Game Camera Recommendations?

[mikester]

Ideally I'm looking for something under $100 on Amazon that does the following:
1. Good quality still and video images. Ive tried a couple of cameras in the past that claimed to be megapixel quality but was really only a low resolution 640x480 camera "upscaled" to higher pixels with images that were smeared looking and blurred motion events. I want to be able to read a car license plate.
2. Good battery life. Anything that last for months? Do the solar panel models really work reliably?
3. Good quality low light images.
4. Reliable motion capture. I want to be able to grab an image of a car driving down my driveway every time, not of a blank scene after the car is long gone.

 

[Tughill Tom]

I just ordered 2 of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XXT4PN8/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have a couple of an older model and they go a couple of months on batteries, good IR quality.

As far as getting a car its all in the settings and the angle/view which your trying to capture it as it moves.

 

[Toyman]

I run a bunch of game cams on my hunting property. I have Moultrie, Covert, Cuddebak, Primos, and HAD Wild Game Innovations. I had 3 Moultie cams, 1 got stolen, 1 died, and one is still working. Of the three they took good pictures/videos and had good triggers. I quit buying Moultrie due to my bad experience with their customer service. The Cuddebak camera I have is my most expensive cam @ $150. It's been back for repair once, takes less than average pics/videos and the menus are a PIA. It does have a quick trigger but that doesn't overcome it's other shortcomings. The Covert I have was their entry level model that I bought in 2015. It's reliable, simple and takes good pictures. Trigger isn't fast and the flash range isn't very far, but again, it's been very reliable.

I run 3 Primo's Proof Cam 1 V2. They are reliable and simple, similar to the Covert, but the trigger speed and pic/video quality are very good, day and night. I bought these in '17 and '18 and they have been very reliable with excellent battery life. I give them a huge recommendation, especially for the price. I picked up a few of them when they had $20 & $30 rebates to make them even more affordable. Here's the link on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Primos-12MP-...camera&qid=1595946154&s=sporting-goods&sr=1-3

 

[NHSleddog]

I have several of these,

Dark Ops APEX

The Command Ops series of cameras deliver big performance in a small package. The crisp 8MP picture resolution ensures the very best quality pictures of your game, day or night.

browningtrailcameras.com

They have the fastest trigger (catching the car in frame) of any I have ever owned. They last for months with lithium batteries and take great pictures night and day.
Browning also has metal security boxes available if the "stealth" approach doesn't work.

For a lower price, these are ok, but do not trigger as fast and do not take as good of a picture.

Amazon.com

 

[mikester]

I took the plunge and ordered one of these CDN$76.88 Campark T70 No Glow Night Vision 14MP 1080P Trail Cam
Trail Game Camera, Campark T7 No Glow Night Vision 14MP 18P Trail Cam Wildlife Surveillance Hunting Cam with 2.4" LCD and IP66 Waterproof Battery Powered: Amazon.ca: Electronics

According to the box supposedly this is a 16MP CMOS camera NOT 14MP as shown on the Amazon tagline. In reality I'm guessing its a 1 or 2MP camera sensor and the image is "up converted" to 16MP.

I've had it running for a couple of weeks now.

On the PRO side the device is compact and uses standard AA batteries that are supposed to last 4-6 months. Motion sensing is OK. Night vision is grainy at best, sorry no vehicle night shots to share.

On the CON side the SD card is hard to remove, has limited camera settings and it takes grainy photos. Cheap plastic case. License plates are barely readable IF you manage to catch an image of them. I had to downgrade the snapshot images to 5MP in order to get 3 photos each time a motion event triggers. The minimum time between motion events is 5 seconds. I see no difference in image quality between 2 to 16 MP, only much larger grainy photos.

Each photo Ive attached is the best of 3 frames photo, each in full 5MP resolution. One shows the 3rd frame of my tractor going down the driveway. The second is a deer at night. Third is a night shot of a racoon - two points to you if you can find it in the image. Wheres Waldo?



I hesitate to recommend this camera. In my mind it's worth no more than $40 as its most likely a 1-2MP camera sensor NOT the 16MP as advertised. Im probably going to send it back to Amazon as I think these vendors are scammers for falsely representing the cameras capabilities and posting fake "real" camera photos. I think that the 4.5 star reviews it gets must be BS paid for positive reviews given by buyers who want to get a free SD card from the manufacturer as part of their 4 or 5 star review. Id probably give this camera 2 stars based on the images and video alone.