I can remember using a thing called a trail timer. It was a small plastic box with a digital clock and a piece of thread that you stretched across a trail. The target animal would pull the plastic insert out of a slot and mark the time. That was your only choice at trail monitoring. I never dreamed that one day I could sit in my easy chair at home and have a 20 second old digital photo from 100 miles away come to my cellular phone. Incredible. We are living Buck Rogers and take it for granted !
Lol I remember those as well! And end the end you really had know idea what tripped the timer. Sure have come a long way. Makes me wonder what's next!?
Thank you very much for this video because I just bought my first tactacam reveal X and didn't know anything about it so thank you again for helping me with it .best review out there man!!
Appreciate you being up front, been researching these cameras to make a decision on what kind I will be running and you have just nail it down for me. Thanks again bye the where can I purchase those screw on that you were hanging the camera on
Appreciate that! They now have the 2.0 version out! You'll probably want that one. It sends videos as well. I make those mounts. Just need to buy a few parts at the hardware store. I have a video on how to make those as well ua-cam.com/video/QjTPa-Jtunc/v-deo.html
I can’t believe the hd pics aren’t sent instantly man. What a bunch of crap. Lol. I guess they release their next v3 next month so I hope it’s all HD. Won’t get my hopes up though. I run 3 and I can tell if he’s a shooter but I’m getting a lag time of 45 seconds with a U3. And very good signal. Ahh. I wish they’d just bring one out for 225 and it work HD. For the price I shouldn’t complain. They’ve had excellent tech support. Talk soon Jase
Yea it does sux that it takes so long to get the HD version, but at least now there's an option. And hopefully the lag time will improve! Spartan is definitely kick ass, but the price kicks mine. Hah
Got one coming this week, replaced the Moultrie Delta, the worst cell camera I have ever tested/used.....Price point and quality pictures of the Reveal X is really good. Still love my Ridgetec but not a cheap camera.....I just ordered a BlackGate R4G
It is $13 unlimited a month. Get 2 sim cards. One is AT&T, and the other is Verizon. I never have been to any place where at&t had service but Verizon didn't..either way nice to have choices.
Thank you for the great review. I have a cell camera from another company and wasn't that impressed. I've been looking at this brand so this review helps. Any updates?
I love these cams! The newer ones now send videos so u might want to look into those. Think it's called Reveal X 2.0. I don't think you'd be disappointed. Thanks for watching!
Ok , thank you for the reply. Ya i saw your video on that looks like a great cam, but ouch on the price. Great channel you have. Do you still like your tactacams?
Hey amigo I go a question do you have to have a plan to be hable to have those cameras??? I have 3 spypoint and I still get 100 pic a month and other ones but I like the video this cameras take!!!!
Hello! Yes, they don't have a free option. Wish every company did that. WingHome also offers 100 free photos a month and SpyPoint. Not sure of any others
I can’t get good enough cell service to connect. I was going to keep like a non cell cam it but there aren’t enough settings in WiFi mode. Can’t set date, time or the intervals. Bummer. I’m going to have to return it.
Quick question for u Jase being u tested both cameras between the reveal x and the Spartan golive which would u choose? Little background I use Verizon and I have to travel 2 hours to my hunting locations 2 spots are about 4-5 mi apart and service is good in one spot and not so good in another. Price pt is somewhat a concern but would like advice from someone who has used both cellular cameras. I really wouldn't use the video a whole lot except before I would enter the woods or randomly throughout the week if big buck photo came through. So thoughts?
I wrote a whole long thing about them, but basically it comes down to budget. The Spartan is better in several ways, but the GoLive is $499. The Tactacam has performed really well for me except the recovery time is really slow. The Spartan is so much better in that category.
Not really, if there is I can't find it. There is a "check-in" setting that you can turn on and it will take a photo everyday and send to you. But it doesn't even let u pick a time
I was using class 10 (U1) 120mb/sec, that I would think should be fast enough to write to the card. Not sure what happens after that but I do know the ones I have set in the woods with less reception take even longer. Whatever Spartan did to their cam has it figured out, but it's also a $500 cam
Nice job!! You told me what I needed to know. The 23 seconds you talked about at the end, if it trips it takes photos and then sends them to you phone- and that takes 23 seconds- or after photos are sent it takes 23 seconds before it can take photos again?
Correct. It won't take the next photo until the last one is sent and that can be up to a minute depending on the reception. That's my biggest gripe on cell cams. You can miss a lot in just 30 seconds. Spartan cams are really good with the recovery time, but it's a $500 cam. Thanks for watching!
@@montr6868 you can set it remotely from your phone but it's easier to just use wifi. You connect your phone directly to the cam and you can see what the cam sees so you know what you're looking at, then change whatever settings you'd like from there
Good question....I believe you can. I have several of mine in the woods right now that are deactivated and when I go into the app it does allow me to change the settings. However, I have no idea if it's actually changing the camera settings. Hah, sorry... I'll have to keep that in mind to see if it actually made the changes or not.
