Cuddeback's Cuddelink

[swat1018]

Hello, I am new to the board and excuse me if this is covered before in this thread but I have done a good bit of reading and would just like opinions. I just purchased a 527 acre farm and am very interested in the cuddelink system. I was going to start off running 8-10 cameras. I would just like to know if the consensus is the cuddelink system is worth the investment or not. Starting from scratch and knowing that I will likely have this farm for many years, I would like to get some input on which cameras to use and accessories. I had previously had all g series power houses in cart with solar panels since i live 3.5 hours from my farm I wont be able to get up as frequently to change batteries etc.. Any input would be appreciated!

If you can afford to go the G cam route, I would. The only advantage to the J-series, I can see, is the price. I have 5 J's and a cell home. It works well for what I wanted, just to get enough info from the farm that's 6 hours from home. I cover about 210 acres with 5, and they all link up to my cell home directly. I have been most impressed with their transmission range, and least impressed with battery life. When you place your cell home, it helps to utilize topography and get it in a high spot that will service your farm well, if that would apply to your farm.

I'd check farmsteadarchery.com for good pricing, like others have said. Good Luck.

 

[Gdgros]

Willow I just picked up one home camera and one it Camera still waiting on the home camera firmware upgrade so it will sync to a pc.
As for my testing on my one camera not bad but it has only been out for 3 days and my hunting property is 600 miles away.

We also use spypoint for our cell service and so far it has been working great

 

[WillowRidge]

If you can afford to go the G cam route, I would. The only advantage to the J-series, I can see, is the price. I have 5 J's and a cell home. It works well for what I wanted, just to get enough info from the farm that's 6 hours from home. I cover about 210 acres with 5, and they all link up to my cell home directly. I have been most impressed with their transmission range, and least impressed with battery life. When you place your cell home, it helps to utilize topography and get it in a high spot that will service your farm well, if that would apply to your farm.

I'd check farmsteadarchery.com for good pricing, like others have said. Good Luck.

Awesome thanks for the feedback!

 

[WillowRidge]

Willow I just picked up one home camera and one it Camera still waiting on the home camera firmware upgrade so it will sync to a pc.
As for my testing on my one camera not bad but it has only been out for 3 days and my hunting property is 600 miles away.

We also use spypoint for our cell service and so far it has been working great

Thanks!

 

[JLemon]

Thanks, exactly what I was thinking of running. Do you know if the solar panel would be worth the investment?

If you have cameras in a place where they will get sunlight most of the day they work great. I ran this on my Home Plus before I got a K series cell and I never changed batteries. I’ll hook it to the K when the cord gets released.

 

[Bpressley]

If I had to do it all over again I would go with all G series cams. I prefer their versatility with flash and battery options over the J series. And yes imo the investment is worth it.

 

[ssesox]

Willow,
I hate to say this about a WI company but I've never been more frustrated with cameras. It seems like I change batteries constantly. The sensors were bad, and it didn't take as many pictures as it should. They replaced them. When the D batteries die most times the camera has to reprogrammed. . I live in WI and I've been to the factory twice. Customer Service was nice enough but the problems never really got fixed. I guess they did get slightly better. We are on the 107 page of this forum...enough said. Game cameras really shouldn't be this complicated. I would highly recommend the Spypoint cellular camera. I've only had it 1.5 months but its worked flawlessly. The resolution of the pics isn't the greatest, but not bad.

 

[WillowRidge]

Willow,
I hate to say this about a WI company but I've never been more frustrated with cameras. It seems like I change batteries constantly. The sensors were bad, and it didn't take as many pictures as it should. They replaced them. When the D batteries die most times the camera has to reprogrammed. . I live in WI and I've been to the factory twice. Customer Service was nice enough but the problems never really got fixed. I guess they did get slightly better. We are on the 107 page of this forum...enough said. Game cameras really shouldn't be this complicated. I would highly recommend the Spypoint cellular camera. I've only had it 1.5 months but its worked flawlessly. The resolution of the pics isn't the greatest, but not bad.

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah I've held off on these for a while hoping that the bugs are worked out. I like the spypoint and the I own spartan cameras and love them. The problem is for my needs it doesn't make sense to run 10 cameras with cellular plans for $15-$25/month. Man I sure am torn!!

 

[Gdgros]

Ssesox our first spypoint had issues but after it was replaced it’s working good and the price isn’t that bad for a year service with them

Wish cuddelink would come out with att service I would give them a shot with the cell service

Am disappointed that they don’t have the the firmware upgrade for the home camera

 

[JLemon]

Yes there are 107 pages to this thread. I’d guess about 105 are I don’t get good battery life, when can I hook my home plus to my computer and I don’t get good battery life. I’ll deal with little issues and at least 5 months of battery life to have a $20 cell plan sending pictures from up to 15 different cameras.

 

[12point]

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah I've held off on these for a while hoping that the bugs are worked out. I like the spypoint and the I own spartan cameras and love them. The problem is for my needs it doesn't make sense to run 10 cameras with cellular plans for $15-$25/month. Man I sure am torn!!

