[robertyb]

I am running 4 Garde Pro cameras that are all 4 years or older and none of them has had a single problem. I get about the same usage times with them that I do with my Tactacam and Bushnell cameras but I don't put mine on a feeder getting thousands of shots either. Picture and video quality is pretty good also.

 

[robertyb]

Have not tried the tactacam but we have several that have been running now for over a year. They do not need direct sunlight, just light. That said we don have any running in a jungle canopy setting. Just typical midwest whitetail habitat.

I tried my Tactacam in the woods here in GA hooked up to a good solar charger and it only lasted maybe two weeks longer than just using batteries. It had plenty of sunlight filtering through the overhead branches, etc but no direct sunlight. That camera and solar charger has now been in my field at the house for 3 years and hasn't had a battery in the camera the whole time.

 

[robertyb]

Let us know how you like it please.

 

[robertyb]

I bought two of the x66 , the battery life is not great, one is at 36 percent after 3 weeks, the other is 59 right now at 2 weeks. Night pics are not good. IMO the best thing about the camera is the live stream.

I was thinking I had heard they were having battery problems. I bought one of their first cell cameras and returned it and guess I will hold off on this one too.

 

[robertyb]

My Tactacam runs all year long with only the solar panel hooked up and stays at 100% even after several cloudy days. It is in a field where it gets plenty of direct sunlight though. No batteries are in it at all.
Try this on yours and see if it will run off the solar panel only.

 

[robertyb]

The solar panel I have has a battery built in, the one that gardepro uses is just a solar panel that charges the onboard battery. So, I'm not sure if theres some weird stuff going on with battery to battery charging or not, it's also an off brand panel. I ordered the solar panel that they bundle with their kit to see how that works out. I'm concerned now because I went from 100% yesterday to now 62%. At this rate, it'll be dead by tomorrow.

Yep, unfortunately the complaint mostly on the reviews is bad battery life.

 

[robertyb]

I am using the Wing Home solar panel off Amazon and it does either 6 or 12 volt recharging and has not had a single problem in 3 years usage 365 days a year.

 

[robertyb]

I can not, and will not recommend this camera. Picture quality is great, price is great, but the battery life is beyond terrible. Utilizes a rechargeable lithium battery pack, that you can not buy spares of. So, when it dies, you're stuck charging it for 12+hours. Planning on trying to send it back to Amazon and getting a refund.

So after reading this I have to guess that the solar panels would not keep it charged. Is that correct?

 

[robertyb]

OEA, do you have yours transmitting every picture or on a schedule? Please keep us informed if anything changes.
I was giving this camera some serious though to go in my back field with a solar panel installed.