Those of you who use them, in your opinion which one(s) have the longest battery life?  Any recommendations on best bang for the buck?

Bob.

WildGame Innovations get great battery life for me. they take good pics and are not all that pricey.  the Stealth and Moultree I had were not so good. haven't tried any others.

Bushnell Trophy Cam and Scoutguard 550.

My buddy used one of the primos cameras last year and it seemed to have really good battery life. Not to expensive either.

Wildgame Innovations by a long shot!! I've taken over 3,500 pictures from August to December. Replaced the batteries early this January and its taken 1,200 since then and its still at 3/4 battery power. I own Cuddiebacks, Buschnells, and Moultrees for a little more perspective. The IR5 and IR8 just happen to be on sale this week at Dicks.

Ive only experience with 2 company's Moultre and Cuddeback.  The Moultre battery blows away the Cuddeback.  I have left it out in the cold for 2 to 3 months and still had juice.  The cuddeback has quicker shutter and gets more multiples of animals but the battery is weak lucky to get a month out of it.  The models were the IR 35 and Capture IR.  My experience others mileage may vary!

You are going to get sooooooo many conflicting opinions on this subject. Some Moultries will last longer than others. Some cuddys will last longer than some moultries. Get my point? The problem with todays cams is none of them are consistent. After using many,many of these brands I decided to start making my own. Yes, it's some work. Not hard,just tedious. But in the end it is well worth it. They take great pics(I think better than store brand)and are plenty fast. Great thing about Homebrus is if they break YOU know how to fix them. You dont need to send them back to the retailer for repair.
If you just want a cam for a feeder, then buy the cheap ones cause shutter speed is irrelevant. If you want an actual trail cam, take a look at homebrus. There is a build along of one on the photography forum here.
My 2cents.

hey stick-n-string!   thanks for the heads up about the Wildgame's going on sale. ain't it cool that they're on sale so close to Father's Day?

I've got a Scoutguard SG550 that will sit on 8 AA's for over a year.

It's been a great little camera.

Older Cuddeback good on batteries. Newer Cuddeback not good.

Basic Primos (I think its a 35): depends on the settings but basically good.

wildgame innovations IR4. the batteries last for months.

Check out the following for excellent reviews including battery life:

  Chasingame.com

  Trailcampro.com

Best camera in my opinion.Primos 35  4000 pics per set of batteries.i have 2 of them with no problems.over 20,000 pics so far combined number.