# Bushnell Trophy Cam IR Flash = Very Good



## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Well, the saying goes that "_you get what you pay for_". Once again it holds true.

Last year I bought the Remington Ghost Cam. Why? Because it was on sale at Academy and hey, they're all the same, right? I had nothing but problems with the camera, from washed out day time pics to poor quality night time pics, massive battery consumption to intermitten failures.

Within the year, _the thing completely died_. Doesn't turn on, doesn't work...it's now just a decoration. I didn't cry too much (was actually glad I was through with it) and _I actually did some research_ and wound up buying the Bushnell Trophy Cam.

Now, the Trophy Cam was more expensive, no doubt about it. But it's small, is supposed to run a year on Li batteries, and was advertised as having an excellent IR flash. I can report that it is in fact small. In a year I will be able to report whether the batteries really do last as long as advertised. For now, though, I'm going to talk about the IR flash.

Below you will find two nighttime, IR photos, taken from the *exact* same location, height, and orientation. One is taken with the Ghost Cam and one with the Trophy Cam. Now, I understand that the Ghost Cam's quality is absolutely miserable, but I still marvel at the difference! The picture quality is actually much better than what you see here, I've resampled the picture twice, so it's introduced some artifacts and blurring that is not evident in the original.

The feeder (and the cow sitting underneath it chasing away my deer) is 25 yards from the camera. The short yaupan that you can barely see behind the feeder is roughly 40-45 yards away.

And before anyone says it...yes, my new camera is able to take pictures well into the future. It makes scouting an area much easier and feeding programs much more effective.


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## Rack Ranch (May 25, 2004)

WOW!! what a big differnce...thanks for the info, I'm just about to buy a new one myself.. now with that taken care of you can buy that cattle panel you've always wanted...Walker


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## salth2o (Sep 21, 2004)

I have multiple Bushnell Trophy cams and LOVE them!


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## TXDRAKE (Jun 24, 2004)

I have 4 of them and work great other than I have one that is firing the IR during the daytime making for MARS looking pictures (Red). They have been awsome so far.


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## monark (May 12, 2005)

My Trophy Cam and Scoutguard nite shots don't look anything like your second pic. Look more like the first pic. Wonder now if I got two duds.


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## Troutfisch (Jun 19, 2005)

I just picked up a Trophy Cam myself last week and it's working great - much better quality pics and ease of use than the two Moultrie I-40's I used last season.

Word to the wise though, the unit is a bit glitchy out of the box so make sure and get to Bushnell's official site and download the latest software updates if needed (read carefully as some newer Trophy Cam models don't require the update and it can delete your camera memory if you're not careful - for reference mine is model #119435c). Before I updated the camera my IR pictures were far too bright and afterwards I've had no additional problems.

You can find the update by clicking the link below:

http://www.bushnell.com/products/tr...f97609ac-F0C9BA7D-CD0C-4B8B-EA7837BCDBC575F6&


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## texas8point (Dec 18, 2006)

I keep buying the Moultrie D40 and the flash keeps going out on them........POS ! 
I bought a cuddeback and it is the bomb......guess Im gonna have to breakdown and buy a second one......and let the Moultrie go forever !


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Drake, I've had the same problem with the IR filter, but we're talking 4 consecutive photos out of about 400. So it's not been major.

Other things that are much better about this camera (all similar to as advertised) is the speed, sensitivity, and quality that it has over my other cameras.

Below are some additional pics from my #2 camera.

#1 Speed: Some pigs hauling arse. Looking at the level of "blur", I imagine they had somewhere to be and were running late. The camera managed to get a shot off, though I honestly don't know how large the group was.

#2 Sensitivity: Can you see the 3 pigs behind the grass which set off the camera?

#3 and #4 Quality: Here is a daytime shot...much higher quality than the ol'Ghost Cam. There's a deer in the background on the left that I zoomed in on showing the "actual pixels". (The main picture has been resampled for the web). The camera is set on 5m and can take a set of 3 shots in quick succession, which is handy. I could see from where this deer came and to where it was going w/o needing video.

It may not look as great having been resampled down to 640x480, but believe me, the daytime shots are vivid, crisp, and clear. The only exception is in areas of high contrast, where the shaded area shows considerable pixelation. But, this is an issue for all cameras (high contrast) and is typically not much of an issue here.

So far, so good! I'm pretty happy...we'll see how long the batteries last!


