Low End Gear And Research Equipment

[wiiawiwb]

Great idea SWWASAS. There was a guy that had a YouTube channel and would camo his trail cams to be absolutely invisible. I've never seen any trail cams like his. He was not interested in night time shots or videos so he would cover the IR.

 

Doing that would eliminate the detection of IR by a sasquatch. 

[BlackRockBigfoot]

I wanted to pass along a good little piece of equipment for those of you who are running electronics while you are out on the hunt.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06XZ6KSG3/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A32BDIEK75ANF5&psc=1

 

It's a 32,000 mAh battery charger that I picked up a few months ago.  It has 3 charging ports, and I have used it to charge my FLIR, night vision, cameras, GPS, and phones while out for extended periods of time.  

 

They are on sale for $44 bucks right now, down from the usual price of $70.  This is the charger that I carry on my chest rig and charge my FLIR during use.  It's a brick, but has replaced the 3 smaller chargers that I used to carry.  

[Catmandoo]

BRB, My understanding is that lithium batteries above 100Wh  will be confiscated by TSA at airports. Your unit ( the power bank ) is rated at 121.6WH. It is a no-go for air travel.   How long does it take to charge up? I checked Amazon today and the price is back to $70. 

 

Amazon and ebay have power bank units listed under several brand names. I have purchased several power banks of lower capacity but have no idea if they are genuine or forgeries. Buyer beware. 

Edited February 7, 2020 by Catmandoo
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[hiflier]

Regarding game cameras. F&W use them all the time. FS use them to monitor trails. One would think that like anything else animals, including BF, would get used to them, especially if no harm comes to them. It may eventually become like, "Oh, look Quozz, another one of those do nothing boxes."

Edited February 7, 2020 by hiflier

[hiflier]

Just ordered this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R3Q8911/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I fully expect that for the cost it will under perform how it's described/advertised, be cheap, feel cheap, and something will break in a matter of days if not a few hours, LOL. But if I'm careful with it, it should be at least better than my 4x max camera phone which blurs/pixels at that zoomage. Being a 18x by itself, any zoom I add from the android under 4x should give an even farther reach than 18x. I'll let you know with some comparison pics. People complain about blurry phone pics when trying to go long so with any luck this may help with that, maybe even on the phone's videos as well? If I don't break the thing first, that is

 

Edited February 8, 2021 by hiflier

[hiflier]

Okay, distance/clarity check. First two are of a lighthouse with phone camera and phone camera with attached telephoto. The second two are of an island.

 

 

 

 

[BC witness]

That actually looks pretty good. How is the quality and ease of operation?

 

[BlackRockBigfoot]

1 hour ago, hiflier said:

Okay, distance/clarity check. First two are of a lighthouse with phone camera and phone camera with attached telephoto. The second two are of an island.

 

 

 

 

That actually looks pretty decent.

[hiflier]

I'll tell you what's good: $39 is what's good The quality of the lens itself and its construction I would consider quite good. The bracket mount for the camera is plastic but doesn't seem flimsy. The small tripod that comes with it is table top and could be a little more solid/stiffer as it has to much give/shake when taking a photo, but I have plenty of good tripods so I don't really care. The carrying case is adequate. I'm not happy with the rubber objective lens cover though, as it isn't very tight fitting and even falls out. Need to see If I can wrap/glue something around it t fatten it up some. That will improve the fit greatly. I'll post some before/after photos of some things that are not a mile and a half away like the island, or two miles like the lighthouse, because closer objects come across amazingly crisp and clear. I have focused this 18x 60 fix lens on objects as close as 8 ft away. So its range of focus is surprisingly good.

