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Wildlife Survey & Monitoring  Bat Survey & Monitoring  Bat Detectors

Elekon Batscanner Bat Detector

Manufacturer: Elekon AG
  • Lightweight
  • Heterodyne
  • Excellent microphone
Elekon Batscanner Bat Detector
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Average customer review
  • Elekon Batscanner Bat Detector In stock
    £207.50
    #194636
Price: £207.50
About this product Specification Customer reviews Related products Recommended products

About this product

With Elekon's Batscanner detecting bat calls is easier than ever. You just turn on the device and listen - that's all. The ultrasonic sounds are automatically transformed into the audible range, without the need for any adjustments. The mixing frequency of this heterodyne detector is determined and readjusted automatically by the call frequency of the bats. This offers many advantages:

  • Immediate display of the main frequency, even with only a brief flyby. This also helps to get a first estimation of the species.
  • Miss no bat, just because the wrong frequency is selected.
  • No tedious search for the optimal setting, which is especially helpful in the dark.


The Batscanner features excellent audio performance. The heterodyne converter is digitally driven, giving it a clear sound and only minimal noise. The built-in loudspeaker has been optimized to avoid feedback loops and connected to a headset, one can concentrate even better on the bat calls. Ultrasound from crickets and rustling clothes are an annoying problem when using bat detectors. The Batscanner intelligently filters low frequency noise removing crickets but ensuring that the calls of noctules and other bats that use lower frequencies are not lost.

The Batscanner sits comfortably in your hand, is lightweight, and small enough to take with you wherever you go. Whether on an evening walk or a bat excursion, with the Batscanner you are always prepared.

The Batscanner is covered by a 2 year warranty, please note that this does not include the microphone.

 

Specification

Dimensions:

  • Size (WxLxD): 65 x 120 x 27 mm
  • Weight: 145 g

Power:

  • Power supply: 3 x 1.5 V batteries type AAA ( LR03)
  • Operating time: approx. 20 - 25 h

Audio:

  • Sensitivity range: 15 - 120 kHz
  • Type of microphone: Elektret mikrophone
  • Heterodyne mixer: with automatic adjustment
  • Audio output: Speaker, headphones (3.5 mm mini jack)

Display:

  • 7-segment LED: green, 3 digits

Customer Reviews (2)

  • Elekon Bat Detector
    By Barry 25 Jun 2015
    Bought this as a replacement for a very old Magenta. So far so good, needs no manual tuning and is quite sensitive, and is very easy to hold. Slight negative is that the readout is very dim, and so hard to read until it is quite dark.

    Service from NHBS was excellent, arrived when promised.
    34 of 39 found this helpful - Was this helpful to you? Yes No
  • Bat detector
    By Paul 4 Jun 2023
    To begin with it worked couldn’t fault it but now recently it now cuts out couldn’t detect any bats at all could i possibly look into getting this fixed or replacement or wil look for a different product
    5 of 8 found this helpful - Was this helpful to you? Yes No
Manufacturer: Elekon AG
  • Lightweight
  • Heterodyne
  • Excellent microphone
Media reviews

Customer Reviews:

Ideal for beginners
by W Brown in the United Kingdom (29-04-2013)

We are new to bat detectors and were unsure which type or model to try. We used the Batscanner on our first outing and were very surprised by the clarity of the display in the dark, the sound of the calls on the speakers and the total ease of use. It is ideal and means that we have been able to easily identify four types of bat just in our garden. We are looking forward to using it in the future and exploring further afield. The only little problem is that a lanyard would make it safer to use.
 



One Of The Best Little Handheld Bat Detectors!
by Al Milano in the United States (14-02-2013). Read more at http://batdetecting.blogspot.com/

The new Batscanner bat detector, from Elekon, in Switzerland. Yay! It got here (in the US) faster than I thought it would. My compliments, for the fast shipping! Since we've been having some ideal weather for bats, my next thought was "This is going to be fun!"
Approximately $265 US dollars for Elekon's Batscanner (fully built) + Shipping costs (depending on where you are, of course). The unit arrived well packaged and protected.

