Matt/TN

well i just hold it with one hand and open it with the other and then reaim after im done it really doesnt affect it that much but thats just me i have the game spy 200 3.1 i love the camera and i would like to know if theres any difference between the game watcher and game spy

Sedge1

Hey, guys, new to the site. Just a question; I have a Moultrie 1.3 game cam and I have had it for a year. To start with it worked like a dream but it now acts up on me such as telling me that the SD card is locked. When it works it works, on 8/20/2006, in a 24 hours period I recorded 109 photos of deer, so I know that it can work. But all the photos were at night and we observed deer from 3:00 PM until dark and no pictures were taken. I suspect that moisture may be getting into the IR detector and causing issues but I'm not sure. Last night, we again observed deer but no photos, I even walked down to the camera at 9:00 PM to see if it was working and it was, but no flash. I set it for flash on and let it go but I haven't had the chance to check it today and see if it worked. We have experience some heavy downpour around here and I could be getting moisture all in the camera. But has anyone had this problem? Any info would be appreciated.

eddie_v21

i have the 1.3 and i have abttery issues.i bought a garrity rechargeable battery,a garrity 6 volt battery charger and a solar panel at wal mart and the battery lasted about a week and then after a recharge it may last 1 or 2 days and ill go back to check it and it will be dead,with the solar panel on.the bad thing is i wont even have any pictures taken and still its dead.what batteries is everyone using?

Sedge1

Eddie,
I buy the Rayovac twin pack at Walmart, it costs like $4.97, and you can't even get one Energizer for that. I think Moultrie sells a rechargable system for their cameras and feeding systems but I am not sure of the cost. I am getting just over a week's worth of photos but it really depends on how often the camera is working because at times I only get 3 or 4 days but I have about 100 to 150 photos. The more the flash has to work, the quicker the battery is going to die. My friends and I all buy these batteries and just know all things come into account on battery life. Whenever I happen to be at Walmart, I make it a purposeto get a couple of batteries and I go to Wally-world alot. Under normal photo opportunities (daytime photos, 4 - 6 a day during the season), I do get about 2 weeks work out of the batteries. So you can see that several conditions work on the life of your batteries. I know that having rechargable batteries also makes it to where you don't have to go to the hunting club every weekend, like some of my friends who have to drive for a couple of hours, but I'm one of the fortunate one who has deer on his property and the camera is within 200 yards of his back door and my club is only 15 minutes away. I would check with Basspro Shops, or my local sporting goods store. I'm not sure what state you are in, I'm in "Bama", but there is a retail outfit here called Academy Sports and they have a lot of different things for hunting and they can be competitive with Walmart. Check it out and see. Oh, I bought the Game Watcher 2.1 yesterday and put it out, and I already have photos, plus Moultrie changed the strapping system to bungy cords which is easier to work with. Good hunting.

Phade

Everyone with the moultrie cam, and having issues...send it back.

The difference between the Game Watcher and Game Spy is huge. The Game Watcher is a Wal-Mart exclusive...they use cheaper parts to knock down the cost. It has been a well-documented problem. The Game Spy is the non-wal-mart version and is made with better parts.

However, that said, both have serious problems. The watcher is known to eat batteries like the cookie monster does cookies.

The spy has a myriad of issues, especially older ones. There are firmware (or software...I'm not sure which) versions on the earlier cameras. They have a ton of problems. Now the newspy 100 and 200 are so-called "no-version" cameras, with better performance. Moultire is well aware of the problems. If you have one that isn't working, call in and talk to Deb or I believe it is Ken/Keith. Tell them you want to send the camera to get fixed. They are really good about it. Many people end up getting an upgrade, or a free battery to cover the shipping issue.

For a detailed look at the Moultrie issue, I found the www.chasingame.com forum to have it nailed.

Phade

Does your camera have only an on-off switch for the flash?