 

The only real issue is that the lens is fixed so I can't back off of something 40 ft away like with a zoom lens. So if I only get a crisp clear close up image of Sasquatch's face would that be good enough

Edited February 10, 2021 by hiflier

[hiflier]

Here is a bench at about 90 ft. What I'm finding is that for a reasonably priced phone camera telephoto attachment it really seems to do the job nicely. And BTW, there are tons of these kinds of things but most spec with less magnification. Many of them are 12x and many are less. I just thought I'd check out this one at 18x. If it sucked then I wouldn't be out much money-wise. And as with any extended lens, zoom or fixed it nearly impossible to avoid shaking without a tripod whether it on a DSLR or a phone. That seagull at the water's edge looks as big as a horse in the lens

 

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by hiflier

[MagniAesir]

I bought one of these a couple months ago

I really should try it out

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08GJH73MS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Madison5716]

If I were out in the woods squatching, I might get bored and try one of these for target shooting. It's on my wish list. 

 

$109 Takedown Bow I can actually recommend! - YouTube

 

Amazon.com : Obert Original Black Hunter Takedown Recurve Bow 60inch with Bamboo Core Limbs Archery Hunting Target Practice : Sports & Outdoors

Edited November 14, 2021 by Madison5716

[BlackRockBigfoot]

Edited while I work out some issues 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by BlackRockBigfoot

[Catmandoo]

On 2/8/2019 at 11:02 AM, hiflier said:

This thread is to share knowledge of equipment and gear that folks might know about or have rigged for themselves. Things don't have to cost an arm and a leg to be effective in the field and a little ingenuity can go a long way.

 hiflier, this topic has been quiet. Surprise.

I have been working on tent tube clamps to hang / support equipment at the side of the tent using the internal aluminum frame. My tubes are 5/8" ( 16mm ) in diameter with fabric sleeves. The heavy duty units are 4-1/4" in diameter, plywood, set up for vertical or off axis ( 45 degees more or less ). Bigger than a hockey puck, the plywood units have a grip surface of about 7.5 square inches. The plywood units are for mounting brackets that will not be shown in this post ( later ). The 'store bought' types from Maker Pipe are more of a 'point loading' grip. The Maker Pipe units are positioned on the tubes with 'clamp collars', aka 'split collars'. The Maker Pipes are available in 90 degree and adjustable forms. Beware of the 'EMT' size factor. I used split plastic pipe for shimming. The 'crush factor' on the tubes is important. A gap is required between mating surfaces to gauge grip. 5th image down has an arrow at a gap and the circle shows no gap--bad.  The aluminum tubes have thin walls. I inserted wood dowels to minimize crush damage.

 

I know how forum members like the arrows, circles and squiggly lines so to be prepared, I cut out some shapes ahead of time to have on hand...............

Edited June 7, 2022 by Catmandoo
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[NorthWind]

9 hours ago, Catmandoo said:

 hiflier, this topic has been quiet. Surprise.

I have been working on tent tube clamps to hang / support equipment at the side of the tent using the internal aluminum frame. My tubes are 5/8" ( 16mm ) in diameter with fabric sleeves. The heavy duty units are 4-1/4" in diameter, plywood, set up for vertical or off axis ( 45 degees more or less ). Bigger than a hockey puck, the plywood units have a grip surface of about 7.5 square inches. The plywood units are for mounting brackets that will not be shown in this post ( later ). The 'store bought' types from Maker Pipe are more of a 'point loading' grip. The Maker Pipe units are positioned on the tubes with 'clamp collars', aka 'split collars'. The Maker Pipes are available in 90 degree and adjustable forms. Beware of the 'EMT' size factor. I used split plastic pipe for shimming. The 'crush factor' on the tubes is important. A gap is required between mating surfaces to gauge grip. 5th image down has an arrow at a gap and the circle shows no gap--bad.  The aluminum tubes have thin walls. I inserted wood dowels to minimize crush damage.

 

I know how forum members like the arrows, circles and squiggly lines so to be prepared, I cut out some shapes ahead of time to have on hand...............

Maker Pipe. 

 

Wow, Cat, you just sent me down a rabbit hole! I might have to get some of these and make a "shed" in my back yard to house the lawnmower and things. This stuff is amazing! Thanks!