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Cell cams

rem270

rem270

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My first cell cam was a Spyjunk when I started using them 3 years ago. The pics were so grainy I couldn't make out anything besides if it was a deer or a turkey. Couldn't tell what species any of them were. Got rid of it and went to tactacams. Think I ended up with 2 in 2021 then 6 total in 2022. At first all were the Reveal X. Ended up having to replace 2 last year and replaced them with the Pro. At the start of this year I had bought 2 just for extras and lo and behold had to replace 2 more of the X's with the Pro's. Now today I have had another go down. I put new batteries in it last week because it was showing 40 percent but was obviously dead. No big deal, I've seen that before and usually it's fine after new batteries. I went to work on it today and put new SD card in, the one tactacam recommends. That didn't work. I have lots of antennas and the battery pouches I keep from the ones I've had to junk so I put new each on there. Nothing.

When tactacam works they are great. But I'm at my wits end with replacing cameras. Not to mention one of my newer Pro's is eating batteries in 2 weeks or less. Most of them I'm getting a couple months of battery life out of using Energizer.

I am seriously considering going back to the old way of just going and checking sd cards.

I seen the Muddy cell cams at RK yesterday and thought about trying one of them to see how it would do. Anyone have any experience with the muddy cell cams? Quality, battery life, etc. I might possibly try that before I say heck with it completely and go back to putting cams out and checking every couple of weeks. My places are easy to get to and it wouldn't be a big deal.
 
rem270 said:
When tactacam works they are great.
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Your Tactacam experiences somewhat mimic mine.

I've overall been happier with the Brownings (similar price points).

In my experiences, the Tactacams, even when working properly,
have slower trigger speeds, shorter battery life, and are more likely to miss something.

Tactacams do produce good imagery, and have had a lower price point at the point of purchase, which I presume is why they quickly became so popular.
 
Hate the tactacams are giving you issues. I bought 2 of the reveal SK's at the start of the year. Ran them during turkey season and now they've been running since end of July. Seems to be great for now, but time will tell. The SK's have the big lithium rechargeable batteries. That with the little solar panel have gone 2 months and still sticking at 90%. But I'm new to this cell game, so I don't have much experience. If I were to switch brands, I'd go with browning, because I'm just a believer in them. We have atleast 15 of the non-cellular brownings and whenever one goes down, their CS is there helps, replaces, or offer their exchange program.

Best of luck and let us know the outcome of whatever you decide
 
TheLBLman said:
Your Tactacam experiences somewhat mimic mine.

I've overall been happier with the Brownings (similar price points).

In my experiences, the Tactacams, even when working properly,
have slower trigger speeds, shorter battery life, and are more likely to miss something.

Tactacams do produce good imagery, and have had a lower price point at the point of purchase, which I presume is why they quickly became so popular.
Click to expand...
PickettSFHunter said:
Get Spartans and you'll change your mind. I went through similar experiences with tactacams.
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I'll definitely look into both of these. Which models do y'all have of these?
 
JCDEERMAN said:
Hate the tactacams are giving you issues. I bought 2 of the reveal SK's at the start of the year. Ran them during turkey season and now they've been running since end of July. Seems to be great for now, but time will tell. The SK's have the big lithium rechargeable batteries. That with the little solar panel have gone 2 months and still sticking at 90%. But I'm new to this cell game, so I don't have much experience. If I were to switch brands, I'd go with browning, because I'm just a believer in them. We have atleast 15 of the non-cellular brownings and whenever one goes down, their CS is there helps, replaces, or offer their exchange program.

Best of luck and let us know the outcome of whatever you decide
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I still have one or two Browning's and they were great. Took great photos and battery life was excellent.
 
The Spartans I have are the GoCams. I don't have any of the newer more expensive models. The GoCams have been around quite awhile. I have 10 of those that I've gotten over the last 5 years or so. I've yet to have an issue on any of them.
 
