I need advise on a cheap IR camera

[magicman54494]

I'm looking to buy a few cameras for monitoring bear baits so they don't have to be anything fancy. About the only thing I really want is IR. The cheaper the better. I'll be on public land so I'm not willing to put a lot of money in a camera that might take a walk on me plus for the same investment I'd rather have more cameras that take iffy pics then one good one that takes great pics.
Any suggestions on what to buy?
Any cameras I should stay away from?

[DEERSLAYER]

It may not be as cheap as your looking for, but the Primos Truth Cam 35 3.0 IR is a good camera that you count on not to miss pictures. Natchez Shooters Supply has them on sale right now for $69.99 or $64.99 for two or more (in the online summer close out flyer).

http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?co ... rc=tpSlrHm

[kenn1320]

You likely know this, but if not I hear Bears love to destroy cameras. You might want to invest in some sort of metal box to put it in. Also something to note, IR cameras light up their bulbs before the pic and this is easily visible if your looking right at the camera. This could help tip off the bears as to its location. I would advise mounting it about 8-10ft above the bait and angle it down. I know bears can climb, but if its not at nose level, it may help keep it from being noticed as easily. I guess you could put it on a small diameter tree they wouldnt climb, but you may get a few false pics due to wind. My friend has the Truth 46 and it takes decent pics, but sometimes the pics are bright, other times no so much. Its strange and were talking pics 1 minute apart, not hours. His also has a loud clunk every time it takes a picture. While I dont think it will scare bears like it scares deer, it will give them a reason to look at the camera and possibly destroy it. I think the bears prefer film cameras, but my luck they wouldnt be picky.

[RaisedByWolves]

Hunten outdoors has cheap IR's, the sale prices can range from $50-$100....I bought some dual 6-volt battery packs($50) each and the batteries last for months....Great pics too

[magicman54494]

Are there any I should stay away from?

Do all these cameras have sd cards that I can view on my lap top?

What about battery life? Any info would be helpful because I'm a rookie to using trail cams.

I need someone to do a trail camera for dummies tutorial.

Thanks for the heads up on the bear boxes Kenn. Several others have warned me as well.

[PLB]

Are there any I should stay away from?

Do all these cameras have sd cards that I can view on my lap top?

What about battery life? Any info would be helpful because I'm a rookie to using trail cams.

I need someone to do a trail camera for dummies tutorial.

Thanks for the heads up on the bear boxes Kenn. Several others have warned me as well.

I built my own bear boxes after having several cameras ruined. Those metal ammo boxes at army surplus work great too!! If you build them from wood like I did they hold up good, just a few chew marks

[DEERSLAYER]

I would stay away from Wild View and Wild Game Innovations (QC is all over the place). There are others too, but really the best thing to do is to read some reviews at http://www.chasingame.com/ and http://www.trailcampro.com/reviews.aspx

I haven't seen anything less than $70 that is any good. The clunk mentioned above was supposedly fixed over a year ago so that shouldn't be a problem. Also, the Sportsmans Guide will match on price and their shipping was cheaper for me. I like the Hunten outdoors cams except that I keep reading their IR flash range is not very far.

Bears are notorious for tearing into the old 35mm film cameras because of the film smell. I'm not sure about the digital's, but I would mount it above your head anyway.

It's hard to find a decent, reliable cam with a good trigger and recovery time for under $100-$150 other than the two mentioned here, but I haven't done a lot of research on them recently so there could be more.

I think battery life on both would be at least three months easy set on pictures only. It depends on how many pics you get (& time of day) and whether or not you are taking videos as to how long the batteries will last. It could go one month if your getting lots of video or it may go nine months plus if your only getting the occasional pic.

[DEERSLAYER]

...If you build them from wood like I did they hold up good, just a few chew marks

That's a good idea PLB! If you use some Elmers glue or wood glue when build them the wood will fail before the joint will.

[magicman54494]

...If you build them from wood like I did they hold up good, just a few chew marks

That's a good idea PLB! If you use some Elmers glue or wood glue when build them the wood will fail before the joint will.

I'm pretty handy with wood and I have some metal laying around and I have a welder so one way or the other I should be GTG!

[Swampthing]

I too have a buddy who was pleased with his Hunten Outdoors cam. I,ve seen them at Scheels and also even Menards.

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[ah110]

ive had pretty good luck with the Wildgame innovations ir4. but my next camera is going to be the Moultrie M80.

[DEERSLAYER]

My 2007 Moultrie I40 has a good trigger time and picture quality, but I haven't been willing to buy one since their trigger times got bad in 2008. They have yet to make any real effort to improve their times (I don't know about the 2011 models). They seem to be slow to wake up too. Although at a 1.64 second trigger time the M80 is one of their fastest cams.

They used to be the best deal out there. That's how they got big.

[RaisedByWolves]

The Hunten Outdoors and Wildgame Innovations ir4 are basically identical....that moultrie m80 has it all except a veiwing screen for 129.99

[PLB]

The Hunten Outdoors and Wildgame Innovations ir4 are basically identical....that moultrie m80 has it all except a veiwing screen for 129.99

I think Wildgame Innovations makes a pretty reasonable camera with a viewingscreen?? You have these at Scheel's Patrick?? How much??

[RaisedByWolves]

The Hunten Outdoors and Wildgame Innovations ir4 are basically identical....that moultrie m80 has it all except a veiwing screen for 129.99

I think Wildgame Innovations makes a pretty reasonable camera with a viewingscreen?? You have these at Scheel's Patrick?? How much??

No i don't think we have that one, just the ir4's....I'm sure we could order it though. We do sell the tiny covert CA30 with a veiwing screen buildt into the remote($119) and the moultrie M100 for $199

the covert- http://www.dlccovert.com/product-ca30.html

the moultrie- http://www.moultriefeeders.com/productd ... h-dgs-m100