Banshee Review

5

5spd

New member
I received my new FoxPro Banshee yesterday.
Thanks to APC for fast delivery that I was able to take it out last night.
I have a Shockwave Ive been running the last few years & wanted a lighter/louder unit for the open windy areas that I call in & around as well as hundreds of fingers that are on the ranches we call on. Probably really don't matter as coyotes can hear what we cant.
The remote is very easy to use at night. Once I got the buttons figured out by feel it was good going.
The keypad does not light up so that took a bit to get used to.
The screen is as easy to read/operate as the TX1000.
I had the call set from 40 yards to about 100 yards and it never failed to connect/operate.
I shot a coyote over it trying to back door me, so I am darned happy. She came out of a finger about 3/4 miles off, up the cut field along a depression and dropped at 56 yards when she popped up and I was ready.
1st time out & its 1st coyote...not bad at all.
It carries much easier on my belt loop than the shockwave due to its light weight.
I have it fully loaded as of today with 200 sounds.
It did not load up when I 1st connected it to Fox Pros programmer, so it took a few minutes to figure that I had to update the program as mine was 4 years old. Once I did that & hooked it to the computer everything was right on target & adding sounds & redoing my categories was simple as usual.
 
Mine should be here any minute,ordered it Wed.said i was in the one day delivery zone.
Erik at APC could not have made it any easier hats off to him.Hope i can get out for a stand or two this evening and have the same luck as 5 pd.Glad 5spd said it carries easy that was one of my concerns.
 
Great report on the Banshee!

Probably really don't matter as coyotes can hear what we cant.

Coyotes have great hearing but they are not always in a great spot to hear your calling sounds.

The areas I call have lots of small canyons, fingers, ditches and washes that the coyotes can be in or ridges and hills that they can be on the other side of. To have a better chance to get the sound to these coyotes a very loud call can help get the sound to them.

Many times I have started out calling on volume 20 to 30 for 5 to 8 minutes and then gone to full volume 40 and had a coyote or coyotes show up within two to three minutes after going to full volume 40.

I call straight against the breeze or wind about 75% of the time so I normally hit full volume at least a few times on every stand. The sounds don't carry nearly as well against a slight wind or breeze.

From what I have seen full blast volume works great for coyote challenge sounds, pup distress sounds, coyote growls and coyote fight sounds.

Don't be afraid to hit full volume a time or two before you give up on a stand.
 
I have a new Banshee as well. Only thing I have a problem with is the batteries coming out of the battery tray. Not sure why they dont stay "snapped"in...Works great other than this little annoyance.
 
Working out the range on mine. Testing it in some open/grassy fields here, and connection has been somewhat of an issue.

First field I was good out to 100 yards, no problem. Moved fields, had some grass about calf high, placed the Banshee downhill at about 75 yards from me. Connection came and went. I would press the mute button and the caller would keep calling/stay turned off. Would have to hit it a few times to get a signal through. Same thing with changing sounds.

Did a third field, was pretty open, great line of sight, had the caller at about 75 yards again, and same issue, had to smash the buttons a few times to get the signal through to mute/un-mute and to change sounds.

Seems that 50-60 yards worked fine, and although I got it to work at 100, I did have a few problems after that.

Otherwise, 5spd is spot on. Only chief complaint I have is I wish they mounted the transfer port on the outside under a dust cover versus inside and having to take the whole thing apart. Seems like that would be an easy fix.

Waterproof battery bay would have been nice as well, or at least something lest exposed.

Otherwise a great product. Will be taking my out tomorrow for another test run, and hopefully some target practice, hahaha.
 
Got my Banshee last year. It's a great call! I also think a lighted keypad would be great. Trying to feel the pads with gloves or cold fingers is tough. That's about all I would change.
 
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