iamthenick
FNG
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2023
- Messages
- 80
How much do these things cost? And how much each month?
Very reasonable compared to fuel!How much do these things cost? And how much each month?
you're right, totally confusingSo 4 cameras is $22 a month? It says each camera requires a plan, is that $22 each? Kinda hard to understand.
Hey, thanks for chiming in. I was getting ready to update this thread anyways. On what I wrote about the batteries being at 100%, turns out it’s not true.Sounds like battery life is great. Robby, do you have rechargeable AAs with a solar panel connected, or just AAs without a solar panel? It's hard to imagine how they could take and send 1,000 pics and still be at 100% battery without recharging.
Another question... They have a 3.4W and 10W solar power packs available. Those are solar panels with built-in batteries. If you have one of those, do you still need rechargeable batteries in the camera, or will it run off the solar power pack battery alone?
OK, great, sounds like you're taken care of.I called Moultrie and asked. The solar power packs can run the camera without any batteries in the camera. But you can put 8 or 16 batteries in the camera as a backup, in case you had a couple weeks of cloudy weather or something and the solar pack got drained.
I was trying to decide between the Edge 2 and the Edge 2 Pro. The Pro has slightly better, though likely imperceptible, picture/video quality. It has Live Aim, which would be cool, but only when you're setting the camera up, and GPS location ability. If I were hunting public land and/or moving cameras around fairly often, then I'd probably want the Pro. For my purposes, hunting private land and not moving cameras very often, the Edge 2 is all I need. It's only a $40 difference, so there's no real wrong answer I guess. But I need 6 of them, so $40 each starts to add up. I bought the 4 that my local Academy had this morning, and I have them all set up already and getting pics of deer. I may buy a Pro or two to finish up what I need, just so I can compare first hand.
So far I'm happy with the cameras. The app is cool. I have my cameras shared with my son and my buddy that hunts with us, and it's working for them as well.
got this email this morning on some of the battery options.I called Moultrie and asked. The solar power packs can run the camera without any batteries in the camera. But you can put 8 or 16 batteries in the camera as a backup, in case you had a couple weeks of cloudy weather or something and the solar pack got drained.
I was trying to decide between the Edge 2 and the Edge 2 Pro. The Pro has slightly better, though likely imperceptible, picture/video quality. It has Live Aim, which would be cool, but only when you're setting the camera up, and GPS location ability. If I were hunting public land and/or moving cameras around fairly often, then I'd probably want the Pro. For my purposes, hunting private land and not moving cameras very often, the Edge 2 is all I need. It's only a $40 difference, so there's no real wrong answer I guess. But I need 6 of them, so $40 each starts to add up. I bought the 4 that my local Academy had this morning, and I have them all set up already and getting pics of deer. I may buy a Pro or two to finish up what I need, just so I can compare first hand.
So far I'm happy with the cameras. The app is cool. I have my cameras shared with my son and my buddy that hunts with us, and it's working for them as well.
well this is good to know. I have 2 Moultrie cameras out now(an Edge and an Edge 2). Both are within 1/2 mile of each other at same elevation on the side of a mountain near an AT&T cell tower. One says great connection, one says weak connection. The one w the great connection has standard batteries and is at 75% battery life after just 2.5 weeks. The one w weak connection has lithium batteries and still says 100% battery life on the app. I know from experience with another Edge that weak signal means it uses more batteries to try to connect and upload photos and fails faster. I've had one burn through 16 batteries in a week with a weak connection. My first Edge lasted less than a year. The Edge with lithium batteries also only takes about 1 pic every 5-10 minute when on high sensitivity and 30 second delay. I've had people walking around in front of it for a couple of minutes w no pics. Had 3 bears eating bait and walking around for a couple of hours and got only a few pics. It does good at taking pics of flying crows for some reason. Can't say I'd go with Moultrie if I had to do it over.Hey, thanks for chiming in. I was getting ready to update this thread anyways. On what I wrote about the batteries being at 100%, turns out it’s not true.
One of those cameras that was showing 100% running lithium, recently failed even when it was showing 100%
I got a hold of customer service and they clarified that with lithium batteries you cannot trust the read out on the app!!! that would’ve been nice to know.
I’m not too upset because that camera that failed went nine months with six of those over the winter and subfreezing and even subzero temperatures.
On the accessories you’re asking about I’m not using any of those just straight lithium or alkaline. I have used solar panels on other camera brands in the past and on two different cameras on two different occasions they got unplugged, (squirrels, moose), so I don’t like having wires exposed.
on your other questions I need to email Marc at Moultrie and see what he says. Do you mind hitting me with a PM with your email address with your questions?
I could reach out to him early next week
Do you use the schedule settings? Or 24/7? My experience has not been yours and a few times it turned out to be I was expecting images but was outside of schedulewell this is good to know. I have 2 Moultrie cameras out now(an Edge and an Edge 2). Both are within 1/2 mile of each other at same elevation on the side of a mountain near an AT&T cell tower. One says great connection, one says weak connection. The one w the great connection has standard batteries and is at 75% battery life after just 2.5 weeks. The one w weak connection has lithium batteries and still says 100% battery life on the app. I know from experience with another Edge that weak signal means it uses more batteries to try to connect and upload photos and fails faster. I've had one burn through 16 batteries in a week with a weak connection. My first Edge lasted less than a year. The Edge with lithium batteries also only takes about 1 pic every 5-10 minute when on high sensitivity and 30 second delay. I've had people walking around in front of it for a couple of minutes w no pics. Had 3 bears eating bait and walking around for a couple of hours and got only a few pics. It does good at taking pics of flying crows for some reason. Can't say I'd go with Moultrie if I had to do it over.
Hey, thanks for chiming in.I've had 4 of these running for the last couple of weeks with 16 AAs in each. Battery life is terrible. A couple of them have run down in a week. The others are almost empty after 2 weeks. I have them set for immediate upload. The cameras disconnect from the cellular network after each pic sends, and then they reconnect to send the next pic. That is a huge waste of time and power. They should just stay connected when wet on immediate upload. I get dozens to a couple hundred pics per day (30 second intervals). I bought the 3.4v solar panels that I'll hook up in a day or two whenever I get to go to the ranch again next. That should solve the problem.
Other than that, they've been great cameras so far. Well, with one other exception..... When triggering the camera to take a photo on demand, it doesn't send the photo instantly. It should. But you have to wait until it gets around to checking in again, and there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to when that happens.
Covert that I've been running for the last few years has them beat on the instant photo and battery life - by far. But Covert dependability is out the window the last couple of years. 5 years ago they were great. They're not even worth messing with now though.
Thanks for posting, I'll make sure they see your post.One more thing I can add after running these for the last month. Do NOT buy the Moultrie 3.4v solar panels. These things are absolute trash. I needed 6. So far, I've bought 10 and returned 4, and one of the remaining 6 just quit working. 3 of them didn't work right out of the box. I expect the rest of them to stop charging tomorrow. Complete trash.
I have a couple HME12v battery box/solar panel units that I'm going to hook up next. These should work, hopefully. If so, I'll replace all the Moultrie solar panels with these, hopefully before they all stop working too.
Moultrie should be ashamed of themselves for selling these 3.4v solar panels. Can you tell how I feel about them?(hint: they're trash)
They should also be ashamed of their power management in the Edge and Edge 2 cameras on instant send setting. They really need to fix the problem that's caused by the cameras disconnecting from the cell network after sending each pic and then reconnecting to send the next one.
When the cameras have power, they work great. Pics are good, and the app is nice. Customer service is good. But power management needs work, and the solar panels all need to be dumped in a big hole and burned until they're unrecognizable.![]()
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