[csb]

Is anyone running that CuddeLink system. If so hows it running and how is the reception? They claim in the woods its good for 1/4---1/2 a mile?

[snakelk]

I'm curious about this as well, however it seems like Cuddeback is shooting itself in the foot by discouraging unbiased reviews. How they can stay in business with a model like that is beyond me.

[Anthony]

A peer to peer network is what BuckEyeCam has had for all these years. Our first BuckEyecam system was a cool peer to peer like cuddeback. so no its not a new concept.

At Shot show I asked them for info on how far I could get my cameras from the cell base station. The guy told me "miles". I asked how so...

He says each camera can talk say 1/4 mile to the next camera (In a wide open desert - injected by me) and that several cameras would allow you to get this distance away from the base station.

So I said ok, suppose i have 1 cell base and 5 cameras out in a line some distance away. I then asked what happens if the batteries on camera #2 (next to base station) go dead.

I got a mouth opened look of "oh s**t". I politely recommended to the sales guy that this was a poor strategy to promote as it was subject to the Christmas light bulb issue. I said that a star topology was likely the way to recommend their set up to buyers.

He quickly moved on to another "customer" leaving me standing there.

[snakelk]

Thanks for the insight Anthony. I doubt this would work in the area I'd like to be able to retrieve cell images since it's not flat and open, but rather wooded and hilly (elevation difference of 2000 -2500 feet from ridges to creek bottoms).

I'm still not impressed with Cuddeback based on what I've heard from you and others!

[Anthony]

The issues we discovered with the BuckEyecam peer to peer were mainly created from the density of trees and the hilly terrain. the network is a line of sight and specs on this technology is always based on a flat desert environment, very theoretical.

In reality it never works quite like the ideal. I too thought I wanted this technology but now I am happy with the KISS principle. A turnkey, cellular, non-peer to peer design, enhances wireless success and greatly simplifies set up and problems over all.

[csb]

I don't care how you Candy Coat it, when the word gets out on the Trail Cam Forums as to how the set-up works , thats it. I just wonder how many guys jumped in and did like a 7 cam set-up? You'd have some $$$$$$ invested!!!

[Anthony]

and ... as the cost of data goes down and down over time and cellular gets faster and faster, a buyer should prefer that each camera be cellular connected giving it abundant bandwidth, simpler set up, while avoiding those peer-to-peer issues.

5G technology is already on the radar.

Ridgetec is preparing to test a 5G cellular module this fall, although there isn't much you can do with it right now as far as 5G goes, the good news is that the manufacturer we use for cellular module is making the 5G units also support 2g, 3g, and 4g LTE. In the USA we will want 4G LTE fallback, as 5G towers go up.

I have no clue as to when 5G would be an advantage to camera buyers. I suspect a few years from now. LTE is going to be the focus for a while I believe especially in rural areas. 5G will likely gain a foothold in cities to begin with.

Although a trail camera probably doesn't need the ultra high sustained speeds that 5G can offer, I see a main benefit of increased speeds translate into better battery life. The faster the camera can get on the internet, upload a photo/video then go back to sleep, the better the battery life will be.

[FredG]

There is a 2 year running thread (about 100 pages long) at Habit Talk Forum on the Cuddelink system with lots of good info (some straight from the horse's mouth, or butt, depending upon your view of Mark Cuddeback), praising, bitching, crying, etc, etc. If you have 4 or 5 days to read it top to bottom you might come away with a basic understanding of the system. http://habitat-talk.com/index.php?threa ... link.7859/
I've been using the system for a year or so and like it, as many others do, but there are also plenty of folks who are not so favorably inclined.

[reaperman]

My nephew just bought a 3 camera package. I tried my best to convince him to spend his money on Ridgetec, but I'm afraid he's going to have to learn the hard way. I cant say I'm familiar with the system, but my first impression is I'm not impressed. He dumped the system on me to try and figure things out. Or at least used me to score 3 of my memory cards and 24 batteries for two of his cameras. He was nice enough to buy the 6 D cell's for the home unit. If for no other reason, I wouldnt own this system because Cuddy made it a 9 volt system rather than twelve or six volt. The satellite cameras use 12 AA's and the home unit uses 6 D cell. Seriously, who uses D batteries anymore? Obviously, cuddy needs the D's for more power, but my nephew spent $18 on six batteries. I hope he gets more than a month out of them. To convert the system to an external battery, a step down converter is needed. Cuddy does make an external pack that mounts to the satellite units, but its just a battery case that screws to the back of the camera that takes 6 D cell batteries. As far as the operation goes, there is no app whatsoever. Any info must be accessed from the home camera so no mobile settings are possible. The setup directions are not laid out very well, thank goodness for youtube. And my nephew never was able to find the upload settings menu whatsoever. He got his first upload email with setup photos of him at 4:15 am. Nobody listed on the guest email account received the setup photos either. As far as the physical cameras go, they are huge, with the home unit being the biggest and heaviest especially with 6 D batteries. To top it off the cameras are oval shaped and the tree strap mount is on the BOTTOM of the camera, not the middle or towards the top. Try strapping a 3 pound camera on the bottom without having a top heavy unit tip from side to side. And the included straps are the shortest pos straps I've yet to see on a camera. We tried strapping to a 1 foot diameter tree and the strap was at least 6" short. How the system treats him will soon be answered. They have hunting property 100 miles away and a cell system without an app to display the cameras status and the ability to make settings changes is a step backwards.

Edit: Overnight I received the first cuddylink email. There were no photos, but I'm happy to see they send a camera status report for each camera. However, the photo does show 28 sd images in camera 1 and 3 in camera #3, but no photos were emailed to me.

cuddy - Copy.jpg (71.14 KiB) Viewed 553 times

[WoodsWatcher]

I use D batteries! In Cuddeback's first digital cam, their Capture! Pain in the getting them out but the crazy thing still works good.

I love my Cuddebacks and love that you can put a white flash/strobe on their Dual Cell, but I crossed theirs off my list of those I was interested in once I noticed there seemed to be no way to communicate with them via phone etc. Maybe if I lived closer to where I'd use it..