As some of you may know I have a new GSP pup, he is only 9 weeks so e-collars are a ways down the road. But I've began shopping them around, and am a bit overwhelmed. I don't forsee myself needing a 500 gps tracking collar, but a good quality e-collar that I can use in both training and hunting situations. My budget is 500 dollars and preferably I can purchase it at cabelas, I have a 500 gift card there. Any help would be great, because I am pretty ignorant, never bought or used one before. I will obviously be using a program that utilizes the e-collar and goes through the conditioning process and do my research on using it so I don't mess up my buddy.

My vote is DT Systems. been using them for 20+ years and have never had a problem. Plus if you need parts, they are in Dallas. We are currently running two 1822 h20 series two dog units.

The Garmin is around $200.

Can't go wrong with dogtra or tri tronics. For that price you can get ones with a beeper.

I don't recommend the 200 dollar Garmin delta. Didn't like mine at all.

The good news is that you can get just about any collar on the market for $500. Really most of them out there are pretty good with exception of what you can buy at pet superstores.

The features that you need depend on the type of dog that you have and the type of training that you will be doing. I also recommend certain models based on whether you are training the dog yourself versus having the dog trained and then working on a certain level most of the time.

For example, most of my clients are happy with a collar like most dogtra models or the Einstein by e collar technologies however I don't recommend those collars if you are training yourself because they all have a rheostat and an LCD display that forces you to have to take your eyes off the dog in order to adjust up or down. In that instance I would recommend a tube style tranitter with low,medium, and high at your fingertips without taking your eyes off the dog. The two I would recommend are the Garmin pro 550 or the new dogtra edge rt. I would not recommend the trash breaker, pro 70, or dogtra edge because although they have a tube transmitter they have limited levels and therefore have large jumps between them. They are more for dogs that are already trained. I would also stay away from the garmin delta because as it was said there are a lot of contact issues with the fixed short probes.

www.gundogsuply.com has a good collar comparison with videos of the features of all and I believe you can get most at Cabelas.

Good luck.

Hard to beat this for your price I think:

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Garmin-Tri-tronics-Pro-Bundle/1833161.uts

I read up on this one Kevin and I had an AHA moment. This would have been perfect back when I was training. It dawned on me that my dogs must have been handicapped and needed a collar like this. Read the last sentence.

"DT Systems H20-1822 Electronic Dog Collar has an 1800 yard (1 mile) range and come with completely waterproof and rechargeable (Ni-MH batteries) transmitter and collar units. Nick and Continuous Stimulations come standard on every model in the H2O 1800 series line-up.
Positive Vibration is a type of stimulation that will make the collar unit vibrate. Positive Vibration can be used in several different ways depending on how you use it during your dog's training. It can be a warning before you administer an electrical stimulation. it can be a reward or praise when your dog behaves correctly. It can represent a command in itself. It can even take the place of electrical stimulation all together, which would make it a great choice for handlers who are not comfortable using electrical stimulation. This is also a great feature for owners of deaf dogs as a way to get their dog's attention without using electrical stimulation."

My hard headed Pointers weren't hard headed after all. They must have been deaf! AHA!

Yep, I have a few that like to like to act like they are deaf (and actually have a retired dog that really is completely deaf) The vibrate function is awesome, once they learn what is next if they don't respond, all you'll ever do is vibe em. It's pretty rare that I actually have to shock one of mine now.

About the only time I ever hit the button anymore is if they don't see the pointing dog or to bump them around.

I like this I think, will probably wait for a free shipping sale or something

You may want to check but I think Cabelas does free shipping on all e collars.

Only 5 buck shipping right now.

Just order from Gundogsupply.com

Free shipping and no tax...

http://www.gundogsupply.com/garmin-tri-tronics-pro-550.html http://www.gundogsupply.com/garmin-tri-tronics-pro-550.html

But he doesn't have a gds gift card.

My bad. Didn't read that.

Though I bet he can find $500 worth of stuff at Cabela's to spend his money on. At least, I know I can.

I'm pretty sure any time you have more than $200 in Cabela's gift cards you have to put it toward a new gun.
I thought that was a law or something.