# cuddeback vs. leaf river?



## pcsolutions1 (Feb 4, 2006)

I see that some of the newer digitals including 1 from leaf river are offering in infrared flash that is not a visible flash which seems like a great idea.  What do you guys think of the difference in some of the newer cams compared to the cuddeback.  I know the cuddeback is amazingly nice and super fast, but I'm not really wanting to put that much $$$ in something so prone to being stolen, though I do only want a digital game cam.  Any other good options would be great too.  I see all the ads showing the cuddeback getting the pic and the others getting a pick of nothing so I know I don't need that either.  Any good suggestions?


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## BOWHUNTER! (Feb 5, 2006)

i have the infrared leaf river and it is cool. The deer have no clue that they are getting photographed. Iv'e recently switched it to video mode and will not go back to still shots. They are great cameras.


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## Dub (Feb 11, 2006)

BOWHUNTER! said:
			
		

> i have the infrared leaf river and it is cool. The deer have no clue that they are getting photographed. Iv'e recently switched it to video mode and will not go back to still shots. They are great cameras.



Man....I'm drooling now.  Infared video of your ambush sites.........that is too cool!!!!!

I wish I had the $$$ to drop on one of those right now.


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## sweatequity (Feb 11, 2006)

*refurbished*

you can get the refurbished cams factory direct starting at 209.


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## pcsolutions1 (Feb 12, 2006)

*refurbs*



			
				wifewontletmehunt said:
			
		

> you can get the refurbished cams factory direct starting at 209.




Are you talking about the Leaf River ones or the Cuddeback's

Tom


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## sweatequity (Feb 12, 2006)

*leaf river*

leaf river


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## NorthGaBowhunter (Feb 24, 2006)

I got a cudde back for christmas and love it. For sure to much money. but I get 26 to 31 pics a night of the same bucks. over corn the flash dont seem to bother them. I don't know about trails yet.


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## SlipperyHill Mo (Mar 2, 2006)

Got my first Cuddebck back pics last week.

The quality was awsome and animals in every pic.


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## SouthPaw Draw (Mar 3, 2006)

wifewontletmehunt said:
			
		

> you can get the refurbished cams factory direct starting at 209.



Do you have a link to direct me too where I can buy one?


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## Davexx1 (Mar 3, 2006)

My Cuddeback took as many as 406 photos each week from Sept until late January.  Guessing that approx 75% of those photos were in the middle of the night with the flash.  The flash did not seem to bother any of the deer in the photos, many bucks, as I got pics of them almost every week, sometimes every night.

Dave1


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## Rocko (Mar 11, 2006)

SouthPaw, you wanting a Leaf River or Cuddeback ?


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## Todd E (Mar 11, 2006)

I just got my Leaf River Digital IR. It is now ready to go. I'll go put it out and when I get some pics....I'll post. I like the ease of use the cam presents. Will have to see how it turns out.


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## Steady73 (Mar 17, 2006)

I just purchased a refurbished IR, they are $195. Can't wait to get it in the woods.


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## GeauxLSU (Mar 17, 2006)

Steady73 said:
			
		

> I just purchased a refurbished IR, they are $195. Can't wait to get it in the woods.


From where?


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## GeauxLSU (Mar 17, 2006)

*Leaf River IR refurb....*

This is one of the reason I HATE coming to this site sometimes.  Just ordered one....


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## Phillip Thurmond (Mar 17, 2006)

Ok I'm hooked where can I get a refirbished one?


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## Steady73 (Mar 17, 2006)

www.vibrashine.com, I asked them through their webpage if they had any and they said yes, just call the 866 number and ask about the refurb IR cameras.


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## GeauxLSU (Mar 17, 2006)

Phillip Thurmond said:
			
		

> Ok I'm hooked where can I get a refirbished one?


Philip,
Just ordered mine from the mfg here http://www.vibrashine.com/about.cfm 
Very nice folks.  Said they'll ship it out today (but that was a few hours ago) and should have in 2-3 days.  
Talked with whom I assume was one of the tech guys and the battery life appears to be very strong.  
Contrary to the way their web site sounds, daylight pictures are in color.  View screen also lets you zoom and pan.  Said he got about 18 separate 20 second videos on the internal memory on one he tested today.  
I'm looking forward to it.


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## BOWHUNTER! (Mar 17, 2006)

I have an IR and it pretty much stays on 20 sec video. Why get still shots when you can view them eating and fighting. The battery life on these cameras is like nothing iv'e ever seen. they simply last for months. Seriously. Those are some stand up guys at Vibrashine. I get roughly 150- 20sec clips on a 128 card.


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## Brent (Mar 18, 2006)

I've got a leaf river digital and I love it. Daylight video on it is great. Now, thanks to you sorry dogs I've been convinced to spend the $200 and get the IR just for the night video.