I am wanting to purchase his camera. Can you tell me if you can demand a photo with the app? What I’m wanting to do is to be able to open the app push a button and take a picture of what’s going on at that moment.
The app has just updated a lil bit ago and I just searched through it and I don't see an option to take a photo now. Other cams that do have that always seem to take forever after you send the request so it's something I never use. If u need to see something right away, you might want to consider something like the ReoLink cams. I have 2 full reviews on those and they have been awesome! Live streaming video on your phone and also records clips when it detects motion. Hope that helps!
@@JaseOutdoors what’s the best deal you’ve found for the reolink service? I’ve seen Mint but it runs $20 a month. Would like a plan closer to $12 a month.
When you open the app will it save all the photos the camera has sent you? One issue I have with spypoint is they'll be saved on the memory card, but will go away on the app after a few weeks. Pretty inconvenient when the camera is in a different state.
I know it saves for at least 4 months but it doesn't appear to save it longer than that. You have to save the specific photos separately and it'll save those
What setting do use? I am set up at 1P and 1S with send type at Twice/24 hr, does that make sense? I read that the recovery time is around 6 seconds using the Twice daily vs. Timely. Is that true or should I change it back?
I use it on timely. Recovery time could be different set to daily. Very interesting point and I will try that on my next review. Although, it still kind of stinks that it would take that long to send photos because the best part of these cell cams is getting the photos right away....especially for trespassers!
The more I think about it the more that would make sense. Since it's not sending the photo right away there should really be no recovery time. Never even thought about that. Can't wait to try it. Thanks for sharing that!
On the sensitivity, is 9 the most sensitive? Or 1? I just got a Tactacam XB and using it for security on a driveway and it seems like it’s either not quite sensitive enough or I need to adjust its mounting. I have it about 20ft. in a tree to prevent theft but think I might have to drop it a few feet for it to take more pictures
Think you might struggle with detecting motion from that high up because of the center line where it detects motion. 9 would be the most sensitive setting and 1 the least
@@JaseOutdoors Yeah I think I’ve learned that it can’t be that high. I’m gonna drop it a few feet and see if it helps. I didn’t know that trail cameras were meant to be mounted so low
No, there isn't. If there is i can't find it. There's a "check in" setting that will send you a photo every day just so u know the cam is working but not a live photo.
Yep, it'll still function as a trail camera. I'd question why you'd want to do that, though. Hah. There are cheaper and good quality cams out there that aren't cellular. Maybe that'd work better for ya
@@JaseOutdoors I recently bought 3 cheaper cameras that had very good reviews and 2 of the 3 wouldn't turn on and one of them heated the batteries seconds after hitting the switch. I returned all 3. Most of my area has terrible reception and one spot with decent reception. If the reception is spotty, I want to make certain it will still take photos and save them to the sd card, or, if I decide to throw this particular camera on a different area for added intel on a specific buck, I want it to work no matter if I have service or not. I just don't want to buy a camera that only works if I have service, especially since I plan to move and I never know what sort of service I will have when I do.
Great review, helped me. I have 2 of them & couldn't figure out how to set up a plan for the second camera- I suppose the plan covers total number of pictures for both cameras combined? It's confusing. With the SpyPoint cameras which I am used to, each camera can have it's own picture limit/plan. Not sure If I got it correct.
Hey Jase this ca is way better than spypoint, thx for this review. QUESTION- I purchased the annual 250 for $55 a month, if I go to upgrade to the 500 annual for $85 does it charge you the full $85 or do you get credit for any of the $55 that you paid on the 250 annual $55. Im still in my first month and want to add more photos. Thx anybody??
Hey! Good question that I don't know the answer to. I've never tried to upgrade my plan. I know with SpyPoint they hose you when you upgrade. You lose the amount of photo you already used for that month but they still charge you the full amount, which is another reason I hate SpyPoint. I'm really not sure about Tactacam. If you do this, please let me know what you learn. Appreciate it! Good Luck!
@@JaseOutdoors which Cabellas? Online, they were out of stock.... I was thinking that these were discontinued and not worth investing into a company on the verge of bankruptcy..
Yea, sure can. But there's probably better options out there for a security camera. Like ReoLink that sends you videos and you can look around in live time
Well..I feel like it's not a fair comparison cause the Spartan is awesome but it's also $380 more. Pic quality on the Tactacam is really good though. My only beef with the Tactacam is the recovery time. Takes too long to take the next pic after the first one. Hope that kinda answers your question. Hah
@@JaseOutdoors hahaha yea I get it. Thanks for the information. On my cameras that have slow trigger speeds I run video and do like a 30sec per video so I can usually pic up whatever is going on. Of course you have to play around with the wait time for when it takes another video. But if it’s on a trail you can usually just do back to back triggers.
