ScoutGuard SG550 trail camera

[whiskey]

I bought a ScoutGuard SG550 tail camera based on info from Robtatto on an older thread. THANKS ROB!

I got the camera in last week and played around with it in the office a little. It takes great pics both day and night. I put the camera up on a feeder last Thursday. I will check it next Wednesday and post some of my pics.

The interface on this camera was simple. I used the included manual to walk through the set up and it took less than 5 minutes to master.

The one thing that is missing for me is the lack of a laser aim feature. Easy to overcome by taking a SD card viewer to the woods with you and checking the test pics, but it would be a nice add on.

For less than 160.00 I am completely happy, with or without a laser.

I spent a couple of years looking at game cameras, asking opinions & reading reviews before I bought one. The problem you have is that unless you're prepared to spend a LOT of cash, they're all a bit of a compromise.

You either get good shutter speed, but crap battery life; Good battery life but poor picture quality; good picture quality but no IR...the list goes on.

After a lot of research I figured out 2 things;

1, If you just want a camera to put up for a week before deer season, there is no need to spend more than $70. The Bushnell 'cheapy' cameras that Wally's sell are really good to leave out for a week. After that the batteries will be dead & you'll end up spending so much to replace them regularly, that you could've used the money to buy a better camera....&

2, The only camera under $300 that gives a good mix of battery life, shutter speed, portability, IR, memory capability, day/night compatability & photo quality is the Scoutguard SG550.

These cameras are manufactured in China & sold under a few different names (Wolf Guard, Scout Guard, Keep Guard etc...) and usually retail from around $120 to $170. I found a supplier on EBay that sells them for £129 with free shipping.

Rather than using D cell batteries they use 8 AA batteries & a set of 8 will last a full year! They're small enough to fit in a thigh pocket, weigh virtually nothing, are very discreet, have inbuilt IR & the shutter time, wake-up speed & photo quality are inline with cameras costing 5 or 6 times as much. I was clued in to these cameras by a couple of guys I hunt with (Gene & Barry Wensel) If you know anything about trophy Whitetail hunting, you'll know exactly who these guys are! They generally leave 50 or 60 cameras out, year round & have tried almost everything on the market. They get their cameras on approval for testing from a lot of manufacturers at huge discounts, but when it coms to outfitting temselves, these are what they use.

I bought 3 last year, all of which have been strapped to trees ever since. All 3 are on their originl batteries & I've downloaded over 3000 pictures from each one. The battery indicators still haven't dropped below 25%!

I can honestly recommend these cameras without a second thought. I know they're a little more than your original idea, but they really are worth the extra.

What you're looking for is this.......

[ShaunM]

Post the pics when you get them, would love to see how well it does.

[kb4ns]

I bought a ScoutGuard SG550 tail camera...

Well now, that seems odd. Do they make a model that'll capture the image of a whole deer?

Post the pics when you get them, would love to see how well it does.

+1

[Guest TnRebel]

[whiskey]

I know... I feel bad for slacking.

On my first set-up I had the camera too far from the feeder and didn't get any pictures but the ones of me leaving and coming back. I moved the camera and got some turkey photos but no deer on the second set up. I have moved it to another feed and turned the sensitivity to HIGH. I will check it Friday.

The good news is that the day time photos that I do have are good clear photos.

[whiskey]

I forgot I downloaded these first pictures. I had the camera set to 3mp, and to take 2 pictures, back to back, every minute.

[whiskey]

Got over 250 pics this week since adjusting the settings to HIGH sensitivity and moving to another feeder. Here are some samples. The nice part was that I did not get a lot of pictures of nothing like I did with my old Remington camera.

Oh yeah, there were a couple of these two. I was hoping they wouldn't find it.

Edited September 20, 2010 by whiskey
just to copy text and code

[whiskey]

I need to add that this feeder is on a part of the property will not be hunted until the youth hunt at the end of October. Didn't want anyone scolding me for leaving my feeder out when bow season starts in less than 10 days.

[DaveS]

Looking good JW!