2007 News and Updates
 
09-29-2007 Moultrie whiteout firmware upgrade M and I series:  This past year we have seen where companies have outsourced their production overseas are starting to see problems arise. The pre production units seem to work just fine but when the post production units start to hit the market there seems to be a margin of difficulties in function that the users are finding. We do not know that this is the case with the new I and M series Moultrie’s but it is suspected. When these cameras hit the market they seemed to be exactly what many folks were wanting. We really liked all models and still do but now that we have gotten deep into the testing we see that the original problems dealing with the whiteout issue has mushroomed into a new set of difficulties with these cameras. Most folks felt that it was more of a hardware issue dealing with the light sensor than a software issue. This may be true but Moultrie has attempted to correct this through a firmware upgrade. We have seen a degree of improvement with the I series but no change with the M series.  We cannot exactly duplicate the light conditions of the pre download, but we can get close. With the I series we see a definite improvement in amount of whiteout, but in this process this firmware update has created another problem. This problem is the lack of color pictures during good light conditions. It takes some pretty strong sunlight before this camera will switch to color. On an average we are seeing color pictures between 11 AM and 4 PM. During this period we see that the cameras will sometimes switch back and forth between monochrome and color. We have seen some reports that some folks feel that the picture quality has also been degraded somewhat. With our cameras we cannot state this because of the varying light conditions on the pre and post pictures. Moultrie engineers have done lots of work creating this download but we feel that it is still lacking and still has to be tweaked. The M series is a total disappointment and just has not been fixed. We are still getting more than 50% whiteout pictures. On one of our M-40’s it seemed to get worse after the download. What it has come down to is that both the I and M series cameras must be taken out from under the forest canopy and put in the bright sun in order to work properly. Reports that the trigger time was also affected has not been proven in our tests. We hope that Moultrie takes notice and does a little more work on these great cameras.
 
A Word about Moultrie Customer Service


09/22/2007:

This past month there were some forum talks concerning how Moultrie customer service interacts with their customers. It was said that when the folks at Chasingame used their service that there might be some preferential treatment. We explained that we just slip a cam into the system just like everyone else has to. If you review the write up on the M-60 Moultrie camera you will see where we found that this camera had a problem with its ability to properly sense. We continued the review to the point where the cam could be pulled and shipped in for a company evaluation of the problem. This was done without any mention that this was one of the Chasingame cameras. I was totally amazed that the same camera was returned in two days without any paperwork and it appeared that no work had been done on the camera. When the camera was sent in there was a letter in the box that stated that the camera only had a sensing issue. After examining this returned camera I called customer service (again anonymous) to inquire why the camera had been returned so quickly and appeared not to be repaired. After a fashion the paperwork was located and the explanation was that it was taken in and upgraded for whiteout and even though the paperwork stated the sensing issue. This was early in the game and we wanted to just see how good the whiteout upgrade was. I made a special trip to deliver the cam to the testing area to evaluate the software upgrade. Well, the cam did not work. It was discovered that in their processing of this camera they failed to read the letter and then they proceeded to load the I-60 whiteout software onto our M-60. Again the camera was sent back to Moultrie. By this time they knew that it was one of our cameras. They received the camera back on the 28th of August. I received the replacement camera back on the 21st of September. The paper work that accompanied the camera had a note written across it stating whiteout software is not available for this model. This was not true and this made me wonder just why such a statement would be entered on the invoice. This was in no way a problem for us because again this is an area we really wanted to get into and evaluate. This could only be done on a camera that has the whiteout issue. Believe me, this camera does have that issue. Upon further examination of this invoice there is notes stating that “no customer service employees of Moultrie are allowed to talk to this customer”. We are only allowed to talk to a couple of the management folks. Now that we have been found out and put on their no call list, it forces us to get sneaky and instead of being out front the way we have always been. When we do future evaluations of their customer service operations (which is a big part of what we do) we will just select one of our employees or friends to perform what we used to do in an honest and out front method. Moultrie customer service is still one of the best out there. When have found a condition, we have always reported it to the company management first and if no action is instituted then we report it on the site. Knowing about how good the support is on a product is of great importance to those folks that are sticking their hard earned money out there for a somewhat expensive item. We go to great lengths to insure that all data published is correct and accurate. We have no vendetta against anyone and reputations are earned by doing right by their customers not through secrecy.

