The Best Trail Cameras

I’m a staff writer covering outdoors and travel gear for Wirecutter. I’ve written and contributed to buying guides for camping chairs, first aid kits, and headlamps. I also previously worked as a photo editor at Wirecutter.

For this guide:

• I researched more than 50 trail cameras. Then I spent several months in the woods of Vermont testing five.
• Alongside our other expert photographers, I assessed and compared each camera’s images for quality and consistency.
• I spoke with several wildlife enthusiasts and hunters I know about their favorite models, brands, and preferences.
• Like all Wirecutter journalists, I review and test products with complete editorial independence. I’m never made aware of any business implications of my editorial recommendations. Read more about our editorial standards.
• Senior staff writer Sarah Witman also spent 19 hours researching and 45 hours testing trail cameras in 2020. Her reporting appears in this guide.

Most people who buy trail cameras are hunters, field researchers, or recreational wildlife watchers. This guide is primarily geared toward the latter—people who just get a kick out of seeing the animals that prowl around their homes or cabins.

Our favorite outdoor security cameras also allow you to spy on animals, and they add other features, like 24-7 video, two-way talking, and smart-home integration. But they produce relatively low-quality still images (with a fraction of the resolution found in most trail cameras) and must be placed in range of a Wi-Fi network or outlet.

If watching wildlife is your main goal, you’re going to want a dedicated trail camera.

A ton of models are available in the trail camera category. They tend to come and go quickly. And they have a wide range of capabilities and features.

To narrow the field, we looked at cameras that were available from major retailers like Amazon, Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, and Dick’s Sporting Goods, as well as from established brands like Browning, Bushnell, and Spypoint.

With the exception of our budget pick, which was last tested in 2020, we picked cameras to test based on these criteria:

• Price: We looked for models that are $150 or lower. We know you can get a great trail camera for less than this, so we didn’t bother testing exorbitantly priced models.
• Noncellular storage: We picked only trail cameras that have local SD card storage. Cellular cameras, which send images over a cell provider’s network, require additional subscription costs. (We plan to test these in the future.)
• Detection distance of 80 feet or more: Detection distance is how far away a camera sees motion and triggers a photo. If you set your camera up in a field or light woodland, it’s important that it can detect movement from far away.
• Trigger speed of 0.5 second and recovery time of one second (or better): Trigger speed refers to how quickly the camera snaps a photo (or burst of photos) once its motion sensors see movement. Faster trigger speeds are generally better because the camera can take photos before an animal leaves its frame (especially helpful if the critter is moving quickly). Recovery time refers to how long after an initial photo or photo burst the camera needs to rest before taking another set. These two work in tandem and should be taken into account together. For example, a camera with a fast trigger speed but a slow recovery time might snap a burst of images of an animal on the edge of its frame but miss the animal crossing through the frame while it’s recovering.
• Video resolution of 720p or higher: 720p is the standard resolution for HD video. Anything lower than that would look really grainy on most devices. All the models we tested offer at least 720p.
• External storage capacity of at least 64 GB: Many modern trail cameras, including the ones we tested, support up to 512 GB. Our favorite SD cards store up to 64 GB. That’s plenty to save hundreds of photos and videos.
• Rechargeable batteries: Believe it or not, some trail cameras explicitly state not to use rechargeable batteries, but we excluded those from our testing because rechargeable nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and lithium-ion batteries have a couple advantages over alkaline: They are more cost-effective and reduce waste, and they perform better in colder temperatures. Of course, any trail camera can take disposable alkaline batteries, if you prefer to use them, but we don’t think any trail camera that prohibits you from using rechargeables is a good choice.
• At least a one-year warranty: This should give you enough time to fully test out your trail camera and make sure it’s working properly.

What about megapixel count? Trail camera manufacturers market megapixel counts of 14, 30, 48, or more, but their cameras’ native resolutions are only a fraction of that number.

They get away with this thanks to interpolation, a process where the camera’s software enlarges its original picture, digitally filling in the details by adding pixels. Good interpolation can make the final result look (somewhat) natural, and bad interpolation can make an image look grainy, mushy, or oversharpened.

Either way, if you set your camera to a resolution that’s higher than its minimum setting, you’re likely getting digitally enhanced and enlarged results, for better or worse.

We considered several other important factors while testing our five finalists, the details of which you can find below. (Note that we didn’t retest our budget pick, which was tested in 2020, but we still stand by this recommendation.)

• Photo quality: I wanted a large and diverse sample size, so I set the cameras outdoors for several months, rotating them through different areas—rocky dens, large fields, woodland areas. They collectively took hundreds of photos, both during the daytime and nighttime. I also set up all of the cameras simultaneously in one spot to capture the same action, which helped me more objectively compare their exposure, color, sharpness, and detail. Similarly, I factored in the photo quality of each camera from my distance detection testing (discussed below). I also asked Wirecutter director of photography Michael Hession to help me assess sample images.

