Bat detector choice (1 Viewer)

Brian Bullough · Apr 11, 2011

I would like to buy a Bat Detector , at first I was taken with the Baton, liked the idea of the ease of use and ability to record and comes with software but it is FD only(£80).
Also like the idea of the Batbox Duet although much more expensive(£280), I am told you can have FD (record)in one channel and Heterodyne(listen) in the other or the CDB301 Advanced Dual Detector R3 much cheaper than the Duet .
I did wonder about getting a Baton for recording and a Heterodyne to listen ?
I have a had a basic detector before and its range was very limited but I assume they are much improved today.
Does anyone own or has used any of the above , read about them from links but it is all much the same information ,copied from manufactures sites .
I need some owners/users thoughts.
Brian

taliesyn · Apr 13, 2011

Batons are OK if a little hissy. They can be used for recording (I have used a minidisc recorder to do this) but the signal is far from clean. Identifiable via sound analysis software in general though.

The Duets are pretty capable. I did have one out of eleven (on a bat walk) that was fairly bad sensitivity wise, but they are not given the best treatment and it may well have suffered some abuse, been dropped or whatever. The others were just fine.

Never used any of the Ciel detectors, so I can't really comment on those.

martin kitching · Apr 14, 2011

Hi Brian

I've used a Duet for a few years now (alongside a set of Microbats that we use for family events etc.) and I've always been really happy with it.

You can listen to the heterodyne output either through the built-in speaker, or through headphones and, if recording to a stereo recorder, heterodyne records in one channel and FD in the other. I don't have any experience of your other options though.

cheers
martin

Brian Bullough said:
I would like to buy a Bat Detector , at first I was taken with the Baton, liked the idea of the ease of use and ability to record and comes with software but it is FD only(£80).
Also like the idea of the Batbox Duet although much more expensive(£280), I am told you can have FD (record)in one channel and Heterodyne(listen) in the other or the CDB301 Advanced Dual Detector R3 much cheaper than the Duet .
I did wonder about getting a Baton for recording and a Heterodyne to listen ?
I have a had a basic detector before and its range was very limited but I assume they are much improved today.
Does anyone own or has used any of the above , read about them from links but it is all much the same information ,copied from manufactures sites .
I need some owners/users thoughts.
Brian

Brian Bullough · Apr 17, 2011

Thanks guys will try and check out the Duet over the next few weeks.
Its the much more expensive option but I do require to record from a device.
Brian

steve55 · May 6, 2011

The duet is pretty much the standard detector used by a lot of bat worker ( especially those on a more reasonable budget )

I've used on for years now and very happy with it. Have had a few people say that batons produce cleaner recording for sound analysis but never really had a problem with any recording ive made.

Obviously time expansion recorders ultimately produce far better recordings but only record a small fraction of activity where frequency division detectors can record all activity but loose detail in the calls.

If you are also looking for a recorder then the recent Zoom H1 is a very good quality one and a bargain for the price compared to similar spec (larger ) recorders.

Stewart J. · May 7, 2011

Picked up a very cheap brand new Magenta Bat5 (£65 a mistake methinks) a couple of weeks ago and am so far quite impressed, you can listen to the Het output from built in speaker or earphones and FD record output.

Stewart

DJRWhittle · May 10, 2011

Brian Bullough said:
I would like to buy a Bat Detector , at first I was taken with the Baton, liked the idea of the ease of use and ability to record and comes with software but it is FD only(£80).
Also like the idea of the Batbox Duet although much more expensive(£280), I am told you can have FD (record)in one channel and Heterodyne(listen) in the other or the CDB301 Advanced Dual Detector R3 much cheaper than the Duet .
I did wonder about getting a Baton for recording and a Heterodyne to listen ?
I have a had a basic detector before and its range was very limited but I assume they are much improved today.
Does anyone own or has used any of the above , read about them from links but it is all much the same information ,copied from manufactures sites .
I need some owners/users thoughts.
Brian

Brian,

I thought I couldn't afford to buy a duet so bought a baton to record with and a Batbox 111D to listen with. Absolutely no complaints with either machine, I like, and still have and use, them both but ended up buying a duet anyway. The reason? Not enough hands. When carrying out surveys in the field it was exceedingly difficult juggling two bat detectors, a recording device, torch, clipboard and pen etc - even when there were two of us. I eventually bought a duet and fitted it with a cord long enough to hang it round my neck. I can now manage on my own if I have to.

Derek

DJRWhittle · May 10, 2011

Brian Bullough said:
I would like to buy a Bat Detector , at first I was taken with the Baton, liked the idea of the ease of use and ability to record and comes with software but it is FD only(£80).
Also like the idea of the Batbox Duet although much more expensive(£280), I am told you can have FD (record)in one channel and Heterodyne(listen) in the other or the CDB301 Advanced Dual Detector R3 much cheaper than the Duet .
I did wonder about getting a Baton for recording and a Heterodyne to listen ?
I have a had a basic detector before and its range was very limited but I assume they are much improved today.
Does anyone own or has used any of the above , read about them from links but it is all much the same information ,copied from manufactures sites .
I need some owners/users thoughts.
Brian

Stewart J. said:
Picked up a very cheap brand new Magenta Bat5 (£65 a mistake methinks) a couple of weeks ago and am so far quite impressed, you can listen to the Het output from built in speaker or earphones and FD record output.

Stewart

Stewart,

This was a good buy, the Bat5 is currently 30 quid or more dearer in most places. It is heterodyne only though, it has no frequency division capability. When you record from it you're recording the heterodyne signal that you're hearing.

Derek

Stewart J. · May 10, 2011

Hi Derek thanks for that, I'm all very new to it, been threatening to buy one for years absolutely brilliant to be able to hear and locate them. (We have a pip roost in the roof and living on banks of So Tyne in rural Northumberland often see bats at dusk. Hopefully with practice I may be able to start identifying some of them.

Cheers

steve55 · May 11, 2011

Stewart J. said:
Picked up a very cheap brand new Magenta Bat5 (£65 a mistake methinks) a couple of weeks ago and am so far quite impressed, you can listen to the Het output from built in speaker or earphones and FD record output.

Stewart

the bat5 is a hetrodyne detector. It doesn't have a frequency division output.

Bat detector choice (1 Viewer)

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Brian Bullough

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