Best Trail Camera (Reviews & Buying Guide) 2020

Which Trail Cameras Are The Best? How do you know whether a certain spot in the woods is a good place for hunting a particular animal, like deer? Sure, you can hike through the woods and look for evidence like scat and other signs but lets face it, sometimes those signs can be old. And sometimes those signs can be mistaken for other animals. Without a doubt, one of the best ways you can be sure an area is teeming with game is to set up a quality trail camera. These cameras, which are usually motion activated, capture images of deer and other animals as they wander in the path of your camera, which you set up and leave overnight. The video is recorded on inexpensive flash memory which you can view later to see if you’ve found a hunting hot spot…or not.

Today’s cameras that are designed for capturing images and video of wildlife are marvels of modern technology. But it’s also true that they aren’t all created equal. Different companies include different features in their models. And of course, some brands are clearly better than others. Let’s take a good look now at the trail camera reviews and ratings of five of the best models available today to see how they stack up:

Top 5 Best Trail Camera Reviews

1. Bushnell 8MP Trophy Cam Night Vision Trail Camera Review

The Bushnell is a company that hunters are very familiar with since they make a well-known and trusted line of scopes. The company has been around since 1948 and there’s no sign of it slowing down. The Bushnell 8MP Trophy Cam Night Vision Tail Camera is one of my favorites for a variety of reasons. First, that powerful eight mega-pixel sensor is hard to beat. It also comes with a bright 32 LED flash that will bathe your subject in so much light it’ll think night suddenly turned into day. Its motion-sensitive sensor is good for 45 feet, so you’ll be sure to capture images from a good distance away. The Trophy Cam records up to one minute of video at a time.

This unit is easily mountable with a web strap and comes in either black or camo. I doubt very much that the color really matters, but it’s your call. It uses 4-8 AA batteries and uses common SD flash memory. This unit will run for a long time on one set of batteries.

2. Bushnell 8MP Trophy Cam HD Trail Camera with Night Vision Review

Next up to bat is the big brother to the model we just discussed. It has essentially the same features but is the “high definition” version. In addition to recording audio, it also records video in 720P hi-def for maximum clarity. With this unit you won’t have to wonder whether that fast moving critter was a deer or a dog. With hi-def video you will definitely be able to tell the difference. Like the previous unit, the hi-def model comes in either Brown or Black.

The 8MP Trophy Cam HD comes with the same ultra-bright 32 LED that lights up the night. In addition, the display also shows the temperature, name, moon phase, time, and date, so you’ll know exactly when that critter walked in front of your camera.

3. Cuddeback Attack IR 5MP Game Camera Review

The Cuddeback Attack IR 5MP Game Camera is another trail camera that I really like. It took more than three years to develop this high-quality unit and it really shows. It is a great unit for capturing either day or night video or still images. And it the camera is triggered at night, it’ll definitely turn night into day with its 36 LED flash. This flash is designed with a range of 60 feet. It also has a lightning-fast trigger to make sure a deer or other animal won’t run so fast that your camera can’t keep up with it. This one can. It has the ability to capture video in 30-second increments and it can also take still pics at a rate of five per minute. It is easily mountable with its included tree mount and comes with 60 MB of internal memory and a slot for adding additional SD memory, if you prefer. The unit takes four D-cell batteries.

One of the great things about the Attack IR game camera is that it captures beautiful images in color. Earlier trail cameras were black and white. And not only that but their flashes tended to be so bright that they washed out the images they captured. The Attack IR captures clear color images in both daylight and at night. And with its ultra-fast trigger, images are clear and focused and not blurred like they appear on other models.

4. Moultrie Game Spy M100 Trail Camera Review

The next model we’ll look at that definitely qualifies as a top-of-the-line trail camera is the Moultrie Game Spy M-100. This high-quality unit comes with a wide-screen for capturing images and video of a wide field-of-view. It is also a very small unit that will easily fit in the palm of your hand. Its compact size makes it very easy to mount and conceal. It captures video and images in 6.0 megapixels for a high degree of image clarity. This unit also gives you the ability to select mode of operation that best suits your needs. This lets you capture images and video exactly the way you want to. You can either select automatic mode for images captured by movement, or time lapse.

The images and video the Moultrie Game Spy M-100 captures are stamped with the time and date. In addition, all video is recorded with audio, as well. The unit uses standard SD memory, uses standard AA-cell batteries (4-8), and includes a mounting strap, USB cable, and Plot Stalker software.

