Buying a trail camera for the first time can be quite a bit of a task. If you don’t know what you are doing, then you can easily be scammed. That’s where we come in to help you guys. Today we are going to provide you guys a first time trail camera buyer’s guide.
What To Look For In A Trail Camera
There are many things that you can search for in a trail camera. First and foremost, the Image quality: There are many myths involving higher megapixel means a better camera. Reality is not like that. It depends on the camera sensor. If you use a trashy sensor with a 64-megapixel camera, the image quality will be worse than an excellent sensor with a 16-megapixel camera.
Detection Circuit
Thanks to the detection circuit, the camera can trigger when something enters the trigger zone. Depending on the detection circuit, the trigger time and the trigger zone radius will vary.
Most camera nowadays has an excellent detection circuit. If you spend a decent amount of money, you will easily find one with 100 feet range. It would be best if you kept in mind that trail cameras are best for close range captures.
Trigger And Recovery Time
As we said, a lot of cameras use a good detection circuit. Depending on the model, you can get a trigger speed of 0.4 milliseconds or over 1 second.
The faster, the better. Because if your camera takes more time to trigger, then the trespasser will escape without getting caught in the camera.
Recovery time is the time how fast the camera can become ready to take a second picture after taking the first one.
What I am trying to say is, it’s the break between two pictures. A lot of cameras can take rapid pictures means more than five photos at one trigger.
But after that, the camera may rest for over 5 minutes. That 5 minutes is recovery time.
Detection Zone
Depending on the circuit, the detection zone of each camera will vary. Most of the time, high-end cameras have over 100 feet of detection range. Where the budget-oriented cameras have like 50-70 feet.
But trust me 70 feet is more than enough. If you are using it as a security camera on your house, even 50 feet will be more than enough.
Find out how much area you want your camera to cover then purchase the appropriate one.
Battery Life
Another critical factor to consider while buying a new trail camera. If battery life is not good, you will need to change it every month or two.
Depending on the camera model, you will need a different amount of batteries. Most of the time, trail cameras use AA batteries. Some even require 8 AA batteries to powerup. Naturally, the more cells mean more power is needed to operate the camera.
The bottom line is if you are planning on leaving the camera in the wild for long, then get a camera with good battery life.