The locked SD issue most likely was related to a format problem. How'd you clear the pics just prior to putting that card in? There are two or three different formats, and if you somehow had it in the wrong format, it won't work.

If anything positive can be said about the moultrie's...it's that they take the weather really well. There is a well-documented case of a cam set up next to a creek that flooded this summer, where it was completely submerged by 3-4 feet (already 3 feet off the ground...that's a flood!). The owner couldn't get to it in time, and when he got it after the water receded...it was bone dry, and still worked.

Call in to Moultrie, and speak with Deb, tell her your issue and they'll most likely want you to send it in for repair. Hopefully you'll get an upgrade, or a free battery out of it.

Phade

Call, and send it in. The moultrie battery is pretty cheap ($8 on Ebay, and the chargers {solar and regular} are very cheap there as well). It works pretty good. I've seen the new moultries get two-six weeks on the moultrie battery/solar charger use with 100-250 photos taken in that time. But that is the new game spy. If you have an old spy, or the watcher...it'll eat batteries....like I said call it in.

Phade

Ebay sellers have the GS 200 (the 3.1 mp) with moultrie battery/charger/solar charger for $168. Total $177 with shipping. I usually buy from that group (bigbearoutdoors is the seller I believe).

Also, please understand that this camera is A TERRIBLE TRAIL CAMERA. It really is designed with a feeder in mind. If you must use it for trails, aim the camera as far down-trail as humanly possible. This camera has the "sureshot" feature, which is a battery-saving design, and to ensure the animals are in the pic.

Essentially, the camera goes to sleep after activation by the user. Once an animal comes in range it wakes up the camfor two minutes or so. Then, and only then if the sensor still picks up an animal, will the camera take a picture. In theory, if two deer are walking down a trail, the first will light up the camera's sensor, walk out of pic area, and the second will be triggered. Sometimes you may get the rear of one animal in the front, and the front end of a trailing animal.

This camera is terrible for finding bucks who may be solo on a trail. If they are even walking at a very slow pace, the camera will not take it's picture. The buck will "wake up" the camera and trigger the sensor, but by the time it moves forward and the camera "senses" again to take a pic, the buck will already be gone, therefore the camera does not take a pic.

This can be verified by human test if you so desire. It is possible to have 100 solo deer walk past the camera on a trail, and only get a handful on memory. Keep in mind this is not so-called "trigger speed", it is an all-together different function of the camera, where it has to sense an image twice before taking the picture.

If you want a straight up TRAIL digital camera, go with the Stealth wd2 or wd3, or the bushnell 119200 (which on a price comparison is great at $119 shipped at opticsplanet).

The bushnell (make sure model 119200) has a 1/4-1/2 sec trigger time. The flash is not as strong, and the fixed timeout is at 30 seconds (other units are programmable)...however it takes good pics, and is the straight up winner for a trail-specific game camera...good pics, decent battery life, and great trigger speed to ensure you get the animal on memory. It is not great for a feeder, due to the 30 sec fixed timeout (you'd fill a memory card up very fast with pics every 30 seconds as opposed to being able to program a longer timeout like the stealth or moultrie units).

I do not believe the watchers have this feature, and older spy's as well.

Sedge1

I appreciate your reply, Phade, but these are the first problems that I have had with the camera and it is over a year old. For what I use it for, it is worth paying only $100.00, I was just wanting to see if someone had figured out somethng about it. I have my Game Watcher 2.1 on the same tree as the 1.3 was and just this weekend I got 221 photos of bucks getting ready to shed velvet and fawn losing their spots. I use it as a teaching tool for my daughter who wants to take her first deer this year,and this allows her to see deer in different seasons and situations, so all in all I'm not totally dissatified with the camera. For a camera in this price range it is easy to use without reading the manual, it uses SD cards which are relatively cheap compared to other media and it takes (when it does) very good pictures. And about the flash problem, I clean the photo cell and IR dectoctor and my 1.3 seems to working fine again. Thanks for the input.

Phade

Whatever.