trail cam for cold, cold weather

[bearheart]

What's the best trail cam for: cold weather, large volume of pics, long battery life. I am pretty sure I heard Bushnell recommended. Does the Security case for their Trophy Cam HD work? Can you insulate the trail cam? Never dealt with one before so pardon my stupidity. Thanks for all friendly advice.

[BCHunterFSJ]

I have not had great luck with cold, cold weather with Moultrie, and Tasco.

[Brett]

trophy cam uses AAs and is supposed to have the best battery life, so it should still have the same in cold weather.

Maybe you can rig up a solar panel??

insulation will have no affect on cold cold unless you heat the camera, which would be weird :)

[ianwuzhere]

how cold are we talking here.. Ive used my cams in -20 but no colder then that. batteries will obviously not be as good, and i think the trigger time slows down as well..
i find the trophy cams by bushnell to be great cams, have not tried out any of the newest ones tho..-they keep gettin better every year..

[ufishifish2]

I am not as knowledgeable about this as many, but I do own a few trail cams.
The Tascos that I have take AA's and have a short battery life.
The Bushnell models that I have take D cell batteries and last most of the summer months.
I can't help with info for the cold but I would expect the bigger batteries to last longer.

[2chodi]

I know people who have adapted bushnell trail cams to work with external 12V deep cycle batteries for extended use in cold weather with success.

[ianwuzhere]

I know people who have adapted bushnell trail cams to work with external 12V deep cycle batteries for extended use in cold weather with success.

thats gotta be the best source for a good power source- a car battery... hopefully cam is close to the pickup so dont have to pack the big battery too far.. i dont use my cams that take the D batteries as much as the cams which take AA's- the D's surprisingly dont last as long as the AA's.

[bearheart]

how cold are we talking here.. Ive used my cams in -20 but no colder then that. batteries will obviously not be as good, and i think the trigger time slows down as well..
i find the trophy cams by bushnell to be great cams, have not tried out any of the newest ones tho..-they keep gettin better every year..

Thanks, sounds about right.-20 will do.I read rechargeble NiCads last the longest? True? Now to find the best price, thanks for the information!

[The Dude]

I've heard Moultries are bad in the cold. I've owned Bushnells, and a friend owned tascos. Tasco makes crap, like old Goldstar before they became LG.
My low to medium range Bushnells disappointed me in every way except not getting stolen.

A friend uses the UWAY NX50, and has his eye on the new NX150 (?), and raves about them, in all ways, in all weather.
Maybe he'll chime in when he gets back from putting some out to soak.

[OutWest]

I use a Reconyx RC60 with lithiums. It gets put up in March and taken down in December. The batteries last the entire season while taking a few thousand pictures. Extreme cold seems to have little effect on these cameras. They aren't cheap though.

[.300WSMImpact!]

Uway or scout gaurd, I have two of each and they work well in my manitoba whitetail hunt in -20 and the batteries I change once a year, and some of my elk areas if get 200 plus pictures a week

[Slinky Pickle]

For cold temperature and long duration I would use lithium disposables. Something like this.

http://www.energizer.com/batteries/ultimate-lithium/Pages/aa.aspx

They're rated from -40°C to 60°C and they will outlast any alkaline, NiCD or NiMH AA batteries out there. They're pricey but they sure last. I use them in my GPS, my SPOT and 2 of my cameras that I don't get to very often. Damn, deer meat is expensive :)

[bearheart]

Uway or scout gaurd, I have two of each and they work well in my manitoba whitetail hunt in -20 and the batteries I change once a year, and some of my elk areas if get 200 plus pictures a weekThe Uway cameras look likea good choice, thanks for the heads up, never even heard of them.

[Marc]

They are a sponsor on the site as well as Omenica Source For Sports and Grouse River outfitters carries them as well.

[phoenix]

Working in the cold has more to do with the batteries than the camera. Lithium are what you need after about -10, not cheap but they do last a long time. I modded my cams so I can use the rechargeable lithium-polymer batteries I use on my RC planes, it works great. I have Bushnell and Tasco cams, 5 in all.
Kim

[.300WSMImpact!]

The Uway cameras look likea good choice, thanks for the heads up, never even heard of them.

they are great I am so happy to have them, I hope to get the one that sends pictures to my cell phone one day that would be unreal

[bearheart]

they are great I am so happy to have them, I hope to get the one that sends pictures to my cell phone one day that would be unreal
Are the security boxes worth buying??

[.300WSMImpact!]

yes, I had one with out and someone stole my SD card, if they want to steal your cam they will cut the cable lock

[Hillbros_96]

I've heard Moultries are bad in the cold. I've owned Bushnells, and a friend owned tascos. Tasco makes crap, like old Goldstar before they became LG.
My low to medium range Bushnells disappointed me in every way except not getting stolen.

A friend uses the UWAY NX50, and has his eye on the new NX150 (?), and raves about them, in all ways, in all weather.
Maybe he'll chime in when he gets back from putting some out to soak.


I have had the medium bushnal, cheap crappy tire ones and my last one has been a Moultrie that my wife bought me as a gift. By far the Moultrie has been the best. I am on my third season with the original batteries I installed. I also have left the camera on a tree through last winter in Alberta and I am showing 40percent battery life after more then 1000 pictures.

I do not know if a got the good one out of the batch, but would definitely buy another Moultrie.

[Slinky Pickle]

Are the security boxes worth buying??

Yes, but not always for the reasons you think.

Mine is lag bolted to a tree and this guy managed to almost pull it off the tree. The box ended up pretty bent but it was repairable. The camera by itself would have been destroyed.


http://youtu.be/drGhWL7jWNA