holstonangler
Well-Known Member
Had a couple Browning Ridgeline cell cameras last year, both had problems, looking to change to Tactacam XB's, has anyone been running these and have any issues yet?
Cell Camera reviews-Tactacam xb?
- Thread starter holstonangler
- Start date
philsanchez76
Well-Known Member
I got one for Christmas and it's been out in the woods since jan 1st of this year. Same set of lithium batteries and still going on 6 months! I also have it set to take pics at no delay, record 15 second video clips and have the highest flash range. Its taken almost 1000 pics now and sent me hundreds of videos. I have messed with other cams in the past and this one is blowing them away in terms of quality, reliability and battery life. can't recommend it enough.
wobblegobble
Well-Known Member
1000 pictures isnt a lot to talk about battery life...I normally get 1000 pictures in 3 days on 1 minute delay and they went through batteries every 3 weeks...My spypoint lte solar actually preformed better but doesnt have video...the new spypoint flex could be a game changer however.
Love my XB. Wish I could replace my X with an XB honestly. Had one out since Octoberish. No issues until a giant hog smashed into it. That was a couple weeks back. Trying to limit my trips so I haven't gone out to address it yet. Perhaps this weekend. Love being able to pull the video remotely. Big upgrade over the X. As for battery life, I popped in lithiums and they lasted into January with pretty decent daily usage +- 15-20 pics/vids daily. Will update when I know what caused the outage. Almost certain it was that hog. Got a video of the monster and then the camera stopped responding 1 min later. He gonna eat a lil lead when I see him.
BSK
Well-Known Member
One of my BILs had three Spypoints. They worked well, and sent the pictures, but image quality was terrible, even for the "HD" pictures that are stored on the internal card. Got him a Spartan for Xmas, and the image quality is night and day better than the Spypoints. I have no idea what the cell plan cost differences are between the two, but the Spypoint images are so unusable that it wouldn't matter if their images were free.
My wife has a sister you might be interested in if you are handing out Spartan cams for Christmas. I mean she is married with kids and a lil bit of a pill but hey, I could use a Spartan cam!
I have 2 XB cams and they are the best cell cams I've used. By far. Between my son and I we've had a half dozen Moultries and a half dozen Spypoints. For the most part they are JUNK. I have one Spypoint left that still works and the Moultries were worse.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Ha!
Personally, I have no use for cell cams, but he loves them. Another toy to play with.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Anyone have both a Tactacam and a Spartan for comparison? If I remember correctly, I eliminated the Tactacam from consideration because of the night-time flash distance, but I've not seen a side-by-side comparison from the same user.
They are useful as a tool but honestly, I just enjoy seeing the wildlife regularly. Nice little break in the day. So fun to see what's happening on my spot while I'm stuck at my desk. Sometimes it can be hard to sit still during hunting season and a target buck shows up but it really gets me pumped.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Oh, they're fun for sure. But on my place, we have such poor cell service that there are only a couple of places on high ridge-tops where we get enough signal for a cell camera to work. My BIL keeps his cell cams on food plots on those ridge-tops, and they transmit fairly well.
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
I'm going to disagree with you, as they have a lot to offer you in terms of "security" and some more timely intel.
I was able to use some of the 1st cell cams Covert came out with (decade or so ago), and they were extremely disappointing. Very short battery life, very unreliable. After messing with them, I waited a few years for the competition to advance the technology (and bring down the prices!).
Not sure now if over 3 or 4 years, but obtained Browning's 1st cell cams, and was astonished at how well they worked. Those have been running near continuously & flawlessly year-round ever since, and get signals better than my cell phones. These older units don't have the battery life of the newer ones, but have certainly been great cell cams.
Personally, I'm now using multiple Browning cell models, Tactacams, and Ridgeways. The only ones which have disappointed me have been the Tactacams. Of these 3 brands, I overall like the Ridgeway units best, but will praise the Brownings as well. I did not try the Browning Ridgeline that came out last year due to it's having some known quality control production problems.
I have friends using lots of others, including the very expensive Reconyx cell cams. I believe most of them are now thinking Browning is providing the best overall value, and keep in mind it's not just about the initial cam prices, but field service intervals needed (not just battery changes), as well as the monthly costs of the cell plans.
While the Ridgeways cost a bit more than Brownings initially, the Ridgeways cost less to operative ongoing, and have more capabilities. Best I can tell, the Ridgeways and the Spartans are extremely similar, although I've not personally used the Spartans.
BSK
Well-Known Member
I've gone all video, and not a chance a huge video file is going to transfer via cell from my place.
BSK
Well-Known Member
Just got an email ad from Sportsmans Warehouse of a sale on Tactacam trail-cams. Get a $20 gift card with purchase of a Tactacam.
The beauty of hunting up here on the plateau is every spot is a "high spot"
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
You really don't need video as much as you think, imo.
But you can have the best of both worlds.
My cell cams will upload video, but then I probably do have slightly better cell tower coverage than you.
I almost never use video on a cell cam.
When I want it or similar, I just remotely program the cell cam to just take pics at 1 to 5 second intervals. It can be pretty amazing. As if field scan mode on a cell cam.
But, thanks to BSK promoting video, I've started using the Browning Special Ops Elite series (non-cell cams) set on video along with a cell cam near it or beside it. Yes, I do have to go retrieve the sd card to see that video, but the cell cam lets me know better when I might or might not want to do that.
Why not have the best of both worlds?
TheLBLman
Well-Known Member
Also, most cell cams capable of running video, do not necessarily upload the videos until & unless you request a specific video clip to be transmitted.
I can set them to video, they upload single pics (the 1st image of each video clip), but I have the option of requesting the full video if desired. So again, you get the best of both worlds even with a single cell cam set to video, as it records everything to the card, just like your non-cell cams, but with the added benefit of being able to upload specific videos on demand.
Another popular setting is to set for both stills & video with each triggering event.
Cam will take a high-resolution "still" pic, immediately followed by say a 10 to 20-second video clip.
I can set them to video, they upload single pics (the 1st image of each video clip), but I have the option of requesting the full video if desired. So again, you get the best of both worlds even with a single cell cam set to video, as it records everything to the card, just like your non-cell cams, but with the added benefit of being able to upload specific videos on demand.
Another popular setting is to set for both stills & video with each triggering event.
Cam will take a high-resolution "still" pic, immediately followed by say a 10 to 20-second video clip.
BSK
Well-Known Member
In the past when I was just running cams for census data, or currently for clients where camera census data is all I'm collecting, cell cameras might work in areas where I could get a signal. But now that I've discovered the wonders of all the behavioral data I can collect from video clips, on my own place, I'll never go back to still images. I can honestly say I've learned more about deer behavior in the last 2 years of running video cams than I did in the previous 20 years of still-image cams. Plus, with video I'm now picking up bucks WAY BACK in the background in the big woods I would have never seen in a still image. Now I know for sure, is that buck chasing a doe? What percentage of the time a buck visits a scrape does he actually work the scrape itself? Is there a pattern to when bucks work scrapes versus only working the overhanging limb? I realize most don't care about this stuff, but I sure do!
BSK
Well-Known Member
Here's a prime example: If I was looking at a still image, would I have noticed the two bucks sparring in the background? Maybe not. I would have seen buck #22 at the scrape, entered him in the database, and moved on.
philsanchez76
Well-Known Member
True. But the fact it's taken over 1000 videos (15 seconders) is pretty impressive. I've just only requested a few hundred out of those thousand be sent back to my cell phone.
