Best trail cam under $100
Contributors to this thread:Equipment
From: Mossyhorn
25-Jul-17
Looking at grabbing a couple small trail cams for this season more or less for fun to see what's out there. Looking at popping one or two up on a water hole or well used trail. Really don't need anything too special. I've been looking at them online and there are just so many out there it's hard to weed through all the reviews to decide. Thoughts?
From: Jaquomo
25-Jul-17
Watch Camofire. Then look at reviews. Lots of good ones out there for under $100 (on sale). Trigger speed and sensor distance are important to me. Also ease of setup. Everybody has a little different expectation.
From: Grubby
25-Jul-17
I really like the moultrie cameras, I have a bunch of m80 and m880s from eBay, they have held up well
From: cnelk
25-Jul-17
I like my Covert.
From: Knothead
25-Jul-17
You need to talk to some of the guys running around in the woods here in AZ. They are picking them up for $0. I know, I have made 4 donations over the last few years.
From: Mossyhorn
25-Jul-17
Knothead, that's why I don't want to invest much in one. Seems like there are a lot of dishonest folks in the woods!
From: Ucsdryder
25-Jul-17
Trail camera theft is a strange concept for me. I assume most of the people stealing them are hunters? Not a lot of meth heads out in the middle of nowhere. Are they stealing them because they want to see the pictures? Do they want the cameras? Do they not want you to know what's in "their" spot?
If you've ever stolen a camera, please tell us all why. Hahaha
From: maxracx
25-Jul-17
I have been extremely happy with my Stealth Cam G42s. I ran 3 last year during the WI bear season. I took 1000s of bear pics with great day and night time pics. 1 set of batteries lasted me the entire season and into the deer season.
From: smarba
25-Jul-17
I echo knothead's position. For the life of me I don't understand why camera makers focus on making better and better and more and more expensive. No friggin' way I'm going to hang $300 on a tree in the woods. It's bad enough having one stolen that's $100.
I don't need a photo worthy of entering a photography contest, I just need to see whether there is ANY game around, and if it's around in the daylight.
Make me a $30, 3MP with heck even a 3 second trigger speed.
From: Ucsdryder
25-Jul-17
Primos makes them. I have 2. Simple and cheap. I got them for 30 bucks delivered. Work like a champ. On off switch and thats the only options!
From: XMan
25-Jul-17
Browning Strike Forces on sale is what I would be buying.
From: MQQSE
25-Jul-17
Browning all the way. I own 24 and threw away all the other junk ones I had in the past.
From: nchunter
25-Jul-17
Camofire has the browning op force on sale, hard to go wrong with them. If you want a 2 year camera then go with wildgame innovation.
From: Irishman
25-Jul-17
I've had good luck with the little bushnell, moultrie, and primos camera's. I like the little, light ones that use double A batteries, and last for a year. I put mine up in places that are a long hike away, so I want them to be light and to have long battery life.
From: elk yinzer
25-Jul-17
I picked up a Browning command ops on sale for $89. Very pleased with it. Good trigger speed, adequate picture quality. Night pics leave a little to be desired but are ok. I'll never spend more than $100 on on either, risk of theft is too high and that price range is good enough now.
From: JL
25-Jul-17
You can go to the Walmart online site and type in "trailcam" and get alot of returns for cams on sale. Have it shipped to your local Wally.
From: Rob in VT
25-Jul-17
Stealth Cam G30. On Amazon for about $80. Stealth G42s are good as well. About $99.
From: flatlander
25-Jul-17
Check out Rogers Sporting Goods, they have several under $100.
From: wild1
25-Jul-17
Right now Bass Pro has the Browning Command Ops camera on sale for $79. A good camera at a really good price - buy two of them!
From: Buckiller
26-Jul-17
G42 no glow. 100$ on amazon
From: Schmitty78
26-Jul-17
My Brownings work well too!
From: Mossyhorn
26-Jul-17
Thanks guys for all the suggestions. A lot of really helpful posts! Hopefully I can pick a couple up and then on some spots!
One spot I'm curious about is a what turned out to be a natural mineral lick. Spotted some elk dropping into this spot way across the drainage. It was close to a really busy main road. We found a landmark and navigated into it thinking it was just a spring. Well it had white mineral all over wherever the water evaporated. Sat on it a couple times and had nothing come in. But have been curious how often it gets used and what's using it!
From: smarba
03-Aug-17
Dicks Sporting Goods has Primos Truth Cam Gen 2 on sale for $50 and free shipping over $50 order and Primos has a $30 online rebate form that appears to be valid.
From: Mossyhorn
03-Aug-17
Smarba, thanks for the heads up. I looked at the rebate and the fine print says valid only in Canada? Still a good price!
From: Bowman
03-Aug-17
I have sold a lot of different brands and hands down the go to camera for me is a covert . Sold over 100 of them with very few problems out of 100. The customer service has been great and they have two year warranty . The ones that have had problems the guys sent them back and they sent out a brand new camera in less than two weeks . Bushnell suck. Sent cameras back that broke and they said send us 79.00 bucks and we will send you another one.
From: PECO
03-Aug-17
I also do not understand why people steal trail cam, I would bet a lot of the those low life bums are anti's. I had a POS broke Wildgame Innovations camera I was going to hand out on public land with an old 16mb care in it. On the card would be a picture of a note the said something like "F*** Off you worthless thief" And maybe a few pictures of some unpleasant things. Never got around to it and disposed of the camera on a recent cleaning rage.
From: Mossyhorn
03-Aug-17
I ordered two of the primos proof cameras from Dicks. $49 a piece plus tax. Pretty decent reviews and not much invested if they get stolen.
From: smarba
04-Aug-17
Oh bugger, CANADA rebate, grrr
From: DartonJager
04-Aug-17
Just a heads up there are quite a few Youtube videos on how to convert a cheap outdoor rated electrical box into a lockable container for most trail cams. I am an industrial maintenance electrician and I can attest to the sturdiness of such boxes. All you need really is a 4" mini grinder and a cut off wheel. Just make sure your cam will fit in the box.
It is what I plan on doing to protect my cams.
From: Animal Killer
05-Aug-17
Stealth cam has a 2 pack for like 140 regular price and sometimes they are on sale for 125ish. Great cameras
