I set mine up last week and the only deer that past by in the first two days were after a snowstorm so I got nothing but the snow in from of the lense, I made a little roof to prevent that from happening again,I did test it out by walking by and the pics seem to be really goodI will wait to get my first deer pics. As far as battery I bought a HD 6 volt from radio Shack and it had been in for a week adn is at 96% still so I think that is good so far