Topic: The Best Cellular Trail Cameras of 2023, Tested and Reviewed (Read 39 times)
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Topic: The Best Cellular Trail Cameras of 2023, Tested and Reviewed (Read 39 times)
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The Moultrie Mobile Edge is a functional, capable camera and costs only $100, which is impressive. But what’s truly remarkable about this cellular trail camera is all of the features it brings to the table through its Moultrie Mobile app. The camera automatically connects to the strongest network in the area (without requiring you to switch sim cards) and promptly sends photos. Here’s the cool part: The Moultrie Mobile app is designed with image recognition, so it identifies deer (including bucks vs. does), turkeys, vehicles, and humans in photos. From there, you can sort your photos based on species. Say, for example, you set the camera in the summertime and by November you have a few thousand photos, including some shooter bucks, does, squirrels, coyotes, and that damn neighbor who keeps riding by on his ATV. The app allows you to filter images so you’ll only see the buck photos. What’s more, it gives you activity data, showing when bucks are passing by the camera most frequently.
I hung my test camera on a cornfield edge in a core area of our hunting property. According to the app, the highest buck activity for this site is 6 a.m. (I looked through the photos manually to confirm that the app was correct, and it was). Besides time of day, the activity data also accounts for temperature and moon phase. If you’re a serious deer hunter, I’m sure you already see the incredible possibilities for this technology. With a few cameras running on a hunting property over the course of several seasons, you’d have a powerful data set showing when bucks are moving based on time of season, time of day, temperature, and moon phase. This camera will do more than just pattern a specific buck, it will help you pattern deer activity in your area for a lifetime of good hunting.
The only downside of the Moultrie Edge is its slightly slower trigger speed. It had a hard time catching me at the 10 foot walkthrough (I was almost out of frame). It also missed me at the 60-foot range during the daytime. The camera did perform well in the night walkthrough capturing me at the 60-foot range and producing solid nighttime images. Also, the slower trigger speed didn’t seem to hurt the camera in the field; it captures multiple photos every time a deer walks by. —Alex Robinson
We tested both the Tactacam X and Tactacam XB but we’ll focus on the XB because it brings a few more features to the party. For this camera, the story is all about photo quality. Over the thousands of images we scoured, only extreme fog defeated this camera. The XB took beautiful daytime photos on a property in Wisconsin, and the X recorded thousands of quality photos in Kansas. Even though the XB is a “no glow” camera, it’s nighttime photos on par with other cameras in its price range.
During the walkthrough test, the camera captured me at 10 feet and 60 feet both day and night. The app is easy to use though I’d like to see a few more tagging and filtering options for organizing photos. The camera does have a built in GPS so you can see where it’s located on the app. —Alex Robinson
Robinson spent the season hunting the big ten that’s bedded in one of the photo’s above. See how his hunting season turned out by clicking here.
The Reveal X-Pro is the most recent addition to Tactacam’s popular lineup of cellular trail cameras. A new built-in LCD screen makes the X-Pro even easier to set up when co*pared to the rest of the lineup already known for simplicity. Just turn the camera on, and use the LCD screen to frame your photos without the guesswork of snapping test shots. This makes it virtually impossible to miss your intended target within the camera’s field of view.
With optional accessories like an integrated solar panel and rechargeable lithium cartridge, the X-Pro provides the user with plenty of solutions to extend their camera’s battery life. Optional password protection, a built-in GPS, and the ability to run a single cable lock through the camera body and door simultaneously make the X-Pro a great option for anyone concerned about trail cam thieves.
The X-Pro provides top-notch image quality that Tactacam’s lineup is known for. Most impressive, the X-Pro captured nighttime images at 110 feet during the test (30 feet further than the 80-foot detection range advertised on the website). All of the IR photos were crisp, and the camera’s shutter snaps with stop-motion speed to give superior detail at night. This is the difference between counting a buck’s tines and blurry, washed-out photos. Daytime photos were clear and vibrant. In addition, the camera settings can be adjusted so that HD videos with audio can be retrieved on-demand via the Tactacam Reveal app. —Scott Einsmann
One of the best buys in cell cams is the Bushnell Cellucore 20 with its 20 MP photos, customizable low glow flash, and easy-to-use app for around $100.
During the walk-through test, the Cellucore triggered at 10 feet with a perfectly centered photo—day and night. The camera didn’t capture me at 60 or 100 feet during the day, but at night it captured a series of five photos of me walking at 60 feet.
The Cellucore has three flash settings: short range, fast motion, and long range. I used the long-range flash setting during the walk-through test and it illuminated out to 43 yards. The downside of the long-range flash is that close objects will be over exposed. For my in-the-field test, I used the fast-motion flash and it produced evenly illuminated photos with good detail from 5 to 15 yards. It also captured several deer walking without much movement blur.—Scott Einsmann
I’ve had a SpyPoint Flex for one month and moved it between travel corridors, mock scrapes, and feeding areas. While it’s nearly twice the price of some of the cheaper options in the best budget trail cameras test, it brings plenty of performance to justify the price. It took excellent photos day and night as well as some very cool video with audio. I’ve had very few blank photos with it too.
Like many hunters, my cameras are in places with one or two bars of service and the Flex still reliably sent photos. The latest trend in cell cams is the ability to automatically choose the network with the strongest signal. It’s a feature you’ll find on expensive cameras, but it’s cool to see it in the Flex, which retails around $130.
In my walkthrough test the Flex triggered at 10 and 60 feet, but it wasn’t reliable at 60 only triggering once. It did capture photos with me co*pletely in frame and with no motion blur. —Scott Einsmann
Read the full SpyPoint Flex review for more info.
See how Einsmann’s hunting season went as he hunted the big eight above with his trad bow by clicking here.
One of the main reasons we picked the Covert 2021 Blackhawk LTE as one of the best cell cameras was the operational customization within the app. You can set custom working times for when the camera is operational and taking photos. This can tremendously extend the already great battery life even longer. There is no question you can get a set of lithium AA batteries to last 12+ months with custom work times on this camera. Covert offers a great line of accessories for this camera. If you have a deer hunting property that you run feeders on, you can set this camera to instant trigger or hourly transfer times and run it via solar and rechargeable batteries. The camera has a 2-inch color viewer in the body, which allows you to get your angles right during set up.
The unlimited plan on the Covert online management page, is only $20 a month per camera. Which in today’s economy, is highly budgeable considering gas to and from to check the camera once a month is most likely going to result in more than $20 plus your time. —Drew Palmer
Let’s cover the bad news first: During setup the camera failed to sync with the app. I received an error code and called customer service. I spoke with a very nice representative who couldn’t figure out the issue and guessed that I had a bad sim card. After two hours of waiting on hold, I gave up.
Now, let’s assume the bad