You know the trail cam I got for graduation??


Turkeygirl

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Well guess what...all the good things I heard about the Scoutguard 550....well it isn't even working for me!:confused::mad::mad:

Put it out last night, went back tonight...no photos and battery already down to 1 bar! Tested it back home...nada....in the dark the infrared came on 3 times (I set the camera to do 3 shots at a time....but that was it....no photos on the SD card or anything.

Directions mentioned something about maybe needing to disable a write prorection on the card...whatever that is and they don't even say how...

I'm not happy....:(:(:(

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Don't despair Ruth...

Write protection on the card is usually a little lock switch on the flip side of the card. It should say lock and unlock.

Were the batteries fresh ones? Cams can be sensitive to partially charged batteries.

Any possibility no game passed the cam to trigger it?

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Sorry, not really at all familiar with those cams.

Does the camera offer a test shot feature or a test mode Ruth? If so try a test shot and see if it writes the shot to your card. If no test shot but it does have a test mode, be sure the sensor is picking you up. If it has a sensitivity adjustment for the sensor you may have to adjust it.

Does the camera have a display to show how many triggers? Possible it is triggering and not writing to the card, helps to know if it is triggering when trying to find the problem. Again in the test mode if it has one, try to trigger the camera and see if it is counting events for the times it should be triggered.

Once you have established that the camera is triggering the next step I would take would be to check your card if it has the sliding lock/unlock switch and make sure it is unlocked, may have to look at it through a magnifying glass to see any writing. Once you have it unlocked, re format the card on the trail camera and attempt to trigger the cam or fire a test shot to see if it wrote to the card.

If all else fails, might re read the instructions, could be as simple as a setting that you have overlooked setting correctly.

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As for it not working sounds like you need to contact customer service. Hopefully they will lead you in the right direction.

As for battery life, you have a AA camera. I try to tell everyone to get a camera that holds C's and D's. Your camera will never hold a charge for very long with those tiny batteries. My cousin has the same problem with Stealth Cam. He has AA's and it won't hold a charge more than a week.

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Well I heard alot of great reviews on really good battery lifeo n this camera....I think it's a dud...I even tried just 4 batteries since the Scoutguard, you can put in 4 or 8...didn't even work on 4 batteries.... I'm going to wrap it up and ship it back to where I got it I think....the guy from BBO on chasingame.com said they'd swap it out....

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Even I tried triggering the cam....nothing....

Energizer AA...had 8 of them in it...brand new...it's suppose to be known for it's great battery life... I found the little switch on the SD card and there's a lock but no unlock on it...I tried moving it but nothing.....

check to see if there is a removable safety strip, in where the battery contacts are.

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First and foremost with any digital camera, it's a very very good idea to format the card with the camera you plan to use it in. That is the best way to insure the camera can read the format structure on the card. Digital Cameras treat non-compatible format cards as "FULL". Some cameras cannot even re-format a higher level format. Never assume just because your computer can read the card your camera can.

Most game cams have a manual picture taking mode. Test that, make sure it will take a picture, save it to the card and then experiment with the trigger. Some camera triggers are very slow because they depend on the "wake-up" time of the camera.

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I did it all, trust me....The guy at Bee Busy Outdoors is going to send me a number to mail this cam back to HCO and he already has a new cam out in the mail to me....said he'd check it first to make sure it worked!

He sounds like a good guy to deal with!:)

I hope it turns out good for you!

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Other than the I40 the Scoutguards are by far the best commercial cam out there and believe me I have owned all the makes out there. Sounds to me like the software on the cam had an issue and might have needed updating. There might have been a hardware issue to though it happens with everyone.

I have not bought any from Bee Busy but have heard very good things about them so I am glad they are making it right. Yes these cams use AA and they get better life than any C or D camera believe me, the video quality is great as well. Once you get your replacement I know you will be happy !

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Well sent the dead one back yesterday and my new one came today! I also got a pack of Lithium batteries....AA...can I use those in the Scoutguard? I thought someone said you could...maybe...

Going to go wash my horse then probably set the cam up and go put it out somewhere!

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Well sent the dead one back yesterday and my new one came today! I also got a pack of Lithium batteries....AA...can I use those in the Scoutguard? I thought someone said you could...maybe...

Going to go wash my horse then probably set the cam up and go put it out somewhere!

No reason you should not be able to use lithiums in the camera Ruth.

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Guess what!? I got photos of a deer on my Scoutguard!

Guess what else!? When I got the new cam...Joe at BBO sent a Kingston card already to go in it....but when I switched that card out and put one of the cards I had gotten originally in my first order....it won't work! Both of the 2 GB Kingston cards in that original order, when I took a photo in test mode, the cam didn't take it and the remote froze or something. But when I put in my 1 GB kingston from my Kodak camera, that worked, as well as the 2 GB Kingston with the photos on it Joe had sent back...

Hmmm...did I get 2 bad cards???

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