Best hunter cam to catch thieves?

[Tinhack]

I was thinking about building a bird house looking box and mount my old Dash Cam in it. When set in parking lot mode, the camera senses movement and starts a recording for a designated time. You can definitely read license plate numbers with it. The roof could be solar panels and a 12v motorcycle or lawn tractor battery could be the rechargeable power for it. I have the battery saver option for it too. The battery saver monitors the battery voltage and turns off power to the camera when the voltage falls below a selected value. It will automatically reset when power is restored (battery recharged). And the rear-view camera could be used as well.

 

[mikester]

Point taken: you get what you pay for.

If someone wants license plates, I think a license plate camera is needed.

All the best,

Peter

You also need a way top slow traffic down if you are trying to read a plate. If you have a straight driveway you need massive speed bumps or hairpin turns to slow traffic enough to get a decent image.

You really need multiple cameras and aux. IR lighting in order to try and capture one decent image.

Camera vendors all lie when it comes to low light performance...cheap cameras even more so. Cameras bought at big box or costco are all cr@p. What you want are true starlight cameras with WDR and BLC, fast shutter speeds, good optics. Expect to pay $$$$ for a decent camera. Most home systems are designed to look pretty on a cell phone screen but the images are completely useless if you need to read a plate or identify a face. You get what you pay for.

 

[ponytug]

You also need a way top slow traffic down if you are trying to read a plate. If you have a straight driveway you need massive speed bumps or hairpin turns to slow traffic enough to get a decent image.

You really need multiple cameras and aux. IR lighting in order to try and capture one decent image.

Camera vendors all lie when it comes to low light performance...cheap cameras even more so. Cameras bought at big box or costco are all cr@p. What you want are true starlight cameras with WDR and BLC, fast shutter speeds, good optics. Expect to pay $$$$ for a decent camera. Most home systems are designed to look pretty on a cell phone screen but the images are completely useless if you need to read a plate or identify a face. You get what you pay for.

This is why I recommend the Reconyx products. Getting the positioning optimized for plates does take some trial and error, but ours has pulled in plates from vehicles going 40mph (+/-, no radar gun here). The first day I had it out, the camera captured the plate of a pickup and the pickup trailer as they sped by.

The second challenge is hiding the cameras in plain sight. My advice is not to make the cameras that you care about visible.

A friend worked for Sony on their surveillance cameras; active tracking, 40X zoom, high megapixel Sony image sensors makes for amazing results. The Sony sensors are just incredible in terms of sensitivity and low noise. Five figures and up, so not exactly cameras for most homeowners, at least in my book.

All the best,

Peter

 

[nyone]

I tried to use a trail cam(spy point) for security. They suck and filled with water many times.

I now use the cheapest solar cellular PTZ camera amazon sells. It was $85 and a yearly sim card is $120. It shows live video and motion detection actualy works with notifications.

 

[oosik]

With any type of cam - you will be turning the images over to LEO if you are going forward with prosecution. Better be damn sure the optical quality will function with digital face scanning technology. Otherwise - you are simply wasting time and spinning your wheels.

 

[Rmart30]

if you have cell service get a REOLINK GO cellular video cam with solar panel for under $175 on amazon. sends instate text alerts to your phone. records videos to the cloud so if cam gets stolen you still have video. about the size of a coke can and very easy to hide. Service is $10 a month with a T mobile 2gb data card.

 

[geteh]

I have a cheap Amazon solar camera that needs to be within range of WiFi; and it requires a cheap subscription to see any old videos; but it does offer the ability to look anytime live and speak through, and listen live.

I also have a Moultrie Mobile cellular camera, and an add on solar panel. I've never really been happy with the solar panel; as it doesn't plug very securely in, and squirrels and crows messing with it will unplug it. It also wasn't cheap; the solar panel and battery back internal to it cost as much as a brand new solar from factory, cell game camera. The advantage is you get alerts on action, and they are right there on the app; no need to log onto a website or anything.

Now; the camera is really to alert you of the problem. I've had LEOs say they can't use the pictures as evidence, and they won't investigate the pictures or video of geometry dash breeze 2.2. I'm guessing they just don't want to put the work into a property crime?

looking for the best trail cam for catching a thief or trespasser? we keep having pasture gates get "magically opened" and I would like to catch the person in the act.

 

[paulsharvey]

looking for the best trail cam for catching a thief or trespasser? we keep having pasture gates get "magically opened" and I would like to catch the person in the act.

Moultrie Mobile has good cameras that will text or alert you when triggered; as does the other cell game cameras. Moultrie, the AI or whatever is geared to game animals, and you can search buy deer, bucks only, turkeys, ect. The Ring stuff, it can be set up to trigger only for people I believe, but I don't think any of theirs are cellular.

Any name brand, cellular game camera will do for the alerting part, if you position it right, and have even OK cell service. Moultrie, Muddy, Spypoint, all have adequate cameras. Do a search on what cell provider towers they use, if you have issues. Muddy uses Verizon, as does Moultrie, dont know about Spypoint.

I have been told that most cell cameras don't like rechargeable batteries; and from personal experience, get Duracell/Energizer, not cheap bulk AA batteries for them. Most will last atleast 3-4 months on one set of good batteries.

 

[paulsharvey]

looking for the best trail cam for catching a thief or trespasser? we keep having pasture gates get "magically opened" and I would like to catch the person in the act.

Geteh, don't know your law enforcement is set up, but here in FLa, the sheriff's office is over crime and enforcement, state troopers give traffic tickets. Anyways, many local counties have an agricultural unit, and those guys really do try. Yes, they do work in dog fighting, animal neglect, but also respond to cattle getting out, ag crimes, and after storms, they seem to be very proactive after hurricanes, getting horses out of flooded pastures, ecr. What I mean, is they seem less worried about making the news than doing their work. If your county has an agricultural unit, they are likely guys you need to speak with.

 

[garry1p]

I had one camera in a birdhouse overlooking my vehicles and another in a mailbox looking down the driveway.
The cameras were very hard to detect unfortunately, you could not read a license plate and when the person has a scarf around their face (except the eyes), hat and gloves the picture is not much help even when you know who it is (my neighbors junkie son) the sheriff can't make an arrest.

I replaced the system with cameras that have lights, 1TB DVR and sirens, hopefully that will scare him away next time he visits. After 5 years he is due to get out of prison next month, I doubt he has been rehabilitated.