Cudde has had their cameras that create their own network out in the field for a bit now. They've also added a cell option now, to include specifically, kind of an access point that runs the cell connection and is a collection point the other cameras feed to. This is the item I'm specifically talking about... Cudde Home link

My arena as I call it is in a low spot of sorts where cell connections are very difficult. My blind is say 20-30ft higher on a hill, where it still has poor, but at least a 3G signal. I have a Covert with a Yagi antenna up about 15ft in the air in the arena, but it is still so spotty as to really not work. I've added a cell booster in my blind with a special antenna on a 20ft mast and can get an LTE signal when powered up.

I'm thinking about getting one of these Cudde Cell Home points, which could collect pics from a camera in the arena, mounting the Cell Home near my blind and when I'm not there, attaching the blind antenna to it, which should allow for pic access via the 3G signal.

Is anyone using it or one of Cudde's cell cameras yet?

We're running 9 of the Cuddelink Cameras and one Cudde Home Link. They take great photos and send them to our Gmail account every two hours. We have found several cons with the system, though. Terrible battery life. We bought the booster packs which are like having 10 batteries. That's helped a lot. No matter the advertised communication range between cameras, you'll want to buy repeaters as terrain and brush limit the advertised distances. So we bought 10 repeaters to go midway between all of our cameras and the home camera. Everything is working great now, except they still chew through batteries every few weeks. We're waiting on the solar chargers for each camera/battery pack which should eliminate the short battery life. Other than that, happy with the system and will be adding more cameras next year. We still have 18 regular Cuddeback's that are a couple years old and they're all working great.

That was quick!

With the (10) D batteries, how long will it go? Is the battery run time the same for Cameras and the Home point?

Thanks!

I have 4 of the cameras and one home unit with cell service. So far been impressed with the units and their ease of use. I got solar panels for the cameras and those come with rechargeable batts so I hoping to never have to recharge any of the camera batteries. The home unit does not have a direct solar hookup yet, but so far hasn't needed a battery change and has been deployed for over a month.

Good: I have these set up in weird parts of my place that don't have much cell service so I can see things happening in areas I wouldn't normally.
They really are easy to set up and the cuddelink works as advertised. I have about 1/4 mile at the farthest between two nodes over pretty flat terrain.
Pictures are good and the thumbnail pics are enough to see what I need.
I plan on buying more of these and at some point could see me getting close to the max cameras with this set up.

bad: expensive cameras. I get it, but they are expensive. the home unit with cell isn't terrible.
the cell pics do not come in "real time" if there are multiple pics sent, meaning the home unit will create a queue and send the pics as they are processed, so unlike my covert cam that sends a pic a minute, this one can have a delay. It doesn't' always delay though if there is no queue of pics. This is important if you are using the cameras for security or surveillance type at a gate or something.


Overall, quite happy with the system and plan to add more cameras as funds become available.

Where did you get the solar chargers, buckeye?

Yes, same run time. At least a month with the 10D's. You can extend that life buy turning off or lowering the intensity of the flash. There are a few other tricks to settings that will also save battery life. The folks at Cuddeback are outstanding with customer service and spending all the time on the phone needed to get the most out of your system.

Cudde website. Ordered online and they were delivered within 3 days with regular shipping. $50 each and included 8 rechargeable batts as well.

Well carp! They're telling us they're on backorder. How long ago did you order yours?

Oh wow, that stinks. I ordered alittle over amonth ago, maybe 6 weeks ago. Have had my cams in the field for just at 31 days and had them for a short time before I could get them deployed.

Thanks buckeye. Guess we'll keep waiting patiently.

Besides pic quality, how good are the cameras? Is the trigger sufficient? Do you feel like you're missing pics?