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

Trail Cameras that email or transmit pictures- Advice??

Sligh1

Administrator
Staff member
Ok, so I kinda waited to see what would continue to come out and wait for improvements.... are we waiting til about this spring for new products? I almost want to wait til they have all this technology RIGHT before I spend a bunch. I haven't used any yet. I know folks that use Buckeye cams with great success, love em, but they are like a grand a piece or more....

http://www.buckeyecam.com/

Scoutguard 580m- about $250 is what I can find em for.... http://scoutguard550.com/sg580m.html
OR
covert Special OPS... http://www.dlccovert.com/product-specialops.html Also about $250 when I shopped around.....
BOTH SAME CAMERA? Anyone had any luck? 2 really crappy reviews online. I like the price though. I want cell coverage for maybe 6 months a year and sure don't wanna get myself into say 6 cameras at $50/each per month- that's silly. Can I do these reasonable $-wise? But main thing, with 2 crap reviews, are these worth taking a chance on?

*What's the deal with Scoutguard, Bushnell and Covert all sharing the same design on their cameras? All the same cams with different label? I suppose they bought/leased design from whoever invented them & stick their label on em?

WILDGAME Cameras Remote cams- I guess you can be up to 300 yards away and transmit. Doesn't do the instant email to nail a trespasser that might steal your camera BUT would save you a trip into a delicate area which is beneficial. Do these work? Any experience, good quality????

http://www.wildgameinnovations.com/products/fieldnet.html

I know there's chasinggame.com or whatever, will spend some time there and did a little reading earlier BUT, what's good, should I wait til spring when new stuff comes out? Or heck, should I hold off another couple years until they really have all the bugs worked out & newer/better technology comes out (and price of technology comes down of course)? My goals are not having to go to check a cam (no pressure) and nailing trespassers who might steal a camera or take a chip out. And, getting a super reliable, top quality cam without having to drop 1k+ on each cam since I'm gonna get a handfull of these when time is right. Cameras I'm missing? THANKS!!!
 
Last edited:
Skip, I am running 5 buckeye cameras, but I am not impressed with them. The solar panel does not keep the battery charged, so still have to go in and switch batteries. The signal does not travel far from camera to camera to base, especially in hilly terrain and with leaves on the trees. Plus they are not hard to spot with all the cords, solar panels and antennas. Picture quality is fair.
 
I have a buddy that uses Smart Scouters. He puts them up in January with a big shed in front of them to catch shed poachers, he will get a picture in seconds and if hes home he can be to any spot in the farm in 5 mins.
 
https://www.smartscouter.com/ssDefault.aspx?

Great camera, not a lot of troubles? What can a guy get monthly charges down to? I wouldn't be a fan of $50 a month or something, hopefully a lot cheaper options?

Looks like AROUND $450 and with all the accessories- booster antennas, power packs, etc- could get $600-800 if you wanted all the stuff.
 
I know most cameras run on a cell phone plan. You get X number of pictures and the service for X number of dollars. Then its so much a picture after that. I know moultries are cheaper. I belive you get like 400 picture on the plan and then 10 cents a picture after that.
 
I know most cameras run on a cell phone plan. You get X number of pictures and the service for X number of dollars. Then its so much a picture after that. I know moultries are cheaper. I belive you get like 400 picture on the plan and then 10 cents a picture after that.


400 pics? Holy smokes, I get 400 pics in a few days on my bean fields. That would get expensive. I thought that you payed for a monthly plan that was a set fee and unlimited amount of images? It would make 0 sense to pay for something that charged by the photo.

Skip, I'm curious to know why this interests you? Location in regards to your farm? Time availability of checking cams? entry and exit into your farms? Trespassers?

