The Batlogger M2 From Elekon - Updated 10/13/2022

The Batlogger M2 From Elekon

The BatLogger M2 comes to us from Elekon AG, in Switzerland. It is a high-end, professional bat detector; and possesses many advanced features.

It is very versatile, and is very well adapted not only to active bat recording (during bat walks, transects, etc.) but also for nightly passive recording. I find this both an excellent and very welcomed feature. Whenever testing and using bat detectors over the years, I always use them in this fashion (overnight/unattended recording). So, I was very happy to discover this ability.

When the unit arrives, the outer packaging / outer box is as one would expect (usually, with packing tape sporting the logo "Elekon" on it). However: Once you get to the inner box - the one holding the Batlogger M2, and it's included cables, etc., then the uninitiated may begin to feel like Indiana Jones in The Temple of Doom...Searching for the hidden "switch" or pressure point which will magically allow the box to open - Granting the new owner access to this high-tech scepter.

More than one user of the new BatLogger M2 has experienced a bit of frustration, while trying to figure out exactly how this box opens...

Well, in hindsight...after experiencing what this bat detector can do, I feel that a box which has the potential to be a bit of a puzzle is quite fitting!

Here, we can think along the lines of The Sword in The Stone, and similar stories...

The formidable capability of this powerful new BatLogger cannot just be handed over to anyone. You must first pass a test, to prove you're worthy!

"With great power, comes great responsibility" - Uncle Ben, from Spider-Man.

The BatLogger M2 measures 220 x 70 x 46mm, and weighs only 222 grams. This is excellent, and it feels relatively light, and very comfortable in the hand. This is also partly due to the detector's ergonomic design. Very nice.

The M2 measures 220 x 70 x 46mm, and weighs only 222 grams. 

It feels lighter than it’s predecessor (The M) and is quite comfortable in the hand. This is due to the detector's ergonomic design.

Holding The M2 for long periods of time should present no issues, or cause fatigue for the majority of users: It features a unique shape, with an ergonomically designed handle. 

The M2 is robustly built, and even features a built-in attachment point for a (user-supplied) lanyard.

The BatLogger M2 - Using Halloween Theme

When considering the (unique) design of The BatLogger M2; I'd like to take this opportunity to point-out that: It's predecessor, The BatLogger M was also fairly comfortable to hold (due to it's hourglass shaped design). However, it is a heavy, solid unit.

Holding The M2 for long periods of time should present no issues, or cause fatigue for the majority of users: It features a unique shape, with an ergonomically designed handle.  

The M2 is robustly built, and even features a built-in attachment point for a (user-supplied) lanyard. 

As for features, there are numerous...

I found The BatLogger M2 very easy to use.

• The M2 uses a built-in, rechargeable, Li ion battery.

• It is currently priced at right around $1,200 USD, directly from Elekon’s Online Shop.

• It is also in stock at many Dealers throughout Europe (NHBS [in The British Isles], etc.)

• The M2 uses a MicroSD card as it’s storage medium - Be sure to get a fast/good quality SD card for best results.

• Front / User-facing Mic for recording comments

• USB-C connector (under rubber SD card cover)

• 3.5mm headphone jack

• Standard ¼” socket for tripod mounting

 

• USB charging cables are provided

• Live Recording Level Indicator

• Recording Modes: Auto / Manual / Paused / Interval Mode

• Live, adaptive Spectrogram Screen Display

• Auto ID! 32 European bat species

• Recent Recordings - displays Metadata for 20 recordings

• Transect Mode - Way-points dynamically displayed in different colours

• Sensors! Temp in ℃ / % r. H. / Lux / GNSS 

• Also height above sea level and velocity

• In/Out Counting feature for bat roost surveys

• Torch Mode

(My Apologies - Image was temporarily lost...

working on it)

An interesting consideration, is that The M2 is well-suited to meet the needs of many bat working professionals. In no small part, due to it's versatility...

Which translates into this BatLogger M2 being very good for:

• Bat Workers
• Ecologists
• Biologists
• Researchers

(My Apologies - Image was temporarily lost...

working on it)

BatLogger M2 - 'Almond' Coloured Theme - Sensor status displayed

The BatLogger M2 also possesses many additional features:

• Ability to add voice comments during a recording session.

• Ability to add a tag to a specific recording.

• Ability to view and/or playback recordings directly from the device.

Ability to change the way it sorts through recordings: Name ascending, Name descending - Date ascending, Date descending.