 
 
Lets Go Moultrie Hunting (security Issue with remote control)

08/29/2007:

While I was doing research on one of the I 60 cameras and going through the menu options to get to the remote feature which I was going to do some extended testing as to remote distance triggering tests. I set the cam to accept the remote signal and was going to do some in house testing to insure the feature was working prior to going to the field to measure the remotes limitations as far as distance from the cam and still trigger the cam. The in house test worked great and the cam would trigger every time I hit the capture button. I started out the door and remembered that

I had left the remote on the bench. I went back inside and picked up the remote and noticed that it was marked M-60 and not I 60 which I was testing. I thought this to be very strange that just any old remote from anyone’s 60 series cam could trigger my cam. In other words if I had my M-60 cams deployed with the remote feature turned on and anyone having a 60 series remote and was in range they could cause my cams to trigger and flash thus giving away their hiding place. This might be interpreted as being a sight security risk. For those who place their cams in an area that is somewhat risky it might be a good idea not to try to use the remote feature on the 60 series cams unless it is when you are present and want to fire the cam from your stand. The distance limitation tests have now been put on hold and all remote features on all cams have been turned off. This also saves on battery life. I do not hear any bells ringing or whistles blowing with this feature.    


 
2007 Moultrie I-40 and I-60 - Firmware release planned for mid August.

07/09/2007:
 Moultrie is working on a firmware update for the I-40 and I-60 that is expected to be released within 30 days.  This will hopefully remedy a few issues with overexposures at certain times of the day on these two models.

09/19/2007:  The firmware release is now online at Moultrie:
camera-software-updates.html
 
Moultrie Cameras potential leak issue: I-40 & I-60

06/11/2007: 
A Word of caution to those new owners of the I-60 and I-40 and future owners of the M series. The strap loop on the right rear of the camera is positioned at the center of the 2 screws that hold the battery cover on. If mounted on a small tree where there is no support in this area and you tighten the strap too tight, you will see that the front of the battery cover lid will start to pull away and leave an opening that could cause a water leak. Do not over tighten the strap when mounting these cameras.

 
A NOTE ABOUT IR CAMERAS AND TRIGGER TIME

06/12/2007:
I spent about 6 hours scanning the multitude of outdoor forums and looking for feed back on the new cams that are making there way onto the market and are presently arriving at different locations throughout the US. It seems that the bulk of talk is directed toward the new IR Moultrie cameras and the old hard core folks still want to compare them to the Cudde IR camera and push the fable that “I’d buy one of those if it was as fast as the Cudde on trigger speed. Well a quick scan of a lot of reviews showed that most IR cameras tested to date equaled the 3 second trigger time of the Cudde IR and in most cases beat it buy at least one second. The Leaf River, Bushnell, Stealth, Buckeye, Reconyx, new IR Moultrie’s, all have better trigger times. The fact is that the trail camera industry has stepped up to the plate and hit a home run on bettering trigger their times. Non Typical still leads in some areas but they are certainly not the benchmark in today’s market. If I can pay less than $200.00 and get equivalent performance or better and be supported by a company that is renowned for customer service, I think that is the route I would take. Non Typical has made great strides since the introduction of their 06 units and have improved the performance in some cases but all that technology is still stuck in that same case. The Leaf river crowd also was in there strong and rightfully so, because we truly love that camera. It looks like this is going to be a very interesting year, especially with the Wildview folks sneaking in something new out there. We are still waiting for Recon to give us the surprise that was mentioned last year but as of yet has not happened. As I said “It is going to be an interesting year”. Bill