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## Jock Ewing (Mar 26, 2006)

I'd put the camera closer to the feeder.


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Update on batteries:

In the original post of this year old thread, I said I would update on the batteries for these cameras. When I put them up, I went out and bought 8 of the expenseive Li batteries. The camera will run on 4 alkalines, but there are 8 spots to increase the life of the batteries. Supposedly, these fancier batteries should have lasted even longer.

I can confirm that they have. The battery indicator, as dependable as that may be, still shows "full" for both cameras. They've been up all year since last September, although I did turn them off for about 2 months in the interim. Have taken around fifteen thousand photos each and are still going strong.


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## sboudreaux (May 22, 2008)

That is incredible battery life! Thanks for the update. I put out my Cuddeback in Sept and have changed batteries twice already.....


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## LightsOut (Sep 14, 2010)

think we have 2 trophy cams, have had very good luck with them!! only problem was on one (after we used and abused it for 2 years cuase we bout the $50 warrenty from BPS lol)of them the infared stop workin for some reason and it wasnt taking night time pics. took it back to BPS walked out with a brand new one no question asked!

I guess we are going to have to break down n get some Li batteries, thats amazing!! regular old set of AAs will last us about a month or two n take prolly 3000 pics


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

I posted up some info on those cameras about a month ago. Same with me went through all the older stuff and a buddy of mine had a few of the new little ones. Dern things work forever, take great pictures both day andnight and have a fast trigger. check out this dove flying by. Forget the date and time. I had not set it


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## Kyle 1974 (May 10, 2006)

I'm finding that the trophy cam is taking great daytime photos and has an incredible trigger range, but the night time photos still suck. can the software update change that somehow?


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## beaver (Nov 9, 2004)

Would you guys mind mentioning which models of the trophy cam you are using? I see there are several different versions.

Thanks
Greg


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Greg

Next time I am at the lease I will try and remember the model and write it down. Probably a year old.


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## Kyle 1974 (May 10, 2006)

it's the bushnell trophy cam with regular IR LED flash. There is also a black flash model, no idea how those perform. 

the trigger range on these cameras really is amazing. It will catch a truck driving by at 50-60 yards away. I've caught deer about 35 yards away.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

KYle 1974

And thats with it set on Normal sensitivity. Set that thing on hi and it catches everything that moves. Just way too sensitive.


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

CHARLIE said:


> KYle 1974
> 
> And thats with it set on Normal sensitivity. Set that thing on hi and it catches everything that moves. Just way too sensitive.


I agree. I had it set to sensitive, till I got a 200 pics in a single day of leaves blowing! Put it back to normal and it seems to do well. Will pick up deer, coyotes, and ***** at 30+ yards.

I'm not sure which version I have either. They're brown and I want to say it's one of the "improved" IR flashes. I bought them not long before I originally started this thread.

The only problem with night time is blurring. If the critters sit still, the pics come out great. If they're moving, they tend to blur. They've got to really be moving though, I've gotten quite a few good night time pics.


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## Kyle 1974 (May 10, 2006)

mine are the camo "bone collector" version. That means the animals can't see it, because it's camoflaged..... right?  I have them set to normal sensitivity. most of them are set on feeder pens, so there aren't many leaves and weeds in the area. I get very few photos with nothing in them. compared to my cuddeback captures, I'm getting at least twice the photos in the same areas. I'm thinking just for the heck of it to set the trophy cam next to the cuddeback and see what happens.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Hey Beaver

The model # on my trophy camera is 119435 Bushnell trophy camera brown. Had about 850 pictures this week and bettery still good. So dern many pictures it almost kills my computer to download all of them. Get tired of looking at all of them


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## Kyle 1974 (May 10, 2006)

Side by side comparison to a cuddeback capture, the bushnell on a 2 minute delay and the cudde on a 1 minute delay. The bushnell took 1461 photos in a week. (actually less than a week) The cuddeback took 580.

Night shots from the cudde are FAR better. Most daytime shots from the bushnell are better with the exception of one morning that had a lot of dew. The bushnell took a lot longer to clear up over the cuddeback. 


Bushnell wins the battery life by a landslide.... I'm guessing anyway because the cudde has already gone through a set, and the bushnell is on its first set.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

As Kyle says the nite time shots could be better. Not too much range with the IR flash but close enough they are good. Gotta get em close.


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## Kyle 1974 (May 10, 2006)

Charlie, I'm actually ok with poor night time shots... If there is a big nocturnal deer, it will just make me mad if I know he's there but won't come out at daytime.


