The Muddy MTC100X, otherwise known as the Hunter 14MP, is a solid and reliable budget class trail camera. In our Muddy MTC100X trail camera review, we plan to identify the pros and cons, go over some example photos and videos, and show you where you can find a great deal on the best budget trail cam today!
What Muddy Claims This Camera Can Do
“Keep an eye on the trail with the Muddy Outdoors MTC100X 14.0 MP Trail Camera. The 14.0 MP sensor provides crystal clear imaging, while the infrared sensor captures targets up to 60 feet away. The backlit LCD screen improves readability, and the 1.5 second trigger speed quickly captures nighttime images using LED technology.”
These are the claims in the product description on Academy Sports and Outdoors website. While I agree with most of them there is one I would advise you to take into consideration.
During my experience using the Muddy cameras on my own deer property, I experienced no issues with detection range or trigger speed. Owning other cameras that have watched corn piles disappear without a single image, and even more taking hundreds of images of leaves blowing in the wind, I was impressed with the reliability of the Muddy camera.
The detection range is great, picking up the smallest game directly in front of the camera and even moving through the woods at the edge of its detection range, has proven to be a nonissue. This camera has taken photos of everything from deer to doves without a hitch.
That brings us to trigger speed, which again I have no complaints about. Taking sometimes too many pictures of animals. This camera has performed well, even when capturing deer and squirrels running full speed through the frame.
The one claim I can’t fully support is that the camera provides “crystal clear imaging”. Although the images are plenty clear for my purposes. Determining whether a deer is a doe or button buck has been difficult in many nighttime images. Smaller animals, like squirrels and doves, don’t have much detail at all in many of the images.
The Pro and Con List
Pros
- Affordably Priced
- Reliable
- Simple Operation
- Video Capability
- Accepts Python Lock
Cons
- Low Resolution
- No time/date displayed on videos
- Vertical battery compartment
My top three criteria when I am looking for a trail camera, specifically for the purpose of inventory and tracking game I am hunting, are as follows. It must be affordable enough to purchase more than one, it must be simple to operate and function reliably, and it has to have the ability to be locked to the tree. The Muddy MTC100X trail camera checks all three of those boxes.
As much as I like this camera it does have some downsides that I think could be improved upon. Low-resolution images and video capture mean details that could be crucial to identifying certain game animals are hard to see. Even though time and date are displayed on images they do not show up within videos captured by this camera. Lastly, the vertical battery compartment makes it difficult to change out the batteries while the camera is still attached to a tree.
Specs I Couldn’t Find Online
When I was shopping for new trail cameras, and I found the Muddy MTC100X, I had some trouble finding certain specs on it. Of course, the product name and description show us that this camera has a 14mp maximum capture and shoots video at 32fps, but I couldn’t find out what the resolution in which it shot video was.
After watching some review videos and some other comparable “versions” of this camera I determined that it shoots video in 720p resolution. After doing some more research on trail cameras, their native resolutions, and the effects of interpolation on the clarity of your images and videos (learn more about this HERE), I wondered what the native resolution of this camera is?
I emailed Muddy Customer Service asking that specific question. The response I received was, unfortunately, not very helpful. They actually provided me with the advertised resolution of the MTC100 camera, which is 12mp.
Knowing the native resolution of your camera can help you determine what settings to shoot in so you can reduce interpolation on your images or videos. While I still don’t know what this is for the Muddy camera, you can simply take an educated guess and run your camera in the 8MP resolution setting to hopefully reduce some interpolation in your images.
How The Muddy MTC100X Trail Camera Performed For Me
We’ve had this camera deployed for about four months now, taking inventory of whitetail deer on my suburban hunting property. During this time it has captured hundreds of videos and thousands of 2photos This camera has taken day and night time photos in various conditions. It even made it through a snowstorm with a surprising lack of false triggers.
I would place this camera high on my list. You can purchase multiple cameras for the price of one of the average big-name brands and it will outperform them. Yes, this camera does have the typical limitations common in its price range but overall I am very satisfied and will purchase more in the future!