And Bunjie's New Trail Camera Choice Is...???
I ran a poll on the YouTube page in January of 2021 to see what people liked for trail cameras, and my old favorite Moultrie fared well in the poll. My positive experiences with them in the past, along with hearing the positive feedback from others who’ve used them recently, means I’m still a fan, and so is Genevieve. You can’t go wrong with a trusted brand like that, in my opinion.
But in that poll, I also got some tips from Friends of Bunjie about another camera brand: Apeman. I had never heard of them and looked them up. The camera specs were similar to the Moultries, but there were additional features like an LCD screen. And there was one other big difference: the price! It’s half the price of the Moultries! Can you believe that? I had to take a look. I bought one and we put it to use. I will be buying more of them, for what it’s worth. (Edit: I now have 5 of them ready to go!)
Now, to be honest, I am not the one in the Death by Bunjie family with the most trail camera experience, believe it or not. I buy the cameras and the batteries. I take the images off the cards and put them on the computer, and I post them on Facebook. But it’s Miss Genevieve who does all the grunt work. Ever since she’s been tall enough to do so, she’s been primarily responsible for hanging the cameras (under my supervision, LOL), adjusting settings, and retrieving the cards. I’m usually wandering around looking for deer sign and a good tree to hang a stand while she’s doing that. We make a good team.
For that reason, I had her write down her thoughts on these Apeman cameras. The following is her valued assessment!
Introducing the Apeman
It doesn’t look much different from any other trail camera, really. But read on!
From Genevieve: This camera is full of great stuff! The first thing I noticed when taking it out of the box was the screen... it has one! No other camera we've used has ever had a screen. This makes it easy to view the pictures and videos it's taken without needing a laptop! It's easy to navigate the menus, especially with the screen. Setup took less than 5 minutes, and it worked seamlessly.
The battery compartment is very convenient, too! No trays to slide out and worry about breaking. The batteries pop into the back easily, and you don't feel like they're going to fly out before you put the lid back on. (We’ve had Cuddeback cameras where this was a real problem, believe it or not.) Everything about this camera screams "convenient," and it's not a camera you need to fuss over to get it to work!
Good Design & battery life
Still using the first set of AA batteries several months later.
Two things you can see here: first, you can lock them with a small padlock or bike chain if you wish. That’s great. Second, if you use a strap, these cameras will stick to the tree a lot better with that molded frame on the back. It also has a standard sized screw in camera mount for my preferred hanging method, however.
The first pics we got with it? The train! LOL that’s too funny. But if it' can pick up a speeding locomotive at 30 yards, it’ll work for most of my purposes, I bet.
Picture quality? Adequate! Not the greatest, but considering that at the time of this writing, they’re $36 and change on Amazon—that’s pretty good! Click that link above and check ‘em out!