Cuddeback Capture Reviews

[gruberr]

I just picked up my 1st set of Capture pics... 1,887 pictures over a 5 week period over a mineral lick / waterhole setup.  1,871 had a deer in them and most were perfectly centered.  The 16 that did not have a deer in them were of racoon and squirrel.
 
No sign of moisture or ants when I opened up the camera (despite the incredible amount of rain this year).  So far I'm very impressed and can't wait for late Oct/early Nov when this setup is frequently visited by every buck in the area.  For right now it's does, fawns, and small bucks.
 
 
Despite the early satisfaction of Capture, the quality of the pictures are not quite up to the standards of the Expert, but still very good.  I'm more than willing to trade a slightly lower quality pic for better battery life.  I hope the better battery life will stand up to Dec, Jan, & Feb temps.  There is a low battery indicator on this device, but it was not ON after the 1,887 pics, but I would have to guess it was nearing that point, so I swapt them out.
 
There appears to be a $25 rebate on these now... at least at Fleet Farm there is.  That would make it a $175 camera, a pretty good deal.  Guessing the success of the Bushnell Trophy Cam and other cameras are putting the pressure on.  Competition is working for the consumer.
 
I also have a 1yr old Moultrie M40 flash camera.  Takes awesome daytime pics (even better than Cuddeback), but night time pics are not nearly as good.  Additionally 20% of the daytime pics are white out from the flash kicking in during daylight hours when it should not be using the flash.  If anyone knows a remedy for this I'm all ears.
 
M40 battery life is way better than Cuddeback.  The couple of 25 - 30 below mornings last winter did not phase it.  Battery life was still @ 60% this July after having put it out back on 12/1 and it took over 2,000 pics during that time frame.  That's a very nice feature to have when the camera is over 2 hours away.  Trigger speed is slower compared to Cuddeback, but not real bad.  If it were not for the white out daytime pics, I would rank this camera almost as good as Capture.  It's definitely a camera I can leave out there for an extended amount of time and don't need to worry about battery life.
 
For less than $200 each, Capture and Moultrie M40 have so far been very dependable flash cameras for me.  I just can't get myself to purchase an IR because of the grainy B/W night pics.  Guess I'm one of those 50% that does not feel the flash bothers mature deer as getting repeated pics of mature bucks in the same setups year after year has never been an issue.  Consistently seeing them live let alone harvesting them... well that's an issue.[8|]
 
 
Good luck with your cameras everyone.... we are heading into primetime camera season again and as many of you are indicating, antler development appears to be above average this year!  For me they are just as much fun as hunting itself.

[charlie 01]

mbcook
 
Don't know your whole situation, but are the bushes too big to trim down? I'm always triming branches, small trees, and some times weeds that are in the path of the camera. Anything that could create movement by some wind. If that bush is only 20ft away, some wind would surely set the camera off. Also I try to place my cameras (if at all possible), in line(looking down the trail), with the trail the deer are using and or coming to a bait. Let us know if you solve the problem.  

[charlie 01]

Last year I set a capture camera at a creek crossing. Two nice bucks, and look at the speed of the camera as it caught a buck running full tilt accross the creek. Look at what all the camera caught with the split second that it was open. that deer was flying.

[passin through]

I own 3 of them.  I was all about them until recently.  To be fair it is a decent product just not the magic bullet they are sold to be. 
Like with anything though, there are pros and cons:
Ok ---here are the likes

good bang for the buck& the name
nice pictures
2000 pictures per set of batteries
good trigger speed
stupid easy to set up

dislikes
Will only use up to a 2 GB card----Industry standard is getting to be up to a 16GB
cant see the # of pics taken without pulling the card
when the batteries die it usually wipes the card
If something happens to the camera you have a 12 month warranty that is only in effect if you kept your receipt  (who the heck keeps a reciept for 12 months?) ( lesson learned: keep receipts)
A 12 month warranty is a 12 month warranty  not 12 1/2 months even if they admit it was a factory defect.  (lesson learned:  that little white speck on top of a pile of chicken poop is also chicken poop ...and so is not honoring a product warranty a month out of date)
If you don't have a warranty it is 50 % of retail ($100) to repair replace.(see chicken poop lesson)


My Recommendation?

