same auto reply email. So I've pretty much given up on support from Tactacam!!

[Stinky Buffalo]

This is a sample from one of my Moultrie Deltas. Not the greatest positioning (into the Sun) and I think something has been licking it.

https://youtu.be/Cvsh0UVXFTE

[ceedub]

Originally Posted by 35 whelen

My spy points all died are you using lithium batteries thanks

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

No lithium batteries. I just use Energizer.

Craig

[EagleEyes]

I have 3 Tactacams. All work good while working. This year both my gen 1's failed. The one works great expect it doesn't send pictures they told me this is a rare issue and really no fix it for. My other Gen 1 worked great all season but they told me it needed a firmware upgrade or it could fail also. After the season I went to upgrade the firmware followed the instructions... camera bricked again a known "rare issue". Both fails are due to firmware issues. Support was decent but wouldn't do anything for me even though it was known firmware issues. I was a very happy Customer now looking to replace my fleet with something else.

[EagleEyes]

I run lithium battery's and a solar panel set up with mine. With just lithium's I would get about 2000 pictures.

[Tikka300]

I have a couple spypoint link cameras, one solar and one battery only. I have had great luck with them but its worth buying the external antenna from amazon and you can get cell service almost anywhere. Batteries are lasting over a year in mine (yes left out in the winter). The only thing I find is you have to watch a bit for software updates and when there is an update, download it on your card and then go stick the new card in the camera. I think that is the biggest issue that some people might overlook.

The big benefit is a FREE plan for 100 pictures, I don't know of any others that have free plans.

[littlered]

Ran a couple tactacams. Only issue was when the Verizon sim card stopped working completely. Which apparently effects all Verizon sim cards. They did provide the best cs for anything I've ever dealt with and replaced camera with a new one.

Reconoco. Had two, an older scout that works alright, but I'm not fully impressed with it. The newer kanuk has been very good. Zero issues with it.

Would go with either the tactacams or kanuk again.

[bluetick]

Originally Posted by Tikka300

I have a couple spypoint link cameras, one solar and one battery only. I have had great luck with them but its worth buying the external antenna from amazon and you can get cell service almost anywhere. Batteries are lasting over a year in mine (yes left out in the winter). The only thing I find is you have to watch a bit for software updates and when there is an update, download it on your card and then go stick the new card in the camera. I think that is the biggest issue that some people might overlook.

The big benefit is a FREE plan for 100 pictures, I don't know of any others that have free plans.

They will do a remote update from their side if you want them to , no need to take the update to the camera.

[floyd darton]

We have 6 of the spypoint cell cams and have no issues, but wish for better picture quality. Also have a couple of the adapters for other cameras and there not the best.

[eyeflyer]

We started off with one Stealth Reactor cell cam. It is has worked well in east central Alberta, ended up getting 2 more. Never had an area we put them where they didn't work. I like the app where almost all the camera settings can be adjusted on your laptop.........maybe they all do that. Cell company is AT&T. Got some bad knees so I never used to be able to put the cams to far from where I could drive to but now my sons put cams where ever they like, distance from the road doesn't matter.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by Stinky Buffalo

This is a sample from one of my Moultrie Deltas. Not the greatest positioning (into the Sun) and I think something has been licking it.

https://youtu.be/Cvsh0UVXFTE

Here's another one:

https://youtu.be/BZcZU9GpOtQ

[BL^CKTIPSx39]

Can't use wireless trail cam in BC

[Prairiekid]

What would everyone buy if they were going to buy a cell camera today. I have a few non cell cameras out doing their thing but would like to try a cell cam or two for those spots that take a few hours to get to. Might actually same myself some money on gas. I have heard to definitely go with something solar but other than that I’m not sure. The non cell cameras all come from Amazon and I have had good luck.

[Smokinyotes]

I bought a tactacam reveal with the solar panel. It works well except the night time pictures are not very good.

[Stinky Buffalo]

I've been trying the Moultrie Edge - it's definitely an improvement on the previous models.

Built-in memory, optional modular lithium battery packs, etc. Decent night recordings etc. The new Pro version (and I think there's even another new update) that has more intelligence built in so it can pseudo-track the target as well (basically by using a higher-resolution sensor and capturing the part of the frame with the target in it). Makes positioning more forgiving.

Reliability has been good. And purchase pricing is competitive.

The biggest downside are the data plans; there's no free options.

[Prairiekid]

Thanks. I’ll check those both out. It’s a new world for me. I have expanded my scouting area and it’s made for some timely to reach spots.

[X-Treme]

Myself and my hunting partner have been using Spypoint cameras with really good results. I have 10 of the Flex and he has like 26 cameras. His are mostly the Flex as well. AND, they're a Canadian company.

[KazIce]

I have 3 different types of cell cameras. Here’s my thoughts on all three:

1) stealthcam fusion - works well and simple to use out of the box. Stealthcam has the best app to me, and you don’t have to pay extra to get all on photos if you have the camera set to burst mode (2 or more pics in a triggering). Pics are okay; and works decent day and night. Basic adjustability, but can’t adjust how sensitive the camera is. But out of the box, I am happy with mine. Easy to setup too.

2) covert wc20-a - fastest shutter speed; honestly too fast. I usually get the deers head. Biggest drawback of this camera is that it only sends the first picture, not the entire burst. Also, they are very temperamental on the type of sd card you use. It can only be their sd card or a Sony sd card. Manual specifically says do not use san disk. I actually have mine working with san disk, but I recall another forum member having problems with their camera and the sd card seemed to be the reason why. Also, your photos are delivered instantly at all times, but if the firmware is out of date it can be delayed. So you will get pics, but not always instantly. One last thing is they have the best package on plan pricing, you buy one plan and each camera you add is $5. Also easy to setup.

3) tactacam reveal x-pro - ultra customizable, app is slick, and the pics are good. You can adjust trigger settings to prevent false triggering, I find these cameras really sensitive so it took some tuning to find what was right with them. Also temperamental on SD card, it had to be a specific type of 16 or 32gb sd card (U3); I bought some 64GB in store that were U3 and that caused one of them to act up. Also, this one is manual and you have to choose the network, and for tactacam it’s AT&T. Nothing in the box said that so I had to go onto their web chat for support to learn that. Which reminds me, their web chat support is unreal. When I suspected I was having issues they were able to look at it remotely from their end and tell me my sd card was causing issues because it wasn’t supported. These cameras are also true to their range sensitivity, it triggers the farthest of the three brands. They have the most expensive plans, and it’s an extra $9 a month on the account if you want to see burst photos.

So if I were to buy again which would I buy? I’d probably lean on the stealth cams, ease of use and the app is really good. But honestly I like all 3 for different reasons.

[DirtShooter]

I have Spypoint.

Started with a 4G LinkMicro, it died. I think. I can't get it to register on my app after removing it and re-adding it. It's old and chewed through batteries.

Cell-Links - had 4 and only running 1 right now, I think I have one more that works but I haven't set it up. I got lots of spare parts though cause my other 2 crapped out. I would never buy a cell-link again.

I have one Micro LTE, works great.

I have 4 Flexes, they work awesome and routinely go on sale for like $120 so I will be buying more.

Spypoint's insiders club gets you 250 free photos with a yearly membership which if you have a good amount of cameras is cheaper than individual memberships. I do go monthly 1000 photos if I get lots of action on certain cameras or if there are some good animals but wind or cattle max the cam out then curiosity gets to me and I gotta get the 1000 photo plan to keep watching.