Bushnell recommends 8 Energizer Lithium AA batteries in all Trophy Cams.

Bushnell recommends San Disk Brand SD Cards.





Battery life short

1. Expected battery life depends on temperature and number of images. Bushnell expects the camera to take several thousand images before the batteries would die.

2. Check to make sure you have used new alkaline or lithium batteries. Bushnell recommends 8 Energizer Lithium AA batteries in all Trophy Cams.

3. Make sure that the power switch is turned to the “On” position and that the camera was not left in “Setup” mode while in the field.

4. Make sure that you are using a good quality SD card in your camera. Bushnell recommends San Disk Brand SD Cards. Unfortunately, poor quality SD cards can make your camera have a much shorter battery life.



Camera stops taking images or won’t take images

1. Please make sure that the SD card is not full. If the card is full, the camera will stop taking images.

2. Check batteries to make sure that they are new alkaline or lithium AA batteries. See note about short battery life.

3. Make sure that the camera power switch is in the “On” position and not in the “Off” or “Setup” modes.

4. Make sure that you are using a good quality SD card in your camera. Bushnell recommends San Disk Brand SD Cards.



Camera won’t power up

1. Make sure that you have installed at least 4 batteries in the battery compartment all stacked together at the top of the compartment.

a. Bushnell recommends 8 Energizer Lithium AA batteries in all Trophy Cams.

2. Make sure that the batteries are installed correctly. See manual.

3. When moving the switch from “Off” to “Setup” or “On”, the user should make sure that the switch stops in a positive position to ensure the proper mode.

4. When moving the switch from “On” to “Setup”, the user should first move the switch directly to “Off” before moving to “Setup”.



Image/Video Dissatisfaction

1. Night images or video appear dark

a. Check to see if battery power is full. Camera will stop flashing near end of battery life.

b. Make sure that the camera is aimed at your intended target area within 45’ (14m) of the camera.

c. Please note that in the multi shot mode, some images may appear darker than others due to the quick response and reshooting of the camera.

2. Daytime images or video appear dark

a. Make sure that the camera is not aimed at the sun or other light sources during the day.

3. Night images or video appear bright

a. Make sure that the camera is aimed at your intended target area within 45’ (14m) of the camera.

b. In cases where the subject is closer than 10’ (3m) of the camera, some images may appear too bright.

4. Daytime images or video appear bright

a. Make sure that the camera is not aimed at the sun or other light sources during the day.

5. Red/Green Images

a. Under certain lighting conditions, the sensor can become confused resulting in poor color images.

b. If this is seen on a consistent basis, then the sensor may need servicing. Please contact our customer service.

6. Short Video Clips—not recording to the length set

a. Check to make sure that the SD card is not full.

b. Make sure that the camera has good batteries in it. Near the end of the battery life, the camera may choose to record shorter video clips to conserve power.



Date/Time Stamp not appearing on images

1. Make sure that the “Time Stamp” setting is set to “On”.



Camera is taking images without subject in the field of view

1. Check the PIR Sensitivity Level Setting. For warm temperature use, set the sensor to “High” and for cold weather use, set the sensor for “Low”.

2. Try to set your camera up in an area where there is not a heat source in the camera’s line of sight.

3. In some cases, setting a camera near water will make the camera take images with no subject in them. Try aiming the camera over ground.

4. Try to avoid setting the camera up on small trees that are prone to being moved by strong winds.

5. Remove any limbs right in front of the camera lens.



PIR Sensor LED Use

1. When the camera is in the “Setup” mode, a special LED on the front of the camera will flash when it senses motion. This is for setup purposes only and will help the user aim the camera.

2. During use, the LED will not flash when the camera takes an image. This is to help keep the camera hidden from game.



LCD Screen Issues

1. LCD screen powers on but no text is present.

a. When moving the switch from “Off” to “Setup” or “On”, the user should make sure that the switch stops in a positive position to ensure the proper mode.

b. When moving the switch from “On” to “Setup”, the user should first move the switch directly to “Off” before moving to “Setup”.

2. LCD screen shows a faint black line after turning from “Setup” to “On”.

a. The LCD will turn off when you slide the switch to the “On” position. In some cases, this black line will appear and will fade in about 1 second. This is normal and the camera will function properly.

5. Screen will come on and power off

a. Make sure that you have installed the SD card correctly.



Camera won’t retain settings

1. Make sure that you have saved the changes that you make during the menu setup of the camera.

2. If you don’t select and save these settings, the camera will revert back to the default settings.

_________________
Thanks,
Anthony
Trail Camera Review: http://www.chasingame.com
Our store front: http://shop.chasingame.com
Scouting Assistant Software: http://www.scoutingassistant.com

Disclaimer: For those who do not understand any of my posts, I have good intentions so plz do not take it the wrong way. If in doubt, just pm me. Seems I am considered "unpolished" when it comes to "talking nice & politely"

Anthony,

On line you can see scandisc has regular, ultra 2 and ultra 3 - 2 gig cards.

When they say good quality cards, are they impling the ultra models?

