It's truly amazing to think about how convenience has changed American consumer behavior.
Grocery stores are selling pre-cooked bacon, already-chopped veggie platters, ready-to-eat meals, and more, so you don't even have to shop at the store: You can order online and pick it up at select in-store locations.
Modern phones allow you to import all your accounts, photo albums, text messages and apps from your old phone in under 20 minutes, so you won't lose anything when you move from one phone to another.
Writing checks has become a thing of the past, with more and more businesses going cashless to optimize speed and convenience.
There are fewer and fewer business transactions that require waiting in line, to the point that now, on the rare occasions when we do have to wait our turn in line, we have to convince ourselves to exercise some patience.
We have maximized convenience.
In just a few short years, some of the inconveniences that remained in the world of trail cameras have been eliminated as well.
The first step was to get a camera that could transmit pictures over a wireless cellular network. Like most technologies, the initial costs and price were high, but as the technology spread to more users, the costs and bugs decreased.
Cellular trail cameras used to cost $300, but now you can get a Spypoint Flex-M twin pack for just $130, meaning you get two cellular trail cameras for less than half the price of a single camera.
Prices continue to fall while technology improves.
With cellular trail cameras, you had to choose a model that was compatible with a specific cellular network. For example, you might buy a generic camera that worked with the Sprint or AT&T network, or you might buy a different camera that was programmed to work with the Verizon network. With these cameras, you primarily had to use the camera in a specific geographic location.
Now, that same Flex camera has the ability to automatically switch to the best available cellular network with dual SIM cards, so wherever you go, your camera will work with the best cellular network.
Perhaps the most tedious part of working with a cellular trail camera is making sure you have the latest firmware installed, which meant buying the right SD card, formatting it correctly, and then selecting and downloading the correct and latest firmware from the company's website.
There are so many steps in the process that it takes time, and if an error occurs along the way, your cellular trail camera will stop working, requiring you to go back and retrieve the camera from the woods, take it home, and troubleshoot it.
Setting up and putting out the cameras every year was becoming an inconvenient task at best and a hassle at worst.
Spypoint Flex cameras now feature a format button that will format the SD card and automatically install the latest firmware on start-up. Firmware updates will be downloaded automatically as the season progresses.
Thanks to the camera, you can now monitor battery levels remotely so you can see if they're running low and plan accordingly.
But even here, convenience is built into the plan: the Flex-S model has a solar panel that powers the camera with a battery option for overnight use, and the Flex-Plus includes two battery trays so that when the first set runs out, the unit automatically switches to the second set, ensuring users don't have to experience any downtime.
No more having to change batteries during scouting season.
Trail camera developers have even come up with ways to combat user paranoia.
Many times I have worried that there was something wrong when the camera wouldn't send a photo, and now I can use the “take photo” button on Spypoint's free app to test if the unit is working when the motion sensor isn't tripping.
Just press a button on the remote and a photo will be sent instantly to prove it's working properly, which will count as one of 100 free photos sent per camera each month to the app on your phone.
You no longer have to worry about something not working properly, and if you set it up in an area where there aren't a lot of deer or activity, you can take some test photos to check.
Cell phone trail cameras can take beautiful photos, but there's a trade-off between sending lots of large files over the network that take a long time to transmit, and sending photos that are so poor quality that nothing can be made out.
With improved file compression, you can send full HD images and videos without sacrificing quality.
The Flex's other camera, the G-36, delivers 36-megapixel photos and full HD video, and it was fun watching the video of a group of bachelor bucks fooling around and fooling around with their antlers under a full moon on a midsummer night.
The convenience has truly revolutionized the use of cellular trail cameras for remote scouting and monitoring your favorite hunting locations.
I've long enjoyed using trail cameras to see what ages, sexes, and how many deer are running around, but now other reasons have been added to the list of reasons to use the equipment. Our family loves watching wildlife, and I still get clues about deer activity and movement patterns before the season approaches or when I'm away.
On the grounds of the family's northern Minnesota retreat, a mother black bear and her cubs have been spotted at a feeding station this summer. As the heat of summer subsides, a herd of white-tailed deer emerges to enjoy the cool night air and graze on fresh grass. Flying squirrels dart from tree to tree, snagging cameras in their path.
All the special moments that happen while we're away will not be missed and the whole family will get to experience nature from afar.
When things get this easy, it's hard to imagine what's next. If convenience is going to break down the barriers that prevent people from observing wildlife from afar, today's cellular trail cameras don't disappoint.
Scott McKenthun has been writing about hunting and fishing since 2005. Email him at [email protected].
