Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

I am thinking of buying a Cuddeback but was wondering if the Excite is a good camera or if I should go with the Expert.

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

Check it out:

http://www.chasingame.com/

Go to the reviews and then go the Cuddeback.

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

are you sure you want a cuddeback? Are you sure you're sure?:eek: They aren't all their advertising makes them out to be. if you haven't already read, up both on this sight and chasingame. There's been a lot of problems with them. I'm being 100% honest when I say my $100 wildview 2.0 is a better camera then my $450 cuddeback no flash. no kidding!

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

my Excite has worked pretty good. however, if I had read the review first, I would not have bought it. I have the earlier 3.0 MP model and it has been great. I think they are a much better camera (still can find them on EBAY (eventhough outdated, they still go for $350-$400). I too have Wildview cams (two 2.0 and a 3.0 mp). I have been pleasantly suprised with them. Can't beat them for the money.

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

RackLusterand doughboysigep,

I'd love to see how your photos from a $100 Wildview compare to the Cuddeback Expert ?!? I'm having a pretty hard time believing that they are anywhere near as good, especially image quality and trigger speed! Let's see someimages?

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

Rackluster,
What makes your wildviews better? Durability, trigger speed, picture quality,etc?? I am going to read the reviews like suggested but would also like to hear your opinion.

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

I never said that the Wildview is "better". I just said it was a good cam for the price, oh and it doesn't have the engineering flaws the new Cuddebacks have. The trigger speed and quality isn't as good but, it's not bad eaither and $100 vs. $400 isn't anything to sneeze at.

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

here are some pics from my Wildview 3

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

more

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

and more

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

Has anybody answered his question yet? :(

You did try to talk him out of spending money on a good mid priced cam in exchange for a cheaper, slower, lower image quality $100 cam though! :D

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

I'll answer that Cornfed..... I would definetly go with the Expert simply because of the better features and better camera. I have some pics on my computer from my buddies Expert and they are amazing to say the least.

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

Sounds like you are taking tis rather personally??? Why yell at us and get all bent up for stating our opinions and trying to help. Do you have stock in Cuddeback? Why don't you address the topic of poor engineering and leakage? Must be the guys at Chasinggame are off base??? Wildview 3 pics aren't too aweful bad, are they??

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

Thanks for the help on everything guys!!!

I do want to hear if they are design, technical or other problems with any certain brand or model of cameras. When I do decide on a camera I want to make sure it is what I want without any surprises. I will be P.Oed if I spend good money on a camera that does have water leaking into the camera due to poor design or a camera that has a slow trigger speed and all or most of my pics are of nothing but trees, etc. So please by all means tell me the good and bad. I thought I may be purchasing a Cuddeback when I posted this questing but after reading reviews and hearing some issues with the Cuddeback I am thinking more along the lines of a Wildview or even possibly the New Moultrie I40 (see my other posting...you will know by the title).

Thanks again!!

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

There's no BOLD type and notice the smiley gremlin at the end of my post,.... that certainly isn't yelling, only questioning your reasoning.I am having trouble with you high jacking the thread and trying to pump a cam that , as your images clearly show, is NOWHERE near the same class of trail cam??? I mean, honesrtly, you're comparing a bicycle to a truck here! LOL! :D

Feature for feature, as I've mentioned above, isn't even comparable in ANY way, shape or form! Also, this forum is filled with exceptional images from Cuddebacks, you must have misseed them all?You make it sound as if they are junk cameras??? I have several trail cams including 2 of the Cuddeback Experts and they have been awesome cams having spent everyday in the woods sincelast July. Still not leaking or malfunctioning in anyway.[&:]

I'm wondering what interest do you have in pumping the cheap Wildview.... especially on a Cudde thread??? Just doesn't make since to me,unless you're a Wildview "staffer"?

Good luck with whatever cam you choose

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

When the new Cuddebacks came out they did have some slight problems that I believe have been entirely tweaked out. IMO, the Cuddeback C3000 is the way to go. Pretty much the same thing as the expert except it doesn't have a glass lens cover like the Expert.

