• Help Support TNDeer:

New Browning camera

BSK said:
Crazy thing is, the new HP5 is listed at $10 cheaper than the HP4!
Click to expand...
Wow.
I guess many users are like me,
in that they are reluctant to buy the "latest" version
having been burned with new problematic issues with many new versions of anything,
especially computer updates and trail cams.

At present, going into the summer/fall, the only NON-cellular cams I plan to add will be the HP4.
If the HP5 gets favorable initial reviews, will consider.

But I'm mainly adding cell cams this year.
 
TheLBLman said:
Wow.
I guess many users are like me,
in that they are reluctant to buy the "latest" version
having been burned with new problematic issues with many new versions of anything,
especially computer updates and trail cams.
Click to expand...
I hear that! Can't tell you how often that has happened with trail-cams.
 
TheLBLman said:
But I'm mainly adding cell cams this year.
Click to expand...
I don't see myself ever buying a cell cam. No use for one.

But that said, I used to say I would never use video mode, and here I am using ONLY video mode now, so you never know.

But I can't imagine trying to transmit by cell signal the 262 GB required for the 10,000 videos I collected last year.
 
Currently, it does not seem practical for me to use video mode with my cell cams, even though most I'm using have that capability.

BSK, one thing I've found is that cell cams often operate satisfactorily even in areas where the cell service is so poor you have trouble making a phone call.

I do agree the way you are primarily using your trail cams for scientific research, you would have little to gain via the cell feature over a regular trail cam, especially with your now mainly using video mode.

But for me and much my usage, cell cams allow me to less disturb more remote areas (where I would typically not be on an atv and want to minimize human intrusion). And, cell cams are becoming the cat's meow for catching trespassers and poachers, including "making a case" for their convictions.

Typically now, I can place a cell cam, and then not "need" to visit it for up to 6 months before either the batteries die or the sd card becomes full. Even better, am getting real-time "feedback" as to the status of the cam working, battery status, and SD card status. This "feedback" eliminates the problem of not knowing a trail cam is NOT working for weeks on end before you get back to check it.

Also, when or if the cell feature isn't needed, it can simply be turned "off", preserving battery life. With regular trail cams, the biggest battery drainer is often nighttime flash; with cell cams, it's uploading the pics.

So just saying that many cell cams have the option of being used exactly as you might use a regular trail cam, but with the "option" of transmitting pics when & if you want.
 
Last edited:
I'll take any HP4s I can find. By far the best cameras I've ever owned. Cannt imagion HP5s brighter night videos than HP4s. Hope it doesn't kill battery life. I'll have the new model on hold for me very soon.
 
TheLBLman said:
But for me and much my usage, cell cams allow me to less disturb more remote areas (where I would typically not be on an atv and want to minimize human intrusion). And, cell cams are becoming the cat's meow for catching trespassers and poachers, including "making a case" for their convictions.

Typically now, I can place a cell cam, and then not "need" to visit it for up to 6 months before either the batteries die or the sd card becomes full. Even better, am getting real-time "feedback" as to the status of the cam working, battery status, and SD card status. This "feedback" eliminates the problem of not knowing a trail cam is NOT working for weeks on end before you get back to check it.
Click to expand...
In that unique situation - a remote guaranteed camera hot-spot like a traditional scrape - I can see placing a cell camera early in the season and then not needing to disturb the area until after the season is over.
 
BSK said:
In that unique situation - a remote guaranteed camera hot-spot like a traditional scrape - I can see placing a cell camera early in the season and then not needing to disturb the area until after the season is over.
Click to expand...
They are awesome for this... single trip to a scrape on the edge of a sanctuary to hang the camera, leave the area alone until the buck you want shows up, then hunt 75y downwind of the sanctuary. No need to ever go back in to check the camera and disturb deer in the sanctuary after the first trip.
 
BSK said:
We've got some. Getting the pictures by text is more irritating than anything else. And the quality of the pictures is poor.
Click to expand...
That's due to either user error; or purposeful cell cam settings; or limitations of some cell cams.

If you're just looking at cell cam pics on your "smart" phone, it would typically be the phone imposing those poor quality images. You should be able to change some cell cam settings, and/or just look on a computer screen instead of phone, and get a big improvement in image quality.

With exception of the Tactacams (which are my least favorite), all my cell cams report in on their programmed schedules to both my large-screen computer as well as my phone. I can program notices be sent to either or both. I have "notices" coming into my phone, but do most "viewing" on a computer.

With my Ridgetec cams, I can quickly get exactly the same images on my computer (or phone) that are recorded on the sd cards.

Now, whereas I once watched TV (or dvd's, etc.) for entertainment, I spend time every morning & evening viewing & scrutinizing cell cam pics, which is both entertaining and purposeful to me. Doing this daily also "spreads" the time over a longer period rather than having to spend a great amount of time all at once viewing a retrieved sd card from a non-cell cam.

Most days, I simply remotely delete 90% of the cell cam images, leaving only about 10% on the sd card for later back-up saving. Any thing deemed worthy, is daily saved both on the cell cam's "server" as well as downloaded onto my laptop. The cam's sd card becomes mainly just another image "back-up" with my methodology.

Think about all the time it typically takes to carefully review the SD cards pulled from a dozen trail cams in a single day. With cell cams, because you can have already deleted 90% of the images over previous weeks or months, you should have relatively few images remaining on the SD card, and should already know what they are.
 
I think your arguments hold merit for people using trail-cameras primarily for hunting purposes. Because I keep, analyze and record in databases every single trail-cam image, and require the highest quality and the most images possible, cell cams are not for me.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top