Cuddeback link

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iowa whitetail
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Cuddeback link

Unread postby iowa whitetail » Tue Mar 19, 2019 3:20 pm

Has anyone had or tried the cuddeback link system? Thinking about trying it. Found 15 sheds on my farm the other day!! Nothing big but someday!! Thanks for any info!!


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bowfreak8
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Re: Cuddeback link

Unread postby bowfreak8 » Thu Mar 21, 2019 11:57 pm

I looked into it and it seems like a great idea. Much more practical than paying for several wireless cameras and data plans. I just don't like that the pictures are pretty low quality until you pull the card from the actual camera.
AvidHunter88
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Re: Cuddeback link

Unread postby AvidHunter88 » Fri Mar 22, 2019 4:56 am

I bought a four pack of these prior to last season and gave them a try. Overall, I think they worked pretty good and I plan on buying a few more when the budget allows. I think the issues I had were more user error than anything. I'll list a few points from personal experiences running them last year. My strategy was to go in a couple weeks prior to the season set all of the cameras except one on trails coming out of known bedding areas. The last one I used as the "Home" camera and kept out near an area that gets a lot of normal human activity where I felt I could check it without adding any real pressure.

- Initial set up of the camera settings is a little confusing. The instruction booklet is helpful but I would definitely say it's more advanced than a typical trail camera. It'd be good to test these in your yard first to make sure you get all the settings the way you like them. I set them up the way I thought would be good and went out and set them up. Once I realized later in the year I didn't like the settings I wasn't willing to walk in near the bedding to change them unless i was going in for a hunt.
- Actually setting up the cameras in the woods and making sure they're all linked was really easy. You basically set up the home camera, then turn on your next camera, link it, and start walking, the camera shows you the signal connection strength and the book gives you some guidelines are how far to push it before setting up the camera. There's also some really good videos online showing how it works.
- The area I used these one was flat, and while I don't think I got quite to the advertised range between cameras I was pretty close. Terrain and the amount of vegetation definitely makes a difference.
-Overall performance of the camera taking pictures, sending pictures to the home camera, and quality of those pictures was all very good. I did not use lithium batteries but overall battery performance was really good too. I thought with sending pictures and stuff the batteries would drain really fast and I did not think that was the case.
- The biggest issue I had was in how I set up the cameras. I didn't go in until a few weeks before the season and at that time everything is still super green. So it was hard to determine what was a trail vs what wasn't, how high do they need to be set up, what angle should they be facing, etc. I didn't realize how off they were till I went in for sits during the season and realized I was probably missing most of the deer. This year I marked trees/trails/etc to hang them on after the season was over so I'd know where to put them in the future.
- Two small design things I wasn't a fan of on the model I bought. 1) You need a screw driver to open the battery case. Not something I usually bring with me on a hunt. 2) The back of the camera that sits against the tree is flat. No teeth or curve or anything like that to grip the tree. So it's hard to get it positioned and sturdy. They sell a "genius" mount or something like that they want you to buy that attaches to the tree but for what you pay for these cameras I think it's a huge miss that's it's not built in or designed better.

Anyways, much longer winded than i intended this to be. Overall I think they work as advertised, and I definitely plan to keep using them. They're a little more expensive, but they have their place in my trail cam strategy. Let me know if you have any questions.
iowa whitetail
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Re: Cuddeback link

Unread postby iowa whitetail » Fri Mar 22, 2019 5:21 am

AvidHunter88 wrote:I bought a four pack of these prior to last season and gave them a try. Overall, I think they worked pretty good and I plan on buying a few more when the budget allows. I think the issues I had were more user error than anything. I'll list a few points from personal experiences running them last year. My strategy was to go in a couple weeks prior to the season set all of the cameras except one on trails coming out of known bedding areas. The last one I used as the "Home" camera and kept out near an area that gets a lot of normal human activity where I felt I could check it without adding any real pressure.

- Initial set up of the camera settings is a little confusing. The instruction booklet is helpful but I would definitely say it's more advanced than a typical trail camera. It'd be good to test these in your yard first to make sure you get all the settings the way you like them. I set them up the way I thought would be good and went out and set them up. Once I realized later in the year I didn't like the settings I wasn't willing to walk in near the bedding to change them unless i was going in for a hunt.
- Actually setting up the cameras in the woods and making sure they're all linked was really easy. You basically set up the home camera, then turn on your next camera, link it, and start walking, the camera shows you the signal connection strength and the book gives you some guidelines are how far to push it before setting up the camera. There's also some really good videos online showing how it works.
- The area I used these one was flat, and while I don't think I got quite to the advertised range between cameras I was pretty close. Terrain and the amount of vegetation definitely makes a difference.
-Overall performance of the camera taking pictures, sending pictures to the home camera, and quality of those pictures was all very good. I did not use lithium batteries but overall battery performance was really good too. I thought with sending pictures and stuff the batteries would drain really fast and I did not think that was the case.
- The biggest issue I had was in how I set up the cameras. I didn't go in until a few weeks before the season and at that time everything is still super green. So it was hard to determine what was a trail vs what wasn't, how high do they need to be set up, what angle should they be facing, etc. I didn't realize how off they were till I went in for sits during the season and realized I was probably missing most of the deer. This year I marked trees/trails/etc to hang them on after the season was over so I'd know where to put them in the future.
- Two small design things I wasn't a fan of on the model I bought. 1) You need a screw driver to open the battery case. Not something I usually bring with me on a hunt. 2) The back of the camera that sits against the tree is flat. No teeth or curve or anything like that to grip the tree. So it's hard to get it positioned and sturdy. They sell a "genius" mount or something like that they want you to buy that attaches to the tree but for what you pay for these cameras I think it's a huge miss that's it's not built in or designed better.

Anyways, much longer winded than i intended this to be. Overall I think they work as advertised, and I definitely plan to keep using them. They're a little more expensive, but they have their place in my trail cam strategy. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks alot!! I'll probably get around 10 cams with a few home units. Thanks again
AvidHunter88
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Re: Cuddeback link

Unread postby AvidHunter88 » Fri Mar 22, 2019 5:30 am

No prob. I forgot to mention I used one of the cameras as my "home" location and not one of the separate home hubs they sell. It still takes pictures and everything but also gathered all the pics from the other 3 cams. I just put that home one on a field edge where the deer wouldn't be as bothered by me checking it periodically. Not sure if they released it yet but I think they were making a cell cam that was compatible with this system too. So technically you could hook up to 15 regular cuddelink cameras to one cell camera and then only need one data plan in total which I think is a really cool idea.


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