Cuddeback's Cuddelink

[Peplin Creek]

The cell home has instructions for setting up a brand new gmail account just for cuddelink cell service. If you do that and download the gmail app. It’s very close to a mobile app without some of the configuration options. You do get notifications about new emails/pics

 

[12point]

I have used home unit's, not cell unit's, with my J-series cameras for several months and have enjoyed this system.
9 days ago I connected a home cell unit in one group of these J-series cameras where there was cell signal. This has been
a eye opening addition to my game cameras. In my opinion skip buying the home unit and get a cell unit if you have a cell
signal in your hunting area. This is only my opinion again, I purchased the unlimited monthly plan to be able to try this system. Tomorrow I'll be putting a second cell unit to work for myself. Put your money toward a cell unit and the plan to pay for cell/email service instead of the home unit I believe you will happy. I still can't believe the jump this industry has made from the plunger type 35mm game cameras to cell units that will feed multiple cameras to one cell plan.

 

[MidwestAddiction]

Curious does the G series camera run off 6 volts or 9 volts with an external battery pack?

Seems the internal batteries equals 6 volts but the external battery packs are 9 volts. Does the camera have a regulator 9 to 6 volts or is just capable of handling 9 volts?
Thank you

 

[BKRamey]

I have 13 cameras all sending to my home & other than the lack of pictures (compared to my Spartans) I have been satisfied. Although, I do have an issue. All of my cameras are set to FAP (I am trying different setting to work out the bugs) & they send hourly to my HOME & my HOME sends hourly to my email. I have had cards to fill on select cameras (feed plots, etc). But I have never received more than a dozen pics on my email at one time. How many pics should I receive per cell transmission if I have an abundance of picsn select cameras? Or, how can I maximize the number of pics being sent to my email?

 

[john volkman]

I have 13 cameras all sending to my home & other than the lack of pictures (compared to my Spartans) I have been satisfied. Although, I do have an issue. All of my cameras are set to FAP (I am trying different setting to work out the bugs) & they send hourly to my HOME & my HOME sends hourly to my email. I have had cards to fill on select cameras (feed plots, etc). But I have never received more than a dozen pics on my email at one time. How many pics should I receive per cell transmission if I have an abundance of picsn select cameras? Or, how can I maximize the number of pics being sent to my email?

to maximize the efficiency of your system run your settings like this
CL delay 5 seconds
Camera delay 5 seconds or longer( when running FAP you will not get all pics sent home)
Cell home setting "Batch 30" You can move this to 20 or even 10 after you learn how many pics you average on your system if its 500-1000 per day keep it at batch 30.
keep in mind a camera or cell home cannot perform multiple actions at once. when you cell home is transmitting/emailing images the cuddelink network cannot transmit images for 6-8 minutes.

 

[12point]

John V. Do you know if there is any plans for a booster antenna for the cell unit. Like the spypoints

 

[john volkman]

John V. Do you know if there is any plans for a booster antenna for the cell unit. Like the spypoints

I don’t believe so, I do know some people who have successfully used a cell booster in a cabin etc and also some that experimentwd with different antennas and claimed success , I can’t Verify this personally tho

 

[Peplin Creek]

John,

Has there been any talk about creating a setting for a larger thumbnail transmission? Something like 1280x960 or something comparable? I feel like that would be the happy medium for size vs picture quality. I feel like that’s this systems weakness. I realize that may change specs, throughput, how many cams can be on one network. It would be nice though if cuddeback gave the consumers that option. To me right now it’s hard for me to give a recommendation on let’s say a 3 camera setup of cuddelinks over a camera setup like Spartans. Yes cuddelinks are on one data plan, however Spartans send higher resolutions and can request the HD image at a seconds notice. In small setups I think that’s worth the extra cost. Larger setups obviously favor the cuddelink system. But I feel like it comes at a sacrifice of mediocre image quality. Just my two cents. Still overall a good system though. Feel free to pass this opinion along to Mark as I realize a lot of times your the messenger. Thanks for all your help and time on this forum.

 

[john volkman]

John,

Has there been any talk about creating a setting for a larger thumbnail transmission? Something like 1280x960 or something comparable? I feel like that would be the happy medium for size vs picture quality. I feel like that’s this systems weakness. I realize that may change specs, throughput, how many cams can be on one network. It would be nice though if cuddeback gave the consumers that option. To me right now it’s hard for me to give a recommendation on let’s say a 3 camera setup of cuddelinks over a camera setup like Spartans. Yes cuddelinks are on one data plan, however Spartans send higher resolutions and can request the HD image at a seconds notice. In small setups I think that’s worth the extra cost. Larger setups obviously favor the cuddelink system. But I feel like it comes at a sacrifice of mediocre image quality. Just my two cents. Still overall a good system though. Feel free to pass this opinion along to Mark as I realize a lot of times your the messenger. Thanks for all your help and time on this forum.

i think i've touched on this before but in order to send higher rez images via RF the time needed to transmit them increases dramatically. For instance, a SINGLE high rez image may take 30-60 minutes to send via RF in the Cuddelink network. If one is only running 2-3 cams and wants high rez it may be a better choice to run individual cell units. We have an option now for that and are currently working on other options for future launch as well. The fact that the hi rez image is on the remote cam is also worth noting because in the instance you really need it, you can retrieve it. We also need to try and keep the system as simple as possible, as this thread proves, the more options you have, the more difficult it can be to get everyone on the same page.Everyone has different needs and expectations. That said, i dont anticipate the cuddelink image size increasing. Currently, the average cuddelink user is using more than 4 cameras in their system and we feel the number will quickly increase to 8 or more per system over time. We have a considerable amount of consumers maxing out already with 15-16 cameras on their network. I thought the lower rez would be a larger issue than it is but we are finding very small percentage have an issue with it once they start using the system. It does take some adjustment on how one should set the cameras, but i think the benefits far outweigh the low rez image quality. We are constantly trying to make something that fits everyone situation but there are always exceptions as technology changes.

