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Cuddeback CuddeLink Wireless Trail Camera System
Is anyone using these cameras (from USA !)? This system of cameras link together with all of the photos being sent to one base unit.
We are interested to find out from any groups who are currently using the Cuddeback Link system - how well it detects smaller animals (rats, hedgehogs, stoats etc), and any pros and cons you may have encountered. Plus how many cameras you may be operating.
Ideally we would like to set up more cameras on some traps to review predator / trap interactions, plus monitor some of the bird species in a local wetland.
Thanks for any feedback.
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Looking at buying a trail camera for our group - want a good one - suggestions on what and where please - wouldn’t mind one good for daytime (two-legged predators) and one for the target predators - possums, mustelids and rodents - or one that does both - even better!
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AJ Productions are quite good and these cameras are OK: https://ajproductions.co.nz/product/uovision-select-30-model-no-uvl3/
I know someone who “was” using this, they had endless problems with the setup, feedback was it’s complicated to setup, image clarity isn’t that good and deployment options are limited due to mesh limitations. This person has now moved to WiseEye, Ranch plan 10 cameras, only one needs to be active, very good value, centralised monitoring from the HuntControl app or web portal, customer views photos from cameras deployed all over NZ. https://trailtech.nz
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Just wondering if anyone has trialled some cheap stand alone cameras?
I have read the above responses and still can’t see if the following has been tried.
What I am looking for is small cheap cameras that can be placed close to traps (1m away) just to see during the day and night what rats/hedgehogs/mice sizes things are passing by. No need to be realtime online as can review afterwards. So thinking of small spy type cameras that have micro SD cards ideally with onboard rechargeable battery. Amazon.co.uk
Uhh… isn’t most of the discussion in this thread exactly that?
I probably should have said what I consider cheap. I definitely missed seeing cameras for under NZ$50.
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Ah, in that case it’s also been covered, see the reference to “no-name cheapie Trademe junk” :-). I assume you probably can find an allegedly outdoors-rated motion-triggered rechargeable-battery night-vision camera for under $50, but you’re probably only going to be using it while waiting for the less cheap replacement that actually works properly that you’ve ordered after getting frustrated with the cheapie to arrive.
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I was hoping that in the 2 years plus since the post was originally made that some of the “no-name cheapie Trademe junk” cameras might have improved or at least the ones on Aliexpress or Temu are good enough to spot critters moving past traps and are at a price that doesn’t matter much if stolen.
This is probably the wrong forum to ask about stuff like this, I suspect people putting serious effort into trapping won’t get the cheapest camera on Temu so can’t give much advice. What you could do is check reviews on Amazon, which is mostly just a front for Aliexpress nowadays, then find the same thing on Ali at half the price and get it from there. Just be aware that Amazon is full of fake reviews so only read the 1-2 star ones, not the paid 5-star ones. I think one sign of a reliable review is that, given that pretty much all the specs on these are fake, the reviewer has correctly identified the fake stuff.
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Hello @merrin
I have 3x different cameras - cheap $75 NZD (off Amazon), to expensive $500 NZD
Plus we have also invested in several thermal cameras - Cacophony cameras
The cheap camera is okay - 1m away from the trap / bait station it records slow passing things - rats, mice, possums etc - although in some cases we have recorded bum shots as the sensor is slower in detecting and initializing to get the shot.
Stoats and weasels are fast runners / travellers - our cheap camera has never recorded one, but the other cameras have - they are normally 1/2 - 3/4 of the way through the frame before the video or still camera captures data.
Now the thermal camera - anything with a small heat source is picked up - incredible.
I have set up a thermal and trail camera in same locations multiple times - the thermal would pick up 50% more rodents etc.
Good luck
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Thanks @eric007 for that information, that is really useful.
Love to have the budget to put out a thermal camera though for now might have to go with cheaper cameras and just acknowledge I will be missing info.
Hi before I brought my cameras which I use for research work I checked out this site, you don’t always have to spend heaps to get good cameras
One note on thermal cameras depending on what you are doing do you need them just because they are being promoted as being great. I did pull Cacophany up when they put out figures on how many possums walking past a trap. with a standard trail camera during trial work it’s easy to spot individual possums, with a thermal you don’t know if you are seeing 10 possums or the same possum 10 times
for the same money you can get several trail cameras for the same price and gather so much more data
cheers
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