Scoutguard SG580M Review

  Quick Facts

  •  Price:                            $328.95
  •  Trigger Time:               1.5 s
  •  Recovery Time:            5-60 s 
  •  Detection Range:         38 ft.
  •  Detection Width:          Wide
  •  Flash Range:                40 ft.
  •  Battery Life:                  1-2 months
  •  Battery Type:                8 AA
  •  Memory Card:              SD Card up to 8 Gig


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Pictures in Action

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Pro's

• Solid detection circuit
• Inexpensive cellular plans
• Good battery life
• Small, compact design
• Excellent for security surveillance or remote wildlife surveying
  

Con's

• Limited detection range (38 ft.)
• Can only be used with AT&T or TMobile

Best thing about this camera

     The monthly plans are much more affordable than similar cellular cameras.

Trailcampro Analysis

     The Scoutguard SG580M is a cellular trail camera.  This is actually the first cellular camera that we consider to be affordable and to be a good overall value.  After reading this review, take a look at a Scoutguard SG580M testimonial.

     A cellular trail camera is simply a camera that will take a picture and send it directly to your cell phone or email account.  In other words, every time the camera takes a picture, you should (within a reasonable amount of time) receive that picture via text message to your cell phone (we may refer to this as MMS) or an email to your computer.

     While reviewing the SG580M, we liked that even without the cell phone capabilities, this would still be an excellent game camera.

     The Scoutguard SG580 has a solid 1.5 second trigger speed, with a recovery time around 5-8 seconds with MMS turned off and a little over 1 minute with MMS turned on.

     The camera takes 8 AA batteries and you can expect between 1-2 months battery life when the MMS is turned on.  Tenergy batteries are too thick to properly fit it this camera, for this reason, we do not recommend them.

     Since the latest firmware update, the camera transmits an average of 85% of the pictures taken to your phone or email.  It still misses a few, but this is much better than previous firmware editions (40% at times).

How it works
     If you plan on using the camera with the MMS, you will need a few things (read the SG580M Setup Guide for full instructions).  First, you will need the camera, a sd card (we give one away with each camera sold) and 8 AA batteries. 

     Next, you will need to decide whether you are going to use AT&T or TMobile (the only cellular carrier options for the SG580M).  Once you have made that choice, you need to either open an account with the carrier or add a line.

     Tell the sales associate that you need a cell phone line with unlimited text and picture messages.  You don't need a phone, you already have one.  This can cost as little as $9.99 a month, however, we recommend talking to AT&T or TMobile for exact quotes matching your needs.

     Your cell phone carrier will then provide you with a sim card.  We will provide you with a file (called Profile) to load onto your computer.  Load Profile onto your computer, open the file and put in your phone number (or email address to email address line) in the first phone number line (save the file when you are done).  You can add up to 4 numbers and can change them at any time.

     Place both the sim card and the sd card into your camera.  Make sure that under settings, you have MMS turned on (this can be found in the camera setup).

     That's it!  You should start receiving pictures immediately.  Normally, when the camera takes a picture it will send to your cell phone in roughly 1 minute.

     Overall, the Scoutguard SG580M is affordable, consistent, easy to set-up and the detection circuit is well-built.  This is the first cell phone camera that we would fully recommend.





   Scoutguard SG580M Cellular Game Camera


   Price $328.95