Trigger Speeds

     One of the most popular topics in the Trail Camera world is trigger speeds.  Trigger speed is the time between motion being detected and the camera taking a picture.  Trigger speeds vary from 0.1 seconds to 4-5 seconds.  In many cases that can be the difference between getting a picture of an animal, or getting the butt of the animal.

      If you plan on putting the camera on either a feeder or a bait pile, the animals tend to lounge around these areas for quite some time, making trigger speed unimportant.  However, if you have the camera on a fast moving game trail, having a quick trigger is important in capturing the animal on tape. For more information on trigger speeds, review the 2011 Trigger Speed Showdown.

     Look at the two photos below.  The picture on the left is from a camera with a 3 second trigger speed, the picture on the right is from a camera with a 0.2 second trigger speed.

Slow Trigger	Fast Trigger

     With the slow camera, you get exactly one picture of a bobcat.  With the fast camera (a Reconyx), you get exactly nine pictures of bobcat in a matter of seconds.