Tactacam Reveal X 2.0 vs Spypoint Flex G36 - Head to Head Test and Review

[@toddchamberlain6507]

A factor that you didn't compare is the plans & their costs. I've used both, and I do kinda agree that the Reveal has a slight edge in a few respects, BUT the SpyPoint has a FREE plan with 250 pics per month. that is great (at least for the offseason). With a Dozen cameras out there, SpyPoint has $0 = 250, $5 = 1,000, $8 = Unlimited and that's a huge savings for me (I'm admittedly a cheap bastard!)

[@Erdanx0]

Thats my take as well, I have only had one Tactacam and it gave up after 1 season, my spypoint 2 out of 5 gave out after less than a year (well one just sends photo continuously/bugged), but it seems to be as long as I dont disconnect them for a long time they seem to be able to last. I bought a link micro s with the solar panel integrated, its almost been a year and it is still running (its a low activity area/2-3 photo per day but its a great pass to know when mooses comes in). And I totally saw what he means - I had tons of false positive on spypoint and very few on tactacam - I am tempted to take back a tactacam for active area and spypoint in low active area.

[@connorhart7597]

Thanks for writing this on the long-form video too, I was tryna find it again. For video, is the spypoint cost better than the tactacam of like 5$/50 requests?

[@jimmyharper6655]

Very good, accurate info presented here. I'm also currently running both of these cameras, and the number of false triggers that are generated by the Spypoint camera cannot be overemphasized. Besides being extremely aggavting when reviewing pictures, they also significantly reduce battery life. Amazingly, over a period of several months, I've not experienced a single false trigger from the Reveal camera. That alone makes the Reveal a winner in my book.

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Thanks for the feedback Jimmy! I had to turn the sensor sensitivity on the Spypoint to the lowest setting, and I would still get a few false triggers per day. Sometimes more.

[@cardsfighter2]

That was my exact experience as well. Which makes me think it’s done on purpose to eat up your allotted pics for the month in an attempt to force you to upgrade your plan. Luckily for me, I’m a former bass pro employee and after about 2 months I just took them back and in favor of more tactacams.

[@stephensheldon8396]

I have 12 spypoints and ran them for the past 4 years I've had to replace 3 so far. I have 6 tactacams ran them for 2 years and replaced 3 cameras so far. The 100 free photos from spypoint is a big selling point for me though. Both cameras have worked good for me but the fact the spypoint offers a free plan just has me going more with them as I'll run them all year after season on the free plans and the tactacams I pull after season

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Good to know! That Spypoint free plan is nice for cams on public land too, where you can’t put out bait, so you’re typically not getting a ton of pics anyway.

[@philipdrapeau1394]

I bought 2 spypoint flex for my father in law is and get no cell service, is this normal his land is in a tough cell area?

[@briankin5244]

@@philipdrapeau1394 I own both return the spypoint and buy tactacam they have a 2 antenna option and the tactacam got a green signal where the spypoint didn’t have any signal.

[@briankin5244]

I own both also and spypoint originally didn’t give the free 100 picture they added it because of consumer complaints and plans being canceled because of so many false triggers. In my opinion nothing in life is free you pay for it somewhere.

[@hhprogressiveconstruction1140]

Dealing with issues on my Flex G-36 now with not getting my full video requests and the battery jumping and lowering in the app . I’m using the LT 22 battery pack .

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Good to know! I need to get mine back out for more testing.

[@hhprogressiveconstruction1140]

@@GeorgiaAfield last communication I had 2 cell service bars and 0 % battery life . This communication now I have 4 cell service bars and 87 % battery life.

[@tylerpardue5431]

@@hhprogressiveconstruction1140I have 3 flex s cameras I bought lithium 22 packs for all of them. Some reason my fully charged batteries all went to 0 percent the next day. When I can get the battery full ut won’t send pictures to my app but maybe once a week

[@briankin5244]

I have had nothing but problems with the spypoint it’s like they decide when to work and not work and way to many false trigger.

[@hhprogressiveconstruction1140]

@@briankin5244 Right now I have 5 flex g36 cameras out and working well . The video request was just some lost in transmission I think with cell signal at the time . Haven’t had that issue since when I first set up the camera . Now I think I have done 300 requests no issues .

