I've been using the Wildgame Innovations Cameras for several years now, mostly because they take an ungodly number of pictures on a set of batteries. Standard Duracell Alkaline Batteries it will take 1500+ pictures, with the majority of those requiring flash. Cameras use 8 AA batteries on all of them I've tried thus far, and I've been through 3 different models thus far on their cameras. Nephew tried one in ND, temps down to -30 degrees, batteries held up for over 3 months, but he wasn't getting a lot of pictures, so not a lot of flash or camera use.
Infrared Cameras... Took fantastic pictures day and night, night time they were good out to about 40 - 45 feet.
Went to the "Lights Out" models (
Lights Out = Infrared behind black lens), because I had one buck that was kinda camera shy. They claim they'll take pictures way out there too, but 25 feet or so is about the limit on them. With the Lights Out your shutter speed is so slow at that range that anything moving is going to be a blur. They have to be posing at 25 feet. If you're feeding and have them standing 10 - 15 ft. in front of the camera, then you don't have a lot of trouble with that. Pictures are bright crisp and clear at night. On a trail set, where they're passing in the dark, it's tough. The infrared tended to spook them, the blackout they were blurry. Tried both on the same set, just to see if it made a difference, and there really wasn't much difference.
Amazon - Wildgame Innovations Cameras
Those along the lines of
this model I would avoid... Batteries go in from the bottom, and occasionally you'll have a battery or two that swells a little, or the hole is cut a little small in the camera or the camera body warps a little, or something, and they are a pain in the ass to get the batteries out of! I've had problems with standard alkaline and rechargeables in more than one brand. Wife broke the door off of one trying to change batteries in it while I was in ND a couple summers ago. Have had several I don't know how I didn't break them off. The door folds down to the rear, then the battery compartment lid folds off to one side. It's impossible to manage them both when you need to bang the camera on your hand to knock a stuck battery out! Long skinny needle nose pliers are almost a necessity when changing batteries.
Went to
this model and they are much easier to load/unload the batteries! Door swings out, batteries load in the back of the case.
Single biggest downside to any of these is... The setup screen is too small! Impossible to read anything on it without my reading glasses, and difficult with them on. The first of these two models, I literally had to set one or two of them up under magnifying glass. LCD lit screen was not working properly, and I couldn't read it. The latter of the models also has a little bigger screen and is a little easier to read.
Only other drawback I've seen with them is... The control panel runs on 2 of the 8 batteries, camera and flash run on the remaining 6. Battery readings are not always accurate. They'll typically show 75% on the batteries when the camera batteries are dead, because it's showing the battery life on the 2 running the control panel. When the other 6 get weak, flash isn't as bright, you get more blurry pictures, and eventually it just quits taking pictures. Control panel will still be brightly lit, and says the batteries are good though. Not a problem where mine are 150 yards out the back door, if they were several miles up in the woods it would tend to make a guy grumpy.
Like all game cameras, they don't last as long as they should. I have had better luck with these than others, they do have a better warranty than most, and Customer Service was pleasant to deal with when I called on one I was having problems with.
Prior to these I ran Tascos; they took beautiful pictures for what they were. White Flash, spooked a lot of bucks, battery life sucked, within 45 days of purchasing 4 the first one quit, inside of 3 months one started eating batteries left and right, did that for a month or two, then it died. Within 6 months a second started on the eating batteries routinely, and got to the point I had to change them about every 3 days before I finally pulled it. The last one, lasted for almost a year before dying. Wasn't impressed aside from picture quality.
Prior to that I had some older Moultries that used D cells, if I got 100 pictures out of 4 D cell batteries on those I thought I had done good. Again white flash, spooked a few bucks, pictures weren't great, but those were only 2mp as best I recall.
Neighbor was using Cuddyback cameras, they took great pictures, but he's gone to Wildgame Innovations cameras as well.
