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Tatacam Solar Panel?

tellico4x4

tellico4x4

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Anyone have any experience with it? Has a built in lithium battery. At $60 and with the current cost of batteries I'm thinking about trying.

www.tactacam.com

REVEAL SOLAR PANEL

Keep your REVEAL camera powered longer with the 12V Solar Panel, featuring 73% more capacity, an integrated lithium battery, and an easy-to-use mounting bracket
www.tactacam.com www.tactacam.com
 
Not used the Tactacam one, but have hunting buddies who have (along with several other brands of solar panels).

Seems there is minimal benefit to them unless located where direct sun hits for several hours daily. This is often not possible. Solar panels also have the additional issue of making your cam location more visible (although that may or may not matter).

My thought is why not just invest that $60 in a better cell cam with longer battery life?
 
Have 3 of them & pretty satisfied with them. 3 is about all I can use due to limited cell coverage. I get 6+ mos out of lithium AA in them. At the going rate of $3 per battery that's $108 to put new in them. For another $72, I could put the solar on them & be done IF they work okay & IF I can position to get enough sun...
 
tellico4x4 said:
Have 3 of them & pretty satisfied with them.
Click to expand...
They take good pics, but aren't the best on battery life.

All my Tactacams require 12 AA batteries,
and using comparable settings, I typically get @ 4 months use.

As a comparison, I have several older Browning Pro Scout cell cams
that use 8AA batteries. I typically get @ 8 months use with same settings,
actually, settings for more pics, than the Tactacams.
Usually set the Browning cells to take 2 or 3 pics per triggering,
while the Tactacams are set for 1 pic (all they will upload per triggering event).

Trail Cam Pro does some good "apples to apples" testing
of various cell cams.

They rate the Tactcam Reveal X Pro at 3.6 months battery life
(using 12 AA batteries).
They rate the Browning Defender Vision Pro at 14 months battery life
(using 8 AA batteries).

Both the above cams cost the same $ at time of purchase (@ $150).
Compare the battery costs over 3 years with each.
 
I have been using one for about 10 months now and it has worked fine. It did produce a high pitched noise and am not sure if it was the batteries charging or what but the animals don't seem to mind. Once I put the solar panel on I have not been back to the camera and it never says low battery either.
 
I've used one on a logging road that received a decent amount of sunlight last summer through February and my Tactacam Reveal never dipped below 100%. As with any solar panels, try to position them to get as much sun as possible. Any solar panel is going to struggle in the woods under tree canopy.
 

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