[@mztd912]

The 100 free pics and GPS feature and the ability to connect to ANY network was the deciding factor for me to go with the Spypoint.

[@mztd912]

@@cottojn wtf? This video is about the X 2.0. Nobody is talking about the X pro. Stay on topic.

[@briankin5244]

They didn’t originally give 100 free pics they added that because of consumer complaints about false pictures. I have owned and used both and tactacam is a way better product.

[@mztd912]

@@briankin5244 lol yea ok make up whatever you want to believe. But the truth is spypoint offers a free plan that tactacam doesn't. I have never had a problem with my G36. Oh and by the way tactacam pics are trash. They downgraded their quality to force people to buy the HD pics. The standard pics on the G36 cam is fantastic compared to tactacams standard pics. Plus you get all the pics sent to your phone in a multi-shot setting without paying extra unlike tactacam where you have to pay for their pro Xtra package to get multiple shots sent to your phone. Again it's just another money grab. I have an XB where the date and time just stopped working and they want me to drive 4 hrs and go get my cam and update the firmware, like WTF! whereas the spypoint G36 does it OVA. Tactacam needs to step up their game. They are so overrated.

[@toddchamberlain6507]

Yeah, the plans is what tipped me to SpyPoint as well. I have them both, but with SpyPoint I buy the $99/yr 'Insiders Club' membership and that get's 10% off a bunch of stuff, PLUS it also gets 250 pics on the Free plan for ALL my cameras. Also then $5/m = 1,000 pics and $8/m = Unlimited... so for a lot of cameras, that's a huge savings. I just got a SpyPoint Flex-S (solar) and it's also got some new features (instant photo) which is awesome, so hopefully SpyPoint is closing the gap with features and technology.

[@rustyjohnston3180]

I have 2 of G-36 cameras. One is working great, but I've had to replace the other one and the new one is giving me issues after a week in the woods. I was getting a message saying that my SD card was the issue. I retrieved it, long formatted the SD card and it was still not transmitting. Even though the batteries were still at 50+%, I replaced them. Now it seems to be working while it's sitting on my desk. While I was still testing it, Spypoint CS called me back and said it seems to be working correctly now. They also told me that a new firmware would be sent out TOMORROW, so we will see. Luckily, I bought them at my local BPS so if it quits again, I'm taking it back for a refund and buying a Tactacam.

[@nagazinafireworks7594]

Also how would I know what sim card would be the best service?

[@Mittens1234]

You probably can’t go wrong with either. I run multiple Spypoint flex-s and g-36s with Tactacam solar panels, and continue to add more. The free plan that Spypoint offers when running many cameras is a big selling point, especially during the off season.

[@TonyRobert-h3v]

I have 4 Spypoint’s sitting in my garage that doesn’t work. I wouldn’t recommend them at all. They’ve replaced 2 of them already and they still stop working. I just bought the reveal x 2.0 and I’m excited to try it out

[@fike301]

Spypoint don’t care about customer and support is a joke

[@lelikbolek1362]

Thanks for sharing!

[@radheshyama16]

Do trail cameras record audio, sound, and voice along with a video like police body cameras without internet and cell service? Do they come with built-in memory? Or do we need to buy separate SD cards?

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Most record audio as well as video, and most require an SD or microSD card although a few now have built-in memory.

[@radheshyama16]

@@GeorgiaAfield I appreciate your response!

[@elkcreekoutdoor]

One thing that bothers me about Tactacam is you have to pay an additional 9 bucks a month on top of your regular plan price to receive multiple shots. If you select the multi shot option it will take multiple pictures but only send you the first one unless you pay extra. No extra fee for spypoint.

[@JustinMentionedIt]

True, I like wild game encounter cell cam better

[@briankin5244]

Don’t you have to pay extra to see HD pictures with spypoint?

