Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Trailcam reliability and life

tall@wide

PMA Member
I have almost every brand trailcam and it seems like each has issues of some sort. Most only last a couple of years and then begin to have issues. Some last more than a couple of years but have other issues like blurry nighttime pictures(Browning). The only camera I have consistent luck with is Reconyx. Some of my Reconyx cameras are 10 years old and still work perfect. They are expensive but seem to be the only reliable option that offers years of use, and they have great customer service.. Anyone else getting multiple years on a consistent basis out of other brands? And don't even get me started on cell cams, they are mostly unreliable from what I have seen( I have not tried Reconyx cell cams)
 
I have 14 Brownings of various models, most are 4+ years old. I did get two new ones this year, so it will be interesting to see if there are any sort of upgrades to quality of night pictures. I buy the cheapest things I can for borders/publics so if they end up missing, I dont care. Thats been the biggest hangup on why I havent even thought about a Reconyx.
 
I have one reconyx its over 6 yrs old just like a timex ! Keeps on ticking never misses a beat!! But i have 4 browning force dark and have good luck with theese last couple of yrs !

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk
 
I run all reconyx after trying pretty much everything. You can pick up used ones pretty cheap now that everyone keeps going to cell cams.
 
I have one reconyx its over 6 yrs old just like a timex ! Keeps on ticking never misses a beat!! But i have 4 browning force dark and have good luck with theese last couple of yrs !

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk
I have 2 Browning Patriots now. They have good battery life, and work pretty good except the night pictures are extremely blurry if the animal is moving. If they fix the night pics, they may really have a good product. I had a browning dark ops that lasted about 2 years before it quit.
 
I went to Reconyx for all the reasons and experience I had with other cameras you mentioned in your initial post.

I may try Exodus at some point, we’ll see..
 
I recognize the quality of Reconyx but choose the advantage of multiples. I put my proven, newer cams on the most critical sites and rotate them when one fails with new. I use the dead cams for deterrent and bait cams when needed. I'd guess average life at 3-5 years.
 
I run cams year round, currently I have 1 Radix ( the other got stolen:mad:) a couple Bushnells, and 6 Cabelas brand cameras out. All get good battery life, even during the deep freeze this year. I change batteries twice a year on average I'd say, just running duracell AA's). The Radix & Cabelas cameras take phenomenal daytime picks. I've only had the Cabela's ones out for a couple years now, the others are going on 5 years non-stop in the field and all are going strong.
 
Decided a couple years ago that Reconyx were the only cameras I was going to buy going forward. Don’t have as many cameras as I would otherwise because of price but just got tired of sending other brands back to factory for service, bad pics, malfunctions, not transmitting pics etc....Plus I try my hardest to buy American made products if I can.
Up to 4 Reconyx, 2 of which are cell. Still have 7-8 Browning’s and a Bushnell.
 
I figure I get one year of service for every $50.00 of trail camera cost so I hope to get 2 years out of a $100.00 camera. Most are just Chinese junk and it’s just a pipe dream to think they will last longer than a couple of years when exposed to the elements
 
I’ve got a pile of “decoy” cams right now, cams that crapped out in some fashion. Bums me that one years cam/model from a vendor is junk the next year due to changing factories in China. So much for brand loyalty in that arena.

Still not pulling the trigger on the 2-3 hundy models.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I figure I get one year of service for every $50.00 of trail camera cost so I hope to get 2 years out of a $100.00 camera. Most are just Chinese junk and it’s just a pipe dream to think they will last longer than a couple of years when exposed to the elements
I think that is a really close estimate of cost per year. That would make Reconyx even more desirable on private properties(too risky on public ground)since they last 10 years or so, and you don't have to spend time replacing cameras every couple of years. Also, the guy at Reconyx told me they repair most cameras for $50-100 when they finally do have issues.
 
Does anyone here have the reconyx cellular cam ? Looking for feedback on it?

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

We have a couple and are buying 2 more if that says anything. We only have experience with Reconyx and Spartan cell cams.

The good: typical Reconyx quality, deer do not detect them unlike Spartan cams, and good battery life.

The bad: they are SPENDY, the thumbnail pics sent to the phone are not great and it costs you 10 pics for an HD version, and the data plans are more expensive to run than Spartans.
 
Does anyone here have the reconyx cellular cam ? Looking for feedback on it?

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk
I've got a couple. If I was wanting more cell cams I'd be buying Reconyx again. I have solar panels on mine, they'll go indefinitely without ever having to mess with them. I know the upfront cost is more than most want to swallow but I'm more of a buy once cry once person. Our landfills are full of enough chinese crap already.
 
I must have got lucky and bought a good batch of cheap Moultrie's 8 years ago. All are still functioning fine. Bought two cheap Bushnell at the same time and one just died this year. I only buy Cuddlinks now so that I can stay out of the woods and just pull one card on the edge of my property. Two full seasons of those with no issues so far. I have mine up about six months of the year.
 
I must have got lucky and bought a good batch of cheap Moultrie's 8 years ago. All are still functioning fine. Bought two cheap Bushnell at the same time and one just died this year. I only buy Cuddlinks now so that I can stay out of the woods and just pull one card on the edge of my property. Two full seasons of those with no issues so far. I have mine up about six months of the year.
Moultrie made some of my favorite cameras but I only got a couple 2-3 years out of them. I had about 15 of the M-40i cams they had. The most common problem I had with those was after a couple of years they would work for a couple of days and when I checked them, they would say "no memory". Some kind of internal problem. I really liked the camo they put on their cams, the picture quality was great(including night pics), quick trigger speed, deer centered in the pics, and the price was good.
 
I must have got lucky and bought a good batch of cheap Moultrie's 8 years ago. All are still functioning fine. Bought two cheap Bushnell at the same time and one just died this year. I only buy Cuddlinks now so that I can stay out of the woods and just pull one card on the edge of my property. Two full seasons of those with no issues so far. I have mine up about six months of the year.

I have 9 year old Moultrie's also. They're not the fanciest cams out there, but I've never had a problem with them and they were cheap.
 
Top Bottom