I am hugely disappointed that the wifi doesn't mean that the camera can connect with the home wifi. ... A cheap cell phone that I turned into a time-lapse camera, would start uploading to the cloud when I got it home in the driveway. I had to do nothing just throw it in the car overnight to get my photos. This allowed me to use it as part of the home security to see anyone coming on the property. No cell service needed unless I take it remotely for an area that I need to monitor..... The problem with the cell phone is that they break if the temperature drops too low, the lcd breaks. Also, I could not keep the wife from unplugging the cell phone. Also android is too unstable. And power banks make for horrible, unreliable battery backup, due to the protection circuitry. I can do motion detection or time-lapse with a cell phone, however motion detection on a smart phone requires the camera to be constantly opened and battery get sucked big time. A 36 large agm backup would be needed to get a week.
I guess if it did connect to the wifi, then upload to a free cloud service, wifi hard drive, free network share, then many people would not but the cell plan. However, for myself, I would still buy the cell service, since I need to see remotely with as little delay as practical (1min/15min/30min/60min/120min/3hr/4hr/6hr/8hr/12h/24hr needs to be an option for the cell upload period options. Longer periods means longer battery life but more blindness, with less of the cellular concept and advantage over a non cell trail camera..... I am totally happy with low resolution cell images, the high Def on the card, or at 10 cents each. Obviously, webp is 2x as efficient as jpg, which is why Google photos uses webp, and every image browser and web browser now supports webp.
@@JaseOutdoors I started with spycam off the playstore,which worked great, except it overheated and drained the cheap phones that I tried. I then tried a bunch more apps, which all sucked. Then I realized that I could easily script my own time-lapse with tasker. I ended up doing a script with two 15 minute loops that I scheduled for every 31 minutes from 7 am to 9 pm. I read variables from the text messages, so I could set the upload every 15 or 30 minutes to Dropbox or Google. I used webp, not jog, because of the better quality and size of webp. I could text the phone and change the interval from 1 minute, 2min40 sec, 5 min, or 15 minutes, which were the intervals that I found useful. Of course, if no cell available, it would just keep the pictures on the SD. If it transferred, I had a variable to delete, or just move to another folder. Since I scripted it myself, I could grab 1 high definition photo every 15 or 30 minutes. Since I was using a $5 per month att plan or a $6 sprint plan, I would keep the data as low as possible, which also saves battery. I was interested in who, when, and what what they were doing. Not especially extreme details. Since android was so unstable, determined to kill protected apps, so power hungry, forced updates and reboots, data expensive, I felt like I was lucky to get the minimum information without a glitch. Since 2015, they did save my butt, probably more than I even realize. Cameras keep everyone honest.
I don't actually know since the wifi is used to see where the camera is pointed, so I only ever use it so I can adjust the camera accordingly....and change the settings
It's been out for a few months now, but I'm finally just getting around to testing it. Hah. I got mine at Cabela's so you shouldn't have trouble finding em, unless they're sold out already.
Is there a way that i can have a tactacam account and my buddy has his own account and I can share my photos with him and he can share his with me? In other words, can I add his camera to my account even though his is attached to his email address.
I don't believe so. You'd just have to share login info with the username and password and then you can switch between accounts. I will be seeing people from Tactacam this weekend and I will see if there's a better answer for ya!
Maybe I need to watch the video again, I think that you said that it only sends once a day or every minute? if you send every minute you will kill your battery very quickly!!!! but if you send once a day, you will not be able to see what's going on. I think about every 15 minutes uploading would be good and save the battery. I could live with every 30 minutes... Spypoint does every 2 hour, or instant upload. Instant upload is out, due to battery life, which I learned kills battery when writing a program for an android phone. So, I backed off the upload to the cloud to every 15, 30 min or 1 hour, which saved a great deal of battery. This is why cell phone batteries drain so quickly : Google play services eats a ton of battery constantly syncing calendars, email, text, etc.... On the other hand, every 2 hours is too long between uploading, but is slightly tolerable. Once every 24, and it might as well be a non cellular trail camera.
There is a setting that you can have the camera update one a day or instant. In instant the camera stays awake and drain more batteries. You can set it to time lapse mode but that burns batteries as well. Don't believe there's a way to connect it to your home wifi. I didn't even think to try.
Another reviewer of this camera claims that instant means it will check for updates “every time it takes and uploads a photo,” not necessarily “stays awake constantly checking for updates.” Either way it will burn up more battery, and not really sure which is correct. Staying awake constantly seeking updates seems way more expensive on battery.