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## Troutfisch (Jun 19, 2005)

CHARLIE said:


> As Kyle says the nite time shots could be better. Not too much range with the IR flash but close enough they are good. Gotta get em close.


The best thing you can do with the Bushnell's is to use a photo editing software (I use Microsoft Digital Image Starter Edition because it's free and it came with my cpu) to up the brightness on the night shots to see what triggered the camera, even if nothing appears to be there.

You might be surprised to see a big buck in the background that you might have missed otherwise.

Other than that the Trophy Cam is a stellar camera and Bushnell offers a 2-year warranty on them, which I don't believe any other trail cam manufacturer offers atm.


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

One thing bad about them I just remembered is the little thin pastic loops on the back to mount the camera with. Just dont tighten wire too tight cuz it cuts rite through the loops. But camera and battery wise its tops..


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

UPDATE:
I originally purchased two of these cameras. I have good news and bad news.

Good news: I have _finally_ replaced the first set of batteries. That means they lasted around 18 months. Not too shabby.

Bad news: One of the camera's seal didn't work well and water got inside during a heavy rain. It is now kaput.


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## outdoorsmanjimjo (Jan 26, 2012)

I have 6 Bushnell Trophy cams, love them, taken thousands of pic and batteries last 6 months easy, I have 5 other brands of cameras and none have the battery life or warranty Bushnell has.


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## Law Dog (Jul 27, 2010)

I have 4 Bushnell Trophy cams, battery life is incredible. The only problem I have with two of them is keeping the date correct as the camera is taking pictures, even with brand new battery's they recommend and the SD card they recommended. After setting the date and deploying the unit, it takes the pictures, but the photo dates are all over the place. The dates are not even in consecutive order even the years jump around. I have contacted Bushnell and they said that they have not been having this issue yet??? Any one else having this problem???


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## CHARLIE (Jun 2, 2004)

Well I finally have some bad news about the trophy cam. Its dead, gone, kaput. Now here is what happened. I brought one home and put it on the fence in my yard to catch which dog was digging. Well I put it on the inside of the fence. Now apparently the dog didnt want to get caught (lab). Dern dog pulled it down and ate the dern thing. Well not really ate it just chewed it all up, batteries everywhere thing totally destroyed. Guess they are gonna have to build em stronger . Never found all the batteried, SD card destroyed. There went some money.


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## sotol buster (Oct 7, 2007)

goatchze said:


> Well, the saying goes that "_you get what you pay for_". Once again it holds true.
> 
> Last year I bought the Remington Ghost Cam. Why? Because it was on sale at Academy and hey, they're all the same, right? I had nothing but problems with the camera, from washed out day time pics to poor quality night time pics, massive battery consumption to intermitten failures.
> 
> ...


I can't tell the difference, lol. You should be a salesman for them . I think I am going to get one.


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## Kyle 1974 (May 10, 2006)

CHARLIE said:


> Well I finally have some bad news about the trophy cam. Its dead, gone, kaput. Now here is what happened. I brought one home and put it on the fence in my yard to catch which dog was digging. Well I put it on the inside of the fence. Now apparently the dog didnt want to get caught (lab). Dern dog pulled it down and ate the dern thing. Well not really ate it just chewed it all up, batteries everywhere thing totally destroyed. Guess they are gonna have to build em stronger . Never found all the batteried, SD card destroyed. There went some money.


LOL. if their only problem is dogs like to eat them, we may all still have a winner! :cheers:

I'm probably going to get all mine runing again in the next couple months. They worked pretty well last year, except for the poor night time photos, if I get two solid years with the battery life they have I'm still going to be happy.


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## sqiggy (Aug 30, 2007)

My Bushnell is going on 4 or 5 yrs now. How many cams that you know of last that long?


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## TXDRAKE (Jun 24, 2004)

Law Dog said:


> I have 4 Bushnell Trophy cams, battery life is incredible. The only problem I have with two of them is keeping the date correct as the camera is taking pictures, even with brand new battery's they recommend and the SD card they recommended. After setting the date and deploying the unit, it takes the pictures, but the photo dates are all over the place. The dates are not even in consecutive order even the years jump around. I have contacted Bushnell and they said that they have not been having this issue yet??? Any one else having this problem???


YEah, mine are having Date issues as well. They take so many pics and then all of a sudden the date changes back to the default (I guess) date?


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