5. Primos Hunting Truth Cam Blackout Game Trail Camera Review

The last trail camera we’re going to check out is the Primos Hunting Truth Cam Blackout Game Trail Camera. This great model really does disappear into the wild since it was designed to be undetectable by both humans and animals. It doesn’t use a flash and operates completely silently. This is an important thing to consider since you don’t want to run this risk of another hunter finding your expensive trail camera and taking off with it for his own use, or even selling it on E-Bay.

This model has a 50 foot range at night and does not use a flash to capture its images. This is another thing I like about this model. It doesn’t scare away its subjects by subjecting them to a sudden burst of light. The deer, bear, or whatever animal you are tracking will continue doing their thing without being startled or bothered.

The Primos unit captures images at 7.0 mega pixels in the daylight and 5.0 mega pixels at night. It uses four D-cell batteries for extra-long battery life.

Types of Trail Cameras

There are basically two types of trail cameras. One is incandescent flash camera and another one is infrared flash camera. Both are outstanding. Let’s discuss one by one.

1. Flash Trail Cameras

The flash trail camera has an incandescent bulb like 35mm. When the trigger is pressed the bulb lightens up and the camera starts recording. When the button is not being pressed trail cameras with flash bulb acts like a normal camera.

In order to snap a photo, the motion sensor triggers the camera, the bulb flash lights up the area in front of the lens and the camera start recording.

One of the charming features of the flash trail cameras is their ability to take pictures day or night. They have shorter battery life. There might be some chances to spook the animals while you are taking photographs.

The flash cameras can be used for security purposes. They may just grow feet and walk off as the flash of cameras catch attention to the photo equipment. This situation may become frustrating.

2. Infrared Trail Cameras

The Infrared trail cameras are also called IR. They are the latest types in the market. When the objects emit heat, these cameras are efficient in detecting that amount of heat and then they color-code that object according to infrared radiation that is being emitted. The sensor detects heat if there is any, it triggers the trail camera without the flash effect. Instead of flash it light up the LED panel and enough light is being emitted by photo equipment in order to record the image.

They are becoming more popular because they are good at emitting bursts of light. They don’t spook wildlife and draw attention to the trail camera easily. In this way you can get more pictures. Night photos are black and white. They have extended battery life. Because of their infrared technology they are best for leaving out in public hunting locations.

How to choose the best trail camera?

1. Camera Design

A good camera is the one that is compact and manageable. They should be light and easy to bring to the destined location. Another key feature is the camera’s ability to be mounted in on the structure in order to capture images of game animals in the desired area.

2. Quality of Picture and Images

The trail cameras have high resolution capabilities. They capture excellent and super quality images of the game animals of the area. They usually feature up to 8 megapixels. Some high quality cameras provide resolution ranges from 10 to 12 megapixels.

The higher the megapixel the clearer will be the images and more will be the disk space for storing the images.

3. Battery Life

Different types of cameras use different types of batteries. Some make use of D size batteries while the other uses AA batteries. Good Battery will have long battery life. While choosing a trail camera use must select a camera which provides longest battery life.

4. Trigger Speed

It is the time taken by the camera to take the picture. The time ranges from 0.2 seconds to 4 seconds. Camera with slow trigger speed may miss a ton of animals as they run away. So while purchasing a trail camera, it’s a wise option to take a camera with high trigger speed.

5. Recovery Time

The time taken by a camera to store an image and get it ready for the next activation is called recovery time. It ranges from sub-1 seconds to 60 seconds. While choosing a trail camera recovery time is a very important factor to keep in view.

6. The Detection Zone

This is an area in front of the camera with which it becomes capable of “sensing”. The cameras with narrow detection zone are fine for pointing at a feeder.  The cameras with large detection are the brilliant choice as they cover a much larger area and they are good for food plots and open fields. While making a comparison, it’s better to choose a camera that have a larger detection zone.

Conclusion

For the hunter’s munitions store, trail cameras have become an indispensable part. So it has become an obligatory need for those who are interested in wildlife photography and other relevant fields.

To get the most accurate trail camera it is required to be at the right place at the right time. Act upon the set up you have made to purchase a camera and let it be your eyes for weeks. Collect data and go for genuine research all over that depend on your hunting needs and experiences.