1 Year Cuddelink Review | Are They Worth the Money?

[@whitetailhunter7202]

I use the D-cell versions, 6 weeks is most I get out of the batteries. Researched and will be switching to small 12v lifepo4 solar power battery system for each camera. Tests on these battery setups have shown continuous use for over a year and still going!👍

[@bowhunter247]

Go with the solar panels! People I know are having great luck with them! Ran August to January (when he took them down) with no issues...

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Bowhunter 24/7 thanks man! That definitely makes us feel better about them! I haven’t heard anything about them yet so you definitely helped us out, thanks!

[@LarameyBarfield-kz5tr]

What is the distance and range the cameras have 0:37

[@bobjenkins920]

Do the cuddy link cameras work with cuddyback j model camera

[@ronilozito512]

Very good , worth my time! Want to see more! Yes thank you

[@samp3087]

Thanks for an honest review guys.

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Thanks for watching Sam! We will always make sure we bring the channel real honest reviews of products. There’s nothing I hate more than biased review videos so we never want to do that!

[@billmillmine3106]

Why can't I get anymore j series cameras right now? Everyone is out of stock and the item is discontinued

[@Miguel_Travels]

Cool vid man. I definitely smashed the subscribe button. Can't wait to see what you guys put out this fall.

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Miguel Uno thanks man, we appreciate the support!!

[@ronwarren1627]

A review on distance between cams would have been equally if not more important than battery life. The review was great for what it was though.

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Ron Warren we have talked about that quite a bit in our set up videos. It typically is anywhere from 3-400 yards it seems when in hill country

[@itstaylortime2664]

As far as degraded image quality, just wanted to make sure you are aware that the images transmitted to the home camera are not full resolution but rather high quality thumbnails.

[@sbWisco]

Good honest review. Thank you

[@anthonymalueg3520]

Do you have the link for a 2 year review?

[@mickcarson8504]

They're only worth the money if they are 4K. Also, when I bought mine, on Playback it makes whining noise coming from the speaker when watching night mode. Could this be because of the IR LEDs?

[@caseylyon6758]

Great review. If you have a dual cell cam with LTE service as the home unit, will it in turn send all the photos from the other cameras linked to it? Thinking about running a dual cell with several of the j series cams and was wondering this.

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Casey Lyon yes it does! It basically turns all of the cuddelink cameras into cell cameras!

[@bwilkinson6901]

Can you elaborate on distance between cams, and elevation changes? How far can you separate the cams? Does leaf foliage affect the signal in thick areas?

[@BrunkOutdoors]

bwilkinson6901 leaf foliage and overall thickness definitely does effect the signal levels. In an open field level ground scenario, we have found that we can get around 800 yards with a link. However, if a camera is down in a hole in super thick cover, you probably need another cam within 200 yards or so. It is definitely very situational but I would plan on average being able to spread them out 3 - 400 yards

[@bobbyakridge57]

The new firmware doesn't do as it says. I have mine set to send every 12 hours. It doesn't send like as firmware described

[@PickNarks]

we run about 10 cuddelinks, batteries are an issue. Weve always ran lithium and they still dont last long, for us. Also, on a calm day, walk by this camera and listen. You can hear it click and take photos. Is it a big issue, no, not really but we do get deer looking and checking the cameras alot compared to our others. And now, people and vendors are saying dont use lithiums? have you heard this now? when everyone used to say use them....the best batteries i found are the Duracell, the regular black and brown batteries. last forever...Im not saying these cameras are bad, they are handy but they do have flaws

[@BrunkOutdoors]

We agree with all of this. The 6 cell D battery packs have helped us bump our battery life up to about 2 months at a time and it’s a bit cheaper than the 12 lithium’s, but the battery life still leaves a lot to be desired. Seems like they are always coming out with packs or solar panels to improve it though. In regards to spooking deer, I was actually able to watch a field with a newly deployed camera in it. It was eye level but actually I didn’t think it was that exposed because it was on a tree with a bunch of sticks and limbs going every direction. Almost ever deer that came out that night saw the camera and lightly spooked. Some even left the field. I think they get used to them but it definitely made me pause and reconsider running cams at all. I think ultimately the benefits are worth the negatives and we are getting ready to deploy the system again but this time we are going to hang the cameras up higher out of the deers line of sight and see if that helps

[@PickNarks]

@@BrunkOutdoors Awesome reply. I completely relate. About to deploy them all again and decided to go higher with them. They are handy and keep me out of the deer's "turf" and i like that

[@ondaroadagain]

Thanks for the informative video. Are the images at the home unit full resolution? Also, is it just images, or can you do video as well?

[@bpdp379]

Answering for future viewers. Home unit images are compressed and same as the over the air images. No video. Photos only.

[@wiscobowhunter6537]

How long does it typically take to download all the photos off the home camera? I think we’re switching to these this year on our farm!

[@BrunkOutdoors]

WISCOBowhunter it depends on how many photos it takes. Essentially just as fast as you computer can download the photos. The home cam will receive photos from the other cams periodically depending on how many photos you want the cams to send

[@neotoxo54]

Considering battery life, I wonder why they haven’t moved to LIon 18650 or 20700 batteries...just 4 would give about 16.8 volts. That is only 1.2 volts less than the 12 AAs & I’d think they could last over 6 mths. Would also make for a lighter & smaller package.

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Neotoxo54 I am not sure what that means sorry! Haha but 6 months sounds perfect to me!

