How long can you expect a trail camera to perform? Is it worth buying the cheap camera's each year or two or three and spend $80 a piece or is it better to spend $400-500 for one expensive camera and expect it to outlast the cheap cameras for the amount of time it would take to get your money back out of it??

I would take the option of trying the "cheap" cameras first.. but,that's just me and my budget, if you yourself have the budget for a Reconyx then don't hesitate.

Here we go, personally if I had the $500 laying around, I would buy the best, but I dont, so I vote for buying the cheaper one.

I've had a wally world moultrie 2.0 mp camera for 4+ years now and its giving me problems with memory cards, but i can still get 100 pics on the internal memory. I'm more a fan of going with the cheaper cams, cuz you can get more of em, and if they do get stolen, you're out $80 not $500. Cabelas has a deal on 2 wildview 2.0's for $120, w/ a $20 mfg rebate and $20 back from cabelas on purchases over $100, so after shipping you're essentially getting 2 cameras for under $100.

It's all what you can afford. Be warned though, that it seems like all the folks that do buy the cheap cams end up having to send them back for numerous repairs and they still only get short term use out of them.

As mentioned, IF you have the extra cash flow... buy a Reconyx and you can put that baby in the woods and forget about it. They are top-of-the-line!

How many years can you expect out of a Cudde or Reconyx or some of the other really expensive camera's??