Bad Feeder Timers/Motors

[Smart]

We always hear the stories about how good "your timer/motor/spinner" is or how long it has lasted. I have a buddy (not a bowhunter) who insists on being cheap with his feeder control units......and like his rods and reels, prefers to go through 3 cheap ones and return/exchange them versus one good one that lasts. He does not take into account time lost hunting, lost feeding during hunting season or fuel to get another. I guess it is a one time large purchase phobia or the fun of gambling that the cheap one will last....I don't know. Right now he has been wrestling with the Remington feeder sets and is currently on #4 in 1.5 years..



So lets hear it. What feeder motors/times have you had the most problems with...aka stay away from and why?....and yes I am compiling a list to hand him so I can keep saying I told you so.

[Rsatt]

Feeder Mechanicisms-worse

Straight Shooter-I forgot who makes it.
American Hunter-digital model.

Best

HCR
All Seaonns

Good Luck to him

[tx07]

You know what smart.
I have a friend that owns the land in Edwards county and he insists on using those 30.00 Super S motors.
Every year he has to buy one or 2 cause they won't work.


It is very agrivating to deal with this and he complains about them, but still buys them.
I have tried to tell him he is wasting money on gas and time.
See the drive to 674 is one hour from the mountain.
Them it is 33 miles to Super S Foods.

This last year I gave up, I will just let him do this until he see's me not having to deal with problems he is having.
I have been helping the guy with this land since his dad passed on paying 50% of feed and doing work as well. I think it is a fair trade to hunt west Texas. This guy is one of those people that will do anything for you, so you try to help them back. But what can you do when they don't see your point.
All I can do is let him see for himself I guess.

[tuthdoc]

I use staight shooters for a small niche use. I use small pole feeders iin hard to get to areas or areas where I just want a daily dose of corn on the ground. Also, the cows can't get to the corn. With these, you either get one that lasts and lasts and lasts or you get a piece of crap. They are still the best for what I want, but I wouldn't trust a main hunting spot feeder with one.

The Remington/Winchester/Bull dog timers have been good to me. We've got several of the original timers, which were Bull Dog, I think, still ginnin' after 9 or 10 years. Our air drive Remingtons seem to be just as good. Now, the Remington directional is rapidly becoming a disappointment. They jam. The idea is good and they seem to be rock solid, but so far they aren't long lasting. I had one work all season when I was hunting Wednesday the 12 point, but last time down, it was jammed.

I tried the American Hunter units on my pole feeders, but they weren't very dependable. That experiment only went a couple years.

I've had great luck with All Seasons feeders and that little timer that has the knob to set it. We've had one timer going since our Spofford days and another from our Sonora days. So frankly, we haven't used that many different timers because the ones we use on our main feeders have been so dependable.

[Rsatt]

I've had great luck with All Seasons feeders and that little timer that has the knob to set it. .

Doc, the little timer with the knob is the HCR. Several different Companys put their name on it. Good Timer

[markm]

I use Texas Hunter Products....have 3 of them. Two that are about 4 years old and that is still going strong after about 15 years...it even has a bullet hole through it from some moron who decided to do target practice on it.

[tuthdoc]

Yeah, that's the one. Our experience with them has been good

[Smart]

I use Texas Hunter Products....have 3 of them. Two that are about 4 years old and that is still going strong after about 15 years...it even has a bullet hole through it from some moron who decided to do target practice on it.

Gentlemen....please list your bad experiences with timers.......we have 10,000 post about the good ones using the search function.....TKS

[Mike Murphey]

The ones that I see that are good are Sweeny, Remington, UltraMatic, Texas Feeders, All Seasons...I've been using remingtons for about 8-9 years and never had an issue with them except a bad battery every three years, (not the feeders fault).....Cheap is usually what you get, cheap and trouble...

[junkmanhunter]

American hunter feeder mechanisms are pure junk!! I don't care if you gave me one I would not use it.

The best in my opinion is the Texas Hunter, easiest to program and have had them for 5 years with no I repeat no problems. Cost about $100 dollars for the mechanism with solar panel and battery. Look them up on line at Texas hunter feeders.com.

[quarterback]

I have a Texas Hunter digital timer laying on my desk right now. Crapped out after 1 year, got to send it in. The motor/spinner seems to work well however.

Spincast seems to be the best working ones for us overall.

[SaltwaterSlick]

Gentlemen....please list your bad experiences with timers.......we have 10,000 post about the good ones using the search function.....TKS

Anything Moultrie and the various feeder/accessory that is American Feeder Products... Several of our lease members have tried these, and with little to no success... I won't mention the Great success many of us have had over the years with the Spin-Cast and Texas Hunter Products...

[comet]

Smart or as I know you Skack, BIL has been using the same Kenco's for 12 years alltho the motors are getting weak. I have had pretty good luck with HCR's and I have been pretty lucky with the digital timer from A. hunter. I have a Boss Buck unit I put up 2 weeks ago and my fingers are crossed with this one. Seems to be a pretty decent unit, time will tell.

Bad Timers, Sportsman, and Moultrie

[LUCKY AGAIN]

I've got 8 digital led remington feeder sets and so far have gotten 5 years on some of them. In my case and a friends (he has 3 more), the only problem we have had is if solar panels are installed, somehow that seems to sometimes make them start having problems. For the money they are hard to beat. I started using them because of all the problems I had with american hunter brand (the universal little white box style) timers. I DO AGREE THOUGH, FOR THE MOST PART, YOU DO USUALLY GET WHAT YOUR PAY FOR IN TIMERS, ESPECIALLY IF YOU TRAVEL A LONG DISTANCE TO HUNT AND CAN'T GO VERY OFTEN.

[bdog14]

Remington, the worst!!! I had the barrel slip through the clamp(really, a clamp to hold a plastic barrel w/ 300lbs of corn???) and crushed the timer/spin plate...