I Blew It & Have to Fess Up

[AF Hunter]

Two weeks ago, I broke down and cashed in my loose change to get another trail camera. I looked at what was in my price range and then went to Sportsmansrevew.com to see what they said about the different cameras. They gave the Stealthcam I450 a good review and since I could buy it locally, I did.

The first week out, it did not take a single picture in an area I know the deer are travelling and the batteries were dead. I thought that was odd, so I put in another 6 top end batteries @ $1.75 each and put it back out 6 days ago. This morning, I had to go to that area to pick some apples for the wife to make pies and thought I'd check in on the camera. You guessed it! The batteries were dead again! I brought it back to the house and removed the SD card to see if it took any pic's. There were 8 night time pics on there that I couldn't see a dang thing. I manipulated each pic and just outside the flash range (which was no more than 10' in front of the camera) were pictures of deer. The brightness and contrast had to be adjusted so far that you cannot even tell if they are slick heads or bucks.

I called GSM Outdoors, the makers of stealthcam and told them what was happening. I was informed that the battery life is one week even when no photos are taken and the flash is intentionally aimed down as not to spook the wildlife. The customer service person told me if I spent another $120 I could get the rechargable battery pack that would allow the camera to be out for 3 weeks at a time. I spent $140 on the camera.

Bad buy on my part. Buyers beware.

[bowmanaj]

Thats crazy, sorry to hear that.. My moultire d40 was $99 and I'm very happy with its battery life and resolution. I appreciate the heads up, I won't be buying a stealth cam..

[AF Hunter]

What irks me the most is I should have stuck with what I already had. I have 2 moultries and both work good for me. I shoulda just made the 130 mile round trip to get another moultrie.[:@]

[jkcmerg]

ORIGINAL: bowmanaj

My moultire d40 was $99 and I'm very happy with its battery life and resolution.

X2....Haven't had any probs so far...nice pics and i get about 4-6wks of battery life... Sorry to hear of your misfortune. Thanx for the heads up....

[SuperRedHawk]

Yea, return it, sounds like serious JUNK!
My old Moultrie used to last for a couple of months, until someone elsedecided to claim it[:@]

[jmbuckhunter]

Check out Trailcam.com

[Siman08/OH]

Mark, i have the Stealth cam I450. And they are right about the battery life being horrible....it is the worst in the HISTORY of trail cameras. But i have got some good pictures with it. the flash is tremendously bright, and it takes great nightime photos. But it does have a major problem with whiteouts. Every picture it takes in the morning will either be a whiteout or very washed out.

And who told you the battery would cost you that much? I just bought one from Bass Pro Shops and it was delivered in 3 days and it was $39.99 + S/H. The reviews from Bass Pro said that the battery lasts months before having to be charged. And i can use the same battery charger that i have for my Moultrie.

When i got the battery though it didnt work with the camera because my camera had a defect. I called Stealth and they told me they could replace it free of charge. So i sent it in last week. Ill let you know my results when i get it back.

Heres a sampling of the pictures i have got with it:







^ Those last 2 were on the first set of batteries i ever put in it.



Heres my best pic so far:



And here are what some of the whiteouts look like (it can be much worse though):

[AF Hunter]

Here is one of the photos I didn't have to manipulate to see something...

The crossed lines are where the camera is aimed. Notice the flash all hits below.

[Siman08/OH]

Wow, you must have got a defective one from Stealth. I recommend you call them and see what they can do. As you can see i don't have any pictures that showed up like yours.

[AF Hunter]

I sent them an e-mail after the response I got (See original thread post). Really upset me bad.