As far as features go, the Cuddeback's will blow away the Moultrie, Wildview, and Stealth Cams in every aspect except price. The Cuddebacks have a very fast trigger speed which the Moultrie, Wildview, and Stealth Cam's just can't compete with. This is one of, if not the biggest selling point for the Cuddeback. Trust me, people are constantly saying things like "Well, my Moultrie has a slower trigger time but I just put out some corn and that keeps the deer there".....yeah, it works, but it will do nothing to help with patterning that big buck when hunting season rolls around. Set the camera up on a trail without any bait and more than likely they aren't going to capture the deer on camera where as the Cuddeback will.

Battery life is another huge selling point for the Cuddeback. I constantly hear people bragging about the Moultrie, Wildview, and Stealth Cam's battery life, but after having used cameras from all three companies I honestly cannot see why. The battery life of these units is bad compared to the Cuddeback. The Cuddeback can capture more than 1,000 images on one set of batteries, with the other units mentioned above, you are lucky to get 200 pics off a set of batteries. I constantly hear people brag up the battery life of the Moultries, talking about getting thousands of pictures of a set of batteries and I gotta pull the B.S. card on that one. I have used roughly 6 different Moultrie digital cameras and like I mentioned above, 200 pics was about the max that we could get out of them before the batteries died.

Image quality during the day may not be a big differance, the thing where the Cuddeback shines is with night pictures, the flash is so much better and the Cuddeback will keep the correct color where as the other cheaper cameras won't have the same color quality.

Another thing that I have noticed that I don't believe I have seen mentioned is picture quality with moving animals. I have got many pics from the cheaper digital cameras of deer that were walking that were so blurry you could barely tell if it was a buck or a doe, let alone tell how many points a buck had. The Cuddeback seems much better for capturing moving images without them being so blurry, I believe the Cuddeback has a faster shutter speed.

I put my Cuddeback out just a little over a week ago set-up over my feeder, I left the sensor on the high setting so I was capturing birds, squirrels, groundhogs, raccoons, and deer. In the past week I have got roughly 350 pictures with the unit. When I set- it upI installed new batteries (Energizer's) so the battery level read 4 (4 is the highest), well, I checked it this morning and had another 39 pictures and my battery life was finally at 3. Thats right, I got between 350-400 pictures and the battery's are still at about 75%.

I am in no way affilated with Cuddeback, I am simply a guy that has grown a passion for game cameras that rivals my passion for actually hunting (I guess game cameras are alot like hunting). I have put so many units through their paces and in all honesty, the Cuddeback has far surpassed every other digital unit that I have used. As far as picture quality goes, here are just a few pics from this past week....

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

On the contrary. If you read my original post, I said I have an Excite (and an older 3.0 MP Cuddeback). Never bashed them except to say they have some engineering flaws. For the price they charge, they should be better than they are (engineering-wise). Picture, trigger, & battery life is exceptional. I have always asked myself, "why did they change from the older models???" They were better (better battery life anyway, similar picture quality and trigger, and no engineering flaws). Simple answer, they wanted to be able to charge more! Capitalism at it best, so they rushed out a product that was inferior to the previous models. The new Cuddebacks are good, just in my opinion they are not $400+ good.

I don't think the WV pics are all that bad. People have to ask themselves is, isthe pic quality difference worth $300? (yes trigger speed is also better - is the 4-6 sec. worth $300??). I would not hesitate to buy another older 3.0 MP Cudderback, but wouldn't think of buying another newer Cudde. However, I did just buy another WV (Extreme 4) today for $100. Oh no, I have "hijacked" the thread again. Shame on me for telling my experience and point of view and clouding the poor fellow's mind that had a question on Cuddebacks with input on other cams & options. ;)

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

and here are some of my Cuddeback Excite pics. you be the judge if the quality is worth $300.

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

another

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I appreciate ALL of the info guys...although I have to admit I am getting confused even more so now......Wildview, Moultrie, Cuddeback, ??????? I guess I will have to continue to keep an eye on all of the threads here and continue to read any updated reviews.

Thanks again!!

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

I didn't say the wildview took better pictures. I said it was a better camera (meaningthe whole package - sensing range, photo quality, battery life, etc.).
A little background:
I had my cuddeback no-flash in the field foralmosta month andI got 2 pictures - that's it! (I have 3500 pictures of deer and bear since january '07 w/ my wildview 2.0).Somewhere on chasingame.com there's a thread that I started that I explain the dozen or so issues I have w/ the no-flash.
Now, we have enough wildview pics on this thread so i'm not going to add to them. But I'll tell you, they are a lot better then mycuddeback pics:)

Also - the 07 cuddebacks have the same case as the 06 cuddebacks. Most of their problems are with the case. I don't see how it's possible that they've fixed the issues then???