[@neotoxo54]

Lithium ion batteries come in various sizes...an 18650 is 650mm long & 18mm in diameter. I use them to power electronic cigarettes (vape gear)...the fully charged voltage is 4.2 vdc and in use they will discharge to about 3.7 vdc and have tremendous life as well as a high nominal amperage. Some are rated at 30 amps! That far exceeds the capacity & working strength of puny AAs or even D cells. AND they rechargeable. A set of 4 would give you between 14+ to 16+ vdc and could carry an 80 to 120 amp load. Heck, they might even last a year before needing recharging.

[@mosquitok833]

Something I learned about using the lithium AA’s. Buy a decent battery tester that uses a load during testing. I found that the camera would be dead but in checking the 8 AA’s, I would often find a cell or more that tested at 100% under a load. They start to add up over time and before you know it, you have enough to fill a camera. Those batteries would have been discarded.

[@TheMaximumChaos]

Great review!! How are the D Cell and Solar go this season? Would love to see a video on that when season wraps up.

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Max G they seem to do pretty well. We got a little more battery life out of them this year, I think around 2 months. But interestingly enough as I type this I believe several might have just died. We went with the D cells so they run on alkaline D batteries (as opposed to lithium AAs) and I think this cold snap just toasted those alkalines.

[@ROARINGLION11]

@@BrunkOutdoors So really just best to run with solar than I'd say.

[@jkcole123]

What kind of range do you get from camera to camera? Also what terrain did you use these in, Flat, Hilly?

[@BrunkOutdoors]

jkcole123 it totally depends on the terrain and vegetation honestly. We have had some go around 400-500 yards in open flat terrain and one specific camera only really go 100 yards because it was in a super low point with thick cover everywhere. We have picked up the D cell packs and are putting the cameras out this weekend. Should have another video about setting them up next week.

[@jkcole123]

Brunk Outdoors ok thanks, will look for it. We hunt in cutover, gasline, slightly hilly terrain. We are considering this setup. Thanks for honest review and replies. Good luck this season

[@bishoparchery]

bishoparchery.com was wondering if you liked solar or D battery better and why? Looking into getting some of these cameras.

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Bishop Archery we don’t have any experience with the solar panels yet but we think we prefer the D battery packs. They have seemed to last pretty long, they ran from when we set them up in July to mid September and then we replaced the batteries and hope to get the rest of the season out of them. The advantages of the D packs are they are a little more discrete and not as noticeable on the tree than a solar panel, and you don’t have to worry about how much sunlight it gets. The solar panels are supposed to work in just ambient light but we haven’t tried them so we can’t comment on it.

[@deercamp3479]

Great video! Can you use their black flash cameras with this system. I will only use black flash cameras. Thanks!

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Yes you can, that is what we had. The deer had no idea there were pictures being taken!

[@deercamp3479]

Awesome thanks for your reply!😉

[@johndoes2434]

Go to the Dollar Store and get one of those little solar lights remove the solar panel soldering the wires to your camera with rechargeable batteries

[@rodiemace3582]

Any cell or cuddelink cam requires a solar system or battery pack to increase the life so you don't have to make a trip in. Thanks for the review.

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Rodie Mace yep, we got the D cell packs this year, so far so good we will keep our fingers crossed!

[@jasondiaz7611]

@@BrunkOutdoors How did things go when you used the D cell battery packs for 2019 season? What kind of battery life did you get for a camera when using the battery pack with each camera?

[@BrunkOutdoors]

J D most cameras ran from beginning of October until mid December so around 2 and a half months is probably what we got on average with the D cell packs

[@EMo-rx7pm]

I wish it could be sent to ipad or cell phone

[@BrunkOutdoors]

E Mo totally agree that would be an awesome feature!

[@BrunkOutdoors]

E Mo you can just download the gmail app which allows it to be sent directly to any mobile device.

[@treppslksec2856]

Thank you for your reviews, need one for wildlife watching ONLY! I do NOT kill any animals.

[@ltltmmy]

Oh my goodness! Hitlist squirrel... Aren't they all lol

[@zzz7zzz9]

I bought a cuddeback and returned it the very next day. shiny screws on the front of a trailcam is such a stupid idea.

[@mosquitok833]

Use a black felt tip pen on the screw heads.

[@zzz7zzz9]

@@mosquitok833 they should just put black screws in then. It's like they think it adds to it's design or something.

[@byronbrush9030]

lol deer don't care

[@zzz7zzz9]

@@byronbrush9030 just sayin'. Like why even try to make it blend in then? They make their cam look like it's wood, then put a bunch of shiny gold shit on it.

[@byronbrush9030]

@@zzz7zzz9 thats true...but the deer don't care and I don't either if it preforms well. if its technological nightmare then no thank

[@nathanlenard1324]

Oh brother

[@jacoblowe5424]

These cameras are junk i bought 7 and have sent back 6 to be repaired and they eat batteries like crazy even with the d cell battery pack

[@indianapublicland7429]

Cell cameras are no hassle at all the plans are cheap atleast Reval cameras are great batteries last around 2 1/2 months.

[@ruffoutdoors8987]

have you had any problems with water getting into the camera's? i was looking at these and saw a review problem with water, which ruined an older cudde i had as it leaked bad.

[@BrunkOutdoors]

Justin Ruff no we haven’t had any problems like that. Everything seals up nice on these units

[@mickcarson8504]

My cam doesn't leak. Had it for 3 years.