*****2012 Jan review: There are better camera's out there for about the same money. This one ended up being a battery hog on anything but low rez daytime pics. This camera has outlived its worthiness. Plus, it was never easy to program right out of the box and too many folks complained. So I am reducing its overall rating to two stars. I now own a different trail cam.
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while this unit has been given poor reviews elsewhere, my unit worked properly right out of the box. Having owned a 'cheap' trail camera before, I can say for sure it is better.
The directions are lengthy and I suspect that many of the folks having problems are having programming issues or perhaps the camera that is now on the shelves has updated operating software built in. Or, it could be they are using the wrong 'type' card.
PRO's:
I've had mine installed for a week and have taken well over 200 photos, day and night. I do use the 'night vision' which emits infrared (invisible to us) flash and you get crisp black and white photos, easy to view and count points on the big buck.
My unit is currently set to 'Lo' quality pics but am pleased with the results. I am still on the first set of D cell batteries after one week and over 200 photos. I have not used the video or 'Hi' resolution features yet. I am experimenting to see how long the batteries will last. So far so good.
I think I will take a piece of black tape to cover up the red LED indicator on the front as that is all the deer can see at night when it takes the night vision photos. Other than that, it takes multiple pics of nice sized deer without alarming them like flash photography. They DO notice the little red indicator on the front of the unit because it blinks when motion is detected. This is why I said I might cover that with black tape (it's an indicator, not a sensor).
CONS:
I found the directions relatively easy however, If you are not able to follow written directions well, then Read the directions TWICE before trying to use this camera. Then as you program it, read them again and while you program it, have someone else talk you through the directions step by step. If you don't, you will mess it up. If you are not good at reading directions at Christmas time when assembling your child's gifts, You probably shouldn't be programming this unit by yourself. LOL...no, seriously.
I have one to two washed out or black photos per 100 photos taken. This is minor IMHO
The directions call for a 1 GB SD card. You can't find 1 GB (or less) SD cards nowadays. I am using the cheap 2 GB SD cards. NOTE: USE ONLY A PLAIN "SD" card! The 2 GB 'SD' card seems to function just fine. If you use the wrong type card, that is, something other than the plain SD card, it probably will have problems.
If you want your camera to take regular 'flash' photography at night so that it is in color (infrared only gives you black/white photos), then do NOT program the night vision input because if you do, it will take infrared pics. The default is standard flash photography so if you don't program the night vision, it will default to standard flash.
Last con, if you want to use the infrared feature for night pics, you need to know when it gets dark and light so that you can program it in to the unit. This means that it will have to be reprogrammed as days get longer or shorter. You would think they would install a light sensor on this unit...must be non-hunting engineers that don't know you shouldn't be running to your camera all the time.
Hope that helps.
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