Take a look at our Moultrie a5 Game Camera Review to find out what’s great about this trail camera. There are many great benefits to choosing this camera so we’ll let you know why it may be the perfect choice for you.
Affordable
The Moultrie a5 Game Camera has a very low price tag, meaning that you can easily afford this, even with the lowest of budgets. Whilst it doesn’t have all the functionality that some of the more expensive cameras do, if its basic functions suit your needs, it may be a good choice. Especially if you are a novice, or if you are on a tight budget. If you’re not on too tight a budget, then the Moultrie a5 Game Camera could still be for you. You could purchase multiple cameras for a similar cost to just buying one of the more expensive cameras, giving you the ability to spread out your surveillance equipment over a greater area. Why just have one angle of a plot of land when you could have two!
Having more than one of these cameras would be a good failsafe option too because if one of them stops working for any reason or isn’t as clear as it should be, the other camera or cameras could continue to record, meaning that you’re still left with some coverage.
Trigger Speed
This camera has a 1.16-second trigger speed, which may not be as fast as some of the higher end trail cameras, but at the price bracket of this camera, it’s actually quite a fast speed. The recovery time that the camera needs in order to take it’s next shot, however, is 62 seconds. This is a far cry from other cameras that offer burst modes and multiple shots with each detection, but if you don’t like the frequency of other camera image captures and have had enough of having to sift through hundreds of photos of the same animal over just a couple of minutes, then the longer recovery time may actually be a bonus rather than a hindrance.
Battery life
This camera uses 4 C type batteries, which last for a surprisingly long amount of time. Whilst nighttime power consumption is significantly higher than daytime power due to the IR LEDs needing to draw extra power, the camera can last a number of months on just one set of batteries. Because the camera doesn’t take an unnecessary number of photos every time it’s triggered, that helps cut down on the energy consumption, meaning that you can leave the camera on it’s the highest resolution and you won’t need to worry about your batteries burning out too soon.
Camera Design
The camera itself is a little larger than other trail cameras. It’s around 7 inches by 5 inches and features a strap to make attaching it to it’s mount as easy as possible. Due to the larger size of the camera, it is a little tricky to set up properly but once it is in place, it stays in place well and can record photos over a good length of time without slipping out of place again.
Picture Quality
The image quality of the Moultrie a5 Game Camera is reasonable, although at nighttime, the quality does drop significantly. The IR LEDs have a 30 foot range in the dark, so any animal that is lurking outside of this range will not be visible. As the camera is on the budget end of the scale however, the lack of range and the quality of night time images is probably attributed to the lower number of LEDs, as the Moultrie a5 Game Camera only has 12 of them.
During the daytime, the Moultrie a5 Game Camera can pick up animals at a decent enough range, but the image quality is just enough to be able to tell what kind of animal is in the shot. If you want a camera that has crystal clear resolution, then this one may not be for you. If, however, you simply want to track animals and their routines, this camera is perfectly sufficient and is exactly what you could expect given the price tag of the equipment.
Pros
- One of the most affordable trail cameras on the market
- Long battery life
- 16-second trigger speed
Cons
- Long 62 second recovery time after taking shots – whilst this may be a negative point to some, it can actually be useful because it means that you won’t end up with hundreds of photos of the same animal
Summary
As we have shown in our Moultrie a5 Game Camera review, this is a highly affordable camera, giving you the flexibility to purchase the camera as a first trail camera if you are a novice. Or if it meets your requirements, you could buy 2 of these cameras from the Moultrie brand for the price of one higher end camera, giving you the chance to cover a greater area, or having 2 cameras set up as a failsafe.
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