Spypoint CELL-LINK?

[josephmrtn]

Anyone have experience with the Spypoint CELL-Link that plugs into a regular trail camera and makes it cell cam capable?

I think its a cool idea and would be interested in adding it to some of my cameras that are in areas I cant access during the season without risking spooking deer.

https://www.spypoint.com/en/products/universal-cellular-adapter/product-cell-link.html

[JJBat150]

I started out in the cell-phone camera game a few years ago with these; I grabbed one of these to see how the Spy Point App worked.  I liked it, so I have since added a bunch of full SpyPoint Cameras to the mix.

Yes, they work pretty well but there are some things to be aware of.

1.  They have a small ribbon cable that has an SD card shaped plug that goes into your camera's SD card slot.  I had to grind out some of the plastic on the camera door so the cable wouldn't get damaged when the door closed.  The cable is short, so when you mount the camera, the cell-link has to be pretty close.   The cable is also easy to damage if you drop the camera / cell-link when they're connected or if a squirrel decides to chew on it.  

2. Double the batteries - cell-link uses 8 AA batteries or external power pack.  Then add in whatever batteries your camera uses.  The cell-link will transmit its battery status but not the camera's.   Once you stop getting pictures, it's good indication the camera battery is dead.

3. Can only transmit still pictures.   Newer self-contained cameras will transmit video

4.  The Cell-link transmits a low-resolution picture at first.   You have to requests a full-res picture to be downloaded - there is a cost in the plans for the hi-res downloads.    The high-res pictures are stored on a Micro SD card in the cell-link so you can pull the card to access them.  The cell-link has no problem transmitting with my 10-megapixel WGI cameras.

5.  Pictures and camera control is accessed via a website or an app for your phone (both Apple and Android).  The photos are transmitted and stored on the website.  You get a notification from the app that new pictures have been received.  It's not an SMS-based text message.    You can download the low-res photos from the website, or pull the original photos from the card in the Spy-link

6. Cell-coverage; your mileage may vary.   On my hunting property, I can get anywhere from 100% signal quality down to almost 0.  When I purchased the cell-links, I didn't have a choice of cell-carriers to choose from.  Honestly have no idea where my devices are getting their signal from.