Cuddeback's Cuddelink

[john volkman]

If black flash is a priority for anyone considering this system , there will be a powerhouse back flash available for the g camera(dual flash) this spring that will offer IR performance in black flash. You will be able to order this installed from any cuddeback dealer who is willing to special order product. For those that want black flash but cost is a priority the j camera with black flash is the lowest priced option but be advised that flash range is cut in half compared to standard IR.

 

[yoderjac]

If black flash is a priority for anyone considering this system , there will be a powerhouse back flash available for the g camera(dual flash) this spring that will offer IR performance in black flash. You will be able to order this installed from any cuddeback dealer who is willing to special order product. For those that want black flash but cost is a priority the j camera with black flash is the lowest priced option but be advised that flash range is cut in half compared to standard IR.

What does "IR performance in black flash" mean? There are all kinds of things you can do to improve the flash range of black flash but if you apply the same things to Red Blob, its flash range increases as well.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[john volkman]

What does "IR performance in black flash" mean? There are all kinds of things you can do to improve the flash range of black flash but if you apply the same things to Red Blob, its flash range increases as well.

Thanks,

Jack

it means exactly what i wrote, the camera will achieve the illumination of our IR module but does not produce a visible red glow.
There will also be a powerhouse IR module available that surpasses our current IR illumination range.

 

[yoderjac]

it means exactly what i wrote, the camera will achieve the illumination of our IR module but does not produce a visible red glow.
There will also be a powerhouse IR module available that surpasses our current IR illumination range.

That makes more sense, Cuddeback just decided to improve flash range over their previous models and added new marketing terms like "powerhouse".

 

[Brian C]

Anyone interested in battery life, I will post again tomorrow. My cameras have been hanging since the day after I received them. Last time I pulled the card the batteries all showed 24 day battery life left. That was when temps had been in the 20's for a week. The past two weeks have been in the single digits with overnight lows around -15. Two days were -20 and there has yet to be a morning in the past two weeks were the temp was over 0. I will post again with battery life reports and maybe a picture or two. I have been spending a lot my limited free time on a friends farm 30 miles north chasing a true once in a lifetime buck. I had this buck twice in the same night within 60 yards with a bow. With the daytime high that day being -4 and the abnormal amount of clothes that I had on, I drew on him but did not feel comfortable with the shot. The first time he was at 60 yards was at 4:00 pm about 23 minutes after I climbed into the tree and the next time at 5:40, just minutes after sunset and 20 minutes left in legal light. I hope tomorrow I can give both a battery life update and pictures of my first B&C buck.

 

[swat1018]

Anyone interested in battery life, I will post again tomorrow. My cameras have been hanging since the day after I received them. Last time I pulled the card the batteries all showed 24 day battery life left. That was when temps had been in the 20's for a week. The past two weeks have been in the single digits with overnight lows around -15. Two days were -20 and there has yet to be a morning in the past two weeks were the temp was over 0. I will post again with battery life reports and maybe a picture or two. I have been spending a lot my limited free time on a friends farm 30 miles north chasing a true once in a lifetime buck. I had this buck twice in the same night within 60 yards with a bow. With the daytime high that day being -4 and the abnormal amount of clothes that I had on, I drew on him but did not feel comfortable with the shot. The first time he was at 60 yards was at 4:00 pm about 23 minutes after I climbed into the tree and the next time at 5:40, just minutes after sunset and 20 minutes left in legal light. I hope tomorrow I can give both a battery life update and pictures of my first B&C buck.

Good Luck! Looking forward to the update. I see Cuddelink in my future.

 

[Peplin Creek]

Checked cams today. The report was finally reporting that the external batteries are low. That would be 133 days on cuddebacks external battery pack. When those die it will Switch go internals. We just went through a 2 week stretch of weather where the temps were either below zero... coldest was -22 and maybe only getting to single digits. I fully expected them to be dead honestly. Rigging some of these on solar panels should give really excellent battery life I think if one wanted to. I plan on doing this for my food plot cams next year and running cuddebacks power packs on trails and at stand locations.

 

[Red Picqua]

That makes more sense, Cuddeback just decided to improve flash range over their previous models and added new marketing terms like "powerhouse".

"Powerhouse"... reminds me of the set up you have. I bet there are 50 dollars in just cable clamps in this set up. Maybe the folks at cuddeback could implement an option to raise a 40ft antenna on top of their cameras similar to this one. I can remember as a kid having these things on my house for watching TV. Can you take a small TV in your blind too, I mean the Powerhouse.

what should Cuddeback call it?? Hey we can improve the flash module. Or.. lets call it nothing and let the customers figure it out? Cuddeback stated they have invested over a million dollars in this system, far as I am concerned they have earned the right to use Powerhouse, Outhouse, smokehouse, or Penthouse as far as I am concerned.