• Detection distance, trigger speed, and recovery time: I set each camera outdoors facing the same direction, maximized their settings for photo resolution, trigger speed, and recovery time, then walked across the frame at 20-foot intervals. I did this test twice during the day and twice at night, and in addition to seeing each camera’s detection distance, it allowed me to compare the image quality between cameras after they took simultaneous photos of the same subject. Most cameras we tested, with the exception of our budget pick, detected movement as far as 80 feet away, and sometimes up to 100 feet. However, we noticed that photo quality fell off significantly after 60 feet for our top pick, and beyond 40 feet for the rest, especially at night. This test also showed me when a camera missed its shots, triggered, or recovered more slowly than its competitors.

• Durability: I tested the cameras in Vermont from October to February, putting them through intense rain, windstorms, and subfreezing temperatures. Aside from a couple of cameras that got water in their sealed compartments during an especially intense rainstorm, the cameras we tested held up well, and none failed catastrophically.
• Battery life: Most trail cameras should be able to run for weeks (at a minimum) on one set of rechargeable batteries. However, battery life can change depending on your camera’s settings. Colder winter temperatures can also shave time off your battery life. We let the cameras run in the field, with maxed-out settings, for several months during the winter using our top pick for rechargeable NiMH AA batteries, and we recharged each camera’s batteries only once, mostly for good measure (none of the cameras burned through batteries at a surprising rate). We have more advice about batteries in Trail camera accessories to consider.

Top pick

The best photos, videos, and warranty

Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow Trail Camera

This easy-to-set-up trail camera takes better images (including 4K video) and has a better warranty than all the cameras we tested.

$132 from Amazon

The Bushnell Core S-4K No Glow Trail Camera delivered the most lifelike daytime and nighttime images of any camera we tested, and its build quality and two-year warranty are better than the rest.

It takes the best images of all the trail cameras we tested. After looking over hundreds of photos and videos, we consistently preferred the images from the Core S-4K to any other camera.

The images aren’t perfect, but they were the most true-to-life in terms of exposure, detail, and saturation.

This camera also took some of the best night images and video, and it has customizable settings for capturing fast motion or prioritizing long-range subjects.

It produces 4K video and has a hybrid photo-video mode. Like its photos (and similar to every other trail camera), the Core S-4K’s 4K video is interpolated. That means the camera is not capable of recording native 4K video, so its final video output is digitally enhanced and enlarged to make it 4K.

Still, during our tests, its daytime and nighttime video surpassed competitors in exposure, detail, and color. It also has a hybrid photo-video mode, which means that it takes a video clip after a burst of photos.

It’s easy to set up. Once you turn it on, its 1.5-inch color screen shows you what its camera sees, which takes a lot of the guesswork out of positioning the camera (although it’s tricky to get your head out of the shot while simultaneously looking at the live view).

On other cameras, like our runner-up, the lens and the screen are attached to the door of the camera. This means that when you open it, the screen shows you the opposite direction of where it’s going to shoot, and you might need to do some test shots to get the right angle. Not so with the Core S-4K.

It starts automatically. Each time you turn it on, it starts a 10-second countdown until it starts looking for motion and taking photos, and the red LED blinks like a digital camera’s timer.

This feature is surprisingly handy. Other cameras require you to hold or hit a button to start its countdown. This is easy to forget, as I learned during my testing.

It’s customizable. The Core S-4K’s default settings are a good start, but it has lots of granular settings, too: camera-only, video-only, and hybrid modes; three image sizes to manage card space; number of pictures it takes in a burst; flash settings for long range, fast motion, or lower-intensity; and video length of up to one minute.

It has a better warranty and feels tougher than the rest. Bushnell’s trail cameras come with a two-year warranty, which is one year longer than the warranties offered by the other cameras we tested.

Compared with several other cameras we tested, the Core S-4K’s housing feels like it’s made of thicker plastic, and the latch that secures its housing is much sturdier than the rest (with the exception of the Browning model we tested).

It also has a metal clasp to hold its strap in place, which is far less likely to fail than the plastic ones on other cameras, especially in cold weather.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The settings can be quirky. For instance, at night, the Core S-4K only captures a maximum video length of 15 seconds when you have its flash set to “Long range illumination.” It’s a strange detail, and I inadvertently discovered this during testing, thinking it was a glitch, but it’s noted in the manual.

Its lens isn’t as wide as those of the other cameras we tested. The upside is that the images feel closer to the action than those of its competitors. The downside is that it captures a smaller area of the scene compared with other camera’s images at the same distance.

The Core S-4K’s pictures have a noticeable magenta hue. But it’s less noticeable than other cameras’ image quality flaws.

Budget pick

A decent no-frills option

Wildgame Innovations Terra Extreme 14MP

This trail camera is a cinch to set up and takes better pictures than similarly priced models. It is less customizable than our other picks, though.

$55 from Amazon

The Wildgame Innovations Terra Extreme 14MP—which my colleague Sarah Witman tested in 2020—is a cheap, simple-to-use camera to start your trail camera journey.

It’s also great if you want to get multiple cameras without breaking the bank.

It’s cheap! Trail cameras frequently go on sale as new models are released, but at the time of publication, the Terra Extreme 14MP was almost one-third the cost of our top pick.

