Trail Camera Buying Guide [you should know before purchase]

best cellular Trail Camera

What you want is pretty simple. The best budget trail camera in the market. 

But is the answer simple? If it was we wouldn’t be writing about this now. Let’s find out together what makes the budget trail camera best. The answer may not be straightforward but how hard can it be? Let’s find out exactly that. 

 

What do you look for in a trail camera?

You need to ask yourself this question first. If you want a cellular trail camera and want that to be in budget then, sorry to burst your bubble that isn’t possible. 

You need to identify your needs first. You want a better day time or night time performance, how much battery life you want, how big of a trigger range you want, etc. 

Once you have decided on the key factor we can move on to the next one.

Cellular trail cameras are affordable and convenient - Carolina ...

 

Camera lens quality:

We already talked about this briefly. Let me explain it in detail. If your camera does not take any good pictures why bother buying that? I mean you are buying a camera because you are interested in capturing stuff. If the camera fails to do that it means you should stay away from that.

 

Megapixel means nothing if your camera lens is terrible. There is more than one 20mp camera available in the budget range. Surprisingly there is also many 1080p camera available for a cheap price. We recommend you to see some sample pictures that are taken through the camera and be a judge that whether it meets your satisfaction.

 

Body quality:

Trail cameras are meant to be used in outdoor conditions. In outdoor it may rain or may snow, or perhaps a wild animal might find it and try to snap it. A trail camera should have a good build quality to withstand them all.

 

A cheap camera may or may not have an IP rating. Most of the time cheap cameras are made out of plastic material and a camo color coating on the body. While plastic may be fragile but the material that is used in those cameras is certified to have good durability. They can withstand rain and cold weather. 

 

IR sensors:

Hunters use trail cameras to trail their prey. They leave the camera turned on in a remote location where animals may become active during a certain period of the day. They leave the camera for weeks. Which means the camera there takes a picture of animals both during the day and night.

 

For night shot normal cameras will only capture dark nothing else. But with the help of IR lights, the camera can capture photos at night. There is often more than one IR sensor used in a trail camera. The main reason being more IR lights mean more light and bigger range. Normally that’s how it is played out.

Top 10 Best Trail Cameras Reviewed in 2019

But you might ask why does scopes only use one? Because that one IR flashlight is more powerful than small IR LED’s 

The more or better quality IR sensors your camera has the better images at night you will receive. But it will come with a cost, the cost being reduced battery life.

Battery life:

Most trail cameras use more than 6 AA batteries. Sometimes even 12. If you use a trail camera to take 15 day time picture and 15 night time picture every 24h some trail camera can give up to 6months or even more battery life. Of course, the battery life is going to depend largely on how many batteries your camera requires and the mode you are purchasing. 

But it is always a good idea to check about battery life before you make the purchase. It never hurts to be cautious. 

 

Campark T45 trail camera review:

Campark’s t45 has a super-fast motion detector. The triggering time is only 0.3 seconds. For a 60$ camera, it has a super-fast sensor. 

The body of T45 is waterproof. The sensors are sealed well inside and the case is moisture-proof.

 

If you were to leave it outside in cold weather or under rain it will do just fine. 

Don’t expect a 60$ trail camera to take photos and videos at 4k. 

The battery life of this camera is excellent. It can go for months without changing battery. The camera uses 8 AA batteries. The maximum SD card support on the camera is 32gb. You can store tons of pictures on that. 

The only complaint about the camera is that the straps of the camera breaks off easily. 

 

Victure trail game camera:

Another excellent camera around the 50$ mark. It often goes on sale for 40$. An excellent purchase for people looking for a budget 1080p camera. Yes, you heard me right a 40$ camera that shoots in 1080p. We were surprised at first too. But the camera turned out to be good. That was suprising.

 

While the camera is no where near a 4k camera quality but it stands firm ground. It’s a 40$ camera. You are getting a fast sensor of 0.5 second trigger time. The camera has invisible IR sensors. When you open the camera you will find the hidden IR LED’s. 

There is also a 2.4″ LCD inside the camera. The images that it takes is just excellent for the price.

Overall a pretty solid buy for entry level hunters in budget. 

 

We provided some valuable information about trail cameras. Doesn’t matter whether you are looking for the best budget trail camera or the best trail camera. You will be beneficial from this article. For those who are looking for good trail cameras in budget we mentioned two of the models that we personally think are worth your investment.