I had planned on seriously looking at the FX3 caller by Foxpro, but after looking at the list of calls for crows and coyotes, I am stumped as to how many calls I will need. If I stick with the FX3, I am limited to 32 calls, which I originally thought would provide for enough variation. Now, I am seeing that there appear to be dozens of different calls available. I have no idea which calls would work better than the distressed rabbit and coyote mouth calls I am now using, and after hearing the quality of the calls on the FoxPro and Wildlife Technologies websites, it appears that more calls might be better than fewer calls. This means that if I choose the FoxPro, I would have to spend $200 more to upgrade to the new Fury (the FX5 has been discontinued) in order to include more calls than the 32 that the FX3 provides.

The "Mighty Atom" that WT provides is advertised as being around 2 pounds; but....their website does not provide as clear an explanation of features as does the FoxPro site, although they tout their sound clarity, reproduction accuracy and ability to get a high volume as major advantages. I have never had a chance to hear either side-by-side, I suppose either brand would be a good choice.

So....should I just bite the bullet and go with the FoxPro Fury at $599, or go with a Wildlife Tech model?
I don't want to spend less money on a model that won't offer the variety of sounds that might optimize bringing in coyotes and crows. I don't plan to hunt anything else, except pigs once in a while, and I don't know if pigs can be brought in merely by using a calling device. BTW, ProBass Shops has some good things to say about the FX3 in their customer reviews, yet nothing is mentioned about whether a maximum of 32 sounds is really enough. Also, even though Wildlife Technologies has received praise, their website just doesn't cut it when compared to the ease of reading the features offered, such as is the case with Fox Pro. Also, Fox Pro offers refurbished FX3 units for $350, but with only a 1-year warranty vs. a 5-year warranty with a brand-new $400 FX3 unit. The new Fury by Fox Pro offers far more sound storage than the FX3, but costs $600. But do I need all that storage for calling in coyotes?

Any advice or experiences regarding what the bottom line is regarding features or just which direction I should take would be appreciated. I will be hunting mostly coyotes and crows up to 300 yards and want a good remote control, with enough volume to call these varmints in.

I'll just say that you should go with the FoxPro. The Dillon's are the very best when it comes service and products. As for how many sounds you need? I think 32 is often to many to deal with but the new Fury has the best remote made! It's easy to use and easy to read. You can't go wrong with FoxPro.

The FP website has a lot of FX5's for sale on their Classifieds forum most of the time. I would check there 1st. I call coyotes, raccoon,fox,& crows with 32 sounds on my FX3 & haven't wanted for more at any point in time in over 3 years now. Plus the FX3 only takes a few minutes after some practice to change sounds. You can change sounds in less then 10 minutes in the evening & have it ready for the AM hunt. The Minaska callers carry 100 sounds & they can all be accessed from the remote.

Edited to add I think the FX5 5 year warranty transfers frpm buyer to buyer. Call FP & ask about that.


HTH

Glen, are you saying that sounds other than the original 32 sounds that are programmed into the caller can be loaded onto my computer, then switched to replace any of the original sounds? If so, would I be able to pick and choose from those extra sounds offered by FP? I am completely unfamiliar with the routine of changing sounds on one of these callers. In other words, is it difficult to erase sounds that I feel don't work, then replace them with others that I feel do work? Can these extra sounds be sent via the internet from Fox Pro?

Glen, are you saying that sounds other than the original 32 sounds that are programmed into the caller can be loaded onto my computer, then switched to replace any of the original sounds?
Yes. The FP site has a utility to change sounds. You download this free utility to your computer. It's easy once you've done it a time or two.

If so, would I be able to pick and choose from those extra sounds offered by FP?
Yes. If I remember correctly the FP sounds are sold 16 in a pack for $25. Once you're order has been made they will send the soundfile to your email. These sounds can ONLY be played on your FP. Your FP can play any MP3 or wav files as well as the FP sounds.

is it difficult to erase sounds that I feel don't work, then replace them with others that I feel do work?
Yes. It just takes a little practice & once you've done it a few times it is very easy.

