garmin --- does more --more reliable.

I wouldn't be able to compare. Garmin is all I've used. I only want direction and distance. My direction is more accurate after I get off the hunting vehicle. Garmin finds are exciting. I had an old Tracker which was a pain to deals with. I met up with some new guys on our new lease in 07. We went out together and they put a Garmin collar on my HOA pointer. Her name was Cookie. We lost Cookie. The Garmin beeped point and showed Cookie on point at 700 yards. We got there and couldn't see her. We were near a drain. We finally saw the tip of her tail above the weeds in the bottom of the drain. Someone went in to flush and quail got up all around Cookie. I went home and ordered my first Garmin.

I use a Garmin Alpha--it allows you to communicate with other hunters who have the same unit and has a garmin training collar incorporated the system.
It also will report to high dollar Garmin watches. I just happened to have one of those watches when the added the software and it is really handy--you get a bus when the dog is on point and it shows direction. often I don't even look at the hand unit.

The Alpha makes a little longer to correct a dog than a regular training collar, so when I am working a young dog sometimes I will run the stand alone training collar rather than use the Alpha as a training collar. The unit without the training collar and watch communication is a good deal cheaper. We once tracked a lost dog @ 7-8 miles with a Garmin unit.

You will need to carry a backup antenna for the handheld and two collars is better than one. Had a buddy who lost a dog for a week in Montana because he didn't have a backup collar. Batteries wear down after several years and the antenna can become disconnected after several years of hunting in really brush country. Garmin is becoming the dominant player in the gps field--I'm not sure how long the competitors will last--Garmin outsells them by far.

I had one of my pointers fall down 8 feet in a hole in Montana mostly covered in brush.. Couldn't get back out. I was several hundr d yards away and the Astro led me to him.

They are handy. Won't always report from a hole or arroyo but they will show where the dog went in.

I have the Garmin Astro also. Latest model with 3 collars. It is sweet.

I have so much less stress worrying about where my dogs are.

Best money I have spent in a long time.

I plan to send mine back to Garmin in August to get a new battery, new collar, and have whatever updates is needed.

Garmin Alpha looks like a very popular model, but there seems to be several variations of it. Confusing to me. Can you guys that use them help me narrow it down? I currently have 5 dogs. May add a 6 th next year but will most likely not have more than 6.

How many will you have on the ground at one time?

Usually only 2, but possibly 3

There is an Alpha 100 and an Astro 430. The Astro 430 only is capable of tracking dogs. The 430 comes with T5 collars that can be used by the more expensive Alpha 100. There is no communicating with other garmin devices on the Astro 430. The Alpha 100 can use TT 15 collars which are also training collars capable of electric stimulation, tones and vibrations. The Alpha 100 can also use cheaper T5 collars but when they are linked to an Alpha handset they will not report to an Astro 430. The T% collars do not have the ability to send stimulation or tones.

The Alpha 100 can communicate with other Alpha handsets and SOME other garmin devices such as watches and auto gps units. The Alpha can run the more expensive TT collars that include electric stimulation.

Both TT collars and T collars come as full size collars and "mini" units. The mini units are smaller but have less range and battery life. Unless you are running extremely small birds dogs or puppies, you don't need the mini collars.

If you are on a budget, already have training collars and don't have any buddies who are likely to get the Alpha unit you should look at the much cheaper Astro 430. If you don't plan on taking all that cash to the grave and you want the latest and best technology you should get the Alpha 100 and several collars. You will be able to locate your partners' hand held unit and program the alpha to see his dogs, assuming he has an Alpha also. Being able to see another handheld is quite handy when you or partner drops their handheld out in the brush or your partner is chasing a dog off away from you. You have to set up the handhelds to communicate before you begin hunting for their feature to work.

Setting up the TT collars (those are the ones that incorporate a training collar in such a way that you can respond quickly with stimulation requires careful reading of the manual or phone call to garmin. Especially if you are running multiple dogs of same handheld.

Both the Alpha 100 and the Astro 430 can be updated on a laptop -- they don't always work with macs. You need a Windows computer to update the collars. As I recall you can update software on the handheld units with a mac or windows machine but you need a windows machine to update software on the collars. You want to update software on a regular basis. Update equipment locates satellites faster. Both the Alpha and the Astro can copy history and landmarks to a laptop.

Forget about any system that needs a telephone to work. Those are to find you dog in your neighborhood. They won't work in some places.

I must confess I own stock in Garmin and have done well. There are some flaws in their dog systems, but I believe they are the best on the market. Their help lines work on regular business hours and sometimes require as much as half and hour wait. Whichever unit you buy, you want to get a spare antenna for the handheld. If you are in the habit of grabbing the flexible antenna when the hand held is in your pocket the antenna will only last a season or two. Without an antenna the handheld is just a handheld gps--it can't communicate with the dog collars.

My input
Alpha is touchscreen. Touchscreen with gloves on don't sound good. Also I hang my handheld from a harness. The bumping of the touch screen while hanging won't work with me. Alpha is also an e collar. I already have e collars. Plus when I need to make a correction with my ecollar I need to do it right now. Not after I look for the correct screen on the alpha

Astro uses button instead of touch screen. I use the mini collar and don't have a problem with range. My dogs range up to 800 yards and unless there is a good size hill in between us I don't lose reception. Batteries I do see a difference. 6 hours is about the limit on a comfortable side. 8 hours is really pushing it


I won't run my dogs without my Astro. I have a backup collar. If my Astro breaks while I am on a trip I am on the phone ordering a new one immediately overnite shipping.

My two cents worth: I waited on purchasing the Alpha for a couple of seasons, and pulled the trigger last year, after years of having to put an e-collar, and then a GPS collar on each dog I put on the ground, through out the day.

Once I found you can dedicate each of 3 buttons across the top of the face of the Alpha to a particular collar, and that an instant correction could be had when it is needed, then I ordered the Alpha. Many times I have two pointing dogs on the ground, and may have a cocker at heel, so I need my buttons pre programmed where all I have to do is educate my thumb to which collar is activated by which button. I keep the black collar on the left button, and the red collar on the right button.

I use a 430 with two T50 collars. Both worked flawlessly last season. But maybe the best investment I made was a telescoping long range antennae. It allowed me to have seamless contact with the dogs even when they dropped into fairly deep draws. Real happy with system and wouldn't put dogs down without it (how I worked dogs for 45 years without it still amazes me).

Gundog supply has some nice informational videos on their website about the different garmin models