By Aaron Olsen
You get what you pay for…Quality over quantity or quantity over quality?
If you are at all like me, you probably spend a lot more time researching what you are going to buy than actually in a store. When it comes to trail cameras there are dozens of manufacturers, camera types, kinds of flashes, number of megapixels, battery life duration, and most importantly, COST. Depending on your budget, you have to decide what is important to you and what features you are willing to sacrifice. For me, I wanted it all. A well-known company, dependable, compact, good picture quality, solid battery life, long IR flash range, quick trigger speed, and all for the lowest price I could find.
After hours of research online and comparing specs for a variety of price ranges, I decided on the Moultrie A-30 game camera. The cam boasts a 12-megapixel camera, sub 0.7-second trigger speed, 70′ infrared flash range, and is super simple to operate. The best part? It costs a whopping $62 on Amazon so I could afford multiple cameras for the price of some of the other cameras on the market. Quality AND quantity.
This past season, I started running two Moultrie A-30 trail cameras on a piece of private property I have permission to hunt. My expectations were not super high but figured if they performed close to what they claimed, it was a great way to start building my trail cam arsenal. After my first camera pulls, I was so satisfied that I ordered two additional cameras and since have acquired two more (don’t plan on stopping).
Trigger Speed
One of the first things the pictures confirmed was how quick the trigger speed was. Even with the high-end expensive cameras, some moving pictures still turn out blurry. The $62 Moultrie A-30 was quick enough to catch a small bird mid-flight and relatively crisp. I’ve had other trail cameras that would have either not caught the bird at all or would have produced a blurry streak across the picture.
Nighttime Flash Range
Let’s face it…The majority of mature buck pictures are at night and it is super frustrating if they turn out like crap. The A-30 has 24 infrared LEDs with solid range. The two does below are a ways from the camera and the quality is still crystal clear. I was able to catch and positively identify specific bucks as they crossed the very back of the food plot.
Battery Life
I remember when trail cameras took a handful of D batteries and you had to change them every single weekend or else they sat dead and useless in the woods. The A-30 takes 8 AA batteries and I suggest lithiums. They are worth the extra cost and your cameras will make it from early spring all the way through the late-season without having to change the batteries once.
The Only Negative…
The one feature the A-30 lacks is a temperature stamp on each picture. As you see, there is a time, date, and moon phase, but not temp. For me, that is a big deal, yet the price outweighs the lack of a temperature stamp. In addition, the 12MP picture images are top notch compared to many of the cameras in the cheaper price ranges.
Final Thoughts
While I plan on upgrading to some more expensive cameras for my privately owned properties, for now, the cost of the A-30 is too hard to beat considering what you are getting for your money. My strategy next year will be drastically different hunting mostly public land. These inexpensive cameras will provide excellent recon information with little financial risk. Sad to say, I’m expecting a couple of my cameras will be stolen on public land, however, I will be a lot less disappointed than if they had $200 price tags attached to them. P.s. If you find my trail cameras in the woods, please don’t steal them…
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