• Help Support TNDeer:

U-Way NT50B problems

Dbllunger

Dbllunger

Well-Known Member
TNDeer Supporter
Joined
Dec 8, 2004
Messages
12,185
Reaction score
6,203
Location
Middle Tennessee
Anyone else have this camera. I'm bout ready to smash it with a hammer. It says I need to format my sd cards and I do through the camera or through the computer and it nevers accepts that it has been formatted. It just started this a month or so ago and I have had the camera about three years now with various small problems with it. Any suggestions or just throw the cheap piece of made in China junk away?
 
Throw it away. 5 of my 6 NT50B cameras eventually failed before the end of their second year.
 
Yes I think I will BSK. Do you have any particular camera that you like at the moment? I have a HCO Scoutgaurd 550 that I have had for several years and it has been flawless but it isn't a black flash camera.
 
Dbllunger said:
Anyone else have this camera. I'm bout ready to smash it with a hammer. . . . . . Any suggestions or just throw the cheap piece of made in China junk away?
Click to expand...
Believe me, I FEEL YOUR PAIN!

I went thru 6 of those.
My only surprise is you had one make it so long before failing.
I suggest you stop wasting your time with it, and just cut your losses if you value your time.

Seriously, that particular cam almost drove me of any desire to continue running trail cams, and I all but stopped for over a year. I said I'd never again buy ANY trail cams made in China. I've since possibly made the same mistake again, as am experimenting now with three Covert Black 60's. So far, I am reasonably pleased with them, but have had all out less than 3 months.

Should those new Coverts fail to have any lasting value, I'll be going back exclusively to homebrews.
 
I have 3 HCO GSM Pandas. Been running 'em since March. One of them is misbehaving however it still functions as it should. The sun causes it to have an attitude from time to time.
 
The Covert Black 60 appears to be the "camera of the moment." I don't have any myself, but I'm hearing good things about them. I also heard many good reports about the new Moultries (especially the i990), but now I'm hearing they might make an audible "clunk" as the filter arm moves over the camera lens. That would be very bad, as filter arm noise will really cause deer to avoid the camera.

Trophy Cams always hold a fairly good reputation, but I'm concerned that their latest models are not truly black-flash.
 
I've had good luck with my 3 Covert Black 60's so far. They are all 2012 models; 2 have been out for over a year and one for about 6 months. I did send one back due to water leaking into it (the camera was still functioning fine, but I couldn't figure out how to keep water from leaking in it). Battery life is amazing. Over the summer I put one on a tree by my driveway facing the road just to see how many pictures it would take. On one charge of a single set of rechargable Tenergy AAs, after 15,000 pictures (about 2/3 daytime and 1/3 nighttime pictures) I got tired of my experiment and put it back in the woods. I finally changed out the batteries after another couple of months and 2500 pictures. The camera was still taking pictures, but I didn't want to risk letting them go longer and missing a couple of weeks of picture taking in August.
 
Wow, why is it so predictable that most cam companies wont produce a quality cam at an affordable price?
 
Boone 58 said:
Wow, why is it so predictable that most cam companies wont produce a quality cam at an affordable price?
Click to expand...

Because, due to limits in technology, you can either use cheap parts to produce a cheap camera, or quality parts (read: expensive parts) to produce a reliable camera that is expensive. Hence the difference in price between Reconyx and Chinese-made cameras.
 
I thought the Reconyx cams are Chinese made too, if the truth was known they all are. I know the hunting world is relying on cams now more than ever. We have 18 members on our lease and have a large variety of cams out in the woods and I don't know of one single one of them that has not had some kind of issue with their cams this past year,from Reconyx, Primos, Uway, Covert, Moultrie, Bushnell and CuddyBacks they all have had some sort of issues at one time or another.So you are taking a shot in the dark with any of them when you buy one. GOOD LUCK!!!
 
Yea I think that the problem is that we aren't producing any parts in America. All the electronic parts are being farmed out to the lowest bidder which in essence is a piece of crap. You basically take a crap shoot every time you buy one. So far I like my moultrie 990i though.
 
TENN.BOY said:
I thought the Reconyx cams are Chinese made too, if the truth was known they all are. I know the hunting world is relying on cams now more than ever. We have 18 members on our lease and have a large variety of cams out in the woods and I don't know of one single one of them that has not had some kind of issue with their cams this past year,from Reconyx, Primos, Uway, Covert, Moultrie, Bushnell and CuddyBacks they all have had some sort of issues at one time or another.So you are taking a shot in the dark with any of them when you buy one. GOOD LUCK!!!
Click to expand...

Reconyx and Buckeye are the two brands made in America. With the price tags to match.

But you are correct that EVERY brand of camera has had their problems at times, even Reconyx. They had all sorts of problems with their new Hyperfire models the first year they came out. In addition, most of the old RC-series cams have had to have their daylight camera lenses replaced.
 
Honestly, with the Chinese made cams (and I still use them), I just don't expect to get more than 2 years of use out of them. If I get less, I'm disappointed. If I get more, I'm thrilled and feel lucky.

Despite all of the problems I had with the NT50Bs made by Uway, I still use one particular model of Uway camera, because it has the combination of features I need most: day and night image quality, trigger sensitivity, and the ability to plug in a flash extender. With their current price tag of around $200, I consider I'm paying $100/per year for them. If I get more than two years of use out of them, that's just a bonus.
 
BSK said:
Honestly, with the Chinese made cams (and I still use them), I just don't expect to get more than 2 years of use out of them. If I get less, I'm disappointed. If I get more, I'm thrilled and feel lucky.
Click to expand...
Well, no thrill is running up my leg just because the cam might still work after 2 years.

I'd also point out that 2 years time from purchase to trash is not the same as 2 years of use, since you may only be using each cam about 6 months annually? Would seem to me then most of these cams only have a "user life" of 12 to 18 months? I don't find that acceptable, and know of few other electronics for which we would accept such a short life span.
 
Correct Wes. I think the average lifespan of these cams is 12-18 months. I wish that wasn't the case. I also know several of these companies are working hard on improving quality, but when demand is as high as it is, and people will still buy whatever costs the least, then retail price is still THE major factor in sales. It's hard to convince manufacturers that building a better--but ultimately more expensive camera--is the way to go.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top