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## Killdee (Mar 19, 2006)

I'm curious as to how the camera can take IR video at night without a constant IR light source?I was under the impresion that video only worked during daylight hours.I build my on cameras but havent fooled with IR cause I havent noticed any problems using white flash.
Thanks KD


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## Todd E (Mar 19, 2006)

KD,

This new Leaf River IR does take night video!!  You can choose the length of the video segment. I'm assuming that, yes, the LEDs glow red the entire time it is videoing. This unit takes both day and night video.


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## GeauxLSU (Mar 21, 2006)

Have any of you guys received your camera yet?  I called yesterday and they couldn't find my order and never called back.  I was expecting to see it today (didn't call again I was out of town) but it's not here.


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## GeauxLSU (Mar 22, 2006)

GeauxLSU said:
			
		

> Have any of you guys received your camera yet?  I called yesterday and they couldn't find my order and never called back.  I was expecting to see it today (didn't call again I was out of town) but it's not here.


Just checked and I see they didn't charge my card.  Guess that means it won't be here tomorrow either....


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## GeauxLSU (Mar 22, 2006)

OK called them just now.  Camera shipped on the 20th and they gave me tracking number.  Checked UPS and it's scheduled for delivery today.  
I told them the charge has never hit my card and asked if there was a problem.  They said "No, we would have called."


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## Steady73 (Mar 24, 2006)

Mine showed up Tuesday, just need to buy a couple of CF memory cards now.


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## Mac (Mar 24, 2006)

I just read the review by Chasingame on the leaf river.
It sure didnot sound that great to me.  
Very slow trigger time!!!!!!!!

I based my purchase of a couple of Stealth WD-1's on their reviews and could not be more pleased.  Especially since, I only paid $99.00 each for my cameras off E-bay.
BP and Cab have them listed for $169


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## BOWHUNTER! (Mar 25, 2006)

The LED's do stay lit the length of the video. The trigger speed is a little slower than i would like but I still got hind quarter shots and blank shots with my 35mm cameras as well.


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## GeauxLSU (Jul 19, 2006)

*Leaf River videos....*

OK here's a night time video.... http://www.huntingfootage.com/showphoto.php?photo=2776&cat=507
And here's a day time video....
http://www.huntingfootage.com/showphoto.php?photo=2775&cat=507


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## Gadget (Jul 19, 2006)

I like to be able to set my cameras up on a trail and know I'll catch that big buck walking down his rub line, the leaf river won't work, trigger speed too slow.


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## gadeerwoman (Jul 20, 2006)

Info I've seen and heard on the leaf river all suggest placing it facing up a trail rather than across a trail because of the slow trigger speed. Cuddeback users haven't complained about that problem that I've seen. I try to check out a lot of sites looking for info on the different cameras out of curiosity.


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## Davexx1 (Jul 20, 2006)

I found that the unusually high heat during the late summer months does effect the triggering of trail cameras.  My first lesson was that because of the heat during the day time the trail cam had to be closer to the deer.  Night time was no problem.

Dave1


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## gadeerwoman (Jul 20, 2006)

very true Dave. It is also a bad idea to have the camera pointed at vegetation that is in direct sunlight. I've had my cameras trigger simply because of the heat buildup during the day on the vegetation in front of the camera if any wind came up. The vegetation can retain a lot of sun heat.
Best to put the cameras in a shady spot.


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## pcsolutions1 (Jul 26, 2006)

*ordered one*

Well I gave in to temptation and ordered the IR Leaf River today.  Got the refurb deal through them.  Supposed to ship today.  Friday should be like x-mas because my equalizer and my leaf river should be coming at the same time.  Can't wait to try them out.  Getting pretty jacked up about the season being so near.

Tom


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## huntininmilan (Jul 27, 2006)

you will like the leaf river...i have 4 of them and my buddy has 2-3 of them and we haven't had a lick of trouble with them. I've taken a pile of pictures and after looking at Geaux's post with the 20 sec video clip of the bucks, i'm going to start doing all videos instead of pictures! You will find that you will probably play with the sensitivity setting a couple times but it seems to work the best in the middle for my pictures, sometimes at night if you have the sensor all the way to most sensitive the sensor will out distance the infra red ...take a picture and only see eyeballs, but i have seen both reach a long ways!
Go to amazon.com and you can get 1024 mb compact flash cards for $26.00-28.00 plus $4-5 dollar shipped to your door otherwise wally world there about $60.00.
Good luck with nmew camera!


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## pcsolutions1 (Jul 29, 2006)

*camera*

Thanks for the info.  The video setting was very appealing as an option.  I got it and put it out behind the house this afternoon, just to try it out where i can get to it easily.  The deer have been eating the flowers up so hopefully I can get a test before putting it in the woods for good.  I agree, the 1gb cards look like the best idea.  Should hold a ton of pics and a great number of the videos.  I can't wait to go check it in the morning.

