Cellular security camera / trail camera for weekend camp..?

[LeMahim]

I set up two cellular cams for my off-grid cabin last fall—solid cell signal but no power or Wi-Fi, just like yours. Went solar with rechargeable batteries and they’ve held up fine through rain and snow.

I get phone alerts when there’s motion, and the night vision’s clear enough to spot faces. I linked everything later through a simple smart home automation setup from Vivint, which made managing alerts and power a lot smoother when I’m away.

 

[Shawn T. W]

Another thread where we are left hanging ... Wondering what the OP eventually did ...

I use a Revel Tactacam X-Pro to monitor my driveway, it has both a GPS locator inside (if stollen you can track it) and a monitor for set up and aiming ... I use there lithium rechargeable battery ... It doesn't have the "red glow" night light either ...

They also have since come out with a "security camera" version ...

In order to get the high definition pictures, you gotta download the card directly, it has two other smaller resolutions that you can download remotely, I have mine set up to snap 2 pictures 2 seconds apart, then do a 15 second video ...

 

[D2Cat]

Shawn, what is the reason for having the package storage box up off the ground as you do?

 

[trikepilot]

The Moultrie Edge has No SD card. It's all digital. You clear the daily photos right from your phone. A unlimited photos for one yr is $160.
Once the camera is triggered in 30 seconds you have your photos.
Quick fast and works great.
Call on Sunday customer service a person in Alabama answers.
I did call once.
Load it with lithium battery's and add a moultrie solor panel battery pack it's good for three months without touching it.
And here's the neighbors cat headed down my driveway.
Or the town plow going by.

I am using the Moultrie Edge 2 to do the same thing - monitor a remote property. I have 6 others that I use for deer season. I have had great results from them and good customer service. Definitely buy the lithium rechargeable battery pack . FYI... there are two sizes of the battery pack - buy the bigger. I have both and the bigger capacity battery is 100% worth the expense. App is really nice too. I have not used the other competing brands but I cannot say enough good things about my Moultrie experiences.

 

[Shawn T. W]

Shawn, what is the reason for having the package storage box up off the ground as you do?

I'm not getting any younger ... So I don't want to have to bend over to ground level to fetch a package ...

 

[WFM]

I recently watched a few videos promoting the Guardepro x66 cell camera.
Apparently all theses people get paid to says its the best ever.
Has a 30 free trial. The camera was $62. Bucks on Amazon. So I bought one.
Set it up beside the Moultrie. It took hundreds of photos- after the animal or car passed by.
The Moultrie showed each animal or car that passed While it was passing.
I left a couple crap reviews on YouTube were I saw the Guardepro. Truly junk when tested. I went onto settings to see what I was doing wrong. Nothing. Its the camera.
I have one for sale for $30. Bucks should someone here love them.

 

[Old Machinist]

I’ve had luck using a regular rechargeable battery pack with a solar panel to keep mine running. I check signal strength with my phone first before mounting the camera.

I did the same on one of my wifi cameras. The new camera came with a USBC charge port and my old solar panel was the mini USB. I plugged the USBC to USB2 connection into one of those small solar battery packs and plugged the old solar panel into the charge port on the battery pack. Camera battery has remained at 100% for a couple of years now.

 

[WI_Hedgehog]

Another thread where we are left hanging ...

It's good for us though, @X-Pup detailed Reolink and I really appreciate it.

 

[BX25D Rookie]

I bought a Cuddeback/Cuddelink camera system back in late March or so.
Activated/installed at the end of August 2025.
We now have several months + of usage with the new camera system.

The base unit in the cabin, one remote camera watching the cabin for surveillance purposes, and five more remote cameras out in the woods for deer/game spread around on about 69 acres.
I have the base unit in our cabin as we have great cellular signal there.
We generate our own cell signal with a Verizon Network Extender which is connected (Ethernet cable)
to the Wi Fi Router and Fiber Optic Modem.
We have really great Fiber Optic into the home broadband at the cabin.
There is ZERO native Cellular signal from a traditional cell phone tower at the cabin location.

I pay $16.20 per month (including tax) for a 2000 pictures per month cellular plan and receive daily pictures from the cabin/recreational property/hunting ground. The cellular plan that I picked sends reduced image size photos for a smaller digital file size, which reduces transmission cost.
The full resolution pictures remain on the SD card in the camera where they were originally taken.

At somewhat increased cost, and going with several other more expensive cellular plans, you can get the full resolution pictures send with cellular data. If I recall, the "Gold" photo plan allows unlimited number of full resolution pictures transmitted with cellular data and runs $50 to $60 per month.

The cool thing about the Cuddeback/Cuddelink system is the cell plan is for the base unit only, not
each individual remote camera deployed for surveillance or game pictures.
You can have the base unit and one deployed game camera.
Or you can have the base unit and up to 23 maximum deployed surveillance and game cameras.
The cell plan price is the same.

Obviously, if you had 23 remote cameras, you might need a cellular plan upgrade strictly for the increased number of pictures generated due to a huge increase in the total number of deployed cameras.
Overall, I am quite happy with my camera system purchase!
The cabin/rec property is 20 miles away from my house, and about 30 minutes driving time.
It's a "game changer" for us being able to have nearly instant cabin surveillance photos arrive to your cell phone (using the free Cuddeback/Cuddelink app) or looking at deer pictures on a computer or laptop.

I have more detailed information here, starting with post # 135

Buying several Kubota tractors, building a Camp, and maintaining 69 acres of recreational/hunting property.

Enjoyed reading the story and the pictures. It brought back a memory of our current (and final) place. When I moved to the PNW from the Midwest I brought the B7100 and all the attachments. The 'ol machine ran great but I couldn't find the backhoe. At 25 years old I had given up finding one...

www.orangetractortalks.com