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BSK

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Just talked to a guy I buy a lot of cameras from (internet seller), and he said he is hearing a lot of good reviews of about the 2012 and 2013 Covert cameras (especially their "black" models), and the 2012 and 2013 Moultrie models, most specifically the M80 Black from last year and i990 for this year.
 
Thanks for sharing. I'm assuming he's referring to good picture quality/battery life/features/etc as durability/withstanding the test of time are premature at this point, correct?
 
Andy S. said:
Thanks for sharing. I'm assuming he's referring to good picture quality/battery life/features/etc as durability/withstanding the test of time are premature at this point, correct?
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Primarily, good reliability (lack of unit failures), and buyers happy with their purchase.
 
I have been using Covert trail cameras for the last 3 years and have been extremely pleased with their performance. So far I have used the following models: Covert II, HR 8.0, CA 3.0, Reveal, and Extreme Black 60.

Failure rates/problems are way less with Covert cameras than what I experienced with Cuddeback cameras. Covert customer service is also "tops" in my opinion. Whenever I did have a problem, I sent the camera to them and it was quickly replaced with new one.

Last year, I tried the Extreme Black 60 and was very impressed with it. Daytime photos were exceptional. Nighttime photos were good, but sometimes had motion blur. I overcame this slight weakness by setting the camera on 3-shot burst and 30 second interval. By doing this many of the nighttime photos came out clear and sharp. What I was most impressed with was the increase in buck photos at scrapes compared to other cameras (white flash and red glow). None of the deer appeared to notice the camera and continued to visit the scrapes.

A few weeks ago I have purchased several Covert MP6 black cameras (smaller version of Extreme Black 60) from Wing Supply. I expect similar performance from them as the Black 60.
 
Thanks for your firsthand feedback Rick. I personally put more stock in someone's opinion who has 3+ years of experience with various models from a single camera manufacturer, and furthermore their customer support, just as you described. Also, I got your email this morning and will follow up with my taxidermist today to see if I can get you some more information pertaining to that buck.
 
Of the cheap Chinese cameras, I believe Covert and Bushnell CURRENTLY have the best reputations, although both manufacturers had their problems in the past.

It also appears Moultrie has really improved dramatically of late. A few years ago, I wouldn't use a Moultrie if you gave it to me. However, starting with their 2012 models, they seem to have vastly improved their quality.

I'm still not a fan of WGI or Primos.
 
My source also likes the Browning Recon Force and Spec Ops cams. He says they have very fast triggers and take great color pics. In his words, "These are very good cameras."
 
In addition, he and I both agree the Uway VH200B is the only Uway cam worth considering. We both have had good results from this model cam but poor results with other Uway products (although I have had exceptional results from the Uway flash extenders, both IR and black-flash).
 
I think I would go with a moultrie if I were to buy a cam under 200 bucks.I base this on other peoples opinions.
The biggest killer of any cam is water and moisture..keep them Dessicant packs and Zorb it in them cams
When we build a homebrew we do a dunk test..hold the box under water for several min.But this is before the electrical componets are installed.
 
I have been liking my Covert Black 60's so far. I've had 2 for over a year and just bought and put out another one a couple of weeks ago (a 2012 model for $139 including shipping). The only problem I had was one had a leaking seal after about 10 months - it was replaced with a new one quickly and painlessly.

I really like the daytime pictures - sharp, good color saturation. The night pictures are not the greatest - they do have significant motion blur and are pretty grainy. They have an excellent trigger time and great sensing and super battery life. Here are a few examples from this spring from a couple of salt licks (they have been resized to 800x600 pixels):












And a final picture of a coyote violating my salt block:

 
woodchuckc,

In my opinion, the Covert cameras take the best daylight pictures of any commercial trail-cam. They are getting close to homebrew camera quality in proper color saturation. I just don't like the "fuzziness" of their night pictures. And I'm not talking about motion blur--all black-flash cams have that problem--but the actual crispness of the image focus. I find the Covert to be a tad too fuzzy for my uses.
 
You are right BSK - the night images, even in the absence of motion blur, are quite fuzzy (even more so than the red flash cameras I used to have). Since the focus hasn't changed between daytime and nighttime pictures (it is a fixed focus system) and the imager is the same, it has to be one of two things (I think): either the imager is so insensitive to far IR wavelengths that the low number of photons striking it not registered correctly, causing an inconsistent activation of its elements and a resulting effective loss in resolution, or the IR filter that moves into place behind the lens is of such low quality that it introduces the blurriness (kind of equivalent to smearing something like vaseline on the lens surface). I'm inclined to think it is probably an imager sensitivity issue, since it seems like all black flash cameras have the problem (to somewhat differing degrees). The problem is that an imager optimized for low intensity IR light is not going to give good color daylight pictures.

What these true "black flash" cameras need is one camera (lens and imager) for daytime pictures and a separate lens and imager optimized for low intensity IR light that are switched between (instead of the light sensor just causing a filter to move into position between the lens and imager). I would be surprised if something like this is not being worked on behind the scene at some of the big trail cam companies. Right now I imagine it would be too expensive to build and market a camera like that.
 
HA! :D
BSK said:
...and I still say, "Friends don't let friends buy Cuddeback."
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With friends like you, guess I REALLY don't need any enemies! :grin:

woodchuckc said:
What these true "black flash" cameras need is one camera (lens and imager) for daytime pictures and a separate lens and imager optimized for low intensity IR light that are switched between (instead of the light sensor just causing a filter to move into position between the lens and imager). I would be surprised if something like this is not being worked on behind the scene at some of the big trail cam companies. Right now I imagine it would be too expensive to build and market a camera like that.
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Actually, Cuddeback did that many years ago (although it was "red glow" not blackflash).

It was called the Cuddeback "NO FLASH", properly relabeled by me as the Cuddeback "NO COUNT". BSK & I both got suckered into buying them. And YEARS AGO they cost almost as much as a Reconyx. The "NO COUNT" nightime images were so poor & blurry that most were just totally useless. Worse, that "invisible" red glow was very bright and commonly caused cam avoidance.

IMO, the Cuddeback NO FLASH was the biggest blunder ever achieved by a major manufacturer of trail cams. VERY OVERPRICED PIECE of JUNK.
 

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