I'm looking at finally ditching the two POS spypoints that are still hanging on and getting a couple of good cameras. I know that the Tacticam comes highly recommended, and I am looking at that one I am looking at the ones that have the built in solar panel. I am also interested in the Cuddelink. Looks like 3 cuddelinks would run me about $500, and 3 tacticams would run me $537. Pros on the cuddelink is that I would only need 1 cell subscription for up to 15 cameras, whereas I would need a separate subscription for each tacticam. Pros on the tacticam is that it comes with a solar panel already, whereas I would need to constantly replace batteries or buy separate solar panels for the cuddelinks.

Questions for those of you that have the tacticams or cuddelinks:

How long do the batteries last on the cuddelinks?

Realistically, how far is the range for the cuddelinks?

How much are the subscriptions for the tacticams and cudddelinks?

Call Tacticam and ask them about that camera with the attached solar panel and where you're going to use it. I remember something that they didn't recommend it for high traffic areas (like a hill country deer feeder). I run 4 Tacticams right now, Reveal X and Reveal X Gen. 2. Two have external solar panels. Even though they sell packages with the external solar panel AND their lithium battery insert, I could swear the lady at Tacticam told me to just use regular batteries with the solar. Regular batteries are just a backup and the solar panel doesn't attempt to charge them. With fairly frequent pictures sent, I'm pleasantly surprised how long the regular batteries last without a solar panel. In the summer they're on pig traps with a feeder going off once at night, so they don't get quite as much traffic as a deer feeder going off twice a day.

Subscription plans are $100.00 a pop annually, with a few bucks off (like 4.00) starting with your second one.

i have 4 tacticam sk's running right now. you can pm me your phone number and i can send you pics and answer anything you wanna know. in a nut shell though, i really like them

I had the Solar panels for my Cuddelinks, batteries never ran down. They link together very well. I tested mine and was like 400 yards away and still had a good signal to the home unit. My home unit was not a camera, just a receiver of the pic's mounted to my stand. I would pull the card from there and not have to go into the bedding area where the camera was.

How far away are your cameras, and are the blocked by trees at all? Where I plan to space the cameras out, there is one spot that is about 325 yards with heavy woods between and in another, they are going to be 450 yards apart with some trees between.

When tested it was 400 yards to the receiver that was elevated as you can see here. It's a signal like what an old school walkie talkie uses so the trees shouldn't matter, just the distance that you're on the edge of it's capability. They should work. You acquire the signal and it tells you the strength. Get in this mode at about 300 yards and talk off walking with it and watch your signal strength. I connected mine as I was standing next to the receiver and took off on the Ranger. I never got below about 90 as I recall. I then went back to my set up which was 150 yards away from the receiver and set up the camera. These are well built, very durable and with solar you're good forever.

I now have cell coverage at my set up. When I bought this set up I did not and had no way to get pic's without going into my set up, which I don't like to do. I sold them recently.

I had a system of cuddes for about 2-3 years, out all the time and solar panels and/or boxes with solar attached and that was fine. They connected well and sent pics thru cell signal.

Where I ran into trouble is the cameras would just stop working, and by the end of 2-3 years, I had all but the home base unit dead. Around 8 cameras as I replaced the first couple but even the replacements ended up dying within a "short" period of a year or two. No obvious issues with damage or anything, just wouldn't turn on or get any power to the unit from battery or plug. Every one ended up with the same fate, garbage dumpster.

How long did you have your's?

I'm running a tacticam reveal XB and a stealth game cam at my current lease. I have had nothing but trouble with the tacticam so far. First the solar panel wouldn't stay plugged in, on mine it does not thread into the camera so it was pretty much useless without batteries. Then I started getting WAY too many pictures of nothing. I spoke with tacticam and they said the photo sensor was picking up the grass. Well with the rain we've had the grass has grown tall, not much I can do about that. Have had zero issues with my stealth cam.

Next, I'll say that for roughly the same price about $120/year on plans. You get unlimited photos, but Tacticam only sends one of each burst and then stores the others locally on your SD card. Doesn't work great because the first photo that triggers the camera isn't often the best one you'll get of a deer. Stealth sends all photos from each burst which is another win on that front. Additionally, Tacticam wants to charge you for every additional detail. ex. photo on demand, hi-res photo. etc. Stealth cam includes these features. I have found that after a big storm I like to request a photo on demand just to make sure the camera is still running if the deer are bedded for a while, it's a handy feature.

Lastly, the cameras are both roughly facing the same direction in different areas of the property. I find that both night and day photos are far better on the stealth cam than the tacticam which usually gives me blurry shots even with the sensitivity setting on to reduce blur.

I know you didn't necessarily ask about the stealth cams, but figured it might help at least provide some contrast for the tacticam...I probably wouldn't buy another. Good luck.

I had not asked about the stealth because it had never popped up on my radar as a recommended setup. How much is the stealth subscription?

3 years

Crazy how people can have so much of a different opinion. I love my tactacams and I don’t use the “burst” feature. I’ve never had a blurry pic yet and they stay fully charged. Night pics are the best I could ask for and the app has a lot of options to choose what best fits your needs.

The plan is $120/year. Seem to get a lot of extra features like the on demand that you don’t get with tactacam.

Cleatas - it could be my model I know there are better versions but the XB I have has been a pia to manage.

dang i hate that, so far so good with the sk's but we know that could change at anytime.