I'm buying a Trail Camera

[bfletch7441]

Actually my wife is buying it for me for my birthday, but I need some input on what to buy. As with everything in life, money is the limiting factor. I would like to drop 3-4 Benjamins and get a Leaf River or Cuddeback, but that aint happenin! I can probably get her to spend around $200, so ... How's about a few opinions? Any and all will be greatly appreciated.

Ben

[joeyd50]

Re: I\'m buying a Trail Camera

Check out http://www.chasingame.com/ they have a great camera review section. I have a Moultrie Gamespy 100 that works pretty good but it took me 5 camera exchanges to get one that worked. I also have a Wildview Extreme II, this is a great little camera with time & date on photos 2.0mp and you can get these for under $100.00 on E-Bay

Good Luck

Joe

[wtnhunt]

Re: I\'m buying a Trail Camera

The leaf river cameras have come down some. I would check with KTMIKE in here. He sells new leaf river and I think also cuddeback cameras too. He had some great deals on them before and might have something in that price range. For me the leaf river was well worth what I paid for it. Had it for over a year now and have been very happy with the camera.

[Bond]

Re: I\'m buying a Trail Camera

You could build one that's just as good or better than a leaf river or cuddeback for around $200.

[BamaTrophyHunter]

Re: I\'m buying a Trail Camera

I like the moultrie gamespy 100 we got three and they all work and it's $90 where I live in Wal-Mart

[joeyd50]

Re: I\'m buying a Trail Camera

bfletch7441, read this about Moultrie:

Statement To the Moultrie Company Management

February 24, 2006

Moultrie Camera Management,

We at www.chasingame.com presently own several of your cameras. We were lucky to have purchased cameras that seem to work as designed. This is definitely not the case with a large number of folks that have sent us mail daily complaining about your product line. It seems that the act of buying one of your cameras is like playing the Power Ball Lottery. A persons chance of winning seems to be getting smaller and smaller as your new models are placed on the market. We have folks that have some of your cameras that have minor difficulties such as moon phase issues and are in fear of returning them because the company might just replace it with one of their lemons.

You have to realize that the trail camera buying public is becoming more savvy and it is because of places like our site that tries to keep them informed so they do not end up with a product that is less than functional. We know that your company has been quick to return new products for those cameras that were sent back because of operating issues. For this we commend you. To replace a returned item with an item that has the same problem "not just once but up to 5 times" is inexcusable.

Now comes the issue of customer service. They are very nice and somewhat up to par on most issues, but when it comes to questions of a technical nature (remember your customer is a **** of a lot smarter today than they were two years ago) they want answers. All issues dealing with firmware and such should be made available to your customer service folks so when they are asked a question, we do not get that stuttering "I don't know" thing.

With all these issues, these folks, including myself, have made attempts to get answers by E Mail and by phone. You sir, or your representative have failed to return these calls. We have strongly recommended your products in the past but as of today we are pulling that recommendation. We are not a giant like Moultrie, But Sir be advised that we have over 10k visitors per month that are all either past, present, or future users of scouting cameras. We have only one mission and that is to inform the buying public about scouting cameras. Hopefully you will change your ways and make an effort to address these issues. I make it a daily task to scout all the popular hunting/outdoor forums and pay attention to what I am seeing about scouting camera issues and believe me your camera issues are at the top of the list.

Sincerely,

Bill Poulson

March 11, 2006 - Update

Moultrie Local Rep Meeting

I Had a long meeting with our local rep David from Moultrie this morning. It seems that things at the big headquarters at Moultrie are going through some major changes. David explained that the whole marketing scheme at that company, has or is in the process of being revamped to better serve the customers. He explained that the man responsible was not aware of the progressing problems that we have been trying to get addressed, and was totally surprised to hear of the communication difficulties that I outlined in the statement to Moultrie. I now have the cell number of this person and I will be in touch with him come the first part of next week. We discussed the new products for 2006 and he supplied me with the 2006 brochure. The information in this pamphlet is very basic but it shows that the GS-200 will remain basically the same but the GS-100 will move up from 1.3 MP to 2.1 MP and will handle a 1 gig SD card. We also talked about some future new cameras that are in the works to include an IR version supposedly color day and night. He had no target date for the release of the new cameras except to say that they are in the works. I should have a much better answer by the end of next week so keep checking back. Bill

March 13, 2006 - Update

I Spent a long time on the phone with one of the management persons at Moultrie. First off he is giving everyone who experienced communication problems, be it by phone or by E mail a big apology. It seems that their normal amount of customer service personnel has dropped due to either promotion of other reasons and they are very shorthanded in that department but are working on correcting this. He promised that those tech support folks will also be better informed about issues such as firmware and those hidden upgrades to their cameras. In their world of going out and having these cameras developed and build under contract, there has been a gap in some instances where the end item actually arrives to be put on the market before the all the information associated with the new item is made available for the customer. While I was in the process of writing up this information he called me back and asked for me to hold off with any of the technical and other issues we discussed because they are going to have a big set down and go over all issues and put it out to us by E mail and that way we can just post their message so everything will be totally accurate. This should happen later on this week. I feel that Moultrie is trying very hard to get on top of every thing and be back in the good graces of all customers by making all the appropriate adjustments. They just want us to give them a chance. Bill

[Guest Finn]

Re: I\'m buying a Trail Camera

Thanks for that post, Bfletch. I've had similar experience with Moultrie. I haven't owned one myself, but my good friend bought 3 of them. 1 worked perfectly (I got the flying squirrel picture with one), the other 2 were horrible. I guess Moutrie is hoping folks stick with them until they iron out their problems...man, I wouldn't risk it.

There is nothing worse than having a trailcam that doesn't work properly.

I would only recommend a Leaf River or Cuddeback.

Whichever you buy, contact KTMMIKE...his prices are very good and customer service is outstanding.

[joeyd50]

Re: I\'m buying a Trail Camera

bfletch7441, I would stay away from Moultrie for awhile until if they get there $hit together .I also have a Cuddeback 1.3 and Leaf River IR, these are a little expensive but worth the money

Joe

[huntermq32]

Re: I\'m buying a Trail Camera

I own one of the higher end bushnells and I am not happy with it for the money I spent. I think they have a moddle around 200 ar alittle more but I would not recamend buying it. To much to list but the 2.1 pcs are not very clear, trigger time could be faster, and cold waether will sometimes turn it off and some cameras will leak water just to list a few things about it.