Review: The Newest Echo Meter Touch 2 (Non-Pro Version) From Wildlife Acoustics

From Wildlife Acoustics 

So, here's a bat detector which needs no introduction... The Echo Meter Touch 2

Stock photo from Wildlife Acoustics website.

This is how the unit arrives, double-packed, directly from Wildlife Acoustics.

Very well protected inside the cardboard box

The Echo Meter Touch App, is what you download for free, from the Google Play site online - In order to operate the unit on your cell phone. All units manufactured after 2021, will have a USB—C connector.

It's important to keep in mind that a USB—C to Micro—USB, or Micro-USB to USB-C adapter may also be used...These are inexpensive, and readily available. Any adapter used, should conform to the On The Go specification.

The Echo Meter Touch 2 is very small and light, some would say amazingly so!

One of the reasons why I mention this specifically, is because it seems to me, to be even lighter than any of it's predecessors.

At the time of this writing, it is selling for $179 US dollars — directly from the Wildlife Acoustics website.

The echo meter touch 2 in it's protective carry pouch

(very neat!)

You will find that the echo meter touch 2 is very reasonably priced, and available from many different sellers — online. Including NHBS in the British isles; and Wildlife & Countryside Services.

It doesn't take very much practice before becoming comfortable using the echo meter touch app. You are able to easily toggle between compressed and expanded mode, using the icon on the main monitoring screen.

Remember to configure your Auto ID mode. Enter the Auto ID mode: and select from North America, Europe, United Kingdom, Neo Tropics, and a South African region (should be available in the latest version by the time you're reading this).

There is also a small manual record button — Red, and marked with an M. — which you can use to initiate a recording..... This button may be used on its own — or while triggered recording is in session... This is helpful in case the trigger misses something. You may read more about this in section 2.5 of the User Manual.

As always, I recommend reading the the freely downloadable User Manual — preferably in it's entirety!

You also have the ability to stop the recording label icon to open the notes page. Voice and text notes are saved as metadata in the recording, and they are transferred along with the recording to your PC. You can later use the search feature, to search the text of any text notes you had may have added.

The app has a limit of 10,000 recordings— after that, recordings will need to be transferred or deleted.

Another interesting feature is that in live mode, heterodyne can be tuned automatically or manually.

In GPS view: you can see the different locations, since each recording session is shown with a different path colour.... The KML file is generated and stored with the session, in the session folder.

I'm glad that you are able to adjust The Real Time Expansion on a previously made recording. 

In order to adjust pitch (1/10 is higher pitched [and the one I prefer] and 1/20 is lower pitched).

The nightly sessions mode is very neat, and behaves as a sort of unattended recording mode. Nice.

There are several methods of transferring your recordings onto a computer. You may use WiFi, a USB cable, or email. I experimented with all of them.

Part 5.2 of the user manual discusses audio specifications, of both the EM2 and the EM2 pro. Very informative, as you would expect.

You can also have a look at this page, on the Wildlife Acoustics site; which shows a neat side-by-side comparison - between The EM Touch 2 and The EM Touch 2 Pro.

The Echo Meter Touch 2 is very easy to use; and would be ideal for a beginner, or just about anyone interested in listening to, and/or recording bat calls.

And as always, I recommend the EM Touch 2 Pro to those who prefer better performance and features.

You can use The EM Touch 2 to save triggered recordings to .wav files. You may listen to the recordings, in either RTE (Real Time Expansion), HET (heterodyne), or traditional Time Expansion. In other words, while recording —Or while listening to the recorded files on your phone.

You can use the Touch, to transfer recordings to your computer. The app bundles the recordings into a zip folder, and allows downloading by entering a short URL into any web browser.

The screenshot below, shows the spectrogram of Lasionycteris noctivagans, a species of Vesper bat, here in The Northeastern United States:

 

A recording of a Silver-Haired Bat, made with The EM Touch 2

Viewed using Kaleidoscope, and Zoomed-in on a bit.

Pros:

* Price: Reasonably affordable, considering what you get (providing that you already have an Android cell phone).

* Easy to use, with a lot of features - not the least of which is Auto ID.

* Lightweight and robust.

Cons:

* Speed and responsiveness are directly related to the speed and responsiveness of your cell phone (new, fast phone = fast bat detector).

* Audio output isn't very loud. On the late model Samsung cell phone I used, I found myself wishing it was much louder.

So, the other minor Con, would be that it's no longer manufactured for use on any Apple devices.

Note: When rushing out to detect bats using the default settings (presuming you're recording bats in rainy conditions - from a dry refuge!): You will hear light rain / raindrops being registered. 

This may be remedied by making adjustments in the frequency response parameters - Basically the "window" of frequencies you allow the unit to record - An incentive to become familiar with the customization's The Touch is capable of; as well as The User Manual in general.

Which all serves to help you get the most out of The Echo Meter Touch 2.

This pretty much sums up The echo meter touch 2 (non pro edition). I plan to add some more info to this review in the near future; along with some recordings, et cetera.

Thank you to Wildlife Acoustics for providing the unit for review! The EM Touch 2 has been sent to The BatAbility Club (in Scotland) - Where it will be featured in an upcoming free giveaway—For BatAbility Club members!

Until next time, Happy bat detecting!