ORIGINAL: IL-Cornfed
............ Also, with the homebrews you get NO warranty and NO customer service. As much as a digital cam has to be subjected to over the course of one year in the deer woods, I kind of seriously like the idea of havong a ONE YEAR warranty. Homebrews are great if a guy wants togo that route and he knows what he's doing. To eachhis own.
I do not know who built the units that you have seen or delt with, but I could point you out people that stand behind their units as much as the stores. You will also find out that their customer service is better then a store bought unit.
Of coarse you need to look into the builders history, investigate just like you do with a store bought units history.
The only problem I had with my homebrew was in the control card I bought. I did not investigate enough and bought from a maker that did not stand behind his product, but there are many control boards out there that work great and have fabulous customer service. They are not that difficult to do, there are step by step instructions (with pictures) which make it easier.
As you said, To each his own. All I wanted to do was point out another option for a trail camera.