After an adequate amount of testing, it was easy to confirm the accuracy of not only the recordings, but the M2's valiant attempts to auto ID the species detected.

Now, of course, I reside in The U.S. and the unit currently only Auto ID's European bats. 

(My Apologies - Image was temporarily lost...

working on it)

BatLogger M2 - On windowsill - Passive recording (Green theme)

The BatLogger M2 can display the metadata of each recording such as: 

• The Trigger frequency.

• Temperature.

• Profile used (Explore, Passive, etc.).

• A graph with the spectrogram (spectrum data is averaged).

(Sorry - Image was temporarily lost...

working on it)

The M2 - Displaying detailed GPS satellite Info

Some of the other data, accessible directly from The M2 includes:

• The Log (Batrec.log file) - Displaying hardware/Mic events.

• Ability to create custom Recording Profiles (this may also be done via the desktop app).

• Ability to check/change sample rate (312.5kHz, 384kHz or 500kHz)

Pros:

• A feature-rich, Pro-level bat recorder, which will meet the needs of the most demanding Biologists.

• Ability to create several customization's - Via device, and/or via the free desktop app (BatExplorer).

• It is as sensitive, accurate, and as pleasurable to use as you might expect from a top-of-the-range bat detector.

• It’s simple enough to use straight out of the box - Yet has enough advanced features to keep a user busy for many days - Just learning how to use them all!

• The GPS/GNSS is extremely accurate, and the resulting .gpx files may be viewed with a myriad of Apps.

• With a user-replaceable microphone module, this detector has the potential to last many years.

Cons:

• It froze on me once. I had to plug it into my laptop’s USB port, in order to power it down.

• I occasionally find the BatExplorer software to be a little slow.

So, I'd like to share some information recently acquired (Oct. 2022) via e-mail correspondence with an acquaintance of mine, who is a Professional Bat Researcher. His name is Jon Whitehurst, IoW Bat Group Operations Officer - IoWbats.org

He is also a long-time user of The Batlogger M, in September, he wrote to ask what my thoughts were regarding the new Batlogger M2. 

I advised him that The M2's microphone, recording range, and rejection of non-bat sounds was superior to The M. Also, that The M2 has so many features, as to almost make The M seem quite plain (in comparison). And a couple of other things I like about it.

Having recently acquired the new M2, he's had opportunities to use both the M/M2 side-by-side in his work on The Isle of Wight.

I was granted permission to quote him, with the caveat that these are casual observations from some of the first outings, rather than scientific comparisons.

With that stated, I shall simply quote him directly:

"Hey Al, just got my first two surveys in with M2 and classic back to back. Performance wise, the M2 had better trigger reliability than the classic (M2 set to high and classic on crest triggering).

M2 is more sensitive and looks better signal to noise, and first glance better linear dynamic range.

M2 GPS not as accurate but OK... In transect mode, it was great to have track and position in front of me as the woodland track I was walking has a number of false paths and potential for getting lost.

However, I think there is a wrong sign in the code that sets the direction of the position arrow - one for me to feed back to Elekon. Also great to have Lux and RH data as well as temperature recorded.

It is a definite game changer - not had time to really delve into optimising the settings yet though..."

-And- 

"Definitely getting much better triggering though - recording bats (common pips) where the classic is missing them, but I need to swap the mic over on the classic, just in case it is the mic that is degrading..." 

I understand what is meant by his last statement. As with enough use and passage of time, The Batlogger M's microphone can begin to lose sensitivity. In some cases this happens gradually (almost imperceptible) and in some, quite rapidly.

Jon was also kind enough to share the following screenshots with me. The first one represents The Batlogger M. The second one, The Batlogger M2:

Red is Pip and Cyan is Bbar

M2

"The missed ones by the classic look to be weak calls on the M2 recordings, so might just be down to sensitivity/signal to noise rather than the trigger algorithm itself.

The GPS track shows you how long the M2 took to stabilise at the start compared to the classic... One to watch really as "GPS lock" does not necessarily OK to operate accurately.

By the way, the transect is a continuous walk at 2km/S, no stopping, both the recorders set to record 500mS pre and 2500 post trigger."

It's been quite some time since a bat detector has impressed me this much. The only other (Pro-level) bat detector which was this impressive, was The AnaBat WalkAbout from Titley. The WalkAbout was a bat recorder which ticked all the boxes.

Next up, will be a full review of The BatLogger S2 - Passive/Static bat recorder also from Elekon.