 

[yoderjac]

Red P,

I think they can use any marketing term they like! I thought John was saying that the improved black flash range to equal red blob flash range which made no technical sense. I wasn't criticizing them for using the marketing term, every company does it. He clarified that they simply improved flash range over their old models in both Red blob and black flash which does make sense. The sensitivity of image sensors and such is improving all the time. I simply could not think of any technical improvement that one could make to extend the effective range of black flash that could not also be applied to Red Blob.

The marketing crap doesn't matter to me. I just like to cut through it and make sure I understand what is going on technically. If someone does make a technical breakthrough I want to know it. So far what I see is a rebalancing of existing technologies to address a particular market niche and they seem to be doing a reasonable job of it based on what I see the end users reporting.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Catscratch]

Poorly worded then.

That makes more sense, Cuddeback just decided to improve flash range over their previous models and added new marketing terms like "powerhouse".

When I first read this post I thought; Man, Jack really doesn't like Cuddeback. I read animosity into that sentence. But we all know written text can be a pain to convey meaning. Glad it was cleared up.

 

[yoderjac]

Poorly worded then.



When I first read this post I thought; Man, Jack really doesn't like Cuddeback. I read animosity into that sentence. But we all know written text can be a pain to convey meaning. Glad it was cleared up.

I've got absolutely nothing against Cuddeback at all. I've owned them in the past, and if this system works out I could own them in the future. They've made some pretty good and pretty poor product over the years.

My post was meant to bring the marketing spin back to reality, not to says this in particular is a bad product. It was simply to say, that almost any camera company could make that claim. Each year More's law brings down the price or increases the performance of image sensors. Comparing last year's apple to this year's orange says nothing. It sounds impressive "IR performance in black flash!". Image sensors are not the only way to improve performance depending on how poor it was to start with. One could increase the number or intensity of the LEDs, but that is a tradeoff for power consumption and visibility. One could increase duration but since visibility is a function of intensity, wavelength, and duration, that affect duration. In the end, it boils down to physics, the number of photons reflected by the target that excite the image sensor.

Whether it is SuperMegaFantasticBigAntleredMonstorBuck seed , trail cameras, or whatever, folks on this forum do a good job of letting the hot air out of the marketing balloon so folks can make an informed decision when a product will work for them. This Cuddeback system has some potential to be a good fit for some applications based on what I see end users posting here. They are posting the good, bad, and ugly and you don't see me pushing back against their posts. They stand on their own as end user experiences with no relationship to the company.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Brian C]

After having to work on Saturday I made it out to pull Cuddelink card. I was impressed with the below 0 temps for the past almost 2 weeks that the cameras were all still showing battery good. Even more impressed when 3 cameras took over 200 pictures in a week and seemed to flawlessly send them to the home camera. Nothing exciting on the cards, little bucks, does, and turkeys. I did get a chance tonight to hunt the buck I have been after and was pretty pissed to find that someone else had hunted in my natural blind. They left 12 hand warmer packages and a .243 empty. I sat and watched deer after deer still come to the field and with 4 minutes to go and an empty freezer decided to take a nice doe. When we went in to get her we found truck tracks in the snow coming in from the west, drag marks with lots of blood. I sure hope a POS trespasser did not shoot that buck.

 

[swat1018]

After having to work on Saturday I made it out to pull Cuddelink card. I was impressed with the below 0 temps for the past almost 2 weeks that the cameras were all still showing battery good. Even more impressed when 3 cameras took over 200 pictures in a week and seemed to flawlessly send them to the home camera. Nothing exciting on the cards, little bucks, does, and turkeys. I did get a chance tonight to hunt the buck I have been after and was pretty pissed to find that someone else had hunted in my natural blind. They left 12 hand warmer packages and a .243 empty. I sat and watched deer after deer still come to the field and with 4 minutes to go and an empty freezer decided to take a nice doe. When we went in to get her we found truck tracks in the snow coming in from the west, drag marks with lots of blood. I sure hope a POS trespasser did not shoot that buck.

Sounds like you need to hide a camera or 2.

 

[Rlsbowhunt]

Got a 4 pack of black flash for my birthday yesterday, going to put them out this weekend and see how they work

 

[Peplin Creek]

Got a 4 pack of black flash for my birthday yesterday, going to put them out this weekend and see how they work

Let us know how they work out.

 

[hilltopper]

Pulled my cuddelink cameras after about one month. Here's one thumbnail taken from the home camera vs the full resolution (5 mp option) taken from the original camera.

 

[Rlsbowhunt]

 

[Rlsbowhunt]

Picture of my computer screen

 

[Peplin Creek]

What was your signal strength at that distance?

 

[Rlsbowhunt]

22 when I put it out, but it was showing 36 when it sent the info this morning. Hilly ground in between