Here's my2 wonderful cuddeback pics:eek:(sorry they're so big. not going to fix them now, too lazy)

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

It's a tough call. You are going to find people that have problems with every brand. I'm no expert but this is my 7th year using trail cams and I've never heard of so many issues w/ a brand of cams as the cuddebacks.

People seem to bereally liking the new moultries but I'm not in love w/ mine. It doesn't'sense' motion as well as my wildview. I've walked right passed it several times and no picture! That said, I'd buy the moultrie i40 or d40 over any cuddebackthough!

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

Well,,,,, I've been trying to keep up with this thread, reading and learning, trying to decide on my next game camera, and honestly, I can't. I have two of the OLDMoultrie 100's 1.3 mp cams that give no trouble but I want to upgrade to a better camera. I thought I wanted a cuddeback expert but I don't know if it takes night color pictures or not. Then I thought I wanted the Moultrie 5.0 Outfitter camera with built in viewer, but it takes 6 D cell batteries and I like the 6volt rechargable battery with solor panel charger. I really don't mind too much paying a preminum price for a camera as long as it has the features I want. I want, what I want. It's as simple as that and so far, game camera companies just haven't come out with asimple rechargable battery operated, simi quick trigger speed, a sturdy, lock on the tree case camera that is reasonably priced. There are just too many cams on the market to try and choise from now-a-days. It's like a kid in the candy store thingy. I can't make up my mind, so I'll probably just walk outta the store with my mouth watering and looking sad and droopy. LOL
BBO

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

This is just my .02 on this subject. I have owned the following cams.
35mm, and Digital Stealth cams.
35mm, digital, and IR Leaf River cams
I currently have 2 2005 digital3.0 Cuddebacks, and 2 2006 Expert Cuddebacks. My hunting friends have recently bought 6 of the new 4.0 IR Moultries for their lease.

Based off my experience I wouldnotbuy another Stealth Cam, orLeaf River unless major performance improvements were made. I had way too many issues with both of these cameras.

My 2005 Cuddebacks have performed flawlessly for 3 years, and I run my cameras for about 10 months of the year. I have never had 1 problem with either of them. I would buy another one in a minute if they were still available.

My 2006 Cuddeback Experts. I bought them right after they were released. I have sent both of them in for repair because of software issues. They were draining batteries, and not taking pictures. I was really getting a bad taste for this so called new improved model. Since both my cameras have been upgraded to the 07 software they have performed flawlessly. The pictures are incredible quality, and the flash range is far better than any camera I have ever used. I have had my Experts out since 4/1, and when I checked them on 6/17 they were still 75% on battery life. They have taken approx 500 pictures each. In summary I believe Cuddeback relased the Experts before the bugs were worked out, and the consumer like me paid the price. If the Experts continue to perform like they have since being upgraded, I would buy another one, but I will be morecautiouswhenlooking at a brand new model on the market.

The update I have have from my friends on the6 new IRMoultries, are they are experiencing issues with all white pictures at night. They are washed out. The day time photos appear to be very goodquality and the trigger speed is very good also as they advertised. They have been in contact withMoultry on the white out issue, but it isnot resolved yet.4 of the 6 cameras are having this issue.

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

I service cameras for client and the only camera I use for my self is the cuddebacks. They are pricey, but my client need to know I am using quality. I agree the battery life is not as they say like 6 months butmy cam's take 500 pics plus a month. As far as the moultries flashback I have not but my hand on one but I had another camera do that, and I had to build a shield to make the flash go outside of the housing and not flash back in side

RE: Cuddeback Excite or Expert
 

i read the reviews about the cuddeback on the other site and wondered why they were so harsh,i have hada cuddeback expert for a year and it has taken excellent pictures.battery life was great ,have never got a picture without a animal,distance that it took some pics were far i thought.and didnt have any problems with leakage that i know of.this year though i set it up and would only take a couple of pics before the batteries would die.so i called cuddeback got to talk to a real person right away,explained my problem,and that i didnt have the receipt.she said no problem send it in and we will have it back in 7 to 10 days and well throw in a newer version circiut board or something like that while we have it here?that was 4 days ago so still waiting but customer service so far ill say is awesome.just my experience.:)