It has decent image quality for the price. The still photos and videos it produces can be a bit overexposed and pixelated, but they still look more true-to-life than those from similarly priced models, like the Moultrie A700i. It also records video in 15-second bursts, but it doesn’t record audio, unlike our other picks.

Its detection distance and trigger speed are solid. The Terra Extreme 14MP can detect movement up to 40 feet away, and its trigger speed is rated at 0.8 second, both of which are significantly lower than our other picks. Still, this is a good value when you consider its price and that photo quality falls off on most trail cameras beyond 40 to 60 feet.

It’s super simple. This camera has the fewest settings of any model we tested (it lets you set the date and time and choose between still or video), making it less customizable. But, on the plus side, the Terra Extreme 14MP takes only a few seconds to set up.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It’s the only model we tested that comes with two bungee cords instead of a nylon strap and clip. We found these to be much better for hanging the camera on a fence, and we could more easily remove it and adjust the placement. But they’d be impractical for strapping the unit to a large tree trunk.

Unlike our other picks, it doesn’t record audio with its videos.

If our top pick is unavailable: Consider the GardePro A3S, which matched the reliability and photo quality of our now-discontinued runner-up pick, the Meidase P60 Pro Trail Camera (it also suffers from the same photo-quality deficits). The clamps that held the camera closed were flimsier than those on the Meidase P60 Pro Trail Camera, and during a rainstorm, water leaked into the housing of the camera. It didn’t seem to affect the camera’s functions, however.

We considered more than 100 models and tested nine, two of which are now discontinued. Of those that are left:

The Meidase P60 Pro had been our runner-up pick; it was discontinued in 2025. If you see it for sale, we still think it’s worth buying. It has a fast trigger speed and a great recovery time, and during our field tests it consistently captured a lot of wildlife, big and small. Like our top pick, it has a hybrid mode setting. When set, it takes a video after taking a burst of photos.

The Vikeri 4K 32MP Trail Camera is a best seller on Amazon and similarly priced to our top pick. Its daytime pictures were generally as good as that of our top pick, but the nighttime photos were not—its flash illumination area is uneven and much smaller.

Its nighttime images also suffered from more motion blur and graininess than that of its competitors.

Like the GardePro A3S, water leaked into its housing during a rainstorm.

Lastly, it has the least intuitive interface, and cycling through its photos on the display is painfully tedious.

The Browning Dark Ops Pro X 1080 trigger speed is rated on par with every other camera we tested, and it has good image quality, but more than once it took photos too late (see the sample image above).

It also doesn’t have a hybrid video and photo mode, so unlike our top pick or runner-up, it can’t record video after taking a series of pictures.

But its photo quality is almost as good as our top pick, and it has good nighttime illumination.

The Moultrie A700i is, on paper, almost indistinguishable from our budget pick, and its two-year warranty is twice as long. But its photos and videos were oversaturated and not as crisp as we’d like—especially with faraway objects.

All of our picks can be powered by rechargeable batteries. Our favorite rechargeables last just as long on a single charge as the best single-use batteries, but at a fraction of the cost over time.

If your camera doesn’t come with an SD card for storage, consider our recommendations, all of which have at least 64 GB capacity, which is plenty of space.

You might also consider an SD card reader that plugs into your phone. During testing, I used one, which allowed me to download and see photos on my phone in the field, rather than wait until I got home.

If you’re worried about your trail camera getting stolen, several companies sell enclosures and locks to keep them secure. We also recommend writing down the location of your trail cameras if you place them in a remote location. The best trail camera is the one you don’t lose!

Bushnell sells a solar panel for its cameras, which we haven’t had the chance to test. But it could be handy if you’d like to power our top pick beyond its battery life.

Cellular trail cameras send photos to your phone shortly after they are taken (and as a result, you don’t have to hike out to your camera to retrieve photos). They tend to be more expensive and require a separate data plan with a wireless provider, but we’d like to expand this guide to include them in the future.

Disposable batteries maintain a more constant voltage before dying (usually 1.5 volts), while rechargeables keep running at a lower voltage (dipping down from 1.5 to 1.2 volts) before cutting out.

Some trail cameras (like the Moultrie A700i) will stop working when the total power drops below about 1.3 volts per battery, so you should always check which batteries the user manual recommends.

And no matter what kind you use, make sure all four batteries are fully charged when you put them in, and don’t use a mix of battery types and brands.

A lot of factors affect battery life.

• your camera’s settings (image resolution, the number of photos you’ve set for each burst, if it’s recording video)
• temperature (cold shaves time off your battery life)

After a few weeks outside, your trail camera might accumulate cobwebs, bird feces, and other detritus. We recommend wiping it down with a damp cloth every so often to keep it clean.

Placing it out of direct sunlight, if possible, also helps slow down the rate at which the plastic exterior degrades.

Somewhere in between cellular trail cameras and the SD-card models we recommend Bluetooth- or Wi-Fi–enabled cameras. You still have to go out to the camera to get its photos, but you don’t have to remove an SD card and instead can transfer images wirelessly. I almost lost a few SD cards in deep snow during testing, so I’m looking forward to trying these.

I also plan to test the popular Tasco 12MP Trail Camera against our budget pick.

This article was edited by Christine Ryan and Ben Frumin.