[Gritty]

O.K. this is not a chest beating thread to tell me yours is better then someone elses..I have several Cuddebacks and have used them and gained emense information about deer and deer movement on my areas... What i want to know is...

1st The make and Model of the Digital Camera you are posting about...
2nd The Price
3rd Mega Pix and overall pic quality
4th configuration ,,,Infrared Black and white night pics and color day pics
5th Ease of set up ,,, Time it takes to mount and set the camera and time it takes to check it.
6th Very important to me is Battery life... I need to know how many pics you get on a set of batteries ... how many when the temp is below freezing ???
7th in the field LCD screens.. does the model you have have one and can you get good pics and see them in the field as advertised.

The list of Cameras I am thinking of Buying to add to my camera line are

Cuddeback No Flash
Cuddeback Expert
Cuddeback Excite
Leaf River DC-6ss 6.3 with 2.4" viewing screen
Leaf River Trail scan with 1.6" viewing screen
Leaf River IR with 1.6" viewing screen

My current Cuddebacks get about 1000 images per battery set when the temp is below freezing... over a 2 week period.

I had some cams that ate batteries like candy and I am not interested in any of those....If you have any of these cameras please let me know what your take is on it in respect to what I have asked for... Thanx

 

[gmherps]

I plan on picking up 4-8 Cuddebacks after this season. I'm using Stealth Cameras 1.3 MGP right now and am very satisifed with their performance. The battery usage is trecherous though. I went to the 12V battery and get about 2 weeks of use on a full charge.

The flash is good and the range is good.

 

[Septicsam]

Cuddebacks are the best for the money as far as I am concerned, BUT I advise you to waite until they get the bugs worked out of the new ones. There is a firestorm of folks having problems with them: not working properly in warm weather, not writting to card, batteries falling out when mounting to trees causing you to reprogram them, rain leaking into electronics, etc.

Keep up with progress at chasingame.com. They give very good independent testing reviews and updates to commercial camera problems.

Good luck.

 

[nokan]

you forgot to mention the worst customer service of any company I have ever dealt with in the last 30 years.

 

[house]

I have a Moultrie, but a friend of mine has a Cuddeback and it is tons better. It takes the best pictures I've ever seen.

 

[cnl390]

I had a Cuddeback 3.0 megapixel for 2 years and just recently sold it.

I have 2 digital trail cams that I built myself, one is 4.1 megapixel and the other is 6.0 megapixel. I built them for about $200 each and they are so much better than the Cuddeback.

I also have video trail cam that I built for under $300 which works great.

I promise you after you build your first cam you will never go back to any store bought one.

to find out more go here

http://realdealhuntingchat.invisionzone.com/index.php?showforum=4

 

[Septicsam]

I had a Cuddeback 3.0 megapixel for 2 years and just recently sold it.

I have 2 digital trail cams that I built myself, one is 4.1 megapixel and the other is 6.0 megapixel. I built them for about $200 each and they are so much better than the Cuddeback.

I also have video trail cam that I built for under $300 which works great.

I promise you after you build your first cam you will never go back to any store bought one.

to find out more go here

http://realdealhuntingchat.invisionzone.com/index.php?showforum=4

:zip: MAN! You let the cat out of the bag. :blah:

I have sold three of my Cuddybacks on ebay lately. Got my fisrt P41, Pelican 1020, Ir kit, solder station, and waiting on my pix uni-board and 3-d camo kit. I'm going in, hold my beer.:darkbeer:

Can't wait...
See Ya on RealDeal,
SSam

 

[cnl390]

Kiss the wife and kids goodbye, because after you build your first you will be addicted to building trail cams. I really love my P41 it takes great pics. My other is a 600 and the camera was a ***** to modify. You need to have real small dexterious fingers and be able to solder little bitty connections.
Oh and when you build a video cam, talk about cool wildlife videos.
I have posted both stills and videos at Real Deal and go by the same handle as here "cnl390".
Can't wait to see yuour first pics.

