ORIGINAL: the kidd
i dont know i was looking at a cabelas magazine and they had a moultrie 4.1 mp for 150$$$ and it had solar availability
The 4.1 mp moultrie at cabelas really isn't 4.1 mp. It is 3.1 mp but there is some software that "converts" it to 4.1 mp. Megapixels really don't mean much 99% of the time. I have an $850 Nikon DSLR camera that is only 6 mp and you can buy a 10 mp Kodak camera for $200 but guess which one takes better pictures?
ORIGINAL: janesburg
Check how much guys get for battery life on the Moultrie. Then do the math. Batteries can really add up $$$$. I can get months of use out of ONE set of D batteries for my Cudde. Plus the pictures are better than the Moultrie. The Cudde also has good flash range and quicker trigger time.
As far as price, go to his website and get in touch with him. I met him last month, and he was a nice guy.
Okay let's do the math. $14.99 for a rechargeable 6 volt battery for the Moultrie. $9.99 for a quick charger = $24.98 for several years worth of battery life. If a set of D cells is 4 then you are spending $5 per month on batteries with the Cudde so about $60 per year. For another $25 you can add a solar panel to the Moultrie and that gets it to $50 but mine has been out for 3 months now and with the solar panel it was still at 99% charged and that was in the winter. If you live in a sunny area, I doubt you would ever need to charge the Moultrie and it could sit out for years on the same battery. Not having to charge or swap out batteries for a year+ is pretty nice.
The Cudde's have a good reputation for trigger time, I can't argue that, and the older ones have agood reputation overall,but their 2006 cameras were pretty much lemons from what you read on the forums, they probably do have plenty of refurbished ones available.
================================================== ===
As far as a good camera with decent battery life for under $200, I think if you are going to put it over bait or an area where the animals will stick around either a Stealth I390 with the external battery pack or the Moultrie Gamespy 200 with the 6v battery and solar panel would be good.
If you are wanting to pick them up on a trail with a 2 second or less trigger time I'm not sure you can get a factory camera for that under $200. I bought a Bushnell Trailscout 19200 and it has a fast trigger time but it's battery life is pretty poor. (The longest I've gotten out of 4 D Cells is 10 days, I've switched to some high dollar rechargeable D Cells and they last about the same time).
That's my 2 cents. I have a Moultrie Gamespy 200 and a Stealth I390 and the Bushnell Trailscout 19200. You can check out pictures from all of them here -
http://padens.com/ipw-web/gallery/trailcams
My 2 cents. Nathan