I have one of the older sony TRV models and it's not noisy....the only noise is opening the shutter, but I have never spooked a deer with it....I just leave the shutter open once I get to the stand....no beeps on mine. I would agree, get one that records on a cd....and the higher the optical zoom the better.....don't get duped with the high digital zooms. Optical of 20x or 25x is pretty good.