Done with Cuddeback

I bought a Cuddeback C1 color ($200 plus 10 shipping) back in August. It takes amazing pictures, but not all computers can read the format that the pictures are in. However that is not the biggest problem I am having. It is getting stuck in the “armed dwell” stage and the only way to fix it is to take the batteries out and restart everything. When it gets stuck in that it will not take a picture. I contacted Cuddeback and they sent me some updates you put on an SD card and upload it to the camera and it still does it. I am going to try and return it.

In my opinion yah its nice to see they can up date cameras, but for a $200 camera you shouldn’t have to update it after 3 months. I need to have a camera that I can trust that it is taking pictures and not stuck. For $200 I shouldn’t have to do anything to it. That is a top of the line price for cams and my Primos Truth Cam 35 has lasted 5 years now with no issues and I paid $75 for it and it is considered old tech and it is still taking good pics, is very reliable and the batteries last just about all season.

Once again the Cuddeback pics are very very good. The issue is reliability and the fact that it is all ready getting funky with me.

It’s frustrating for sure, especially on a new camera, but I’m not sure switching brands solves the problem.

At the end of the day, these things are computers that run on software. What could go wrong, right?

I had two new Bushnells that had to have their operating system / firmware updated right out of the box. They would not retain settings in memory when switched off. Luckily, I did not deploy the cameras before discovering this issue, so I updated them both at home before deploying them and discovering the issues in the field.

Bottom line is that it pays to test each and every cam at home before you put it out in the woods. And just because you own the exact same cam, you still need to test each and every new one.

I put my cams out on a tree in the back yard right by my kids swing set and play fort, so there’s plenty of motion to test the cams and if anything’s not working, it becomes obvious very quickly and I can either get tech support from the comfort of my own couch, or I can return the cam within a day of buying it.

Grouse

I do the same Grouse, test them right out of the box at home before they get deployed.

I hate to say it, but a $200 cuddyback is far from top of the line. It may be for cuddyback, I have no idea, but you can pay a lot more for a trail cam than $200 and get much better quality or maybe the same quality.

Just about all the cam makers now get them from China because of cost and the quality suffers. Very frustrating for sure.

the thing is it worked fine for two months. Your probably wright that it wont matter what brand. I know that it isn’t the total top of the mark, but the cams that go for 300-1,200 send the pics to your E-mail and such. For the features that it has it is top of the line. Why do the trail cams have to be computers? Like I said my best cams are the truth cams and they are far from computers. All the cams need to do is detect motion, have a good trigger speed, save the pic to a card, and allow you to see the pic clearly. You don’t need software. Below are two pics one from the Primos Truth cam the other from Cuddeback Both are awesome, but cuddeback is not reliable.

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Think I have 5 or 6 cuddebacks at home that do not work. Will not buy another. When they work like they should they’re great, but that isn’t often. If you want a quality cam that won’t let you down, buy a Reconyx. You spend more to begin with, but worth it in the end, and made in the USA.

I have 2 Cudde NoFLash and they work flawless, for over 10 years…

One factor with all cams that I have learned from talking with many manufactures is to never let the batteries go completely dead in the unit. You would think that they would have a low voltage shut off like any fish finder when the batteries are too low to properly operater. Most don’t. Operating while under powered can really screw them up.

I like the idea of being able to update the cameras instead of having to buy new to get the latest and greatest kinda like the the new Depth finders. One has to realize these cameras may have been built over a year ago or more and maybe they found bugs in the code that was written or people asked for better features. So the company provides them free to there customers I consider that service not a pain in the butt.

Randy Wieland wrote:

One factor with all cams that I have learned from talking with many manufactures is to never let the batteries go completely dead in the unit. You would think that they would have a low voltage shut off like any fish finder when the batteries are too low to properly operater. Most don’t. Operating while under powered can really screw them up.

Great tech tip Randy. I never thought of that, thanks!!!

Also always take your batteries out when you take your camera out of the woods for the year. Don’t have them sit in the cam they will corrode over time. What are some good cams for under $150ish I know a lot of cheaper cams take blurry pics if things are moving. Like wild game invitations. I have the primos truth 35 but they don’t make it anymore. They have the proof cam anyone use them? My pet peve of a game cam is a cam that takes good pics not blurry and is easy to use.

If I was to buy one today it would be the bushnell trophy cam.

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sticker wrote:

If I was to buy one today it would be the bushnell trophy cam.

I just bought a Bushnell trophy cam hd max. Only had it a few weeks. Seems to be working well so far.

I run almost all Browning Spec ops now. I have noticed if the batteries are getting too low, the trigger time is affected first. But EVERY camera will have some type of error under low power.
Images are clear and all the functions have worked flawlessly for me.

I still have a couple functioning WGI (they all seem to only last 1 to 2 years) The WGI pic is under what i feel is good conditions. Plenty of light, animal isn’t running and so on. Disappointed on the clarity. The Browning pic is a running buck at a greater distance than you would want and the dew/humidity level was very high. Significant difference

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I can only speak to what I own. I have 6 Bushnell Trophy Cams. Without exception, they have been great. Pictures are very good, even at the lowest MP settings (to save memory card space) and night pictures are good.

Every Trophy Cam I’ve bought is still working including the oldest that is 5-6 years old and is still working despite serious woodpecker damage.

Battery life is excellent. I run them on plain old alkaline Rayovac batteries bought in a bulk pack. With 8 batteries installed (you can actually run most Trophy Cams on only 4 batteries, but they run longer with all 8 installed), the cams last from March to September. I replace all batteries in September when it starts cooling off and then the run until the end of the year when I pull the cams from the woods, usually around Christmas. Most of the time the batteries are still good at this point so I use them up in kid’s toys.

The worst thing I can say about the Trophy Cams was that the last two that I bought both required a firmware update because they would not retain the date/time/etc settings when switched off. Because I always test cameras in the yard before deploying them, I discovered this issue and was able to fix it with 10 minutes of effort and a simple download of software from Bushnell’s website. Obviously, I would assume that Bushnell put in a permanent fix for this issue, but that was the one problem I’ve had.

Grouse

Seems to be a gamble with every brand out there right now. I’ve been using Exodus this year and they’ve been great so far. Will buy more this off season. Got a wildgame innovations last year, only lasted about 2 months.