I purchased a few new cams this year and am running them on Lithium batteries. With a large card and lithiums I can run my cameras for a month at a time without checking them. My M80 has been out since late september and has probably snapped over 10k pics and still has 85% battery life on the energizer liths! I looked into the pic transmitting cams, but there are very few places in NE Iowa that they work (no reception). Than I realized that for 1000$ dollars I can purchase a whole lot of cams that I can utilize in more places. Cost/benefit wasn't worth it for me with these type of cams.
 
I want some because I have about 5 or 6 areas that I wanna hunt if there's a big buck coming there BUT they r areas that r sensitive to pressure and I do not want to go in there. I am very low pressure on my place and these spots r delicate. Also- just in case someone trespassed- they couldnt grab cam or card. I have no problems thus far though. I do have a ton of bushnells and coverts which r great with lithiums and bushnells with 16 gb cards. But- main thing is not screwing up an area.... Let's say on oct 3 a big old buck is going to xyz location that's sensitive- if I find out oct 4th but while checking the cam I bump him or other deer- he might not stay on pattern. Or if he smells my scent I leave- even at midnight he could come out- know I was in there earlier and avoid it. Part of this is me being anal and picky but I also know low pressure really helps me and a lot of folks do a lot of damage without realizing it. If me being picky means several grand though- I might just live with my old school ways- which is fine. But if it's reasonable to have cams email me- sure would b handy.
 
Not worth the price IMO, that is just insane unless you really have some money to spend. I'd rather buy several cheaper cameras. Also, with the tresspasser thoughts, what if the tresspasser comes up from behind the camera? Then there would be no pics and they could book it out and not get caught....and you just lost a grand.
 
Not worth the price IMO, that is just insane unless you really have some money to spend. I'd rather buy several cheaper cameras. Also, with the tresspasser thoughts, what if the tresspasser comes up from behind the camera? Then there would be no pics and they could book it out and not get caught....and you just lost a grand.

Ya- I get that. Sure is a possibility. Everything has its ups and downs. I am not dropping a grand on a cam or even 500- that's for sure. But- is there sweet cams for 250 that really work excellent????? Not sure. That would b ok with me. But again- not if I have 50 a month per cam going out too. I think this is the way of the future but wonder how many more years? I will bet in 5 yrs we'll have solid transmitting cams for 200 dollars that dont have monthly charges. I hope at least!
 
We’ve been running 5 SG580’s this summer/fall for the first time. After having them out for the last 5 months or so, I can say the overall experience has been good.

We also have about 10 SG550’s and the 580’s perform the same as a regular camera. I have been pleased with the battery life, picture quality, and trigger speed.

For the cellular functionality, we went the AT&T Go Phone route, bought SIM cards from Ebay, and managed each camera as a separate account online. We don’t get a lot of traffic where these cameras have been posted so 200 messages for $5/month has been fine. Otherwise there are Go Phone messaging packages for 1000 messages at $10/month and Unlimited for $20/month.

Only negative I can say is the MMS picture quality…it’s a significant step down from the full size image that is stored on the camera and can be a problem if the deer isn’t centered in the IR flash or it’s a long range object. However, you're generally able to get a good idea of what’s in the picture.

Our reasoning for running these cams is the same as your thoughts…minimize the pressure in sensitive areas. As the deer have transitioned into late season, we’ve moved most of the cams to the food sources.

Let me know if you have any questions…I could work on pulling down some examples of the MMS pictures if you’re interested.
 
I run 11 buckeye cam's. I will say they work great when you get everything figured out. How far away do you plan on running the camera's? Is it hilly? I use mine on field edges/food plots where the solar panels can be exposed to sunlight. In the timber just wont work as well. Currently i have 7 cameras running on 140 acres where my cabin is located. I also have 4 camera's running on another propety 1.5 miles away transmitting to the cabin. I mount my cameras to pvc post with the solar panels above them and the antenna mounted on the top. THen i slip the pvc pipe over a 2 ft garden stake. This way i can move the setup anywhere and its easy. i wrap the pvc with camo tape so it doesnt stick out as much.
 
Top Bottom