Hey guys the last few years we've been having trouble with trail cameras. We run wildgame nation cameras and use laptops or a wildgame nation card reader. The cards we use are cabelas brand. Some cameras are at most 3 years old and all the cards are less than a year old. Many times when checking the cards we will get 1 of 2 messages. "No file" or "there is a problem with this card" we never had these problems or any problems for years. If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts I'd love to hear them. Thanks.
Trail Cam troubles
- Thread starter GWR
- Start date
Shufigo
Active Member
Does this problem also occur when you test your cameras in a (inside the house) controlled environment? Try taking a few shots indoors at room temps so you can rule out overly hot environmental conditions. I have no experience with the Cabela's brand cards as I've just used San Disc ordered off the internet for years. I've only had one short (unhappy) experience with Wildgame but that was about 5 years ago. If you have any other brand cams, you can run a side by side test to prove that the problem is unique to the cam/card combination you/re using. That's the best I can come up with.
Shuf
Shuf
yoderjac
Well-Known Member
The low-end trail cam don't use coated electronics. Humid air enters through battery compartments and such during hot periods. When things cool down the humidity condenses on the electronics. Most of them are built in Chinese factories with very poor QC. One cam off the line may work well for quite a while but then next may be a dud and the next may work for a while before failing.
I was spending a lot of time checking cams and trying to diagnose problems. I eventually decided to go high end. These cams were much more expensive up-front, but less expensive over the long haul.
Keep in mind that we ask a lot from a trail cam. At the low end of the market, they have to cut corners somewhere. Most produce feature rich cams with high quality pictures, but very short life-spans. It takes quite a bit to design a cam that operates unattended more many months taking quality pictures 24/7 in all kinds of weather based on a PIR sensor.
Thanks I do think I'm gonna get different/higher quality cams. Do you suggest a certain brand?
It occurs no matter the weather and it will work one time then not the next. We've tried narrowing it down to one problem or the other but can never determine which phase is actually the problem. Do you recommend a certain brand of higher quality cams?
yoderjac
Well-Known Member
When I first started with trail cameras, I had many of the issues with short life-span, and other failures. I kept up with things and played with many brands. This was back in the mid-2000s. I taught a trail camera class for our state Hunter Education instructors. So, keep in mind that my hands-on expertise is pretty old.
One thing to consider is that you don't know what you don't know. One of the independent (at the time) trail camera web sites did some testing. They mounted a bunch of cameras side-by side and did a walk test in front of them at different yardages. The results were surprising. The varied greatly from camera to camera and often with the same brand and model. They then did side by side field tests. The number of pictures they got that were non-false-alarms were compared and they varied by hundreds.
I got tired of all the time I was spending on messing with camera failures. I wanted to get hard data for QDM management decisions. With regular camera failures, there were so many holes in the data, I could not trust it for decisions. Also, it was biased by my frequent checking of cameras.
I finally did an engineering analysis of bunch of cameras. There were two brands (expensive), that stood out from the rest.. One was Reconyx and the other was BuckeyeCam. Both had good PIR sensor designs and did not miss many pictures. I ended up going with BuckeyeCam because they had a wireless option I could add and Reconyx did not at the time.
I purchased a BuckeyeCam Apollo as my first high-end cam back about 2008. I upgraded it to a wireless model using a kit they provided. The upgraded model was called Orion. I then purchased a PC base and more Orion cameras. These cameras transmit locally using the 900 mhz frequency range. The initial camera cost and setup cost was quite high. I had experience with transmitting at 900 mhz and it can be easy or quite difficult depending on your environment. I had one of the toughest transmission environments, a pine farm.
I have over a dozen Orion cameras on my wireless network now. This is not a cell phone network and there is no monthly bill. I have rigged them up with solar panels and they run 24/7/365 since I bought them in the late 2000's. Batteries last over a year before I need to recharge them. This means the data is not biased by human scent from me checking cards often. I've had to send a couple back for refurbishment over the years. Most have been issues I caused. There were only 1 or 2 where a camera component failed.
This is very old technology compared to today's technology, but it is bullet proof. They no longer sell or support the Orion series cams, but mine are all still up and running 24/7/365.
Back in about 2012, BuckeyeCam came out with the X7D camera and later upgraded it to the X80. It is a somewhat less expensive and smaller model than the Orion, but it does not have as long-range of a radio. I purchased one of these for testing. The pictures are a bit higher resolution and it is a 12v vs a 6v design which I like. That makes it easier to use commercial solar panels. It is physically smaller which I like as well. The only downside is that the radio is somewhat shorter range. I believe they still sell this one, but I'm not sure. Mine has been running flawlessly since I bought it.
That does not mean I'm recommending this Brand for you. There are lots of considerations. These are expensive and if you are on public land or have trespass, you are risking a lot to theft or vandalizing. Your location may or may not support wireless 900 mhz easily. While the technology seems bullet proof, it is older technology. So, they are not for everyone. When I amortize the cost and labor saving over the life-span of these cameras, they have clearly saved me money and prevented gaps in my data.
Caveat: Because my camera network has been so functional and reliable, I have not been in the trail camera market for many years. China often takes a business approach of flooding the market with low-end very inexpensive product. The product is so cheap, it almost becomes throw-away. This displaces many competitors that cannot compete on cost. They then begin to increase quality and cost. Harbor Freight is an example of this approach. I'm not sure where we are in that cycle with the trail cam products today. At one time, I would have said to avoid brands manufactured in China. That may or may not be the case today.
Best of Luck,
Jack
Drycreek
Well-Known Member
I have been very happy with Bushnell cameras. Bushnell sold a while back and the support is now better than it was before, and it wasn’t too bad then. I have cameras that are 7/8 years old that are still delivering and they won’t break the bank. Brownings are good too, offer excellent battery life, but the pics from mine aren’t as good as the Bushnells. That said, I only have one Browning out, and I bought it used 5/6 years ago. It’s like the Energizer bunny, it just keeps going, and going……
