Moultrie Delta

Andy S. said:

Worth mentioning is I setup my Tactacam Reveal (1st Generation) right next to my Reconyx HC600 last summer to make sure the Tactacam was triggering enough to satisfy me and help build my confidence in it. I left them deployed for two weeks before pulling SD card from Reconyx. Much to my surprise, the Reveal triggered at the same rate as my HC600, step for step. That was as much of a confidence builder as I could ask for.

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Interesting - very good to hear!

Andy S. said:

Much to my surprise, the Reveal triggered at the same rate as my HC600, step for step.

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That's very encouraging, but my Reveal didn't keep up with the Browning cell cam with both mounted beside each other (same tree, same everything).

Another issue, and a big one for me, the Reveal would ONLY send (upload) a single pic per triggering event. When I talked to Reveal about this, they told me this was a "feature" to obtain better battery life.

Often, I would set these cams to trigger say at 1 or 5-minute intervals, and to take 3 pics per triggering event. The Browning would send me 3 pics per event, on top of having more "events" (even with identical cam settings).

We finally figured out the "recovery" time on the Tactacam was slow compared to the Browning, as to the Browning having more "events". But bottom line was the Browning was sending 100% of the pics taken, while the Tactacam was at 1 out of 3.

Interestingly, the Browning still had longer battery life on 8 batteries than the Tactacam on 12. So for me, considering I was reliably getting more "events" and 100% of the pics taken transmitted, the Browning cam was the better value (even though it cost $100 more up front), but then ends up the Browning cost less over the 1st 12 to 18 months of operation due to a less costly monthly cell plan and longer battery life.

Andy S. said:

Another easy solution that some cameras are offering. Once you see the random cellular pic you are highly interested in, request the high definition (HD) version of that pic to be transmitted to your app for keepsake, analysis, etc. This is just one new offering on the new Tactacam Reveal X. The idea is most hunters get thousands of pics of does, fawns, coyotes, raccoons, etc, when they really only care about the 5-10 pics of mature/good bucks they get each month. Request those in HD and if you must retrieve one, or a series of pics, from the SD card, you typically have weeks/months to do that before it is overwritten.

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Here's my problem; I need EVERY pic in High Definition. EVERY pic has to be analyzed.

Andy S. said:

Every cell camera I have setup has gotten 1-2 bars better service than my iPhone (currently iPhone 12 Pro). I am talking the older Coverts and the newer Tactacams. The foot long antennae will get service in places you would not believe, and are far superior to the "no external antennae" smartphones we all use as a measuring stick. You have to see it to believe it. With that said, there are still some places in the wild where no cell service exists, regardless of the antennae on the camera/phone.

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I use cell cameras (owned by family members) as my measuring stick. Really struggle to get a signal even on ridge-tops. Many locations on ridge-tops they simply can't use their cell cameras as cell cameras (just as still cameras). Valleys, impossible.

But TheLBLman is right. Cell services is slowly, slowly improving as more towers are being built. 5 years ago, there was zero cell coverage in my area.

TheLBLman said:

We finally figured out the "recovery" time on the Tactacam was slow compared to the Browning, as to the Browning having more "events". But bottom line was the Browning was sending 100% of the pics taken, while the Tactacam was at 1 out of 3.

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I see this as a big advantage (sending all 3 pics), BUT only for 1-3% of the photos taken on my camera setups. I do not care for all three pics of fawns, does, coyotes, coons, opossums, spikes, fork horns, etc, only the mature distinguishable bucks that I might pursue. Furthermore, I see it as a potential money grab from the service provider because the "unlimited data plan" will almost certainly be required with that many photos and data transmission.

How many photos are you averaging transmitted per month per camera (for those on 3 shot burst sending all 3)?

Can you change the settings to only send the middle photo of a 3 shot burst? (end user has full control)

Andy, the Brownings have much more settings options, and can be changed more easily, more frequently, and more reliably. Right now, I change my Browning settings twice daily (once in the am, and once in the pm). During the rut, I often change settings on particular cell cams several times in 24 hrs. I've not been able to reliably do that with the Tactacams.

