Best trail cam non cellular

Lost_dawg

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Looking for advice on the best non cellular trail cam to buy. No cell service where I hunt so it would be a waste of money for me. I'm tired of buying cheap cameras and only getting a year or 2 max out of them. I loved my Cuddeback back in the day but can't really find any of them any more.

Thanks in advance for the tips
 

Shed Hunter

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Most of them will last two years. Depends what you mean by cheap. I run an army of cheap wild views, stealth cam, a couple Tascos, browning, bushnell, and my favorites are the cheaper Coverts. The thing about cheap trail cams is there will be a dud in every brand once in a while and they're particular about which memory cards they like. I use to hate the cheap stealth cams but now I love them after switching to class one memory cards
 

Andy S.

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If you really want to buy once, cry once, get a Reconyx. I have Hyperfire 1 (HC600) cams that are 15 years old and still working. In fact, I have 5 that are still working perfectly. I also have the newer Hyperfire 2 (HF2X) camera and it has been flawless for 5 or so years. HF2X comes with a 5 year warranty and they will likely honor it for the life of the camera. Reconyx cameras are Made in USA and the gold standard for triggering and capturing any and all movement in front of them. Check eBay if you want to buy one and test drive it, before purchasing new. They hold resale value like a Toyota or John Deere.

 
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JT262

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I agree with browning trail cams spec ops is what I've been using for 5+ years with no problems. Always us lithium batteries last all year sometimes I've gotten 2 seasons out of them.
 

BSK

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In my opinion, the Browning Recon Force Elite HP4 is the best camera on the market these days, bar none. I used to be a Reconyx fan, but their image quality and night illumination can't hold a candle to the Browning. Check out the night and day video quality below. Just be sure to buy high capacity, fast transfer rate cards, such as SanDisk 64 GB with 100 MB/sec transfer. Although these kind of cards used to be expensive, this year I was buying 5-packs of them from Amazon for $12/card.
 

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TheLBLman

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Browning Recon Force Elite HP4 is the best camera on the market these days . . . .
"For the money" . . . . . Definitely true among the non-cellular cams.
And, all of the various Browning cams are among the best "for the money".

But once you go cellular,
you many never go back to non-cellular.

My only exception now is where there is very poor to zero cell service,
and can even overcome the "poor" cell service with some cell cams
and some user hacks.
 

Lost_dawg

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I hear ya. But I've had to get me a Garmin Inreach just so I can communicate in case of an emergency. I'm excited about my Browning Recon. Can't wait to put it to good use
 

TNlandowner

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In my opinion, the Browning Recon Force Elite HP4 is the best camera on the market these days, bar none. I used to be a Reconyx fan, but their image quality and night illumination can't hold a candle to the Browning. Check out the night and day video quality below. Just be sure to buy high capacity, fast transfer rate cards, such as SanDisk 64 GB with 100 MB/sec transfer. Although these kind of cards used to be expensive, this year I was buying 5-packs of them from Amazon for $12/card.
Do you have any experience with the other Browning cameras? Their webpage lists the Strike Force line as their top series. I am getting ready to buy my "Christmas" present and want select the best camera ;o)
 

BSK

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Do you have any experience with the other Browning cameras? Their webpage lists the Strike Force line as their top series. I am getting ready to buy my "Christmas" present and want select the best camera ;o)
Just remember that the Strike Force series are red glow cameras, not black-flash. Which means deer and people will see the flash.

I use only black-flash, and the only other Browning camera I have used is the Dark Ops HD Pro X, which is good, but not as good as the HP4. Better night illumination and image clarity with the HP4.
 

DntBrnDPig

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I have a Browning Dark Ops Elite I bought in 2017 and its an amazing camera. I put it out in April during Turkey season this year and pulled it a month into archery season and the batteries had just died. It was in video mode.

I also have a Browning Defender cell cam (verizon) and at first I wasn't big on it but now I am really liking it.
 

LenS

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BSK, those are 2 great videos. And they show what deer hunting, to me at least, is really like. Usually you see that buck skirting through the woods and you have to decide quickly if he is a shooter or not. That second video especially captures that.
 

BSK

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BSK, those are 2 great videos. And they show what deer hunting, to me at least, is really like. Usually you see that buck skirting through the woods and you have to decide quickly if he is a shooter or not. That second video especially captures that.
I was lucky with that camera set-up. The camera is actually pointed across an old logging road where there is a big traditional scrape. But it turns out that area in the background is a major travel corridor. Tons of videos of nice bucks just cruising through in the background. And yes, we have a stand there (just to the right of the camera's field of view).
 

TheLBLman

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This one's even further. Look far in the background.
Don't think that's the deer that triggered your cam.
If you look very closely, slightly left of the pic center, right of the biggest tree,
you'll notice the rump and back leg of a standing deer (much closer to the cam).

But you are correct that these particular cams have a very long-range triggering mechanism compared to most.
 

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