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This is our first newsletter, an area we will continue to develop.  We hope that everyone enjoys the information on our site and the use of the forum as well.


Trends and outlook for 2008

Coming out of 06 and entering the new year of 07 we began to see things happen to the trail camera industry that began to change things. The very revered Cuddeback cams took a dive in function and then there was a new company that attempted to enter the market with a new type of flash. Two weeks battery life was considered pretty normal and having a 3 MP rating was only seen in the high end cams. The memory was being handled with 256 and 512 cards and programming in some cases required the book in the lap and a degree in understanding.



Now we are knee deep into the 08 season and things have began to pop. Some new camera companies have worked their way into the market a little early. These were the HCO cams and shortly after that the Scoutguard cams. Both have proven to be very functional with the lead being taken by the tiny Scoutguard that just likes to function so very well.






Because of the attempt to get into the market with a new type of flash, there has been a definite look at this new method. For years everyone loved the standard flash (white flash) cameras but this had a tendency to use up battery life.  Recon pushed into the market with their excellent IR flash cameras (red glow) along with BuckeyeCam. Then everyone copied this and now most all manufactures offer this. This year we are seeing the introduction of the new and very functional “black flash” cameras from Reconyx and Buckeye. The grapevine has it that Moultrie will soon dip into this area also. The black flash cameras have no red glow or indication that a flash has happened. This makes the camera very concealable and will not spook the animal when the picture is taken.


The other area that was once cornered by Cuddeback was fast trigger times. Well this is pretty much standard on most cams coming out with times near a half second to 1.5 seconds. In 06, if I were to tell you that a Moultrie cam would last 3 months off a set of standard batteries most folks would be amazed. Now with the introduction of new battery saving technologies and different flashes we see cameras lasting 2 months on 8 AA cells.

Coming into the arena is a new group of cams that not only take good movies, they will do it with sound. Leaf River and Bushnell will offer models this year. How about having a cam that has a built in animal call? This can be programmed with what ever call you wish, from deer to other critters and when the animal is called in,  the cam will take the picture. This is also one of the new features on the 08 Bushnell’s.

Many of the old cameras had a built in write time to the card and this was called the delay period and the lowest time was 30 seconds. Now we see cams with 0 to 60 minute delay times. The new little Scoutguard camera with a 550 model number has opened up a lot of eyes. This cam this year is the size of your fist. This is highly concealable cam and totally programmable to do things, like zero delay and 120 second movies. A one second trigger time is also a benefit. The foot print of this little camera would fit four times into the footprint of most cameras on the market. Camouflage patterns that replicate the background of many areas is also becoming the normal look. The need for a good notebook to write down the exact location of where you hung your cam might be a good idea. These things are starting to look more like trees than the trees do.

StealthCam has again pushed the burst mode and now they have worked on trigger times. we will see their popularity grow also. This is just not the “man” thing anymore. The popularity has moved over to the ladies and more and more of these gals have their cams and are enjoying this type of recreation as much as the men.

Another shift has brought a new use for these cameras and that is for the back yard bird watcher. Wingscapes came out with the first “bird cam” and now Bushnell will have one on the market this year also. The outdoor folks that only had a reason to be in the woods just prior and during the season are finding themselves addicted to these cameras and are out there poking around playing with their cams. All we needed is the excuse to be there and now we have one.





This is going to be a very busy season with all the new stuff that is arriving for us to test. We will do our best to get as much data out for everyone to enjoy their new found hobby.

Thanks,

Bill and Anthony