HTH

And once you've purchased the sounds, they're yours to save on your computer forever. So you can reload them into your FoxPro at a later date if you want. For example, if the quarry changes from coyotes to crows and you don't have enough room on your FP, you can drop in a few crow sounds and save your coyote sounds to be reloaded later on. FoxPro also has a label program so you can change the label on your remote and know which sounds go with which number.

Like Glen says, there's a little trial and error involved but once you've figured it out it's pretty simple to do.

I forgot about the label maker feature. Sorry!!

I recently purchased a Fury, checked it out and found that the sound volume is just too low. It may be that the horn speaker is too small. I am at a loss trying to figure out why Fox Pro didn't just go ahead and incorporate a larger speaker into their Fury. The Fury is a nice unit, but the horn speaker IMO is just too small, plus I would never use the cone speaker that the Fury offers in the same unit. I can work easily with a 50-call maximum, but have no idea what is meant by what they term "disabled" regarding the CS24 speaker. With the Fury you must first mute the speaker from the Remote Control before the speaker will turn off, otherwise it just keeps on playing.

On the CS24 does "disabled" mean that the entire unit can be turned off (nice for saving the battery power)? So, other than the 50-call limit on the CS24 (vs. the 100 call limit on the Fury), the fact that there is no battery charger on the CS24 (not really a problem), or that the CS24 doesn't mention whether it has a low battery indicator or not, it seems to me that the CS24 would be a better bet than the Fury, especially since the CS24 is around $100 less. And....the CS operates with that very nice TX-500 remote. And...who cares if there is no manual speaker control or digital display that shows the sounds. Heck, you can see what is going through the speaker by looking at the TX-500.

If the CS has a greater potential for louder and clearer volume, I see no reason to stay with the Fury.
All I want is loud, clear calls, a reference display such as is on the TX-500 and a direct-dial feature that allows me to punch three buttons on the TX-500 to get me to the sound I want and enter it directly into the speaker. If the CS24 allows me to do this, I am going to exchange my Fury for the CS24. It is a shame that the company doesn't just provide a simple comparison chart so that the buyer could make the buying decision more easily and quickly as to which model would be the most suitable.

Am I on the right track here, or are there things I still need to consider? If there are any CS24 owners out there, I sure would like to hear about good or bad opinions of the CS units.

You tring to call them to you from NM! How loud do you need it? Coyotes have some seriuos listeners on top of their head.

I would recommend you stay with Foxpro. Spend the $, you won't have any regrets.

FWIW-- I've been using an FX3 for the last 3-4 years. The 32 sound capacity has never been an issue for me. I ordered it with Fox,coyote,raccoon, & crow sounds. It's very easy to hook it up to the computer with the supplied USB cable & change the sounds. It takes all of about 5 minutes to do this & to print out the new sound list. JMHO

I have decided to stay with Fox Pro, but will exchange the Fury and Prairie Blasters I just tried out for the CS24. I liked the reviews it got on other sites, it costs less, can be programmed initially for 50 sounds (more can be added), is louder than the Fury, easily carried (unlike the PB) and has nearly all the features of the Fury or Prairie Blaster. I talked to Eric at Allpredators; he loves the CS24 and uses it himself. One thing I found out from Eric was that they carry a neat battery charger, complete with 10 NiMH batteries. The charger can be plugged in at the end of each hunt, recharged over night (if required) and automatically keeps the batteries at the correct charge. The charger for the Fury also uses the same type of batteries, but I did not like the charger set up....very finicky. The CS is also cheaper, even though it has no provision for manually setting the volume or the calls directly at the call unit; these must be done by the remote. No problem for me, since I place the call unit at least 100 yards away and use the remote control to run the thing from my hunting position. The PB uses 8 D-cell batteries and has no plug-in charger. Fox Pro recently offered a comparison chart:

http://www.gofoxpro.com/eselector.php