Trail cam data plans

[Remington700]

Didn't want to highjack the "which trail cams do you suggest thread". What data plans are you using and make it make sense expense wise. I live over an hour from my hunting property so a card isn't practical. I would like to run 4 cameras. It looks like that is a $540 a year obligation. What all data wise are you using?

 

[Travis G.]

Didn't want to highjack the "which trail cams do you suggest thread". What data plans are you using and make it make sense expense wise. I live over an hour from my hunting property so a card isn't practical. I would like to run 4 cameras. It looks like that is a $540 a year obligation. What all data wise are you using?

Curious as well. There seems to be a pretty big difference in rates. My plan would be to turn off the plan late winter and reactivate in the summer. I'm trying to look at all the options. Seems like the cams with the cheapest plans also have the worst reviews.

 

[TheLBLman]

There seems to be a pretty big difference in rates. My plan would be to turn off the plan late winter and reactivate in the summer. I'm trying to look at all the options.

Lots of factors to consider, but $540 a year for only 4 cell cams sounds expensive to me.
That would be $11.25 monthly each.

I like the versatility of monthly plans, as there is often little reason to run a particular cam all 12 months in a year.

Plans can vary greatly with different cell cam brands.
The brand that may be cheapest for running a single cam,
may be among the most expensive if running 4 or more cams.

Seldom have I ever needed an "unlimited" plan (relatively costly).
I might do it on some cams the month of November.

Most plans let you "share" the date over all your cams, typically eliminating any need for "unlimited" plans.

I typically don't run many cell cams during the summer, but start adding them on in August.

This past month (July), I had 3 Browning cell cams on one plan, and 3 Ridgetecs on another plan.
I don't have to worry about using up my pic or data allotments.
The 3 Brownings cost me a total of $29.99.
. . . . . . . $10.00 monthly each.
The 3 Ridgetecs cost me $23.95.
. . . . . . . $7.98 monthly each

These costs come down per cam as I add on more cams.
The most expensive for me are Tactacams, yet they have the cheapest plan if only running a single cam.
I usually go with Tactacam's "middle" plan (not the unlimited).

 

[TheLBLman]

Another thing you can do to reduce cell plan costs, is rotate say 6 cams on a 3-cam plan.

This can work well if it's not critical to receive pics from a particular cam instantly or not even daily.

For example, you might rotate to different cams every other day, or even every other week, actually using 6 different cams on a 3-cam plan.

For several years, Browning's "Guide Pro" Plan has had a max number of 6 cell cams.
While the monthly limit is 12,000 pics (spread across the cams), I was typically only using 4,000 to 7,000 pics monthly with 6 cams. This is not an "unlimited" plan, but for my purposes, I never got close to using the allotment (which includes 400 HD uploads).

If running, say 9 cell cams on this 6 cam plan, I just "rotate" 3 of them periodically. MIght be one a day or one a week, just depending on the circumstances. And often, two or three on the plan are never rotated, always uploading either instantly or multiple times daily.

For me, the big appeal of cell cams is not instant gratification, but rather just not needing to visit the cam site as often. THIS is where you can save a lot of time & money, on top of getting better results from your trail cams. Having them report in once a day or once a week can often be adequate for particular cams over much of the year. Some cams may need to be "immediately reporting", such if used more for security than wildlife. Others, daily or weekly is very adequate.

 

[mcbuck58]

I got the cuddeback link system. Right now I have 3 cameras sending pictures to a home base which sends out to Verizon. The base is on my highest ridge and gets better reception than at my house. Then pics go to my cuddeback camp account and email of up to 10 people including myself. Plan to add cameras as I can have up to 24 linked together. I pay $42 per month but it is unlimited amount of pictures. Might be expensive but I only run cameras for 5 or 6 months. Just activate or deactivate account when I want. Just saying up to 24 cameras with unlimited pictures that would be worth it. Bought solar panels for all so no batteries needed.

 

[megalomaniac]

Hard to beat the stealth cams when running 6 or more cams with unlimited pics each for the plan. And the cams work well.

 

[Travis G.]

Hard to beat the stealth cams when running 6 or more cams with unlimited pics each for the plan. And the cams work well.

Which stealth cam do you prefer

 

[megalomaniac]

We are running 4 or 5 rea

Which stealth cam do you prefer

We are running multiple reactors, a couple fusions, and a couple revolvers. I think out of 10 cams over 3 years, we have had 1 fail. Battery life is meh, but they are all now hooked up to solar panels or 12v batteries with a solar charger.