Moultrie D55IR.....Easy set up, triggers decent, pictures are good, 2000 IR pics so far with 90% battery life remaining, it takes video(day and night) and is 80 dollars cheaper. 

[Relentless]

First off, Charlie01, those are some sweet pics.  Gotta love the trigger speed.
 
Secondly, passinthrough, I have three of the Cuddeback IR's....had what I thought was a problem with one earlier this year but, all three are working great now.  Most importantly I actually broke down and read the manual one day and you can find out how many pics are on the card before pulling....when you open the camera and it is counting down the second to the next picture you hit the "A" button...the number displayed is the number of pics on the card.  I may be able to relate to the dead battery wiping out pics but, I cannot swear...like I said one of my cams was acting strange a couple months ago but, it is fine now....I am blaming it on the excessive heat...it is my story![:D]  Also, I think the site is www.cuddebacktrailcameras.com you can get a Cuddeback IR for $169.99 to your door...tax and shipping free.  I bought my last one there.

[Goose]

ORIGINAL: Relentless

Most importantly I actually broke down and read the manual one day and you can find out how many pics are on the card before pulling....when you open the camera and it is counting down the second to the next picture you hit the "A" button...the number displayed is the number of pics on the card. 

Yup, same thing I did...who reads directions right away, right?

[S.W.A.T. 33]

I HAD BOUGHT ONE OFF EBAY FOR A $120 SHIPPED TO MY DOOR THE GUY SAID IT WOULD NOT STORE PICTURES TO THE MEMORY CARD PUT I CALLED CUDDEBACK AND ALL I HAD TO DO IS UPDATE THE FIRM WARE FROM THERE WEBSITE AND IT WAS ALL GOOD THEY WALKED ME THREW THE WHOLE THING THE ONLY THING I DO NOT LIKE ABOUT THE CAMERA IS NO EXTERNAL BATTERY I MADE MY OWN WITH A 6 VOLT STEALTH CAM BATTERY PACK LONGER BATTERY LIFE.

[Oakarver]

Speaking of updating firmware..and reading directions ...I decided to check Cuddeback's website regarding the- it can handle 2GB cards but 1GB is preferred. I couldn't even find 1GB's around here! There's a firmware update to handle larger cards:

Is it necessary for me to update the firmware on my Capture?
All users should update their Capture with this firmware if their Capture firmware is 02 07 or less. You can find the version of your Capture by:
• Remove batteries from your Capture, wait 15 seconds.
• Reinstall the batteries.
• Numbers will be displayed, such as "02 06."
• If these numbers are "02 08" or greater, you DO NOT need to update your Capture.


What will this Firmware update fix?
This firmware adds support for high capacity SD cards, referred to as SDHC. This firmware is required if you want to use SD cards 4GB or larger. NOTE – some older computers (even just a few years old) cannot read SDHC cards. To avoid any potential problems with older computers we recommend you use 1 GB or 2GB cards only.

http://www.cuddeback.com/scouting_camera_updates.html

Also, I got a card in my package that stated no registration needed for a warranty..and even a receipt may not be necessary- I guess they can tell with each cam when it was bought..how many hours it's been used- pics taken, etc.

[swamp buck]

I have a no flash and 3 capture ir's. The no flash is a good cam. I could go at least a month on a set of batteries,while taking thousands of pics. my captures are ok too, but if you set them up in the woods where it is kind of dark they will take night time pics.that kind of sucks. I guess the bottom line is that they are not as good as they market. my no flash went down this winter. I normally leave it out until the bucks loose there antlers. I guess they dont like the cold that much. and as far as my captures,I have already returned one after a week of use. It just locked up. since spending all the money on these higher end cameras, I realized that I really dont need the high quality pics. I use them to scout. i just picked up a 80 dollar stealth that i hook a lawn mower battery to. its only 2 mp but it works great and for 80 bucks you dont have to feel so bad if someone walks off with it.A

ORIGINAL: Goose

Any experience with Cuddeback's Capture Model? Please let us know how you rate them.

Camera Details - http://www.cuddeback.com/models.html

nd thats my take on it.

[Oakarver]

Here's a couple of mine from my new Capture..taken at night, obviously:

Edit..just the links to them for now..they filled up the page when I uploaded them [:@]


http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz240/JDimages/CDY_0015.jpg

http://i831.photobucket.com/albums/zz240/JDimages/CDY_0033.jpg