I'm running 2 Cell Homes and 10 J-Series long range IR's, they have worked as advertised for me. As mentioned battery life will be your main concern so a external power pack will be needed. Also make sure you get the High gain antennas. I have pictures sent every hour and it is addictive. When you get 20 to 100 pictures from 10 different locations its just amazing to me.

 

[WillowRidge]

I'm running 2 Cell Homes and 10 J-Series long range IR's, they have worked as advertised for me. As mentioned battery life will be your main concern so a external power pack will be needed. Also make sure you get the High gain antennas. I have pictures sent every hour and it is addictive. When you get 20 to 100 pictures from 10 different locations its just amazing to me.

 

[WillowRidge]

any idea when the solar panels will be back in stock?

 

[Bpressley]

Ok here are some test pics with and without the Moultrie flash extenders (I used both the 850 and 940i). The camera used is J series black flash 1422, except pic 3. Settings: 1 image, 5 sec delay, Far, 5 mp.

Pic 1: no flash extender

Pic 2: 850, high flash setting

Pic 3: G series Powerhouse IR, no flash extender

Pic 4: 940i, high flash setting


As you can see they make quite a difference for the black flash cams. If you shop around they can be had for under $25 w/ shipping. I feel like that's a qfair price for the performance they deliver. They also fired on every pic taken, that was with a 5 sec delay. Some units were pretty finicky with how the photocell was aimed. But once you get it right they work. I had the flash extender mounted right above the camera but will play with remote mounting to see how far I can separate the 2. Hope this helps some people.

 

[JLemon]

Ok here are some test pics with and without the Moultrie flash extenders (I used both the 850 and 940i). The camera used is J series black flash 1422, except pic 3. Settings: 1 image, 5 sec delay, Far, 5 mp.

Pic 1: no flash extender
View attachment 24994
Pic 2: 850, high flash setting
View attachment 24995
Pic 3: G series Powerhouse IR, no flash extender
View attachment 25001
Pic 4: 940i, high flash setting
View attachment 25002

As you can see they make quite a difference for the black flash cams. If you shop around they can be had for under $25 w/ shipping. I feel like that's a qfair price for the performance they deliver. They also fired on every pic taken, that was with a 5 sec delay. Some units were pretty finicky with how the photocell was aimed. But once you get it right they work. I had the flash extender mounted right above the camera but will play with remote mounting to see how far I can separate the 2. Hope this helps some people.

How far away from the cameras were you? Just curious.

 

[RRAB58]

Ok here are some test pics with and without the Moultrie flash extenders (I used both the 850 and 940i). The camera used is J series black flash 1422, except pic 3. Settings: 1 image, 5 sec delay, Far, 5 mp.

Pic 1: no flash extender
View attachment 24994
Pic 2: 850, high flash setting
View attachment 24995
Pic 3: G series Powerhouse IR, no flash extender
View attachment 25001
Pic 4: 940i, high flash setting
View attachment 25002

As you can see they make quite a difference for the black flash cams. If you shop around they can be had for under $25 w/ shipping. I feel like that's a qfair price for the performance they deliver. They also fired on every pic taken, that was with a 5 sec delay. Some units were pretty finicky with how the photocell was aimed. But once you get it right they work. I had the flash extender mounted right above the camera but will play with remote mounting to see how far I can separate the 2. Hope this helps some people.

Looks great! Does it have solar option?

 

[Bpressley]

How far away from the cameras were you? Just curious.

That tree is 25 yds and the fence is 21 yds. The furthest I was picked up by the cams was about 15/16 yds. But the lawn does slope downwards right about that point. That may have been a factor in the detection distance.

Fwiw every cuddelink (both J and G) cam I've tested in my yard has been extremely accurate, often getting a 2nd pic before the 5 sec night delay. I've seen detection tests on trailcampro that state the opposite and have read about multiple detections issues from users. Maybe it's a firmware issue? I just updated all my cams a few weeks ago and they've been working great. I've deployed 2 cuddelink sets so far this year and their range has been extremely impressive. My 2 furthest cams are .41 miles from the home cell unit and have signal over 20.

 

[Bpressley]

Looks great! Does it have solar option?

I'm sure something could get rigged up but they rrun on 8 AA's. I'm going to use lithiums. There is also a high and low setting for the flash. And not much difference between them as far as brightness. I plan on running them on low to save some battery life.

 

[RRAB58]

I'm sure something could get rigged up but they rrun on 8 AA's. I'm going to use lithiums. There is also a high and low setting for the flash. And not much difference between them as far as brightness. I plan on running them on low to save some battery life.

I once used an external strobe for a home-brew camera. It lit up the world, but man it ate up some batteries. I remember it washing out the close up’s because there was no way for camera to know or compensate for degree of light. But IR’s are a different type light. Anyway your pics look good. Thanks for the post. Keep us posted with some deer pics and battery life.

 

[RRAB58]

To save you some time and aggravation, use Google Earth and triangulate possible set-up scenarios. Have plan B and C ready. Look for hills for Cell Unit. Make notes on settings before you go.

After 3 days in 100’ heat, I’m kicking myself after reviewing map of my setup. 2 big hills that are causing my linking problems.

(see attachment)