 

[LFM]

For sure RDHC or Hags House and build your own...

YOu can get some members there to do the mods to make it work. The Sony P41 is the camera I think to have or the P32 just finding one at a decent price especially this time of you many are looking for them to build another... It is addicting and it is fun when you get 140 pictures in two weeks that fills a 256MB Stick I just switched to a 1GB because the camera will last for a while and the batteries aren't that many to get a month's out of them either with the flash... I use the P41 a 1060 case and Pix Controller Board. Some of the members on these forums build and sell complete cameras. SOme have there own websites to check them out and they aren't that much either but it is fun to build your own...

Do a search for either of these forums and you might get hooked...

LFM

 

[hedgepeth0]

best trail cam

For the money I think its the leaf river IR. Under $300 and takes great pictures. I have had mine for 2 years with no problems. The batteries last for months. I also have the reg model with the viewing screen but I think the flash spooks the deer. The pics look great because they are in color but you will only get a pic or two of each deer. The infrared model you may have 10 pics of the same buck with him never knowing his pic was taken.

 

[WiseGuy]

I'm building a p41 and just waiting on the LE board and 1020 case. Can't wait!

 

[Gritty]

I have a sony p51 that is like 2 mp.... Can this cam be made into a deer cam??? How much will it run me for a pix controller and everything else I need... I have had the camera for like 5 years and would like to get a new one for da wife ... everyone wins.....LOL

I have built Film cams before but they were a ***** to solder and get set up... so I do have a first time experience under my belt .. I mean it does work but it still eats film ....

Thanx for all the tips fellas... I kinda figured Cuddeback was having some serious issues with the tons of them on e-bay.... I really like the idea of having the LCD screen to see pics on the camera in the field .. and I would have that if my p51 can be made into a deer cam.... I'll check out Home brews for some info...

 

[Gritty]

O.k. I'm back.. I just came from the Pic controller site and see they have complete kits for p41 cams... Do these kist come with instructions???? and can you still buy new P41's ... If I do this I may as well build 2 or 3 as long as they are working fine for all you guys... ???Never get enough deer pics...LOL

 

[Gritty]

Oh,, a few more Home brew ??'s How long do the batteries last in the Sony p41 when it is cold??? What about unit power??? How and what powers the controller and how does that last in the cold... ???

How bout flash... does the unit funtion beter with the camera flash or a slave and what will be the tax on batteries with a slave flash..... I am very battery concoius... These things must last many days in cold temps....

 

[cnl390]

Go to Real Deal. There you will find instructions on modifying cameras, building cams, building slaves, adding extra battery packs, etc.

Do some searches and ask some questions. Everyone is super helpfull, especialy PaPaBob, he is the moderator and knows just about everything. Some of the guys leave their cams out for a month.

Just dive in, the water's fine.

 

[cnl390]

Here are a couple of pics from my P41 & slave flash. You can just see the slave to the left.

 

[muzzleblast525]

cnl390, looks like you need to set some traps....I wish I had the patience to build a camera, but it seems like I just don't have the time. Heck, I was in the garage a minute ago trying to take a bracket off a old feeder and wife went ballistic because I was messing with my hunting stuff again.....UGH, give me a :cocktail:

 

[nshunter]

I would recommend home brew also, I just built 2 cams, a p41 and p32 both with slave flashes and did the IR mod on the cam, I used the BG2 from hags.house built in an Otter 3250 case.

Here is a pic before the Bg2 was in:

Pic of a doe

 

[mn5503]

Sony homebrew all the way.

Here's an s600, white flash. I just ordered glass and a filter to convert one of my 600's to IR. You need some skills to complete one. I have got around a thousand pics using two AA lithium batteries and Sony p32 cams. Haven't been running the 600's long enough to say how many pics the two internal batts will get. Big view screen, cost about $225 (depending on what you pay for the cam). Unbeatable picture clarity with homebrews. Quick detach mount sets up in seconds.

 

[mn5503]

Quick detach mount.