Best Trail Cameras? Which Cameras Are The Best For You.
Jan 15th 2019
The best trail cameras? Is one of the top asked questions out there in the hunting world.
Well now that is a good question. Although we are no super electronics expert or engineer, we do have a good bit of experience using trail cameras in the field so here are a few thoughts on this question.
Lets break down the "best trail cameras" into three different segments. Black Flash, IR or Infrared, and Wireless - Cellular.
1. Infrared Trail Cameras - These have been out for the longest time. They are also the most reasonably priced cameras on the market. Most of the IR trail cameras take very good night time pictures and or videos. Here are a few of the best IR cameras in our opinion on average - meaning all things including price, battery life, trigger speed, picture quality and reliability in real world conditions. A being the best.
A - The Browning Strike Force trail camera in our opinion is the best overall. It comes in many models like the Strike Force Pro, Strike Force XD etc. You really can't go wrong with a Browning Strike Force trail camera. Even the older models dating back to 2015 work well.
B - Recon Force by Browning Trail Cameras comes in second. This camera is geared more for the video guys. It has more settings which is good and bad depending on how tech savvy you are. Stick with the newer versions like the Recon Force Extreme or Advantage for better results
C - Reconyx Hyperfire - Great all around trail camera. Good customer service and reliability. A little low on Mega Pixels and a little high on price. Price being its main downfall. You can get a really good cellular camera for less or multiple other cameras for the same price and cover more property.
2. Now for the black flash cameras. There are so many of these with about the same picture quality its hard to find a clear winner. Keep in mind that these have the advantage of not spooking wise old animals but the trade off is not as good of night pics and or videos.
A - Browning Dark Ops XD - This camera seems to have it all. Very good battery life! It also has a viewing screen for those who feel like they need it. Night pictures are towards the top for a black flash game camera. Stick with the newer Dark Ops Browning cameras for better picture quality.
B - Browning Spec Ops - This is pretty much the black flash version of the Recon Force so it is also a very good video unit. Also like the Recon Force stick with the later versions like the Spec Ops Extreme and the Spec Ops Advantage for best results.
C - Stealth Cam DS4k - This camera take very good pictures and also videos. It also has great battery life. It hasn't been out that long but we don't think you can go wrong with this camera.
3. Cellular - Wireless Trail Cameras. These cameras actually send pictures and or videos right to you phone, email or app. The popularity for this technology in recent years has really taken off. Keep in mind that almost all brands of wireless trail cameras have different prices on plans.
A - Spartan Cellular or Spartan GoCam 4G trail cameras have been around about the longest and we believe still has an edge on other brands. Ours proved very reliable no problems at all. The Spartan app works great. If you have the Spartan premium service you can change a whole bunch of settings on the camera right from your phone without even being miles from it,
B - Covert Black Hawk LTE - Like all cellular cameras these have come a long way. We feel the newer Covert wireless cameras are just as good as any. The app seemed to have a few bugs but that will probably be fixed by now.
C - Reconyx 4G 950 - This camera come with great customer service. It is also a very good product. So far there is not an app out for this camera yet. The biggest downside the the Reconyx is the price. Great product but a hunter could cover way more ground with two or three cameras made by other companies and probably have a better chance and setting them self up for a shot that way.