I bought it. So far it's garbage. Why? Cause the pics sent are so grainy . You can't maker nothing out. The tight wads at Tacta Cam, will give you the HD for $5 for 50 pics. Well it's worse than that. It's more like $5 per session. So you better have 50 that you really want right then and there. If the pics on the card are like this. I'll just stop using it. I'll find someone else. Who won't rip you off for every little feature. Management at Tacta Cam , are ruining the company with their tight wad ways. What a bunch cheap skates.
Interesting. I'm not sure what you mean by $5 for 50 per session. I've only used the HD photos a couple of times cause the thumbnails have been so good, I haven't had to download HD versions. If you really want high quality, look into the Spartan Cams. Just reviewed that a few weeks ago and that thing is amazing.... except the cam is $500
Really? Wow. I've had good contact with them and they've been very helpful. Surprised to hear that. Thought you were talking about SpyPoint at first. Ha! Hope you get it resolved!
@@JaseOutdoors I can't use 2 different kind of batteries that pissed me off Can't change settings from my phone to camera unless attached by wifi when my hunting spot is half way across the state Doesn't get service in back country where most hunters are
Well, yea you need cell reception. All cell cams need cell reception. You can change the settings from the phone remotely. But the cam needs cell reception. And not sure why you'd wanna use two different kinds of batteries, but again, most trail cams are like that.
@@JaseOutdoors my hunting spot is very far from the nearest town on the way there I stopped and bought all of one kind of batteries that the store had and it was not enough so I had to buy two of another kind that is the type of stuff that happens all the time to low or middle income families that are trying to hunt
This is by far the best video on UA-cam explaining the Tactacam Reveal X!! Thank you!!
Wow, thanks man! Really appreciate that!
? About the camera mine was recently stolen they turned it off any way to track it when it's turned off
Not this model unfortunately. Man I hate hear that. Burns me up
I can remember using a thing called a trail timer. It was a small plastic box with a digital clock and a piece of thread that you stretched across a trail. The target animal would pull the plastic insert out of a slot and mark the time. That was your only choice at trail monitoring. I never dreamed that one day I could sit in my easy chair at home and have a 20 second old digital photo from 100 miles away come to my cellular phone. Incredible. We are living Buck Rogers and take it for granted !
Lol I remember those as well! And end the end you really had know idea what tripped the timer. Sure have come a long way. Makes me wonder what's next!?
Still have one. Has 4 clocks that you set the time and they stop every time something triggers the sensor. Anyone want to buy it? Lol
I have a chance to get 2 of these for a great price. Thanks for the great info
Hope they work well for ya!
I love the simplicity and tech on this.
Yep, pretty easy
Mine wouldn't work from the beginning. Contacting support now. Let me register, then won't do anything. Like it's stuck
Dang....the one thing I can say is their tech support has been very good for me. Hope they can work it out for you!
Thank you very much for this video because I just bought my first tactacam reveal X and didn't know anything about it so thank you again for helping me with it .best review out there man!!
Wow, appreciate that Sam! Thanks!
Appreciate you being up front, been researching these cameras to make a decision on what kind I will be running and you have just nail it down for me. Thanks again bye the where can I purchase those screw on that you were hanging the camera on
Appreciate that! They now have the 2.0 version out! You'll probably want that one. It sends videos as well. I make those mounts. Just need to buy a few parts at the hardware store. I have a video on how to make those as well
ua-cam.com/video/QjTPa-Jtunc/v-deo.html
I can’t believe the hd pics aren’t sent instantly man. What a bunch of crap. Lol. I guess they release their next v3 next month so I hope it’s all HD. Won’t get my hopes up though. I run 3 and I can tell if he’s a shooter but I’m getting a lag time of 45 seconds with a U3. And very good signal. Ahh. I wish they’d just bring one out for 225 and it work HD. For the price I shouldn’t complain. They’ve had excellent tech support. Talk soon Jase
Yea it does sux that it takes so long to get the HD version, but at least now there's an option. And hopefully the lag time will improve! Spartan is definitely kick ass, but the price kicks mine. Hah
Good demonstration. Hopefully they’ll tweak the HD request ag some point. Seems like a good cam for the money 👍
Yea, it's still pretty good! Just the recovery time is what kills me but hopefully that'll get better too. Thanks for watching!
Great video and nice idea for the mount.
Subscribed!
Appreciate that!
really high quality video great job
Thanks!
Got one coming this week, replaced the Moultrie Delta, the worst cell camera I have ever tested/used.....Price point and quality pictures of the Reveal X is really good. Still love my Ridgetec but not a cheap camera.....I just ordered a BlackGate R4G
Yea I wasn't a fan of the Moultrie. Reveal X is really good for the price! Hope it works well for ya!
Moultrie Delta was one of the worst cameras I ever owned.
Hated my delta
Can I set the field scan mode that allows me to capture images at set intervals? Thanks
What did you pay for the Plan to get the Photos back to your Phone ?
