# What card to use for plot watcher camera.



## Milkman (May 18, 2012)

I asked this over in trail camera forum yesterday, but realized today the experts on photgraphy hang out over here.

I have the new plot watcher camera that takes a picture every 5 or 10 seconds depending on settings, during daylight hours. It supports up to a 64 GB SDHC card.  I have the camera but have not purchased any cards yet.

I have used digital equipment for several years and am familiar with SD cards.
In looking over the SDHC cards I find that I am ignorant on several issues related to cards. There are things like class ratings, read speed, write speed, secure, write protect, etc for these cards.

I dont mind paying for what I need but I see prices all over the place looking at these cards at Amazon, Best Buy, etc.
Thanks for any advice.


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## rip18 (May 18, 2012)

Basically you pay for size & speed...

The faster the write speed, the less energy (most of the time) it takes to write an image, so there is some power (battery) savings.  The faster the write speed, the quicker the camera buffer empties  resulting in no loss of an image because the buffer is full(and the Day 6 Outdoor folks should have designed a buffer big enough to handle a "normal" card load).

The faster the read speed, the quicker you can copy stuff of the card onto another device (computer drive), and the less time you spend sitting & waiting for it to finish downloading.

Class ratings are typically ways of grouping similar performing cards - the higher the class, the higher the performance.

Most camera manufacturers "approve" or "recommend" certain card brands/sizes for their cameras.  While un-approved brands may work in the camera, they may also "fail" at some point in time.

I can't figure out what camera/card system is really inside the Plotwatcher, so I can't cross reference that.

I do see that the Day 6 Outdoors group recommends SanDisk cards, so that is probably what I would go with to be in the safe side...  How high up the chain of SanDisk (Ultra, Extreme, or Extreme Pro) you want to go depends on your needs.  I think any of the 3 will work fine.   The range in speeds from low to high in for those would be 20 mbps to 95 mbps... with a range in price for a 64gb card from $179 to $299 (and I'd probably use a smaller card that was checked more frequently...but that's just me...).

Good luck!


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## Milkman (May 18, 2012)

rip18 said:


> Basically you pay for size & speed...
> 
> The faster the write speed, the less energy (most of the time) it takes to write an image, so there is some power (battery) savings.  The faster the write speed, the quicker the camera buffer empties  resulting in no loss of an image because the buffer is full(and the Day 6 Outdoor folks should have designed a buffer big enough to handle a "normal" card load).
> 
> ...



Robert thanks so much. That is exactly the kind of info I need.  I will read more in my owners booklet to see if the recomend a specific brand or class.

 I was leaning toward using 32 GB cards   Amazon has a twin pack 32 GB class 10  for $46.  Does that sound reasonable for this application to you?


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## rip18 (May 18, 2012)

You're welcome.  That looks like a good deal & ought to work.

The Day 6 Outdoors group makes the Plot Watcher Pro & the SanDisk recommendation comes from page 24 of their on-line Product Manual for Plot Watcher Pro.  They say they will post any reports of non-compatible SDHC cards on their FAQ (and there weren't any...), so I'd go with Amazon in a heartbeat for those prices...


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## Milkman (May 21, 2012)

One of the partners with the company that makes these cameras made a reply to my post over in the trail camera forum.

I am linking to it so any readers and searchers in the future can have quick access to that information too.  Post 5 is where he replied.

http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?p=6935140&posted=1#post6935140


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