I am afraid to say the cheap cameras are very poor and unreliable, as I know to my cost. Having tried various makes and type of cameras around £50 or so, all of which failed at some point for various reasons, I bought a Browning BTC-7e and use it with rechargeable Energizer batteries. I have had it for around a year now and it hasn’t skipped a beat. During the winter the batteries struggle but a fully charged set will get you through the coldest nights. During the summer (when of course there is much more activity) I change them around every five nights. Buying a charger and two sets of batteries means you can aways have a set fully charged ready to go.
This camera has sat out in the extremes of weather, first, rain, snow, hail etc. and just keeps working.
I use it on a small tripod and set it up to record from around two hours before sunset and finish about 8am. If you are in a quiet location it is surprising at this time of year with short nights how much activity there is during daylight/dusk, especially the breeding females.
I have sat out all night recording activity and then checked the camera to see if it ties up with what I saw, so i was confident i wasn’t missing anything and the triggers etc. are set correctly.
Admittedly this is not a cheap option and is a reasonable outlay but well worth it in the long run.
Colin.