It is $13 unlimited a month. Get 2 sim cards. One is AT&T, and the other is Verizon. I never have been to any place where at&t had service but Verizon didn't..either way nice to have choices.
Nice job. I just bought three of these and wasn't happy with the pictures. I changed them to the settings you used so let's see what happens.
Wow, interesting to hear. I think these take the best pics out there...maybe besides a $500 Spartan. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for the great review. I have a cell camera from another company and wasn't that impressed. I've been looking at this brand so this review helps. Any updates?
I love these cams! The newer ones now send videos so u might want to look into those. Think it's called Reveal X 2.0. I don't think you'd be disappointed. Thanks for watching!
The recovery time also bugs me, have you done testing with other cell cams around same price range? Are all of there recovery times bad?
Yea, they're just as bad. The Spartan was really good but the price of the cam is a lot
Ok , thank you for the reply. Ya i saw your video on that looks like a great cam, but ouch on the price. Great channel you have. Do you still like your tactacams?
I have 6. They work great. Wish I could find more
Yep!
Herd 360
Will a 64GB card work? Not sure why it wouldn’t. Picked one up since the store I went to had no 32 GB.
No, it only takes a 16-32gb card, so it says anyway
Hey amigo I go a question do you have to have a plan to be hable to have those cameras??? I have 3 spypoint and I still get 100 pic a month and other ones but I like the video this cameras take!!!!
Hello! Yes, they don't have a free option. Wish every company did that. WingHome also offers 100 free photos a month and SpyPoint. Not sure of any others
I can’t get good enough cell service to connect. I was going to keep like a non cell cam it but there aren’t enough settings in WiFi mode. Can’t set date, time or the intervals. Bummer. I’m going to have to return it.
Hmm, interesting. I did not know that. Thanks for sharing
@@JaseOutdoors thanks for the video.
Quick question for u Jase being u tested both cameras between the reveal x and the Spartan golive which would u choose? Little background I use Verizon and I have to travel 2 hours to my hunting locations 2 spots are about 4-5 mi apart and service is good in one spot and not so good in another. Price pt is somewhat a concern but would like advice from someone who has used both cellular cameras. I really wouldn't use the video a whole lot except before I would enter the woods or randomly throughout the week if big buck photo came through. So thoughts?
Hey John...I replied to you and now I don't see my response. Did you get it?
I wrote a whole long thing about them, but basically it comes down to budget. The Spartan is better in several ways, but the GoLive is $499. The Tactacam has performed really well for me except the recovery time is really slow. The Spartan is so much better in that category.
Thank you for your response
Formatting SD card 8:36
Hi Kelly! Hope I explained formatting well enough. Thanks for watching!
Can you check the camera when ever you want from your phone for instance on your way to the stand?
Not really, if there is I can't find it. There is a "check-in" setting that you can turn on and it will take a photo everyday and send to you. But it doesn't even let u pick a time
I like the camera but its completely unless for security at night with the flash
Think the recover time will be better if using the class 10 (U3) vs the class 10 (U1). Little faster writing Speed.
I was using class 10 (U1) 120mb/sec, that I would think should be fast enough to write to the card. Not sure what happens after that but I do know the ones I have set in the woods with less reception take even longer. Whatever Spartan did to their cam has it figured out, but it's also a $500 cam
Nice job!! You told me what I needed to know. The 23 seconds you talked about at the end, if it trips it takes photos and then sends them to you phone- and that takes 23 seconds- or after photos are sent it takes 23 seconds before it can take photos again?
Correct. It won't take the next photo until the last one is sent and that can be up to a minute depending on the reception. That's my biggest gripe on cell cams. You can miss a lot in just 30 seconds. Spartan cams are really good with the recovery time, but it's a $500 cam. Thanks for watching!
@@JaseOutdoors Do you need the wifi to set it up?
@@montr6868 you can set it remotely from your phone but it's easier to just use wifi. You connect your phone directly to the cam and you can see what the cam sees so you know what you're looking at, then change whatever settings you'd like from there
@@JaseOutdoors at night can the flash be turned off?
You only have the option between high and low for night pics
Where did you get it? I’ve not see. The new pattern. I know sportsman’s warehouse has some exclusive colors.
If you’re using a Tactacam that is deactivated (to save money for a month or two), can you still adjust the camera settings remotely through the app?
Good question....I believe you can. I have several of mine in the woods right now that are deactivated and when I go into the app it does allow me to change the settings. However, I have no idea if it's actually changing the camera settings. Hah, sorry... I'll have to keep that in mind to see if it actually made the changes or not.
I am wanting to purchase his camera. Can you tell me if you can demand a photo with the app? What I’m wanting to do is to be able to open the app push a button and take a picture of what’s going on at that moment.