HOC

_________________
(1) 06 Cudde No Flash red
(1) 09 Bushnell Trophy Cam red
(1) 08 WGI S-1.3 white
(2) 10-11 Uway NT 50 B -Invisible Flash BF
(1) 11Truth 60 Black Out BF
(1) 11-M80 red
(1) 12-M80 BLX BF
(1) 12-Primos BlackOut CR BF
(1) 12 WGI Red 4 4NE
990I

No, they should say what you called "regular". I think the highspeed will create issues too.

_________________
Thanks,
Anthony
Trail Camera Review: http://www.chasingame.com
Our store front: http://shop.chasingame.com
Scouting Assistant Software: http://www.scoutingassistant.com

Disclaimer: For those who do not understand any of my posts, I have good intentions so plz do not take it the wrong way. If in doubt, just pm me. Seems I am considered "unpolished" when it comes to "talking nice & politely"

anthony, after all that i now know what camera not to buy. thank you

_________________
In Solidarity. Phil

Now thats not exactly fair. 90% of this applies to all scouting cameras.

_________________
Thanks,
Anthony
Trail Camera Review: http://www.chasingame.com
Our store front: http://shop.chasingame.com
Scouting Assistant Software: http://www.scoutingassistant.com

Disclaimer: For those who do not understand any of my posts, I have good intentions so plz do not take it the wrong way. If in doubt, just pm me. Seems I am considered "unpolished" when it comes to "talking nice & politely"

And a lot of the stuff on the list could be attributed to "Operator Error," like trying to cram more images onto an already full memory card. Not that I would ever do anything like that, but . . .
If I've gone through everything on the list, and the cam still isn't working right, then they will be hearing from me. But if I left out some small but important step during setup, then that's "my bad," and nobody has to know about it but me. (Well, I might tell you guys so you don't make the same mistake. )

To my way of thinking, if the company has provided a list of possible problems that can be corrected fairly easily and without having to send the camera back, that's a Good Thing. That's why I just ordered a new Trophy Cam, two SanDisk cards, and two 8-packs of Energizer lithium batteries. It will be residing in a heavy duty Cam Lock Box. I thought about ordering two TCs, but decided to just "test drive" one first.

The "Ultra" and "Extreme" SanDisk cards are in higher speed classes than the "regular" cards. I once thought that cards with faster read/write times would be beneficial, but they really won't work right in (most) trail cams. I wrote "most" because I'm sure somebody will chime in and say they use a 66X Turboblast card in their Brand X Turbocam with no problems, but I think you'll have the best results with the cards the manufacturer recommends.

I think most of that is in the instruction manual too, but not in that type of a layout. If the manual was like that it might not be so bad.

I gave them a second chance. Worst thing I ever did.

_________________
(1) Bushnell 456
(3) Uway Xtendir-B's
(2) Covert Red 40's
(2) Bushnell 476's



America, Born 1776-Died Election Day 2008

I recently got two and sure like em so far.

Grab 10 cams on the market.
Find 10 people that own each of those cams.

We would probably find issues with every one of the camera brands after a survey was completed with the cam owners.

_________________

I guess I got two lemons...

_________________
(1) Bushnell 456
(3) Uway Xtendir-B's
(2) Covert Red 40's
(2) Bushnell 476's



America, Born 1776-Died Election Day 2008

Didn't it say trail cameras on the packaging??

I know those lemons are usually green at first but later they turn YELLOW... not easy to hide against a tree.

I'll stick with what I know works...I just don't have the time and money to become a tester for the Chinese game camera industry... especially at my expense.

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Reconyx RC60HO
2 BEC Orion w/ wireless base
Moultrie 200( doesn't work)

Me too. For me that means the Spypoints. Never a dark or whiteout picture from any of my Spypoints excluding the time I let the batteries get too low. Hasn't happen since I bought my 12V lead acid battery.

_________________
(1) Bushnell 456
(3) Uway Xtendir-B's
(2) Covert Red 40's
(2) Bushnell 476's



America, Born 1776-Died Election Day 2008

I'm glad you mentioned this camera... you don't hear much about it... must be a good thing!

_________________
Reconyx RC60HO
2 BEC Orion w/ wireless base
Moultrie 200( doesn't work)

I am new at this
I have two Trophy cams. I got one to test and then another later when I saw what it could do. I am happy with them for the most part. I would say an 8.5 out of 10. I mean I wanted a Reconyx but I can cover more area and have video with these units. Like I said, I have 2 and I plan to buy a third. 3 TC's will still cost me less than 1 top of the line Reconyx and of course cover a wider area.
The biggest problem I have had is wind. Aside from that, the troubleshooting tips were helpful. I ran into a number of the problems listed and the tips helped address those problems.

I do notice that one of my cameras is a bit more reliable than the other in capturing game after it is detected, so I just change the PIR setting on that one.

For what it is worth, if you use a card reader like me it is a good idea to eject the thing before removing the card. I also format the cards
in camera, and use the same card in the same camera, marking both camera and card with a marking pen.

I tried the SanDisk Ultra II 2GB SD Card (black) and its working fine on the TC and SG550

Joe
BBO

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http://www.beebusyoutdoors.com
http://www.bbotrailcams.com