I’m happy that some trail cam companies continue to offer dependable non-cell cameras for the reasons I explained in my article, “Don’t Sleep on Non-Cell Cams.” (Click here to check it out.) During the last handful of years, I’ve used a few different non-cell cams from Spypoint, and last deer season I field tested its new-for-2025 Force 24.
You can visit the Spypoint website to learn about the features and specs for this camera. Here, I’ll explain how the camera worked for me. Spoiler — I could not have been more impressed.
As I typically do each year, I hang my non-cell cams on the same weekend that I hang my cell models. In 2025 this was in late August. On the same weekend, I also clear shooting lanes for my treestands and natural ground blinds, and make sure my ladder stands and hang-on portables are in good working order.
I hung the Force 24 in a deep, heavily-wooded South Dakota river-bottom that doesn’t receive cell service. Specifically, I placed it overlooking a small clearing that is a hub of deer activity. It’s between two nearby bedding areas, and whitetails will enter the clearing from all directions. The diameter of the circular clearing is 15 yards.
I don’t have a treestand covering this clearing because there’s not a suitable tree, and a natural ground blind doesn’t work well there because the wind always swirls, alerting nearby deer. That said, I have a ladder stand 60 yards west of the clearing, and a hang-on portable 75 yards east of it, so if I’m in either of those stands and deer move through the clearing, I can catch a glimpse of them. The cover in that part of the river-bottom is thick, so visibility is limited.
Pulling and Checking the Cam
I didn’t switch memory cards on the Force 24 during the 2025 South Dakota archery season, so when I hiked into the river-bottom in January to pull the cam, I had no idea how well it worked. I’d never operated a cam overlooking this clearing before, and while I was hopeful, you just never know. Sometimes you think that you have a spot trimmed out properly for a cam, then realize later that a pesky branch could blow in front of the cam on super-windy days, or long grasses blowing in the wind can trigger a cam — like I said, you just never know until you try it and then look at the pics.
Earlier I wrote: “Spoiler — I could not have been more impressed.” Let me elaborate.
I assumed when I hiked into the river-bottom on Dec. 7, 2025, to retrieve the Force 24 that the batteries would be dead. The air temp that morning was only 2 degrees. I’d loaded the cam with eight affordable AA batteries (Amazon brand) in late August, and the region certainly had its fair share of cold weather during those next 3-plus months. I walked up to the cam, switched it from “on” to “off” and placed it in my backpack.
I waited to check the SD card until the following day, when my son Elliott could join me. He also bowhunted the river-bottom during 2025 (and shot a big buck), so I knew he’d enjoy scrolling through the pics.
We could hardly believe our eyes. Not only did the cam capture thousands of wildlife images, but there wasn’t a single wasted pic. Not one! Sure, we had pics of squirrels, skunks, rabbits, raccoons, coyotes, house cats, birds and even a possum or two, but I didn’t have a single pic that was all black, or all white, or any “false triggers” where a branch or grasses triggered the cam but there’s not a critter in the image.
As we scrolled through the pics in chronological order, it was fun to see the entire fall transpire, day after day. Deer activity was generally slow during early fall, but as we neared the Halloween date, we knew that bucks would soon be on their feet during all times of the day. And sure enough, the Force 24 revealed this annual, predictable explosion of rutting activity.
Elliott and I hoped that the Force 24 would capture pics of the mature buck I shot on November 2, as well as his big buck, which he killed on November 7, and we weren’t disappointed. We’d already seen pics of these two bucks from our cell cams during the hunting season, but it was a bonus to see more images of these deer, as well as other whitetails in a part of the river-bottom that doesn’t receive cell service.
Crazy-Good Value
I’ll conclude this review by pointing out that the Spypoint Force 24 is a crazy-good value. You can purchase one for $49.99 or buy a two-pack for $89.99. And it gets even better: The Force 24 is covered by the company’s 2-year warranty. If the cam fails during this period, Spypoint will either repair or replace it.
Below is a small selection of images taken during fall 2025 (chronological order) with my Spypoint Force 24. And I’ve included captions that detail some of my impressions regarding the cam’s performance. My son and I were tremendously impressed with this camera and we look forward to using it again during the 2026 whitetail season!