The app has just updated a lil bit ago and I just searched through it and I don't see an option to take a photo now. Other cams that do have that always seem to take forever after you send the request so it's something I never use. If u need to see something right away, you might want to consider something like the ReoLink cams. I have 2 full reviews on those and they have been awesome! Live streaming video on your phone and also records clips when it detects motion. Hope that helps!
@@JaseOutdoors what’s the best deal you’ve found for the reolink service? I’ve seen Mint but it runs $20 a month. Would like a plan closer to $12 a month.
When you open the app will it save all the photos the camera has sent you? One issue I have with spypoint is they'll be saved on the memory card, but will go away on the app after a few weeks. Pretty inconvenient when the camera is in a different state.
I know it saves for at least 4 months but it doesn't appear to save it longer than that. You have to save the specific photos separately and it'll save those
Great review.
Thank you!
I just ordered from Cabelas online
Nice, enjoy!
How is the sound quality for the videos??
Not the greatest, but there is sound. Hah. I haven't seen too many cameras, if any, that has good audio
Awesome. Can we hook a solar panel to this camera?
Yes. The new one they just came out with has a solar panel that mounts on the top of the cam. Can't wait to get my hands on that one!
What setting do use? I am set up at 1P and 1S with send type at Twice/24 hr, does that make sense? I read that the recovery time is around 6 seconds using the Twice daily vs. Timely. Is that true or should I change it back?
I use it on timely. Recovery time could be different set to daily. Very interesting point and I will try that on my next review. Although, it still kind of stinks that it would take that long to send photos because the best part of these cell cams is getting the photos right away....especially for trespassers!
The more I think about it the more that would make sense. Since it's not sending the photo right away there should really be no recovery time. Never even thought about that. Can't wait to try it. Thanks for sharing that!
On the sensitivity, is 9 the most sensitive? Or 1? I just got a Tactacam XB and using it for security on a driveway and it seems like it’s either not quite sensitive enough or I need to adjust its mounting. I have it about 20ft. in a tree to prevent theft but think I might have to drop it a few feet for it to take more pictures
Think you might struggle with detecting motion from that high up because of the center line where it detects motion. 9 would be the most sensitive setting and 1 the least
@@JaseOutdoors Yeah I think I’ve learned that it can’t be that high. I’m gonna drop it a few feet and see if it helps. I didn’t know that trail cameras were meant to be mounted so low
Correct. I like the 10 foot high range. Seems to do a bit better but even then something can walk under it and never be detected.
Can you check this camera live (request pic in real time)?
No, there isn't. If there is i can't find it. There's a "check in" setting that will send you a photo every day just so u know the cam is working but not a live photo.
I just need one but don't want to connect via cellular service. Is it possible to just take the SD card out and review manually?
Yep
Just curious. Can you use these cell cams like tradional trail cameras if you want to place it in an area with no cell service?
Yep, it'll still function as a trail camera. I'd question why you'd want to do that, though. Hah. There are cheaper and good quality cams out there that aren't cellular. Maybe that'd work better for ya
@@JaseOutdoors I recently bought 3 cheaper cameras that had very good reviews and 2 of the 3 wouldn't turn on and one of them heated the batteries seconds after hitting the switch. I returned all 3. Most of my area has terrible reception and one spot with decent reception. If the reception is spotty, I want to make certain it will still take photos and save them to the sd card, or, if I decide to throw this particular camera on a different area for added intel on a specific buck, I want it to work no matter if I have service or not. I just don't want to buy a camera that only works if I have service, especially since I plan to move and I never know what sort of service I will have when I do.
Gotcha. These cams do take great pics
Bass Pro has them in stock as of yesterday.
I purchased my first 2
Thanks for the tip!
Great review, helped me. I have 2 of them & couldn't figure out how to set up a plan for the second camera- I suppose the plan covers total number of pictures for both cameras combined? It's confusing. With the SpyPoint cameras which I am used to, each camera can have it's own picture limit/plan. Not sure If I got it correct.
Correct. If you have 3 cameras and buy a plan for 250 photos per camera you have 750 photos to share between all 3. Thanks for watching!
Good Video. 👍
Thanks for watching!
How longs the battery life last with these cams?
Battery life is pretty decent. I seem to get around 4 months on lithiums. Of course that'll vary
Hey Jase this ca is way better than spypoint, thx for this review. QUESTION- I purchased the annual 250 for $55 a month, if I go to upgrade to the 500 annual for $85 does it charge you the full $85 or do you get credit for any of the $55 that you paid on the 250 annual $55. Im still in my first month and want to add more photos. Thx anybody??
Hey! Good question that I don't know the answer to. I've never tried to upgrade my plan. I know with SpyPoint they hose you when you upgrade. You lose the amount of photo you already used for that month but they still charge you the full amount, which is another reason I hate SpyPoint. I'm really not sure about Tactacam. If you do this, please let me know what you learn. Appreciate it! Good Luck!
