When I saw these cameras I thought they were genius and I had to them have despite all of the negative reviews. The concept is great check one camera with out scenting up the woods. My woods is 5 hours so I spared no expense when it came to security bought the lock boxes and locks and the solar panels to keep the charged. I started out with 5 j- series camera and a home cellular unit (non camera). The cell option for 20 bucks a month was a no brainer being 5 hours away.
Upon testing them at my house it took a few tries to get a successful test which I found odd considering I live in the city but finally it worked. That was back in February so they sat for awhile after I first received them. August rolled around and it was time to get the cams out two of the cameras had to have the rechargeable batteries replaced because they would no longer take a charge. Not a huge deal. I took the cameras out to my land and put them all in places with decent sunlight, set up the home cell and could not get a successful test so I left with out getting the cellular aspect set up. I researched the issue and found the high gain antennas however they were on back order. So I thought well screw it I’ll buy a dual cell (comes with high gain antennas) steal the antennas and put them on the home unit and use the dual cell camera as remote to the Cuddelink system. I did not read the fine print of the dual cell requiring a cell plan. I still wanted to try the high gain antennas which they did end up working so rather than return dual cell I elected to buy an additional plan so I could run the dual cell as a remote and it worked....for a day. After that it showed “locked” John volkman who was extremely helpful and even gave his personal cell on a holiday weekend suggested since I had swapped the high gain antennas with the crappy ones it was not getting a cell signal locking out the camera which I think he’s correct considering the camera requires a cell plan to function. Other than that the j series cameras worked great for awhile. Since then I have ran into a couple issues that I feel the company is to blame and they need to fix ASAP.
On the Cuddeback website The 3358 booster pack shows it is compatible with G AND K series cameras this is not true. I ordered two last week and neither cable would fit the cameras. I called Cuddeback and they stated they would send me the new cable, I told them their website needed changed. They told me that they JUST NOW with the shipment they received THAT DAY started including the new cable in the booster packs.
I had a J-series cam die while plugged into a solar panel after about 3 weeks. The camera had decent sunlight. I would say the solar panels are only effective when in direct sunlight if you have a camera in the woods get a booster pack.
The dual cell does not function as a remote when there is no cell service. I was told otherwise by Cuddeback but it makes sense that it won’t work due to the fact it requires a cell plan to take a picture.
It’s my opinion Cuddeback should stop selling the regular antennas and put the high gain on all of them. On Most people’s woods cell service isn’t great and they should just include them as a precaution.
I’ll be honest Cuddeback marketing plan is genius with all the booster packs and different antennas and lock boxes and so on. I think some of these items should be included to help the consumer out a little bit but it is what it is.
All in all I love the cameras, today I did not receive my email at the usual time which has me freaking out so I’m hoping nothing is wrong could be just no deer are moving. Yesterday as I was leaving I checked my email and I got a picture of the camera pointing straight up as if it was falling I went back to check it and sure enough the screw had come out of the tree. I thought that was pretty cool they saved me on that one because I probably won’t be back for a month. I think these cameras are a game changer as far as scenting up the woods and seeing what your deer are doing on a day to day basis. For me I don’t hunt much in October however if I see a deer has been moving during the day on cameras that could change this year which is big in my opinion. There’s not much out there on these cameras and I’ve become pretty experienced toying with them so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
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Upon testing them at my house it took a few tries to get a successful test which I found odd considering I live in the city but finally it worked. That was back in February so they sat for awhile after I first received them. August rolled around and it was time to get the cams out two of the cameras had to have the rechargeable batteries replaced because they would no longer take a charge. Not a huge deal. I took the cameras out to my land and put them all in places with decent sunlight, set up the home cell and could not get a successful test so I left with out getting the cellular aspect set up. I researched the issue and found the high gain antennas however they were on back order. So I thought well screw it I’ll buy a dual cell (comes with high gain antennas) steal the antennas and put them on the home unit and use the dual cell camera as remote to the Cuddelink system. I did not read the fine print of the dual cell requiring a cell plan. I still wanted to try the high gain antennas which they did end up working so rather than return dual cell I elected to buy an additional plan so I could run the dual cell as a remote and it worked....for a day. After that it showed “locked” John volkman who was extremely helpful and even gave his personal cell on a holiday weekend suggested since I had swapped the high gain antennas with the crappy ones it was not getting a cell signal locking out the camera which I think he’s correct considering the camera requires a cell plan to function. Other than that the j series cameras worked great for awhile. Since then I have ran into a couple issues that I feel the company is to blame and they need to fix ASAP.
On the Cuddeback website The 3358 booster pack shows it is compatible with G AND K series cameras this is not true. I ordered two last week and neither cable would fit the cameras. I called Cuddeback and they stated they would send me the new cable, I told them their website needed changed. They told me that they JUST NOW with the shipment they received THAT DAY started including the new cable in the booster packs.
I had a J-series cam die while plugged into a solar panel after about 3 weeks. The camera had decent sunlight. I would say the solar panels are only effective when in direct sunlight if you have a camera in the woods get a booster pack.
The dual cell does not function as a remote when there is no cell service. I was told otherwise by Cuddeback but it makes sense that it won’t work due to the fact it requires a cell plan to take a picture.
It’s my opinion Cuddeback should stop selling the regular antennas and put the high gain on all of them. On Most people’s woods cell service isn’t great and they should just include them as a precaution.
I’ll be honest Cuddeback marketing plan is genius with all the booster packs and different antennas and lock boxes and so on. I think some of these items should be included to help the consumer out a little bit but it is what it is.
All in all I love the cameras, today I did not receive my email at the usual time which has me freaking out so I’m hoping nothing is wrong could be just no deer are moving. Yesterday as I was leaving I checked my email and I got a picture of the camera pointing straight up as if it was falling I went back to check it and sure enough the screw had come out of the tree. I thought that was pretty cool they saved me on that one because I probably won’t be back for a month. I think these cameras are a game changer as far as scenting up the woods and seeing what your deer are doing on a day to day basis. For me I don’t hunt much in October however if I see a deer has been moving during the day on cameras that could change this year which is big in my opinion. There’s not much out there on these cameras and I’ve become pretty experienced toying with them so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