Tom


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## Todd E (Jul 29, 2006)

One other thing you will like about the LR IR is battery life. I had mine out on still photo mode several times. I then put it on video mode. It made 44--27 second video clips and the battery meters have not came off of full yet!!!!!!!!!


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## formula1 (Aug 8, 2006)

*RE: Leaf River*

I like my Leaf River but I never thought about using the video mode until you guys mentioned it.  I'm going to try it.

Battery life on the LR is the best.  Mine last year lasted the whole deer season. 

The trigger can be slow, but, a little angle on a trail and you'll still get the whole deer.  My avatar pic was taken with the LR, although I had to shrink the resolution to get it in as a Avatar.


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## formula1 (Sep 7, 2006)

*RE:  Leaf River*

After I posted my previous comments, I had a problem with my Leaf River Trail Cam. It was working fine, then just quit taking pictures. This camera has a 1 year warranty and it was out of warranty, but I really liked it. So I decided to try and get it fixed. Here's what happened:

1) August 22nd - Sent an Email asking for assistance. On the same day I received a call from Don at customer support. He gave me a tracking# and I mailed the unit in the next day (snail mail).

2) September 6th - I received the camera back in perfect working condition. It had gotten a new camera module and a new power supply cable.

Even though it was out of warranty, there was absolutely no charge. I just want to say hats off to LR(vibrashine.com) for their support. They truly stand behind their product even though they did not have too.


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## GeauxLSU (Sep 7, 2006)

formula1 said:


> After I posted my previous comments, I had a problem with my Leaf River Trail Cam. It was working fine, then just quit taking pictures. This camera has a 1 year warranty and it was out of warranty, but I really liked it. So I decided to try and get it fixed. Here's what happened:
> 
> 1) August 22nd - Sent an Email asking for assistance. On the same day I received a call from Don at customer support. He gave me a tracking# and I mailed the unit in the next day (snail mail).
> 
> ...



Thanks for the update and good to hear!  
Mine has taken less and less videos for the last several weeks, so even though the little battery icons say they are good, I swapped them out.  I'm guessing something like 6 months is long enough for the batteries to work huh?   
Hoping for some hard horned videos this weekend.


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## Jim Thompson (Sep 7, 2006)

anyone know if you can run video mode on the cudde experts?


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## Sixes (Sep 8, 2006)

Jim Thompson said:


> anyone know if you can run video mode on the cudde experts?



Daytime color video with nighttime pics. They do have the LR cams beat on this feature.


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## Gadget (Sep 8, 2006)

Jim Thompson said:


> anyone know if you can run video mode on the cudde experts?





Yep. The No-flash model may be able to run night video, I havn't checked. I plan on getting one soon.


I have two 3.0 cuddebacks.


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## huntininmilan (Sep 8, 2006)

For the money and the features i will continue to buy 2 for every 1 cudde back and get just as many pictures and what you pay in batteries for the cudde back you could buy another leaf river just during hunting season alone! Nobody has better customer service than leaf river except maybe Mr David Helmly! I sent a camera in that my dad bent the pins in the card slot and they had the camera fixed and in my hands in 1 week and it cost me nothing....how do you beat that!
I have 5 of these cameras and wouldn't trade them for nothing.....i like cudde back but the economics dictate my spending here as well as the customer service!
My avatar is from 1 of the leaf rivers and as you can see you can see all you need to see just fine! But i do all videos strictly now....i'm hooked!


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## formula1 (Sep 12, 2006)

*RE: I like the Leaf River*

And the customer service is superb.  I just sent in my LR with an issue.  They put a new camera module and ribbon wire and sent it back in perfect working condition.

No charge at all, and the warranty period had run out!!!  How's that for service!!!


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## Huntin' Dawg (Sep 12, 2006)

Has anyone in the group actually had personal experience with more than one unit?  For example, has anyone used both the Cuddeback and Leaf River, so as to make a comparison?  I'd be very interested in hearing your thoughts if you have. 

Also, in reading the limited reviews that are available online, it appears (as common sense would suggest) that the IR units lose something in image quality relative to a traditional flash model.  Partly, this may be due to the lower intensity and throw range of the IR flash.  Have any of you that have 'upgraded' to an IR unit experienced such a decrease in image quality?

In view of the above and the start up time question, I'm leaning toward a Cuddeback Expert,  but would really appreciate input on these points.    

Thanks, 

Christopher


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## Gadget (Sep 13, 2006)

I have two cuddeback 3.0 2005 models. 

I'll be buying another one soon, either the expert or no-flash.

The biggest advantage is the reaction time. The cuddeback will take a picture in less than a second and the leaf river takes around 7 seconds. I capture most of my big bucks on trails or food plot as they're walking through, camera's with a slow reaction time will miss these shots.


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## SowGreen (Sep 13, 2006)

*cameras*

Haven't heard anyone on here say that they had to send their cuddeback off to be fixed  That's why I love mine. I've had mine for four years now and not one problem. The reach on the sensor and the flash are great, and the trigger speed is a bonus.


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