Since I'm varying the settings so much on the Brownings, not sure what I've been averaging. But for months, I had one of them beside a Tactacam, and the Browning was transmitting about 500% more pics than the Tactacam, due to it's transmitting 100% instead of 33%, as well as the faster recovery time of the Browning.

Recovery meaning that if the cam was set on 1-minute intervals between triggering events, the Browning might trigger on 5 events in a 6-minute time horizon, while the Tactacam (also set for 1-minute intervals) might trigger only twice in that same 6-minute interval. This is a big difference, and the Browning was getting lots of activity the Tactacam was completely failing to get, not just failing to cellularly transmit (upload).

In all fairness, maybe that particular Tactacam was made on Monday, but the other one I have seems to have similar long recovery times between events.

My Moultrie delta came in yesterday... set it up in the backyard. Interested to see the quality of photos day and night....

megalomaniac said:

My Moultrie delta came in yesterday... set it up in the backyard. Interested to see the quality of photos day and night....

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Please share!

megalomaniac said:

My Moultrie delta came in yesterday... set it up in the backyard. Interested to see the quality of photos day and night....

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Yes please post a pic or two. I just got sucked into the $79 special from Bass Pro. I mean $79 for a cam that can send video?!

philsanchez76 said:

Yes please post a pic or two. I just got sucked into the $79 special from Bass Pro. I mean $79 for a cam that can send video?!

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But if you actually use that cellular video mode, what's it going to cost you monthly, plus the larger capacity SD cards needed for video?

Weigh out all the costs ongoing, not just the upfront cam cost
Video mode also requires more frequent battery replacements.

TheLBLman said:

But if you actually use that cellular video mode, what's it going to cost you monthly, plus the larger capacity SD cards needed for video?

Weigh out all the costs ongoing, not just the upfront cam cost
Video mode also requires more frequent battery replacements.

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Very true. I think the only time of the year I will be shelling out the xtra for videos is mid October through first week of December or so. I'd likely put this cam over my most active community scrape. Seems like having video to note directions of coming and going here could be super valuable. It will make for an interesting experiment for sure.

philsanchez76 said:

Seems like having video to note directions of coming and going here could be super valuable.

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I experimented with video last year, but due to how it filled the SD cards quicker, drained the batteries quicker, my better solution (for me) was to just set the cam to take pics with very short intervals.

Instead of video, I often set the cam to take a pic every 1 to 5 seconds. That will give you the direction info you want, along with higher resolution imagery than video.

Also, when you use video mode, you will typically increase "recovery" times between triggering opportunities, as well as the cam may not "trigger" as quickly on an event as it will in "picture" mode.

Have one on the way right now. I have the 7000i and absolutely love it. Conversely, my brother in law has the same camera and he would assume light it on fire. Who knows? But i'm certainly gonna give the Delta a shot on my Ohio lease if it will pick up signal.

I dont plan on ever buying another trail cam that isnt cellular. Love not having to disturb my prime areas until the time is right

Here are a couple of my Delta pics. Color is a bit dull, but I'm not upset for the price of them. First one is Hi Res. Rest are low.

Thanks Pioneer. Not bad for a camera under $100.

I'm not sure why, but i fired up both my 7000i's and the new Delta and put them in a corner of the garage facing the door to test connection an PIR. The 7000i's have a much better signal than the Delta. Checked the firmware and its up to date. Anyone having similar signal issues? Weird...

Knothead said:

Thanks Pioneer. Not bad for a camera under $100.

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I think they're worth the money for sure.

CrossVolle said:

I'm not sure why, but i fired up both my 7000i's and the new Delta and put them in a corner of the garage facing the door to test connection an PIR. The 7000i's have a much better signal than the Delta. Checked the firmware and its up to date. Anyone having similar signal issues? Weird...

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I haven't had that with mine, but it did take a long time to activate inside my house. Hours

Just in case anyone is looking, I saw the Walmart in Fairview had a bunch of the Deltas on the shelf.