Covert Extreme Problem
 

Before I begin I know that for anything one bad egg doesn’t always represent the batch as a whole. With that being said, I’m still going to share my experience. Last year I bought a couple of Reconyx cameras and absolutely loved them. However, I wanted to add more cameras this year and I knew I wouldn’t be able to spend that much again to buy multiple Reconyx cameras like I did last year. After doing a lot of research I decided to invest in a Covert Extreme with the idea that I could buy four of those compared to one Reconyx. Instead of buying all four right away, I decided to but one first and give it a try for a month. When I got home I read the directions and put in the eight Lithium batteries before turning it. As soon as I turned the switch on, a blue screen appeared on the LCD screen for about ¼ of a second with a line going through it and then it turned off. The camera also made a clicking sound while doing this. I tried this again multiple times, but the same thing continue to happen. It was dead. I called the dealer I bought it from and when I described the problem they told me that the camera was bad. Thankfully they told me I could return it and get a refund back. The biggest downside is that the dealer is 90 minutes away.

Anyway, I understand that this might have been a fluke case for the Covert Extreme, but I wanted to share my experience in case someone else was looking at buying new cameras this year like I am still planning on doing.

uwbadgers: If you still have the camera, here are a couple of suggestions if you haven't already tried: 1)before turning the camera on, make sure you have an SD card in it and that it is unlocked. 2)even if you put new batteries in the camera, check the voltage with a digital meter. New batteries fresh out of the package may have a dead one or one reading low voltage. Any battery reading 1.0 to 1.2 volt, the camera will not function properly or not at all.
I checked my cameras today. There had been a bad wind, rain and snow storm in that area in the last five days. My camera had taken videos every 2 minutes when the storm started. I had 199 videos (full card). Swapping out the batteries (Energizer rechargeables) two read 1.0 volt while the other 4 showed 1.26 volt. If the card either had not been full or a larger card, the camera would still have failed. These Energizers show 1.2 volt on the package. Testing them, most will show 1.28 volt and putting them in a charger, they can be bumped up to 1.38 to 1.44 volt.
Good luck with your camera. Thanks for sharing.

When I bought it Saturday night, I did try it with eight brand new batteries. When it didn't work, I took the batteries out of my Reconyx that did work and the same thing happened in the new Covert camera. I ended up returning it on Sunday and bought a Bushnell Trophy Cam. When I brought it home I put the orginal eight batteries in that I used in the Covert camera and they worked fine. It was very frustrating considering I live about 60 minutes from the store one way, however I'm happy that problem happened now and not in a few months.

Glad to hear you got things working. I think you will be happy with the Bushnell. I have 7 of the 2009 model Bushnell Trophy Trail cameras and have been well satisfied with them. Also Bushnell offers a two year manufactures warranty. Good luck.