Until then...

Happy bat detecting!

A Short Update - Unexpected Level Of Bat Activity Tonight

ser·en·dip·i·ty

ˌserənˈdipədē/

noun

noun: serendipity; plural noun: serendipities
The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.

Tonight (June 27th, a bit past midnight) I'm looking out one of my back windows... I was just taking one last look at the sky conditions, to confirm that there would be no possibility of Astrophotography tonight...
I'd also noticed the fireflies, for the first time this year. I even entertained the idea, that I might have seen a Glowworm (female Firefly, of course) but could not confirm.
A neat project which I've been meaning to try, is to get some long exposure photos of large numbers of fireflies in flight. I've seen the wonderful results obtained by other photographers - They look almost ethereal...but I digress.

When seemingly out of nowhere: I glimpsed a bat, foraging; right near the (now massive) entanglement of Porcelain Berry, which has overtaken the Red Cedar trees in my neighbor's yard.
Then another...I grabbed a Batseeker 4 bat detector and placed it on the window sill. Now another fly-by, followed by another...
I really enjoyed listening to their navigating clicks, as well as several feeding buzzes. It was an awesome, and unexpected surprise.
In all of my (many) years of bat detecting here at home, it's always been pretty rare to spot this much bat activity (especially such great visuals!).

Happy bat detecting! 

Frequency Division Bat Detectors, This And That...

...Somewhere between heterodyne and time-expansion bat detectors, lies the frequency division detector. Not the bottom-of-the-range model FD detectors, mind you - But units that are closer to top-of-the-range.
These are the units that are very useful for bat detecting. Many of them have good pick-up range; and produce favorable recording results. These results are often clear enough, to enable you to make decent sonograms. Especially if the system retains amplitude.

Amplitude retaining FD bat detectors do exist. An excellent overview, and simple explanation of amplitude retention may be seen Here.

Two models of FD detectors that immediately come to mind are:
The Ciel CDB205 and The BatBox Baton.

The Ciel CDB205 is a Frequency Division bat detector that allows you to observe the whole spectrum of bat sounds from 18 to 120 KHz simultaneously. The whole spectrum is divided by 10 and can then be heard on the integrated speaker. It can also be connected to a recording device over the high level line out, for analysis or listening at a later date. The unit comes with an integrated LED torch for detecting in the dark. Requires a 9v battery which is not included with the device.

The BatBox Baton is a simple but versatile bat detector having a monitor speaker allowing reduction of frequencies between 20kHz to 120kHz. The division factor is 10, reducing the sounds of a 50kHz bat to 5kHz. The unit comes with a version of BatScan sound analysis software, developed especially for the Baton.

Having owned, and extensively used both of these kits; I can recommend the BatBox Baton as the better detector of the two.

The Ciel 205 had neat little features that I liked: The translucent green buttons are illuminated, when powered on, the volume is adjustable, and it has the built in LED "torch" (AKA flashlight) to find your way out of the woods with. Each of these features prove to be cool; especially if the majority of use will be during Bat Walks. The CDB205 has recently been replaced with a new version, now known as Revision 2. The 9v - PP3 battery is installed by plugging it into a (heavy-duty plastic) 9v battery snap, inside the compartment in the back.

The BatBox Baton is slim and compact, making it even more portable than your average bat detector. It's single Power On/Off button is inconspicuous - Illuminating with 4 rather muted points of LED light 'round the button itself. Indicating the On/Off status of the unit. Depending on what was available on the date of manufacture - You may get Blue or Red lights. Battery compartment is robust and simple. I use re-chargeable 9v - PP3 NiMH batteries. And, I've replaced batteries in my unit countless times - Without anything ever breaking down or wearing out.

As I've posted on this blog before: One of my main concerns, in regards to the performance (and value) of a bat detector, is it's ability to pick up bats well, and at good distances. Well, the Ciel is a nice detector, and I had used mine quite a bit. However, the BatBox Baton's sensitivity was simply amazing. Thanks in part, to it's use of a MEMs microphone element - It picked up bats very well (and clear), from unprecedented distances away.
Until now, the Baton had been the "Undisputed Champ" of long-distance bat detecting. But, it has finally met it's match - With the release of Dodotronic's Ultramic200K microphone. This new, USB microphone is able to pick-up/record bats at distances of 50 meters away! : )

So, the record stands...until the next bat detector comes out, that can beat it!

Tune-in tomorrow - Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!