I saw a deal tonight that was a little too good to be passing up. So I just placed my order for a Tasco 3 MP trail camera, model 119203c. I bought this scouting camera, not because I'm a big fan of Tasco, but because of the price. I found it for $39.95. I can always use another game camera in the woods, and to pick this up for 65% off the original retail price ultimately had me pulling the trigger on this purchase.
I don't know how long they will be available at this price, so my apologies if you missed the deal.
Here is a link to it which should show you the current price.
Once I receive this game camera, I'll get it in the field for some testing and have a personal review up on it soon.
The Tasco 3 MP trail camera operates at two resolutions; 1.3MP low res or 3MP hi res. It is a full color camera that uses a Xenon flash that has a 30 ft range. Not bad for a low cost game cam. The passive infrared sensor has a detection range of up to 30 feet as well.
It has a black and white LCD display, and runs off of 4 D cell batteries. The battery life is 90 days. I can tell you that I have definitely paid more for game cameras with shorter battery life than this. Battery life is one area that I am definitely sensitive to due to the number of scouting cameras I operate. Replacement batteries result in an added expense that I definitely like avoiding with longer life cams.
The Tasco model 119203C will also record AVI videos that are 15 seconds in length. It is good that it accepts a 2 GB SD memory card, so image and video capacity shouldn't be an issue. It will also do the date, time, and moon phase stamping on every image.
Tasco claims this this game camera has a quick trigger, but I'll let my field tests be the judge of that. At this price, even if the trigger is slow and I have to make this a feeder cam, I think I'll still be satisfied with my purchase.
The Tasco 3 MP is rated pretty well by previous customers. Out of 15 reviews, there were two 5 star ratings, six 4 star ratings, five 3 star ratings, a single 2 star rating, and a single 1 star rating. People can be pretty rough on game camera reviews, so to have only 2 out of 15 people giving below average ratings I feel pretty comfortable with my purchase. I'll add my review to the Amazon site once I've had a chance to test it.
If you own this game camera, then I'd like to hear what you think about it below.
I have apparently had my head in the sand over the last few months, because I totally missed the news about Outdoors Extreme Corp filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. I usually try to keep my finger on the pulse of what is occurring with the major trail camera companies, and was shocked to discover.
The Outdoors Extreme Corp (OWC) manufactured and distributed the Predator line of trail cameras since June 25, 2010. The Predator trail camera line included the TrailEye, the Xtinction, the Evolution, and the Informer. They filed for bankruptcy on 01/28/2011.
While this may be good news for the competing game camera manufacturers on the market, it spells bad news for owners of Predator trail cams. The Saxon, Wisconsin company has stated that there will be no future sales or support for their game cameras. Any warranty or other proof of claims should be filed with bankruptcy court.
There is a statement of their bankruptcy proceedings on their website at PredatorTrailCams.com. In this statement, they apologize to their customers for any and all inconveniences associated with their proceedings. Unfortunately, this is little help for the owner of a broken Predator trail cam owner in need of service.
I did attempt to call the company to see if there are any support alternatives for their past customers that are in need of assistance. The number was disconnected. So if you own a Predator, it looks like you are on your own from this point on.
One disconcerting result of their bankruptcy is that their main webpage has been replaced by the bankruptcy notice, so none of the other pages on their website (including their support and manual pages) are easily accessible. They are still there though, just the navigation from the main page has been disabled. You can use the link below to get to one of their deeper pages, then navigate to where you need to go.
If you own a Predator Xtinction or Predator Evolution, then I recommend that you go to the following link ASAP. Determine if you need any of the firmware updates and download them now. There is no telling how much longer this website will be online, and when it is gone the firmware updates will be too. Predator Firmware Updates
If the website comes down before you have a chance to get the updates, use the DeerTrackingCameras.com Contact link to send me a message. I have a copy of them and will gladly send them to you.
