Game Camera for Dummies ?
Contributors to this thread:Equipment
From: Wink501
10-Jan-21
Let me be completely honest. I am challenged when it come to technology. I’ve never owned a game camera but can understand how it might be a valuable tool. I’m looking for a reliable, inexpensive, easy to operate, easy to view in the field game camera. Color or black and white makes no difference to me. I just want to be able to see what and when deer may be near my stand. Any recommendations are appreciated. Thanks !
From: JusPassin
10-Jan-21
28 dollar Tasco's from Walmart; they're cheap, they work, pictures are adequate, I can put out a number of them, and if someone steals one it doesn't break the bank.
From: LINK
10-Jan-21
I have 3 Tascos and they get the job done. An SD card reader for your smartphone and you’re set.
From: SIP
10-Jan-21
I have a few of the $28 wally world cams too. One thing i found, u have to mke sure u use good quality sd cards with them and make sure the cam is saving pics on it before u leave it in the woods. Just check at home and ur good. More than adequate at letting you know what is around and like said above, its a cheap option
From: sitO
10-Jan-21
The Tasco's are ok, better in video mode than picture mode in my experience. Here's a Tasco video at a scrape...
However, I'd recommend this camera instead...at Amazon: Campark Mini Trail Camera 16MP 1080P HD Game Camera(see link). It's an "off" brand but cheap($40), only takes 4 AA's, can be set to take pics and video at the same time, and high quality images/video. Here's a Campark video at another scrape...
From: sitO
10-Jan-21
Here are some stills...first two are from Tasco, third and fourth from the Campark. The Campark also has a color screen, though small, to view images at the camera/in field.
From: The last savage
10-Jan-21
the tasco pics are great!
From: Habitat
11-Jan-21
Issue I had with the cheap ones was that the pictures looked ok,at least the ones they took.I have set brownings up next to them and saw the pictures I was missing.Not saying the brownings are the best because I hvae had bad ones. Check out the reviews at trailcampro.com
From: x-man
11-Jan-21
Another $28 Tasco user here.
From: goyt
11-Jan-21
I have used the cheaper cameras as well and everything seems fine. However, I can watch animals go by them and there is not a resulting picture. The sensors are not as good as far as distance and sensitivity. If a deer is close for a long time there will most likely be a picture. Also the flashes do not reach very far. I put some on water holes in AZ and they were very disappointing because most of the animals were over 30' away. Cheap cameras are a cheap way to go and will provide some quality information. My better cameras will capture over a thousand pictures when a cheap one gets a few hundred. Most of the time a cheap camera will let me know a good buck is in the area whereas a better camera provides more opportunities to identify individual bucks and to score them.
From: JohnMC
11-Jan-21
How is the battery life on these cheap cameras? I had a couple cheap cameras a few years ago they were ok but ate through battery quick. Another good place to find cameras is camofire they are there about once a week.
From: Nimrod90
13-Jan-21
Tasco's are great, got a half dozen, just checked wally world today and not on sale yet. I usually get em for $ 18.00 bucks when they mark them down. Take great pics and good battery life IF you use good batteries.
From: x-man
14-Jan-21
I'm still on my first set of batteries in my Tasco, 6 months. Seems to average a couple dozen pictures a day. I don't get many blank pictures(fly-by birds), but I do get a bunch of them with the same rabbit, fox, coon family and pheasants though. Some day that fox is going to catch that rabbit. I just hope I get that on film.
From: buzzard
14-Jan-21
Like the OP I am not super tech savvy but decided to get my first trail camera just over a year ago. Like others suggested I started with a Tasco from Walmart. I really enjoyed that camera and quickly wanted a couple more. I now have 7 cameras, four are the Campark Mini's that sitO mentioned. I prefer the Camparks over the Tasco for a few reasons, View Screen, simple menu driven setup interface, only needs 4 batteries, more functions, etc. I get about 5 months out of a set of batteries in both Tasco and Campark. The Campark picture/video quality might be a bit better than Tasco. We all know there are better cameras available with more reliable trigger, better pic/video, no-glow LEDs, etc. but I am having fun with my lower end cameras. Now I am going to make a suggestion that not everyone will agree with. When it is time to visit your cameras and review the pictures I do not swap SD cards or use a card viewer. I prefer to carry my small laptop and a USB cable (all my cameras have a USB port) I simply download all the pictures to the laptop and move on. At home I can relax and review the pictures in my lazy-boy. I typically have 100 to 300 pictures/videos to review every week. Hope that helps. As with most things there is more than one way to do it. Just pick a camera or two and get started I think you are really going to enjoy it.
From: 76aggie
14-Jan-21
In past years, I found Cuddeback cameras to be great. The easiest thing in the world to set up. The more recently purchased Cuddeback cameras are junk. Pictures, when they took one, were terrible, especially at night.
From: TrapperKayak
14-Jan-21
I got a WalMart one, not a Tasco though, for around $50. Very easy to use, will post pics when I get the SD reader for my phone.
