Trail Camera Batteries - by Bruce Wilds

I was recently reading an article from a well-known outdoor publication regarding the best game cameras for 2017. Not to my surprise, several of the big trail camera manufacturers were in the top ten. Now, we can argue all day about who makes the best cameras and why, however there is one thing that all trail cameras have in common and that is that they all run on some type of battery.

Technology has come leaps and bounds from the days of the first D-Cell battery cameras. Today’s game cameras are much smaller in size, much more sophisticated, yet still simple to operate and there are models that are affordable for any hunter’s budget. In researching these top ten cameras for 2017, the one thing that I have found is that every single camera on the list uses AA batteries as their power source.

A trail camera is only as good as the batteries installed in it. Many folks often go the cheaper route when it comes to putting batteries in their trailcams. Oftentimes the thought process is that “they are going to have to replace them often, so why buy the expensive ones”. I can attest to this thought process, as I used to be one of these people. I was going through cheap batteries every month or so on cameras that were in hot spots. Oftentimes, I went out to check my cards, only to find that the batteries had died and I had missed days or weeks of activity.

One spring, I decided to take the manufacturers recommendations and use the more expensive lithium batteries that the cameras had called for. Much to my surprise I was not replacing batteries bi-monthly, in fact, these batteries were so good, that I was actually getting almost two full seasons out of them. I was amazed at the life that these batteries had. I was getting thousands and thousands of pictures on one set of AA batteries. These lithium batteries are made specifically for digital cameras and high tech devices, lasting up to 6x longer than ordinary AA’s. Though slightly higher costs up front, these batteries not only saved me money in the long run, but they minimized the amount of time that I spent at the camera site swapping out batteries and or pulling cameras. Not to mention, I capture all of the game walking past now, versus weeks of inoperable cameras due to a dead battery.

So, for those folks skeptical on spending the money on high quality lithium batteries for use in their trailcams, I highly encourage and recommend doing so. Be sure to always spray your camera set ups down with Scent-A-Way® after replacing batteries and handling them. You will save yourself a ton of frustration and heartache by missing those big buck photos subsequent to dead batteries. I assure you that these lithium AA’s will exceed your expectations in every way, ultimately giving you better trailcam photos as well as a better hunting experience.