 

[Peplin Creek]

i think i've touched on this before but in order to send higher rez images via RF the time needed increases dramatically. For instance, a SINGLE high rez image may take 30-60 minutes to send via RF in the Cuddelink network. If one is only running 2-3 cams and wants high rez it may be better to run individual cell units. We have an option now for that and are working on other options as well. the fact that the hi rez image is on the remote cam is also worth noting because in the instance you really need it you can retrieve it. We also need to try and keep the system as simple as possible as this thread proves, the more options you have, the more difficult it can be to get everyone on the same page.That said, i dont anticipate the cuddelink image size increasing , right now the average user is using more than 4 cameras in their system and we feel the number will quickly increase to 8 or more per system over time. We have a considerable amount of consumers maxing out already with 15-16 cameras on their network. I thought the lower rez would be a larger weakness than it is but we are finding very few including me have an issue with it. It does take some adjustment on how one should set his cameras etc but i think the benefits far outweigh the low rez image quality.

Thanks John, the problem I have is that deer roughly 30ish feet away from the camera are tough to see horns if they are smaller bucks. I get Hi-Rez images aren’t going to play nicely with the system. I don’t know that I would agree that 1280x960 is Hi-Rez. That’s about what’s needed to atleast identify certain sex of Animals within its detection zone. I see this system as being good on scrapes, some trails and very tiny food plots, where movement is isolated to infront of the camera where animals are close. Fields and larger food plots to me are off the table with system in its current setup. Again Not requesting full size images just a a step up in thumbnail size.

 

[john volkman]

Thanks John, the problem I have is that deer roughly 30ish feet away from the camera are tough to see horns if they are smaller bucks. I get Hi-Rez images aren’t going to play nicely with the system. I don’t know that I would agree that 1280x960 is Hi-Rez. That’s about what’s needed to atleast identify certain sex of Animals within its detection zone. I see this system as being good on scrapes, some trails and very tiny food plots, where movement is isolated to infront of the camera where animals are close. Fields and larger food plots to me are off the table with system in its current setup. Again Not requesting full size images just a a step up in thumbnail size.

i understand, but it creates more challenges even with a small step up, would you be willing to give up both battery life and total image/camera count as a result of increased transmission time? it always about trying to find the best option to fit the most peoples needs. I will pass your input on. Input is always appreciated!
One thing i would suggest you try is to add a G series with powerhouse flash module in either IR or double barrel strobe white flash. If you dont have either of these already you will definitely see a difference past 30 feet on ID ability.

 

[john volkman]

Here is powerhouse IR and white flash both set on the lowest setting , increase range and illumination with these is dramatic and motion blur is also either eliminated or drastically reduced.

 

[Peplin Creek]

i understand, but it creates more challenges even with a small step up, would you be willing to give up both battery life and total image/camera count as a result of increased transmission time? it always about trying to find the best option to fit the most peoples needs. I will pass your input on. Input is always appreciated!
One thing i would suggest you try is to add a G series with powerhouse flash module in either IR or double barrel strobe white flash. If you dont have either of these already you will definitely see a difference past 30 feet on ID ability.

I wouldn’t mind having the option. .

I am definitely upgrading all mine to powerhouse black flash. That should help some. My concern was actually compressed images in daylight and having a hard time telling after a certain distance.

 

[john volkman]

I wouldn’t mind having the option. .

I am definitely upgrading all mine to powerhouse black flash. That should help some. My concern was actually compressed images in daylight and having a hard time telling after a certain distance.

keep in mind the powerhouse black is superior to the J black flash but still slightly less illumination than the std J IR. you will see a noticeable difference in the Powerhouse IR. Daytime resolution will be the same in all models so you wont see a benefit there.

 

[Peplin Creek]

keep in mind the powerhouse black is superior to the J black flash but still slightly less illumination than the std J IR. you will see a noticeable difference in the Powerhouse IR. Daytime resolution will be the same in all models so you wont see a benefit there.

How is motion blur with powerhouse black flash? That’s the main thing for me.

 

[john volkman]

How is motion blur with powerhouse black flash? That’s the main thing for me.

it will still be better but your illumination wont be as far as the standard ir. If you currently have the dual flash module in your g cams it will be just a bit less illumination than it when set to IR, but greater than when it is set to Black flash on the dual flash.
is your desire for Black flash because of a concern of spooking deer?

 

[swat1018]

I have no problem with the resolution level of the transmitted images. I can tell buck or doe and usually which buck at the limits of the detection range on my J's. I wish midway would run the buy a 4-pack get one free deal again. Plan on setting up a network on my other MO farm.

 

[MidwestAddiction]

Can someone post some night pics of G series powerhouse blackflash ?

 

[Peplin Creek]

it will still be better but your illumination wont be as far as the standard ir. If you currently have the dual flash module in your g cams it will be just a bit less illumination than it when set to IR, but greater than when it is set to Black flash on the dual flash.
is your desire for Black flash because of a concern of spooking deer?

Yes, I don’t want to take the chance of red flash or strobe. Been bitten by both in the past

 

[john volkman]

Can someone post some night pics of G series powerhouse blackflash ?

these are all transmitted images from a PH black, in hindsight, i should have removed the fern from in front of the one camera as that negatively affected the illumination area.