If you are the kind of person that likes to roll the dice, than you can get some great deals on the Predator Trail Cameras that remain on the market. All companies that carried the Predators are unloading them from their inventory. You will be rolling the dice, because you won't get any support with them. I've seen the Predator Evolution XR infrared digital game camera selling for $189.95 (normally $419.99). You can click on this link to see some of the Predator Closeout Deals.
I for one, am sorry to see Outdoors Extreme Corp and their line of Predator trail cameras go. I personally think that the more game camera manufacturers there are, the better it is for us - the consumers. Competition fuels innovation and drives pricing.
We have recently been reviewing the Wildgame Innovations X6C infrared digital game camera, and the initial results look good now that we have a good working model.
This review didn't start off all that great. After experiencing an issue with dark videos, I had returned the game camera for another one. I experienced the same issue with the next one, and contacted Wildgame Innovations Support. I have to say that my call to Wildgame Innovations for help was a pleasant surprise. I was immediately connected with a support technician, who helped me with my issue. I can't say that I have ever gotten assistance that quickly when calling other game camera manufacturers. WGI definitely gets an A+ grade from me when it comes to supporting their products.
The technician gave me a sequence of steps to follow which resolved my issues. You can read more about those steps here: X6C Dark Video.
This is an inexpensive game camera, so my expectations were not that high. I found that the performance to price ratio was very good. I was pleased with the number of added features that this game camera has. The battery life could have been a bit better, and I would like to have seen a little faster trigger, but I really can't complain about this much due to the cheap price. The X6C performs as good or better than comparable game cameras that cost much more.
I am definitely most pleased with the IR image quality. This 6.0 MP trail cam offers good detail and definition in the images. You can read more about this small form factor game camera from Wildgame Innovations here: Wildgame Innovations X6C Review.
** UPDATE 02-17-2011 **: THESE STEPS WORKED AND RESOLVED MY ISSUES WITH DARK VIDEOS. IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING THE SAME ISSUE, FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW. PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT IF THIS HELPED YOU AS WELL!
I've been trying to test the Wildgame Innovations X6C game camera over the last few weeks, and have struggled to find a camera that is functioning properly. I may have a solution to the dark video issues. Read the rest of this entry »
If you own a Plotwatcher TLV scouting camera, and you are not running the 1.2 software, then you need to head over and grab the update now!
This update promises to give you longer run time per set of batteries, and improve the USB performance of your Plotwatcher.
To install the update, you will download a program called the 'Upgrade Assistant'. This program will write all of the firmware update files to your USB drive. Then upgrading is as simple as installing the USB drive in the camera and powering on the unit. When the update is complete, the camera will power off.
Now, before you rush off and update your Plotwatcher, take these precautionary steps.
Make note of any special settings defined on your camera. You will need to reset the date, time and any custom settings after the upgrade.
Make sure that your USB drive is in good working order.
Make sure that you have a fresh set of batteries before starting the update.
A firmware update program upgrades the code that operates your camera. If that update process fails, that code could be left in an inoperable state, meaning your camera may no longer work. Have no fear though, Day 6 Outdoors can be contacted to upgrade the unit if this occurs. So take care of the update before scouting for the next season begins.
Check out the video that I put together of the Buck Pictures that I have gotten off my Cuddeback Capture over the past couple of months. There are some pretty good bucks in here, and couple of bruisers. You will even see a couple of shots of bucks chasing does.
I've always been partial to game cameras with infrared, so that I can capture video and video at night. But I have to tell you that I have had a lot of fun with this Cuddeback Capture. It has been a solid camera for me, and I couldn't ask for anything more as far as the performance goes. The $25 rebate that Cuddeback offered on the Capture is what brought me to finally test it. The trigger is incredibly fast, and the image centering yields some great pictures.
Hope you enjoy this video. I recently purchased a Mac laptop, and it was a piece of cake to put together.
After viewing, please subscribe to my Scouting Camera YouTube channel to see more videos. Please leave a comment on the video, and click the Like button (thumbs up) under the video if you enjoyed it. I'd appreciate any feedback.
