A gizmo for the hunters with non cellular trail cameras

[cabmandone]

My friend and I each bought a Cell Link by Spypoint. This device turns a standard trail camera into a cellular enabled camera. Plans range from 100 free monthly pics to unlimited for $15/mo. Why not just buy cell enabled cameras? We have 4 Bushnell trophy cams I bought last year for $50 each. The cell link costs $59. So for $109 I can do pretty much what the cell enabled cameras do. I can't adjust camera settings remotely but I've used these cameras enough to know what settings work best in different locations.

You download the app on your phone, go to spypoint and register as a user, register the cell link on your app plug the cell link communication cable into the SD card slot of your camera and that's pretty much it.

I'll be honest, at first I wasn't too impressed. The things were glitchy as hell and we both had a hard time connecting to the network. Both of ours were labeled with a V meaning Verizon. You can get AT&T as well depending on whose service is the best in your area. Not sure about Tmobile. Once we both updated the firmware both connected easily. The communication cable could be protected better. Ants (yeah ants) chewed through the protective sheathing and we anticipate having to buy a new cable. We told Spypoint about this issue and their response was "you can buy a new one on our site", little disappointing. One other thing we brought to Spypoint's attention is that my friend and I could register the others cell link on our app by knowing the code on the sticker inside the device which would immediately delete the cell link for the other user's app. We both thought that was odd since then anyone who wanted our cell link could steal it, enter that code, and have one for free! We removed the stickers from ours and put them on the box the device came in. Spypoint was somehow unaware that you could do what we did.

The unit uses 8 AA batteries for power. Battery life is determined by how often you have the cell link communicate with the app on your phone. I had mine set to 12x per day and it chewed up batteries in about 3 weeks. I have it cut back to 6x per day and we'll see how that goes.

So if any of you are wanting a cell enabled camera but don't want to drop the coin on one, this is a decent option provided your hunting property has decent cell coverage. If enough people visit this thread, I'll try to update this thread with my thoughts on how it works as the season progresses.

BTW, not affiliated and get nothing in exchange for this thread. Just thought other hunters out there might like to know about a product on the market.

[cabmandone]

Update on the "gizmo".
Not pleased. In less than a month, ants have managed to chew through the communication cable between the link and the camera. I'm sure it was ants because they were all over the part of the cable that was damaged. The manufacturer told me "you can order a new cable on our website". Now I don't mind paying for something like this if a mouse or a squirrel chews through the cable, but Ants???

If you buy one of these, I'd strongly suggest putting a protective sleeve over the communication cable to protect it.