@@JaseOutdoors Just upgraded my plan and you do get credit for your prior plan unused $.
Good to know! Thanks for sharing!
can't find them anywhere. Where should I look?
Really? Wow, someone else just said that. I didn't realize they are already hard to find. I was at Cabela's 2 weeks ago and they had a pile of them
@@JaseOutdoors which Cabellas? Online, they were out of stock.... I was thinking that these were discontinued and not worth investing into a company on the verge of bankruptcy..
Basspro as of yesterday
This can be used as a surveillance camera right?
Yea, sure can. But there's probably better options out there for a security camera. Like ReoLink that sends you videos and you can look around in live time
@@JaseOutdoors thank you
What’s your thoughts on this compared to the Spartan?
Well..I feel like it's not a fair comparison cause the Spartan is awesome but it's also $380 more. Pic quality on the Tactacam is really good though. My only beef with the Tactacam is the recovery time. Takes too long to take the next pic after the first one. Hope that kinda answers your question. Hah
@@JaseOutdoors hahaha yea I get it. Thanks for the information. On my cameras that have slow trigger speeds I run video and do like a 30sec per video so I can usually pic up whatever is going on. Of course you have to play around with the wait time for when it takes another video. But if it’s on a trail you can usually just do back to back triggers.
Would you recommend the X or the XB?
By the sounds of it, I'd say the XB. I haven't had the chance to try the XB yet but I hope to review it very soon
Do u live on West Street in new York
😁
I don't live there but I was there. Guessing you seen my truck?
@@JaseOutdoors yes I did I live around there thought I'd ask
Awesome, thanks for looking me up! I'm up in the area a bunch. Today was nuts with all that traffic!
If you're on Facebook, look up @jasehunteroutdoors and shoot me a PM. I'll be back up in two weeks
I am hugely disappointed that the wifi doesn't mean that the camera can connect with the home wifi. ... A cheap cell phone that I turned into a time-lapse camera, would start uploading to the cloud when I got it home in the driveway. I had to do nothing just throw it in the car overnight to get my photos. This allowed me to use it as part of the home security to see anyone coming on the property. No cell service needed unless I take it remotely for an area that I need to monitor..... The problem with the cell phone is that they break if the temperature drops too low, the lcd breaks. Also, I could not keep the wife from unplugging the cell phone. Also android is too unstable. And power banks make for horrible, unreliable battery backup, due to the protection circuitry. I can do motion detection or time-lapse with a cell phone, however motion detection on a smart phone requires the camera to be constantly opened and battery get sucked big time. A 36 large agm backup would be needed to get a week.
I guess if it did connect to the wifi, then upload to a free cloud service, wifi hard drive, free network share, then many people would not but the cell plan. However, for myself, I would still buy the cell service, since I need to see remotely with as little delay as practical (1min/15min/30min/60min/120min/3hr/4hr/6hr/8hr/12h/24hr needs to be an option for the cell upload period options. Longer periods means longer battery life but more blindness, with less of the cellular concept and advantage over a non cell trail camera..... I am totally happy with low resolution cell images, the high Def on the card, or at 10 cents each. Obviously, webp is 2x as efficient as jpg, which is why Google photos uses webp, and every image browser and web browser now supports webp.
Oh, that's pretty clever!
@@JaseOutdoors I started with spycam off the playstore,which worked great, except it overheated and drained the cheap phones that I tried.
I then tried a bunch more apps, which all sucked. Then I realized that I could easily script my own time-lapse with tasker. I ended up doing a script with two 15 minute loops that I scheduled for every 31 minutes from 7 am to 9 pm. I read variables from the text messages, so I could set the upload every 15 or 30 minutes to Dropbox or Google. I used webp, not jog, because of the better quality and size of webp. I could text the phone and change the interval from 1 minute, 2min40 sec, 5 min, or 15 minutes, which were the intervals that I found useful.
Of course, if no cell available, it would just keep the pictures on the SD. If it transferred, I had a variable to delete, or just move to another folder. Since I scripted it myself, I could grab 1 high definition photo every 15 or 30 minutes.
Since I was using a $5 per month att plan or a $6 sprint plan, I would keep the data as low as possible, which also saves battery.
I was interested in who, when, and what what they were doing. Not especially extreme details. Since android was so unstable, determined to kill protected apps, so power hungry, forced updates and reboots, data expensive, I felt like I was lucky to get the minimum information without a glitch.
Since 2015, they did save my butt, probably more than I even realize. Cameras keep everyone honest.
How far is the wifi range?
I don't actually know since the wifi is used to see where the camera is pointed, so I only ever use it so I can adjust the camera accordingly....and change the settings
So when do they become available?