[@markkroenke]

Based on this video, I purchased two Flex G36 cameras (I already have a Reveal X and a bunch of other misc cameras). Both G36 cameras were complete garbage and neither camera ever worked for more than 2 days. I spent over a month troubleshooting both cameras and probably contacted support at least a dozen times. What would happen is I would get the G36 set up, make sure it was sending pics before I left the field, it would work for 1-2 days, and then stop communicating entirely. This happened over and over again with BOTH G36 cameras. Eventually Spypoint replaced both cameras, I returned both cameras, and bought another Reveal X. I would strongly, strongly recommend the Reveal X over the Flex G36. There is no comparison. The Reveal X is reliable, the settings allow you to get the camera to do EXACTLY what you want it to, and paying for the transmission plan is a pleasure relative to getting the Spypoint free plan that just causes endless headaches.

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Mark, I'm sorry the Spypoint cameras you picked up were bad. Mine is still out and working properly, although I've recently had some lens fogging issues. But I do agree that the Tactacam is the better of the two, and it seems from the feedback I've gotten that A LOT of people have problems with Spypoint.

[@markkroenke]

@@GeorgiaAfield Do your Spypoint cameras have multiple networks they can access? In my area there is only AT&T. With Reveal X I can fix the network to AT&T. I can’t do that with Spypoint and I suspect that is why they always go dead. They get stuck looking for a Verizon signal when there isn’t one.

[@GeorgiaAfield]

The Flex G36s have both AT&T and Verizon sim cards built in. So the camera is supposed to choose the carrier with the strongest signal for any given area and use that. I have mine in an area that doesn't have the best signal, but it's still connecting and sending pics. I have no idea if it's sending via Verizon or AT&T, but if I had to guess, it's Verizon.

[@markkroenke]

Right they’re built in but you can’t select 1 network like you can with Reveal. My G36s could never hold onto the signal for more than a day or two even though the AT&T signal is super strong.

[@nathanallen6102]

In the cart now that ks for the review. (Ever thought about a. Episode of "can 28g and 410 be a dove go to shotgun" :)

[@bobblack2518]

great review. Thanks.

[@nagazinafireworks7594]

In order to use the tactacam do you have to pay money just to try it out ?

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Yes, you have to set up a data plan if you want to receive the photos on your phone.

[@TheBudgetSportsman]

file size does not = quality. File size has to do with the compression technique of the camera. I have a very low quality camera that produces massive file sizes. and I have other cameras that are very noticeably better image quality that have file sizes 1/10 of the size of that lower quality camera. The actual sensor used and the quality of that sensor is where the image quality will come from.

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Thanks, and you're right. I can open a poor quality photo in Photoshop and make it a very large file...but it will still be a poor quality photo. So the only real way to know the quality of a trail cams photos is to see them first hand. Because the number of advertised MP is definitely not an accurate gauge.

[@Aimsport-video]

UPDATE: Spypoint said that tech support was not correct about rain possibly voiding warranty. WAS: Spypoint says that rain may violate warranty. Today. Refused to email chat so I took a screenshot. Run from Spypoint… really.

[@elkcreekoutdoor]

Twice I have got water in my spypoint camera lenses and both times they sent me brand new cameras

[@Aimsport-video]

@@elkcreekoutdoor A tech support person in chat said that about rain, but I have since gotten a clarification from Spypoint that is much more reasonable.

[@elkcreekoutdoor]

@@Aimsport-video glad to hear that!

[@fike301]

Spypoint won’t do a thing after 2 yr warranty is up….i will never buy another

[@RedClayKennels]

I like your videos. Good information and presented well.

[@GeorgiaAfield]

I appreciate the kind words!

[@greenmoss]

Please help. I've looked everywhere. Will this Tactacam work on a UK network?

[@GeorgiaAfield]

That I am not sure. As far as I know it only works with Verizon and AT&T, but you would need to contact Tactacam to verify.

[@bradenmacke]

I have a few spy point cameras that only send pictures in good service will tactacam be better?

[@GeorgiaAfield]

I have both the Spypoint and Tactacam setup in an area with limited cell service right now, and they are both still sending pics on a regular basis. So I can't really say one is better than the other in that regard. I wasn't sure if either would work where they're at, but I was pleasantly surprised.