Man, hate you are having issues with them. I only went to a cell cam back in 2022 with a stealth cam. Camera worked fine for 2 seasons, I haven't put it back out yet this season but it was still working fine when I pulled it. I still have all my Moultrie standard cams and used them along with the cell cam the past couple seasons. I bought a couple more stealth cell units after season, haven't used them yet, but hope to get them out soon.
 
rem270 said:
I'll definitely look into both of these. Which models do y'all have of these?
Click to expand...
I have most of the Browning cell models, including their entry model several years ago.

My only recommendation regarding the Browning cell cams is to choose a model with an external antennae. I've been disappointed in their models with only internal antennae, although those models might be fine in areas of good cell service.

As with any brand, you can get a "lemon", even with Browning.
Browning will take good care of you should that happen, as their customer service reps are top-notch & quick to respond.

I'm not going to tell you Browning cell cams are the best out there, but I do believe they are the best at their price points. If you want anything better, it's going to cost you.

And remember, the cost is not just the "up front" cost of the cam, but the ongoing cost of batteries & cell service (which is where Browning trumps most competitors).
 
TheLBLman said:
I'm not going to tell you Browning cell cams are the best out there, but I do believe they are the best at their price points. If you want anything better, it's going to cost you.

And remember, the cost is not just the "up front" cost of the cam, but the ongoing cost of batteries & cell service (which is where Browning trumps most competitors).
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I think that's the perfect way to put it TheLBLman. Brownings are probably the best cam available at their price point. You can get better cams, but they'll cost you.
 
Andy S. said:
I have 6 Reveals dating back to the Gen 1 model, and 2 Spartans, and have been satisfied with all of them to date. SW TN.
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I have 5 Tactacam Reveal XBs, Xs, and X pro models. No problems in 3 years from any of them. I use Sandisk extreme pro 32GB SDs, Energizer Max AAs, and format the SD card everytime I replace SD card or batteries. I also change batteries when I get to 30-40% because sometimes it is actually less than that. I really like them so far.
 
East TN Bowhunter said:
I have 5 Tactacam Reveal XBs, Xs, and X pro models. No problems in 3 years from any of them. I use Sandisk extreme pro 32GB SDs, Energizer Max AAs, and format the SD card everytime I replace SD card or batteries. I also change batteries when I get to 30-40% because sometimes it is actually less than that. I really like them so far.
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Love the XB models myself. Unbelievable battery life, no-glow, quick trigger and pretty clear pics (non-HD) trasmitted to my app. I use same SD cards (U1 & U3) and have been more than satisfied.
 
My one tacticam experience was similar. When it worked it was amazing. But she was finicky. I ended up shamefully going back to spy point. This is the devil I know. I know if I buy 7 cameras that one will crap out within a few months. But the other 6 will run very reliably for 3-4 seasons. I use the micros (poorer image quality like you said) for travel routes (trying to see what time deer are using an area). I use the Flex cameras for scrapes. image quality is fantastic and video quality is dang good too.
 
I like my Tactacams, but battery life sucks. Helps to turn off video, and change the upload setting to once or twice a day, not instant. When I didn't do this, it would burn through new lithium batteries in 3 weeks.

Got 3 brownings last year, and I'm very happy with them. Not running lithium batteries in them, and they'll still last 3-4 months with instant upload.
 
Andy S. said:
Love the XB models myself. Unbelievable battery life, no-glow, quick trigger and pretty clear pics (non-HD) trasmitted to my app. I use same SD cards (U1 & U3) and have been more than satisfied.
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Same here, the XBs I think are the best model they made. Have you tried the 3.0s yet? I need to get a antenna holder for my security boxes for the XBs and X pros. They released a new security box with antenna holder for 3.0 but it doesn't fit the antenna on the XBs. I keep having bear issues.
 
East TN Bowhunter said:
Have you tried the 3.0s yet?
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I have not, but I have seen some of the photos trasnmitted to the app (non-HD requested) and they look great! Almost HD level for the daytime photos. My best friend bought 3-4 of them and deployed them last month. I'll be anxious to hear his feedback at the end of the year after he has 3-4 months of use under his belt.
 

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