if you thought you had a lemon i would have exchanged it right away. i have 2 of them and work great. i would send it back for repair. explain your problems to them and maybe they will replace for free. they arent fancy and im starting to believe quality control isint good. some people like to use 800 speed film but i like to use kodak 400 speed film. my night time pictures or pretty good. place it 10 feet away from a salt lick(bagged solar salt or similar) preferably near water and about waiste high and not facing east or west where the sun can set it off so bring a compass. make sure its not pointed at any wacky bushes,leaves or long feather grass that might set it off too.leave it out for a week and check back. it does work maybe a little quircky at times. it also loves strong fresh batteries only. i only get 2 uses out of my batteries. 48 pictures worth. the only other thing i do is set it to take a picture every 2 minutes after motion is detected. that has helped me take less pictures of the same deer or bigfoot.