Buying the best trail camera for your budget is no easy task. With every company throwing made up terms and exaggerated specs, it's easy to get lost in trying to make the best purchase decision. Follow along as we break down the trail camera buying guide for you to buy the best camera for your money.
10 Things You NEED To Know When Buying a Trail Camera
1. Megapixels
Before we dive into why they don't matter for trail cameras, let's talk about what the heck megapixels are in the first place. A megapixel (following the metric pre-fix system) is simply a million pixels, and a pixel is defined as "a small area of illumination on a display screen, one of many from which an image is composed." but an easy way to look at that is like this:
A pixel is essentially a light collector. They are built into a cameras sensor (a small square that sits behind the cameras lens) and they read the light waves that come through the lens. They read that light data for color and intensity and work collectively to record that data into an image.
2. Trigger Speed
Trigger speed, also known as shutter speed, is the time that it takes for the camera to take picture after it has detected motion.
3. Flash Type
There are three main types of flashes for a trail camera. There are white flash cameras, infrared flash (“low glow”), or no glow cameras. Each one is different and presents unique advantages and disadvantages.
White Flash: White flash cameras give off a literal flash as if you were taking a photo with a DSLR camera. These cameras can give you spectacular night images, especially if you are looking for night photos with color. The downside to these cameras is that they are much more prone to spooking deer. If you are targeting a mature buck, or are trying to be as low impact as possible, these cameras can get a little dicey.
Low Glow: When it comes to the infrared flash cameras, they produce a visible red glow from the infrared emitters when taking night photos. You can see the red glow when looking at the camera, but in most cases, it is believed to be that they don’t necessarily spook deer. Personally, I’ve had situations where I believe the IR glow spooked a mature buck when I used an IR camera on video mode. I don’t know if this has to do with the IR emitters being on longer or not, but it is something to note. An advantage of the low glow over the other two types of flashes is that you typically get better night photos than the no glow cameras, and you don’t have to worry as much compared to the white flash cameras when it comes to spooking deer.
No Glow: No glow cameras don’t produce any visible light when taking night pictures. There is an advantage to this and a disadvantage. The downside is that traditionally they don’t take as good of pictures at night, but the upside is that with the improving technology in cameras, they still take decent night pictures, and you don’t have to worry one bit about spooking deer. An added benefit you may want to consider is that these trail cameras are far less likely to get stolen by any unwanted trespasser who may be lurking in the dark. If they get their picture taken, there will be no white or red flash to warn them.
4. Battery Life
Resting Capacity vs. Functional Use.
5. Detection range
- Detection distance is dependent on the overall circuitry and sensitivity of the PIR sensor
- Detection angle is greatly affected by the Fresnel lens design
- Detection angle becomes critical when working with the camera’s trigger speed.
6. Flash Range
7. Trigger Delay
8. Recovery Time
9. Camera Modes.
10. Warranty
All Exodus trail cameras are built to stand the test of time, but in case they don't, every camera we sell is covered by a 5 year manufacturing warranty from date of purchase, in addition to a 5 Year Theft and Accidental Damage warranty.
During that time period, if any failures occur due to manufacturing we will repair or replace your camera with the same model. If the same model is not available, we'll substitute another model at equal value or credit of the original purchase value. Replacements will carry out the balance of the remaining original warranty period. Policies are non-transferable and intended for original purchaser.
5 Year Warranty & Theft Protection
Exodus Lift II - bit.ly/liftii
Exodus Trek - bit.ly/amztrek
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