[@Mike8946]

One of my new Spypoint Flex G-36 cameras dumps a pile of blank pictures daily at 12 am. Contacted customer service with no explanation. They said I should drive 50 miles, hike a couple more and turn the camera off and on again. Next I should more new batteries and another expensive SD card. The camera isn't a month old. I have two others that I bought at the same time that seem to be working fine so I do know how use them. It has now disappeared from the GPS tracking map so I assume it is now dead in the bush despite 60% batteries and good signal. My son runs several Tacticam without issue. He has gen 1 and 2.0 and they have worked flawlessly. My buddy has the new Pro Tacticam and they work great too. My bad for not going with the same and not listening to the Spypoint reviews. My non cellular Spypoints always worked great so I foolishly expected the same.

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Yeah, I hear a lot of negative reviews on Spypoint. My Flex G36 is still working fine, but I may have just lucked up and got a good one. I will definitely do an update if it ends up having issues.

[@glennflake5732]

How do you say that one camera use 12 batteries the other used eight, but I didn’t hear you say the actual length of the battery life of each camera before replacement?

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Glenn, I didn't run the batteries completely out during testing, but I did mention that when I pulled the cameras, the Spypoint was down to 50% battery life and the Tactacam still had 70%, and the Tactacam was taking photos AND video the whole time while the Spypoint was only taking photos. So I can't report on exact battery life to expect. Obviously that's going to vary based on usage, time of year, type of batteries, and your camera settings. But I can safely say the Reveal had better battery life in my testing.

[@NCsurfer607]

Did you have trouble with SPYPOINT not sending all the pics ?

[@GeorgiaAfield]

No. But it sends a lot of false triggers if you set it on a field edge. Otherwise, no issues so far, and it's still in the field running.

[@kudjomojo9205]

How did the apps and services compare?

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Apps are pretty similar. I can't really say that one is better than the other. I think Moultrie has them both beat in that area.

[@thehowtofamily172]

THANKYOU Brother....

[@GeorgiaAfield]

You're welcome!

[@SSwanger]

Do you have to have an account with verizon or attt? Or is the data plan billed through the cam mfg?

[@GeorgiaAfield]

With both Tactacam and Spypoint, you buy a data plan directly from the camera manufacturer. Since both of these cameras will work on Verizon and AT&T, your plan isn't specific to one or the other. We have an article on our website that breaks down those plan costs for most of the major trail cam manufacturers - getoutdoorssouth.com/cellular-trail-camera-data-plans-compared/

[@SSwanger]

Thanks!@@GeorgiaAfield

[@grantwakeland8222]

Great video but a month of running and 600 pictures is not an adequate test.

[@HuFilms]

The spypoint app is painful, controlling the camera is like trying to paint your house through the the letterbox. Very dissapointing.

[@jakenorman1842]

I have both cameras, from my personal experience, I will never buy another spypoint. Tacticam is the way to go!! Tacticam also has a gps location on it. You just have to copy the coordinates and put it on google maps. Still tacticam is superior

[@terryguin9529]

Strong disagreement on the settings advantage for Tactacam. As a 67 year old I want as few steps as possible to get my pics.

[@GeorgiaAfield]

Terry, I understand that. And you don’t have to change or mess with all those settings. But they are there if you really want to fine tune things. But I get what you’re saying. That’s why I like the cheap Tascos. There’s just like 5 steps to set them up and you’re ready to go 😂

[@fike301]

Spypoint did nothing for me after my Micro LTE died in just over 2yrs….spypoint support is garbage and will never buy another!

[@gonzoman10]

Had the same issue with 3 of my Link Micro LTE, one was the solar version that I purchased years ago. I noticed the other day that the new ones on the shelf have a slightly different gasket on the door now... Might have to take a risk

[@briankin5244]

Spy point are total garbage I used them and now switch to tactacam and will never go back. Spy point also has horrible customer service, tactacam I have yet to need customer service.

[@kevinlee6731]

I agree. I tried one. It was total junk. I threw it in the trash

[@joenevling6039]

SPYPOINT is junk. I’ve used them they fail and pic r blurry at best

[@georgemullin7772]

Either one even comes close to a Canadian camera called thr reconeco kunuk it the best camera on the market today , this video is really quite irrelevant.