I've used them all and Sportdog, in my opinion, is the best. I'd go with the 1225 instead of the 425 if cost is an issue. If not then jump up to the 1825. Sportdog is the only company that will warranty their transmitters if they are dropped in the water and suffer damage because of it. The others only claim to be water resistant and the fine print states the warranty doesn't cover water damage.

I know you train for a living so i am interested in your preference other than warranty. Stimulus levels, the transmitter feel in your hand ect... please tell me all you can about it.

I know you train for a living so i am interested in your preference other than warranty. Stimulus levels, the transmitter feel in your hand ect... please tell me all you can about it.

OP the truth is Sportdog is junk. Do a search on any of the dog forums including rtf and you will see that they have issues regularly, they die, they don't hold a charge, and are well known for being an inferior product to Garmin and Dogtra. Dogtra has amazing service as well. It depends on what application you are looking for. I have a Garmin (tri tronics) pro 200 for everyday training as I like the tubular style transmitter for every day training and ease of use (larger buttons and dial control for stim level with clicks). I have the dogtra arc for hunting, as I like the slim line design of the receiver collar and the light small transmitter for hanging around my neck during the hunt.

Every serious trainer not sponsored by or not working for a trainer sponsored by Sportdog uses Garmin or Dogtra(make no mistake Kevin has to support Sportdog). Spend the little bit extra and find the right Garmin or Dogtra for your application. It will save you the headache of replacing it sooner rather than later.

OP the truth is Sportdog is junk. Do a search on any of the dog forums including rtf and you will see that they have issues regularly, they die, they don't hold a charge, and are well known for being an inferior product to Garmin and Dogtra. Dogtra has amazing service as well. It depends on what application you are looking for. I have a Garmin (tri tronics) pro 200 for everyday training as I like the tubular style transmitter for every day training and ease of use (larger buttons and dial control for stim level with clicks). I have the dogtra arc for hunting, as I like the slim line design of the receiver collar and the light small transmitter for hanging around my neck during the hunt.

Every serious trainer not sponsored by or not working for a trainer sponsored by Sportdog uses Garmin or Dogtra(make no mistake Kevin has to support Sportdog). Spend the little bit extra and find the right Garmin or Dogtra for your application. It will save you the headache of replacing it sooner rather than later.

Which garmin do y'all not like?

550 has low range options in constant , two stepup buttons, allowing three stimulation options in a second.

UPDATE: I received my Garmin Sport Pro's today and they are on the charger now. Thank you everyone for your input! I will keep y'all updated with any cons.

I have the Garmin Sport Pro two collar set. I bought it about a year and a half ago. At that time my youngest pup was 8 or 9 months old. She was showing a bit of aggression and barking at our neighbors dogs on the other side of the fence. I decided to take the second collar (red color band), program it for bark mode and put it on my dog. The "bark" mode stimulation was supposed to be progressive, starting low and then progressing intensity as the dog continues to bark. Once the dog stops barking the program resets itself to low intensity and the cycle starts again. This is supposed to allow the dog to associate the stimulation to the barking without "all or nothing" intensity like a lot of "low end" collars have.

Within a few minutes of putting the collar on the dog, she barked. Immediately she let out a blood curdling cry and bolted across the yard and underneath my RV. I was standing next to her for the first stimulation and her reaction was as if she was receiving a "full dose" not a "low dose." She never stopped crying and the collar never stopped stimulating. By the time I crawled under the camper, pulled her out and got the collar off of her she was foaming at the mouth, had deficated everywhere and her neck was slightly burned. I had been bitten all over my hands. It was horrible. I cried.

The next day I called the place I had bought the collar from and was told they had not had similar reports. Next I called Garmin and explained the situation. They asked me a few questions and finally told me that their collars were perfectly fine. They felt as though the episode was related to user error and that I must have done something wrong when programming the collar. I accepted their explanation and took responsibly.

Low and behold a few days later I received a replacement "second" collar from Garmin under recall and return packaging for my existing collar. The recall only affected the "second collar." The primary collar was fine. The recall was due to a "programing error" on some " second collars in the two collar set. I have no idea what went wrong, if it was my fault or theirs but I traded the collar out and haven't had a problem since. Admittedly, I haven't used "bark mode" since and probably never will.

I've used them all and Sportdog, in my opinion, is the best. I'd go with the 1225 instead of the 425 if cost is an issue. If not then jump up to the 1825. Sportdog is the only company that will warranty their transmitters if they are dropped in the water and suffer damage because of it. The others only claim to be water resistant and the fine print states the warranty doesn't cover water damage.

Never tried bark mode.
Also, If you go garmin, don't get a delta.