Milo
Tatonka guide.
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im betting that they changed parts suppliers to cheapen the product up because the big retailers tell you what they are going to pay for your product, not the other way around.
New Trail Camera Company Coming.....
- Thread starter Big_Holla
- Start date
I had four Spypoints at one point. I have none in the field now. The blank pics was overwhelming. I didn't think the picture quality was great either. It was "okay" to get an idea of the frame of the rack, but you couldn't always tell a ton of detail.
I have a love/hate relationship with my Bushnell Trophy Cams. At one point a buddy and I had around 8-10 total. It was a good thing too because there were always 2-4 of them in transit for repair or replacement. The last couple batches have been better, but I am knocking on wood. Two of them just hit the woods this spring. In fact, I have only pulled the one card so far.
Last year I tried the Browning cameras. Two of the Recon Force and two of the Strike Force. I returned the Strike Force. One had a clip break the first time I opened it to check the card. The Strike Force is their "micro" cam and securing to a tree is a pain. You need two locks. I returned the Strike Force for two of the newer Trophy Cams.
I post this simply to reinforce what the others have said. I will be watching this thread periodically and I look forward to reviews. Another sub $160 camera on the market with good battery life, decent pictures, and few blank pics would be nice.
I have a love/hate relationship with my Bushnell Trophy Cams. At one point a buddy and I had around 8-10 total. It was a good thing too because there were always 2-4 of them in transit for repair or replacement. The last couple batches have been better, but I am knocking on wood. Two of them just hit the woods this spring. In fact, I have only pulled the one card so far.
Last year I tried the Browning cameras. Two of the Recon Force and two of the Strike Force. I returned the Strike Force. One had a clip break the first time I opened it to check the card. The Strike Force is their "micro" cam and securing to a tree is a pain. You need two locks. I returned the Strike Force for two of the newer Trophy Cams.
I post this simply to reinforce what the others have said. I will be watching this thread periodically and I look forward to reviews. Another sub $160 camera on the market with good battery life, decent pictures, and few blank pics would be nice.
rsmith
Member
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Love the look and color of the cameras! I never understood why some companies make there cams black?? Thing sticks out like a orange bucket in the woods in a tree in the middle of January. I am also pulling for you guys, I would love to support a local growing company, only problem is that $225 is a little steep for me being a full time college student. I'm with hickslawn on possibly making a under $160 camera. I can understand having to have higher prices due to the best warranty I have ever hear of from a trail camera, but maybe do it where you can purchase the warranty for X amount of money. Would love to see a couple up and running though because I am in need of 2 more camera and I may hold off to save up a couple extra bucks to support the cause. Good luck!
Jack, perhaps we could talk about offering some kind of a discount rate for T.O.O. members? We can certainly talk about that more.
I have heard similar things about manufacturers "selling out" so to speak when they go to big retail... I guess it's a part of the world we live in. To us, we really believe that making some kind of modest living selling directly to the consumer online and staying at the control of how our cameras are distributed, is more appealing than selling 100,000+ cameras a year for pennies on the dollar and having to continually invent ways to lower cost. Sleeping peacefully at night will always be priority number one, and to me that comes harder when you have to worry about a giant number of cameras being "duds", causing a big return rate and suddenly you lose everything. We want to be big enough that we can continue to pay the bills, but small enough that we can still test every camera that comes through our door. You lose a big part of that connection with your products when you bring the big guys in. The only way we'd ever go big retail is if we they'd be willing to cater to our needs and allow us to stay in touch with our core values. I think that'll be hard for them to do and see the kind of money they like to make.
Here is another sneak peak from production for those interested:
Spencie, we are talking about offering a flash alternative for our cameras. It would take a different firmware also so it will likely be next year if we get enough demand for them. I'm guessing that your browning camera's "no-blur technology" is probably just a fancy way of saying that it has a fast shutter speed (not to be confused with trigger speed) which is the end all be all decider on motion blur. We're actually making our shutter speed twice as fast for final production, putting it somewhere around 1/50th of a second for night time photos.
I think browning makes the best camera under $150 from what I've seen.
Thanks for the feedback guys! Honestly, we'd love to offer a cam at $150... but it'd be really hard to do it with components built to last. If we ever offer a camera under $200 it won't be by much. Who knows maybe some day in the future we can release a sister company kind of like Mathews and Mission that could focus on that price range.
Milo
Tatonka guide.