It's been out for a few months now, but I'm finally just getting around to testing it. Hah. I got mine at Cabela's so you shouldn't have trouble finding em, unless they're sold out already.
Every place I have tried say sold out.
Wow, that's crazy!
@@albertcuevas2913 People are buying them all up and causing a shortage then reselling them for ridiculous prices on eBay.
Herd 360
Whats best cell cam with low cell service
Spartan GoLive, but it comes with a big price tag
@@JaseOutdoors what's the affordable ones that are still good
The Tactacam Reveal X I'm enjoying so far. I'd avoid SpyPoint, but that's just me
@@JaseOutdoors I'm really leaning towards the reveal x
I can't find much wrong with it, but was sorta disappointed with the recovery time. Good cam for the price for sure
Why don’t this,unit take day time pictures?
So it's taking night photos but not day photos?
would be great if only could get videos sent to your phone
Have to check out WingHome or Spartan GoCam
Is there a way that i can have a tactacam account and my buddy has his own account and I can share my photos with him and he can share his with me? In other words, can I add his camera to my account even though his is attached to his email address.
I don't believe so. You'd just have to share login info with the username and password and then you can switch between accounts. I will be seeing people from Tactacam this weekend and I will see if there's a better answer for ya!
@@JaseOutdoors that would be awesome if you can get answers from them. Thank you.
I know other companies give you a share option but I don't see anything in Tactacam's app
Just screen shot that photo to your phone and zoom that photo in on your cell. Don't pay more
Maybe I need to watch the video again, I think that you said that it only sends once a day or every minute? if you send every minute you will kill your battery very quickly!!!! but if you send once a day, you will not be able to see what's going on. I think about every 15 minutes uploading would be good and save the battery. I could live with every 30 minutes... Spypoint does every 2 hour, or instant upload. Instant upload is out, due to battery life, which I learned kills battery when writing a program for an android phone. So, I backed off the upload to the cloud to every 15, 30 min or 1 hour, which saved a great deal of battery. This is why cell phone batteries drain so quickly : Google play services eats a ton of battery constantly syncing calendars, email, text, etc.... On the other hand, every 2 hours is too long between uploading, but is slightly tolerable. Once every 24, and it might as well be a non cellular trail camera.
There is a setting that you can have the camera update one a day or instant. In instant the camera stays awake and drain more batteries. You can set it to time lapse mode but that burns batteries as well. Don't believe there's a way to connect it to your home wifi. I didn't even think to try.
Another reviewer of this camera claims that instant means it will check for updates “every time it takes and uploads a photo,” not necessarily “stays awake constantly checking for updates.” Either way it will burn up more battery, and not really sure which is correct. Staying awake constantly seeking updates seems way more expensive on battery.
I bought it. So far it's garbage. Why? Cause the pics sent are so grainy . You can't maker nothing out. The tight wads at Tacta Cam, will give you the HD for $5 for 50 pics. Well it's worse than that. It's more like $5 per session. So you better have 50 that you really want right then and there. If the pics on the card are like this. I'll just stop using it. I'll find someone else. Who won't rip you off for every little feature. Management at Tacta Cam , are ruining the company with their tight wad ways. What a bunch cheap skates.
Interesting. I'm not sure what you mean by $5 for 50 per session. I've only used the HD photos a couple of times cause the thumbnails have been so good, I haven't had to download HD versions. If you really want high quality, look into the Spartan Cams. Just reviewed that a few weeks ago and that thing is amazing.... except the cam is $500
No customer support whatever................spend a lot of money on something that once you need help there is no one
Really? Wow. I've had good contact with them and they've been very helpful. Surprised to hear that. Thought you were talking about SpyPoint at first. Ha! Hope you get it resolved!
This is the worst product I have ever purchased the end
Interesting. What issues did u experience?
@@JaseOutdoors I can't use 2 different kind of batteries that pissed me off
Can't change settings from my phone to camera unless attached by wifi when my hunting spot is half way across the state
Doesn't get service in back country where most hunters are
Well, yea you need cell reception. All cell cams need cell reception. You can change the settings from the phone remotely. But the cam needs cell reception. And not sure why you'd wanna use two different kinds of batteries, but again, most trail cams are like that.
@@JaseOutdoors my hunting spot is very far from the nearest town on the way there I stopped and bought all of one kind of batteries that the store had and it was not enough so I had to buy two of another kind that is the type of stuff that happens all the time to low or middle income families that are trying to hunt
Have one overrated piece of crap. It should send videos without extra charge.
Are these true "No glow"?? I.e. undetectable?
No. The newest one apparently are no glow. Hoping to review one soon
@@JaseOutdoors I'm confused.. the newest ARE no glow? Or no?
Correct. This is no longer the newest version. The version in this video are low glow. New ones are no glow