Some first impressions – I love the compact size, and comfortable feel it has when held. I really like the green LED display, and the sensitivity of this unit is just amazing!! And, I also love the fact that it features a line-out jack: For headphones, or for recording! (my favorite part).

I was very happy to see that The Batscanner is now also available for purchase, from NHBS.

The unit is sensitive! One can immediately tell how sensitive it is, simply by powering it on, and rubbing your fingers together in front of the microphone. The microphone on this unit, is the now popular MEMs type. When in the field (without any man-made or electronic interference nearby): Pressing the power button will cause the unit to display three dashes " - - - " on the (green) LED display. In contrast to powering it on indoors, where it will latch on to whichever electronic signal that reaches it first.

This unit fits very comfortably in the hand! It also seems to fit in just about any pocket. The unit simply displays the last frequency that was detected; until a new bat flies by, within it's range. I believe this is a clever arrangement. It is also useful, in case you weren't looking at the display during the bat pass – You can just look down & see what the detected peak frequency was.

For now, the only "nit-picking" I can do, is in regards to battery changing. You do need a small Phillips head screwdriver in order to remove the 2 small screws that hold the battery door in place. But, as far as I'm concerned this arrangement isn't too bad. My minor issue, is that you need good dexterity to properly insert the batteries. It's a slightly tight fit. I've found an easy method: Always insert the (+) positive side of the battery first, then the (-) negative side will slide in easier. Another issue of concern, is that the unit seems to power itself off, after about 30 minutes of inactivity. Not very good for un-attended recording!

I've always used NimH re-chargeable batteries, in all my bat detectors. This one is no different. The new Batscanner from Elekon, is a scanning heterodyne type bat detector. So, the Batscanner has been picking up bats, and works as it should – When a bat flies within range, the echolocation is heard from the front speaker. And, if the user wishes to listen with headphones: Any standard headphones (with 3.5 mm plug) work fine. I tested the unit with several name-brand earphones, and didn't encounter any problems. As expected, when headphones/ear-buds are plugged in, the front mounted speaker is muted. I have also tried some extensive testing, with the detector hooked up to various recorders. I did not end up getting any good results. As per the manufacturer, this detector was never designed to be used for un-attended recording. It was made for listening.

I agree that the Batscanner is, in fact very easy to handle & listen with. In my case, I just like to experiment with recording from different bat detectors. And, of course, it's always fine with frequency division detectors. But, as we know: Recordings from heterodyne detectors are considered practically useless anyway – Aside from the aesthetic quality.

Going forward, I'll be using high quality alkaline disposable batteries; and I've already noticed an improvement in performance and length of battery life. So, that's good.

An interesting discovery: Upon testing frequency response/frequency read-out by producing known frequency tones: The display did not seem accurate. In fact, the only way I can get the display to read anything at all, is if I produce a 20 kHz tone... Nothing else was picked up or registered (10, 30, 40, 50, 60kHz..etc.). The program I used is called Usonic. It's a free, DOS-based program that uses your computer's "beep" speaker – Sometimes, it will use one of your main speakers, on a laptop, for instance. If interested, you can download it from the Durham Bats Group Website. In any case, I contacted Elekon about it, and found out that this is by design. A very clever design, I might add! Here is an excerpt, from Elekon's reply:

"...but you underestimated us. If you go outside and "listen" to the bats you should have no other animals or noise you hear. The point is that we are triggering bats with a complex hard- and software-combination. If you have a linear signal we know that it is not a bat and don't display it."

Wow! Is that amazing, or what?!? What this also means, is that the unit will not focus on any unwanted sounds that you may encounter in the field. Very cool! ...This is also why most singing insect sounds are not heard.

All-in-all, I like this detector very much! It's sensitive, perfect for Bat Walks, and displays the peak frequency of the last bat that flew by. Helping the user get closer to making an identification of the species. [...]"

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