First Time Trailcam Buyers Guide

If you have been shopping our Trail cameras for sale, you know shopping for a trail camera the first time can be overwhelming.  This Trail Camera Buyers Guide gives you the basics of what game cameras do and how they do it.

How Do Trail Cameras Work?

  1. Detection Circuit: How well does a game camera detect activity?
  2. Batteries: How long is the battery life?
  3. Infrared Emitters:  Is it red glow infrared flash or is it an undetectable "No Glow" version?.  How bright are the night pictures?
  4. Picture Quality: View sample photos from all the popular camera traps.
  5. Setup & Viewing Screen: How easy is the camera to program and does it have an internal viewing screen.

Trail Camera Picture Quality

Don't be fooled by high megapixel counts. Companies will trick you by advertising a camera with a high mpxl. In reality, they use a low-quality lens which reduces the quality of the picture.

The best way to judge the picture quality from a camera is to look at the sample photos from our game camera gallery. We judge day pictures by their clarity, color, contrast, and resolution.

Different flash types affect night pictures (No glow infrared, red glow infrared, white flash).  Infrared cameras produce black and white photos like the picture on the left, while white flash cameras produce color night pictures.

 

Trail Camera Detection Circuits

The detection circuit of a trail camera is what actually detects the animal.  Trail cameras trigger based on a combination of heat and motion.  We judge detection circuits based on:

  • Trigger Time

  • Recovery Time

  • Detection Zone

Trigger & Recovery Time

Trigger time/speed is the amount of time elapsed from when a camera first senses motion until it captures a photo of whatever caused said motion.  Recovery is how quickly a camera can store the first picture and be ready for a second photo. 


Detection Zones

The Detection Zone is the area in which a camera is able to sense motion and trigger a photo  The two factors which determine the detection zone are Detection Width and Detection Range.  

     

 Trail Camera Battery Life

We test the battery life for each camera to determine how long the camera will last in the field.  Cameras with long battery life will save you money over the life of the camera.