Wildgame Insite Air™

[Tamarack]

Wildgame Insite Air™

Download from a distance without disrupting your hunting area. The Insite Air™ uses Bluetooth technology to connect to the HuntSmart™ app, sending all photos and videos to your device with the simple press of a button. Just get within 150 yards of your camera, and you’ll receive a notification to download.

Any thoughts on this? Any other cams out there like this? I've seen some but their range is only 30-50 ft.
I know depending upon what type is used Bluetooth can go quite a ways.

 

[Dukslayr]

Wildgame Insite Air™



Any thoughts on this? Any other cams out there like this? I've seen some but their range is only 30-50 ft.
I know depending upon what type is used Bluetooth can go quite a ways.

Not familiar with that one but it sounds pretty interesting. I would be surprised if Bluetooth could really connect 150 yards away though. I Reconyx sells a camera that does the same thing, but as you mentioned, it’s a shorter distance.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, "up to 150 yards" does not mean 150 yards. Second, RF transmission consumes a lot of power. Does it really help to download pictures from my camera at a distance if I have to visit the camera frequently to change batteries. How well did they balance power in their design. Higher resolution pictures again require more data transmission. The further you are from the camera the weaker the signal will be. The weaker the signal, the more packets are dropped and need to be re-transmitted. The more transmission, the more power consumption. One would still have to go around to the general area of all your cameras. What are the data transmission rates? How long do you need to stand there receiving data?

Marketing data puts the best most optimistic spin on the technology. There may be some niche for this, but compare it to Cuddelink or BEC that transmit back to a central base depending on your application.

Don't get me wrong, I love to see new technologies enter the market. Most won't produce any real benefit and will fall far short of their promise, but it advances things. I have no hands-on experience with this system, but it reminds me of fancy trout fly patterns. They are designed more to catch fishermen than they are to catch fish. That is not to say they won't occasionally catch a fish. If you get one, be sure to report back on it. It would be very interesting to see a forum member's hands-on experience compared to the marketing claims.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tamarack]

Not familiar with that one but it sounds pretty interesting. I would be surprised if Bluetooth could really connect 150 yards away though. I Reconyx sells a camera that does the same thing, but as you mentioned, it’s a shorter distance.

I thought at first maybe it was a typo..supposed to be "feet". But even that is quite a bit more than the other cams I've seen. But it sounds like it's possible: https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-bluetooth/bluetooth-technology/range/

Even under 100yds would be perfect for a place I have in mind. Either walk half a mile thru swamp to get to it or be 100yds away on a trail with flooded marsh between me and the cam.

 

[Tamarack]

Starting to wonder if it indeed is a typo. They also say "The Insite Air delivers a 100-yard illumination range".
Sending them an email...

 

[yoderjac]

I thought at first maybe it was a typo..supposed to be "feet". But even that is quite a bit more than the other cams I've seen. But it sounds like it's possible: https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-bluetooth/bluetooth-technology/range/

Even under 100yds would be perfect for a place I have in mind. Either walk half a mile thru swamp to get to it or be 100yds away on a trail with flooded marsh between me and the cam.

Yes, there are niche applications like the one you mention where 100 yards can be 100 miles. Bluetooth is designed to be a short range omni-directional protocol, but with directional antennas the range can be extended. Keep in mind, the "up to" mean under optimal conditions. For example, the radios in my BEC Orions are "5-mile" radios. That means, if you use big directional antennas and transmit across a lake with nominal ambient weather conditions they can connect and transfer some data at a low data rate 5 miles apart. In practical conditions on my pine farm, I use elevated towers with large directional antennas. For a while, I had one camera a little over 1/2 mile from the base that was working. Under poor weather conditions, I'll lose the signal but it was good enough. As my pines grew, I eventually lost the signal completely and had to have that camera transmit through a closer camera acting as a repeater. So, a radio advertised as a 5 mile radio, was performing at less than 1 mile in field conditions. Keep in mind that bluetooth is a different frequency than my cameras use and the impact vegetation and water vapor has on rf signals depends on the frequency. 2.4 ghz is not as impacted as 900 mhz. So, I'm not suggesting performance degradation of this bluetooth system would be the same as mine, but it gives you and idea of how much credence you should place in "up to" numbers.

