Tags
The results are in… 2013 Trail Camera Review
So after several Months of testing and abuse the results are in……..
They were rated in the following parameters:
Ease of use: Is the interface user friendly is it easy to read and is it functional
Security: Can the camera be secured so that it wont be stolen on public land. Does it need a separate security box.
Ease of installation: How easy is it to hang
Picture Quality: How clear are the subjects, does it work in all lighting scenarios or does it wash out in bright light
Trigger Speed: Does the camera catch the full subject in frame
Video Quality: How good is the video, are there different settings, how adjustable are the settings
Special Features: Extra features and there “usability” in the field
Sensor Distance: How far out will the camera trigger
Night Time Capture Distance: What’s the range of infra red
Overall Design: How is it constructed, is it ergonomic? Is it conspicuous ?
Toughness: Will it stand up to punishing weather and conditions
Battery Life: How long will standard batteries last
Capacity: how large of a SD card does it except, and will it perform with all types of cards
Does it malfunction: Does it have any quarks
Warranty: What’s the warranty, how many loop holes do they have to get out of replacing your unit
Customer Service: Is there someone to help you when you need it
Stealth Cam Skout 7
This is a very good camera we liked it a lot: it had very good picture quality pic, and the video quality was very good, trigger distance was 2nd highest. The locking box was very user friendly and easy to install and had the proper holes for the accessories. The draw backs to this camera were very hard to set up and really not customizable, for instance if you want to use video feature you can set it a your own intervals or lengths of capture. Also you could not view your pics/vids in the field, moreover what really was a disappointment is you cannot format the SD card in the field so you needed to make sure you did that at home before you went to hang it. The trigger speed was par with the field. The interface was like I said was not easy to use however for the guy who likes to just flip a switch and go the pre-set features were simple stupid, as for what it was built to do take pic/vid of game it did it job well and its a tough unit, all at a low price point so it gained some points with us in the end.
Stealth Unit X
Again this unit suffered from some of the same issues that the skout did and although they added a display screen inside to aid in set up the interface is still very confusing and has a larger learning curve then other units. This unit also added a sound recording feature in video mode which is pretty cool especially when we had it in the elk woods.. Thing I loved the best about the stealth cam units is the info bar at the bottom of the image gives you time/date and moon phase.
Wildview TK40
For the money this is a great camera, the lock boxes fit perfect, took great video and pics, trigger distance was good speed was just bellow par, but again suffered from the same issues as the stealth cam they use the same interface. Also loved the time stamp and moon phase on bottom of every image..
Wildview TK30
This model was almost identical to its big brother, it had a sluggish recover time, the flash distance was poor, but again for the money you cant go wrong they operated well in all conditions and although the battery life wasn’t the greatest we would still recommend them to the budget minded hunter.
Moultrie 990 i
This camera had some of the nicest features out of any of the cameras we tested, it was easy to set up, the battery tray was a great little convince factor, the video quality was excellent, it had the best sound quality out of the group, but it had some shortfalls trigger speed was some of the slowest we tested, battery life was poor in comparison, and the thing that drove me nuts is we couldn’t find a locking box for the unit, we had 2 of them stolen. So unless you have your own land I would not recommend this unit. I have to say that the chart doesn’t reflect this.. but when we had this unit in the elk woods it was triggering at 20-22 yards at night and we could see the elk very clearly even at that distance. But when we did the testing with a human walking by it only got to about 30 ft max and consistently at 25 ft
Moultrie 880
Really this unit had all the things that were great about its big brother, with just a few less features and the price reflects that. so if you don’t need all the bells and whistles this can be your “guy”… with good trigger distance and great flash distance, clear nighttime videos and photos all and all a nice unit..
DLC Extreme Black
Excellent unit!! Did everything we asked of it and more, took great video and pictures were top notch, trigger speed excellent, nice centered shots. Great interface…However I didn’t like the time stamp in the thumbnails, the viewing screen feature is nice to have but almost too small to be useful, the time stamp pops up for a quick second before the video plays, so if you want to see the info you need to view the properties on the thumbnail
DLC MP6
Again DLC is stellar in the trigger speed and centering shot and trigger distance categories. However, I was a little disappointed in this unit because the Extreme was so good, the picture and especially the video quality were not very good and of course it suffered form the same issues the extreme did with time stamp
Bushnell Trophy CAM Max
As one of our top runners this trail camera really has it all, I love the Bushnell versatility in set up, lock boxes are available from factory and aftermarket, video quality is excellent as well as the pictures, one of the drawbacks to this unit is in picture mode it tended to prematurely take the photo before the animal came into frame, this was not the case in video mode, which is what this baby was built for.
It was very close but THE WINNER IS!!!!
Bushnell Trophy CAM HD
Very fast trigger speed and the interface is simple and you can customize how long you want your video how long in between you are not stuck to preset, battery life is the best tested by far.. trigger distance was the best we tested consistently, quality of pics was very good but video is great, its priced right, very dependable, one of the few units we tested that had zero functioning issues. We had battery that exploded in one of them and we just wiped it out and threw new battery in it and it just kept on ticking…I wasn’t too surprised that Bushnell made my favorite list again, it really stood up to everything we through at t and performed as described in every test if not better.. And although this is not fair because I didn’t have any thing to test the others since they were all new units, the thing about them that I love I have unit from 2 years ago that has been working non stop in the field for 19 months we just go swap out cards and batteries and it keeps on working… I will be curious to see if the other units I test hold up as well…
| Camera | longest trigger distance | longest trigger distance night | battery life | ease of set up | Ease of installation | Picture Quality |
| Stealth Cam Skout 7 | 25 ft | 25 ft |
7 |
5 |
8 |
9 |
| Stealth Unit X | 25ft | 25ft |
7 |
5 |
8 |
9 |
| Wildview TK40 | 25ft | 25ft |
7 |
5 |
8 |
8 |
| Wildview TK 30 | 20ft | 20ft |
7 |
5 |
8 |
8 |
| Moultrie 990 i | 25ft | 25ft |
7 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
| Moultrie 880 | 25ft | 25ft |
7 |
8 |
9 |
8 |
| Trophy CAM Max | 30ft | 30ft |
8 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
| Trophy CAM HD | 35ft | 35ft |
10 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
| DLC Extreme Black | 25ft | 25ft |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9.5 |
| DLC MP6 | 30ft | 30ft |
10 |
9 |
9 |
7.5 |
| scale 1-10 | scale 1-10 | scale 1-10 | scale 1-10 |
| Trigger Speed | Video Quality | Special Features: | Overall Design | Toughness: | Warranty: | Customer Service | Totals |
|
8 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
10 |
6 |
9 |
88 |
|
8 |
9 |
8 |
8 |
10 |
6 |
9 |
87 |
|
7 |
8 |
6 |
8 |
10 |
6 |
9 |
82 |
|
7 |
8 |
6 |
8 |
10 |
6 |
9 |
82 |
|
7 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
8 |
9 |
8 |
96 |
|
7 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
9 |
8 |
88 |
|
8 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
8 |
8 |
99 |
|
8 |
10 |
10 |
9 |
10 |
8 |
8 |
101 |
|
8 |
9.5 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
101 |
|
8 |
6.5 |
8 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
10 |
96 |
| scale 1-10 | scale 1-10 | scale 1-10 | scale 1-10 | scale 1-10 | scale 1-10 | scale 1-10 |
So in order of best to worst I give you our picks:
Trophy CAM HD
DLC Extreme Black
Stealth Unit X
Trophy CAM Max
Stealth Cam Skout 7
Wildview TK40
Moultrie 990 i
Wildview TK 30
Moultrie 880
DLC MP6