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Matt a big thin ya'll need to do as business model is stay in your price groups. The old expression of don't let the knuckle draggers drag you down to their level because they will beat you with experience. Know your market group and research the hell out of them. I have no issues with the price your asking for what I get as a consumer. I think it can and will make a reconyx customer look twice at you guys. It's just got to meet your clients expectation. The big boys know who buys their cams and they don't worry about those that don't.
Great points. I say sub $160 because I run a decent amount of cameras. When one comes up missing, or full of ants, or quits after 2yrs. . . it stings. I have yet to spend over $200 on a camera for this reason. Would a $300-500 camera last longer? I don't know. I do know it would be difficult to run 4-6-8 cameras if they were all $300-500. I would be lucky to run more than 2 in this range. That is just me. There are plenty of guys happy running 1-4 cameras and spending good money on quality cameras. I simply try to compromise and find the most camera I can get for my price point. If you aren't looking at mega numbers of production to satisfy the big box stores, I am sure you guys can carve out a nice sector of the market for yourselves with quality cameras in your price range.
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Amen. I would rather buy one 250 dollar cam every 5 years than a 150 dollar one every 2 years.
Couldn't agree more! Once you start getting close to the $300 range then you're cutting me off though. Reading through all the comments about SpyPoints I guess I am glad I never jumped on that wagon. Just never liked the looks of the daytime or especially the night time pics of them to pull the trigger. The new cameras these days have no excuses to not put out great pictures day or night.
Really like the looks of the new camera housing Matt. Knowing that it's made out of aluminum alloy sure gives the impression of a more secure and hopefully reliable camera. I like the fact that you've enclosed the upper portion where all the electronics are to eliminate water problems that many other cameras have. Had my first camera fry a couple weeks ago because the seal going around the camera had leaked, batteries were dead and corroded and when I cleaned it up and put fresh batteries in it immediately started smoking!! Had this particular camera for 2 years now so it's out of warranty and it was a replacement for the first one that had a latch break and water inside it too after a couple months.......
Hey BH, just want to make sure you know that the Lift is actually a rigid plastic base with aluminum alloy bracing/support, it also is topped with a rubber coating like you'd find on a nice pair of Binos. We are working on an entirely magnesium alloy base shell for our higher end cameras.
Milo makes a great point! Unfortunately we can't cover all ends of the market and we think we've found a good balance for the level of quality we're offering and price. I personally would not typically buy a camera over $300, so we wanted to stay as affordable as possible without sacrificing quality.
Really appreciate all the feedback and support!
Pre-Orders began Saturday. Not sure if they still have the special going but they were offering the cameras at $159 during the pre-orders. I know it was for a limited time but not sure how long. I ordered one.
Man I wanted to get in on that when I got the email, just can't afford it right now though.
http://www.exodusoutdoorgear.com/
http://shopexodus-com.3dcartstores.com/
http://www.exodusoutdoorgear.com/
http://shopexodus-com.3dcartstores.com/
Spencie
Senior Member
I got mine ordered. Looking forward to seeing what it can do.
Matt, How are you going to police the theft guarantee? Are there stipulations...like it must be locked? Just curious because there are a lot of sketchy people out there. Seems to me that it would be more cost effective to put a tracking chip in the camera rather than a 50% coverage.
Matt, How are you going to police the theft guarantee? Are there stipulations...like it must be locked? Just curious because there are a lot of sketchy people out there. Seems to me that it would be more cost effective to put a tracking chip in the camera rather than a 50% coverage.
I ordered one too. I was wondering about the theft guarantee also. Hopefully it's on the honor system and not a police report that would be impossible to get.
Wonder if there will be a extra TOO forum discount over and above the general public?
Spencie
Senior Member
I doubt the honor system is the way to go. Too many bad guys out there looking for freebies. Most of the trash won't go near law enforcement so I'm guessing a police report will be needed for the 50% deal.
Hey again guys, sorry for the time between posts. We've been sleeping very little lately haha.
No police report necessary for theft, here is how it works:
-You get a registration card in your camera that must be activated within 30 days of purchase.
-If your camera is stolen, you call us up and tell us what happened.
-We identify the serial number based on the date of purchase, then we tag that number as stolen.
-You get a 50% off discount code (+$10 S&H) valid for 30 days.
-Your new camera gets the balance of the time on your original warranty.
-If someone ever calls back in about the original camera, we notify you.
That's it, we wanted to keep it simple instead of making an even bigger headache out of getting a camera stolen. There is only one replacement per purchase.
Hope that helps guys, big thanks to all who pre-ordered!
-Matt