The only way you will really know if this works for your application is to get one and try it. I would see if I could find a place with a no-questions-ask money back return policy if you can find one. Try it out and see if it works well for you and then report back to us.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tamarack]

Jack, see my post right above yours if you missed it. It's possible it's a typo- supposed to be feet. At least I'm not aware of a cam that has illumination up to 100yds. But I could be wrong. Hope I'm wrong about the transmission distance being a typo for sure...I had plans man..plans!

 

[yoderjac]

If you are OK with thumbnails, I'll look at the cuddelink thread. I haven't kept up with it, but I recall reading you could use another camera as a base like you can with my BECs. Both systems can store pic locally. You can bring another camera into range and retrieve the pics on it. I know you can do this with the BECs which do full resolution pics and I think I read you can do it with the cuddelinks.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tamarack]

Yeah this would be in a different area than where I have the Cuddeback Dualcell, otherwise I'd do just that. I'm not going to bother with this Wildgame one if it's only up to 150 FEET.

 

[yoderjac]

Rather than a cell version, I was just thinking about the basic cuddelink. Put one at your camera site and keep one mobile and use it as a base. Use the two just like the WGI is intended to be used. with the camera and receiver.

 

[Tamarack]

Ah, I see. That is a possibility if possible. At least there wouldn't be another cell/data fee.

 

[yoderjac]

Correct, no cell or data fee. You need to double check that the Cuddelink can do that, but I think I read guys were using a camera as a base before the home base came out. I know you can do it with the BEC system. They are more expensive but will transmit full resolution pics. The cuddelinks only transmit thumbnails. The thumbnails may be fine for scouting purposes.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tamarack]

A bit of an update. I was told the illumination indeed is supposed to be in FEET, but that the Bluetooth range is correct- yards. I then asked him if he was positive that was the case, as other cams are only 30-50 FEET. My message was read but I never got a reply back.

It's a good thing it's not Fall and I'm not in a hurry...

 

[yoderjac]

It is indeed possible to extend bluetooth range well beyond 100 yards with sufficient power and directional antennas at both ends. It doesn't make sense to put a directional antenna in the camera since you would need to know where you will be when you collect pictures with the hand-held. But one could put a directional antenna in the handheld. The more gain the antenna has, the more accurately you would need to point the handheld. Again, the bandwidth and transmission speeds could be issues as well as battery consumption. You won't know until you try it, and keep in mind the spin includes "up to 100 yards". Let us now if you get one.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tamarack]

It's "up to 150 yards"!
It sounds like you just put an app on your phone and retrieve things that way.
If they continue to say it's up to 150 yards, I'll definitely give it a try. As soon as there's a sale on 'em.

 

[yoderjac]

I'm not sure how they can get 150 yards out of bluetooth without a directional antenna cause phones don't have much power. It is sounding less promising to me. Maybe I'm missing something. Hope i goes on sale soon. I'm interested to see your report.

 

[yoderjac]

Here is some more info: Bluettooth 5 has a maximum free field range of about 1000 meters. The actual max range is "up to" 400 meters. The range will depend on the transmitter output power, sensitivity of the receiver, the antenna gain, and physical obstacles in the path. Antenna gain is taken from beamwidth. The narrower the beam, the higher the gain. Higher receiver transmit power means greater battery consumption and there are FCC limits on transmit power. The maximum data rate is 2 Mbit/sec. Some of that is overhead. So, the application effective data rate max is about 1.3 Mbit/sec. These rates are in "high speed" mode. To get these longer ranges, the max data rate drops from 2 Mbit/sec to 125kbs or 500kbs and the effective application rate drops accordingly.

Given all this, my original concerns stand. How long will it take to transmit full res pics (if you need full res), and how much battery will it consume sending them.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tamarack]

Stealthcam also has one out..but like the others says just 30-50 feet. https://www.stealthcam.com/stc-xv4wf/
The only use for that I can see is if I have a cam close to a treestand and want to check out the pics while I'm sitting up there hunting.

 

[Tamarack]

Well Wildgame is still claiming the Bluetooth range is up to 150 yards(responses via email and Facebook). Hope to see some reviews when it comes out...

 

[Tamarack]

Talks about it on here, too: