Spypoint’s range of wireless trail cameras are designed to keep you in-the-know when it comes to activity in your chosen observation area, allowing you to scout via your phone from the comfort of your armchair, and their wireless capabilities mean you are not disturbing wildlife by traipsing through the woods to remove SD cards. But in order to receive photos/videos to your phone, you must first find a data plan that suits your needs.
Spypoint are the only manufacturers of cellular trail cameras to offer a completely FREE photo transmission plan for their devices, offering 100 photos per month at zero cost. But, if you require more than 100 photos (250 if you subscribe to an Insider’s Club membership), there are a wide range of data plans available.
Each photo transmission plan is designed to cater to different needs, and choosing the plan that best suits yours can seem like a tricky task. But it’s not, and we’re here to help, breaking down all the points you should consider before deciding on a plan.
CONSIDER YOUR REQUIRED PHOTO COUNT
Spypoint’s transmission plans work off a monthly allotment of photos, so it is beneficial to know a rough estimate of how many photos you require your wireless trail camera to capture every month. Unless you have previously used a similar trail camera and have a general understanding of your usage, this step really comes down to guessing. Come up with a realistic initial figure, taking into consideration the application (a camera mounted to a feeder, for example, will take a considerably larger number of photos than one positioned along a trail), and start there. How many times do you think the wildlife you are hoping to observe will walk past the camera in your location? Take that number and use it as a detection number.
FACTOR IN YOUR SETTINGS PREFERENCES
Once you have come up with a realistic detection number, it’s time to factor in your settings. Which camera mode are you intending to use? If you set the camera on multi-shot mode, capturing three photos for every detection, you’ve already tripled your initial detection number. And that is only taking into consideration an initial number based on a single animal you’re aiming to observe. You must also remember other wildlife activity which will trigger your camera, and even factor in detections triggered by moving foliage or tree branches etc. It is not uncommon, in an area with a lot of wildlife activity, for your camera to be triggered more than 1000 times. Conversely, if your camera is located in an area with very little activity, you may never get close to that number.
DURATION BETWEEN VISITS TO YOUR CAMERA
Another point to consider is the time you expect to elapse between visits to your camera. Every Spypoint trail camera will continue taking photos even after your transmission allowance has been exceeded, storing them directly to the camera’s SD card (you will require an SD card before your camera will be able to transmit photos). If you think you will be visiting your observation location frequently and waiting to pull photos from the SD card is not an issue, you will not need a transmission plan with a large photo allowance.
On the other hand, you might live miles away from your observation location and only find the time to visit your camera once every few months (for cameras running off a Spypoint solar panel, this could be up to 16 weeks at a stretch). In this instance you will need a data plan with a plentiful photo allowance.
With all of the above info figured out — estimated photo count, settings preferences, visit duration — you should have ascertained a pretty accurate notion of which photo transmission plan best suits your requirements. There’s just one question left to ask that only you can answer, and it’s a big one:
HOW MANY PHOTOS ARE YOU WILLING TO MISS?
Choosing a photo transmission plan with a smaller allowance brings with it the possibility of missing any activity in your observation area. In some cases, these photos could prove to be crucial when it comes to planning your movements. So, what would be your tolerance?
You could be content with Spypoint’s FREE plan, making use of the allocated 100 (or 250 for Insider’s Club members) free photo transmissions, pulling the rest from the SD card when you travel to the camera. But, for some users, such as hunters, this option may not be viable. When hunting season come around again, how many sits will you be making between visits to the camera? In these instances, year-round access to your trail camera is a near essential commodity, quite literally keeping you in the hunt.
Every user’s tolerance for missed photos differs, with some more casual observers happy to rely on a smaller allowance, and some more dependent on capturing every piece of information possible. It is at this stage you can decide which plan is best for you.
TIME TO DECIDE
It is difficult to factor in every requirement when it comes to finding the perfect transmission plan, as every user’s needs will be different. Moreover, these needs can change like the wind, so transmission allowances may be greater or smaller month-by-month. Even here Spypoint has you covered, allowing you to up or reduce your allowance when you need to. There are users who might want to set their cameras on the Premium plan for a more hands-off approach, leaving their camera to do the work, or there are more budget-conscious folk who just want to focus on photos during specific seasons; that’s what Spypoint’s lower-tier plans are for!
Whatever your requirements, we hope this article has helped make clearer the aspects you should consider before signing up. Now it’s time to decide which photo transmission plan is best for you.
