Yes, the homebrews will beat the Cuddeback as long as you use a decent camera and it is constructed well. I suppose you could booger up a homebrew up enough that it wouldn't perform well. You can also buy trail cameras that use a Sony camera for not much more than you would spend on a Cuddeback and have a much, much better camera.

The biggest problem I see with the homebrew is that building one is not for everyone. On the other hand if you can do it you get a nice camera and a good feeling about building it yourself.

My vote is to either build the homebrew yourself or buy one that uses a good Sony camera in it.