8 replies to this topic

[sxshooter]

I just received my new Garmin Alpha which combines the features of my old Garmin Astro 320 with a Tritronics Pro 500 training collar. When they were first introduced last month, they were $1100 for a one collar system. Apparently, Garmin saw fit to drop the price after a month to $800. Even though I was holding off to see the advantages of the Alpha over the Astro 320, I jumped at an Alpha as soon as they announced the price drop.

It has a ton of features, many of which I may never use, but the most useful is the combination of the GPS dog tracking with the training/correction collar. This means one less transmitter I have to carry and one less collar the dog has to wear.

The collar module is pretty big but it's still less than having a Tritronics correction collar and the Garmin Astro 320 on the dog. It should be a great tool to keep track of the new pointer and be able to correct from the same device. I'm still reading up on the functions and trying to figure out which will be useful in my day to day hunting. Those of you that have an English Pointer or have seen a well bred and trained one run big, know exactly what this device is for. My dog can get out a long way on the prairies, with 300-500 yards being common, and over hills quickly in the chopped up terrain. A dog can disappear in a hurry out there. A GPS takes the stress off of worrying about loosing your dog.

So if you're looking for a GPS tracking system for your dog and also need a correction collar system, the $800 Alpha gets you all the function of the $600 Astro 320 plus all the function of a $500 Tritronics Pro 500.

[ShooterJohn]

I thought the use of global positioning collars was outlawed in California? Or is that just for big game use?

[sxshooter]

I believe it's just for tracking dogs on mammals. It would (has) scare the crap out of me to put my pointer out without a GPS tracking collar. Loosing a dog has to be a lousy thing.

[ShooterJohn]

It is just mammals I looked it up to be sure. A friend lost his Beagle once when we flipped the jeep in the Sierras. We looked for his pup for several weekends but nothing. Then almost six months to the day he wandered into a town and the person who found him called. That was the skinniest dog I've ever seen but he lived to a ripe old age after that.

[sxshooter]

That's a great ending. I have my name and 2 cell numbers on my dog's collars, just in case I loose them. Those tags are on their regular collars and the electronic collars. Plus they're both chipped, but most people don't have access to scanners nor do many folks think about scanning a dog.

[stephen722]

that looks cool! I have spent some time looking for a locked up dog, they move fast and are hard to keep track of, have fun stephen

[DirtyDave]

I am saving up for one. I'll have to come by and check it out. I hope it will cinch up small enough for my puny little dog haha.
My 30% off certificate for Tri-Tronics I got for joining NAVHDA will come in handy.

[sxshooter]

Dang Dave, If I'd have known you wanted a GPS tracking collar, I would have given you a good deal on my year old one. It doesn't have the training collar portion but it's smaller than this one. But, I put it on ebay and it's already up to $480.

This new one might have to go around the chest on your little guy. But, 30% off $800 makes it less than the old one, which is still sold.

I've had the new system on the dog at the local park a few times. I want the dog to get used to it and I want to get familiar with it too. Seems pretty straight forward from the old one and the correction/training stimulation part is easy to use. The map screen shows both you and the dog position. Unlike the earlier Astro I had, this one (Alpha) has topo maps preloaded. The most used screen will be the compass rose with the bearing and distance to the dog.

[Bennie]

You guys are right it is just for mammals which is BS in my books. Hound hunters love their dogs too. Glad you are able to use this system. I have had people take the collars off of my dogs and throw them away, because they think that the plain old tracking collars I was using was a shocking collar. Talk about piss you off. Had one guy bury two collars under his cabin one time. It was a bad deal when we showed up at his cabin to get our dogs. He turned our dogs loose at a bar in town. Long story short, we were pretty pissed at him. Those dogs were worth over $20,000 dollars together. They were the kind of dogs that money could not buy. People are stupid when they think that a training collar is more cruel than beating the heck out of a dog any ways. Hope you get too use them for a long time.

PS The antis that are supporting SB 1221 are already saying that a guy with a duck dog has an unfair advantage at retrieving wounded ducks that would live if it was not for the dog that goes out and gets them. If you have any kind of hunting dog you guys better jump in the fight and call Governor Brown and try to get him to Veto SB 1221. A bunch of us Dog lovers are going to the Capitol on the 14th of SEptember at 11:00 AM, wearing Hunter Orange. Come on out and show the Governor how many dog lovers their is in CA. Just maybe if we get enough people he will Veto it.???