Garmin Alpha Locking up

[bluecollar beagler]

who r u guys contacting with issues? My collars continuously lose signal . When i went to michigan with four other guys there units never lost signal. All three of my collars were constantly beeping telling me id lost signal and my unit is newer then all theres. !!!!! id like to talk to someone about fixing this problem

[BCBeagles]

Main Garmin number then listen to prompts.

I have had good experiences with customer service, they are willing to help.

I lost signal as well until I went to the tuff skin antenna's on the collars, but some have not had success with them. Good luck!

[CarolynGarmin]

Any issues with your Garmin product please contact us directly-we DO open cases and troubleshoot each item even if we haven't heard of the error happening prior.

800-800-1020
Option 2
Option 5
This will lead you directly to our Dog tracking/training technicians who will assist you.
I work in the Dog track/train department and other than someone directing me to this board have not heard of this issue. We cannot help if people do not call in for help

[S.R.Patch]

6 pages and you don't think these people have called for help on their $1000. investment?

[Crow]

Any issues with your Garmin product please contact us directly-we DO open cases and troubleshoot each item even if we haven't heard of the error happening prior.

800-800-1020
Option 2
Option 5
This will lead you directly to our Dog tracking/training technicians who will assist you.
I work in the Dog track/train department and other than someone directing me to this board have not heard of this issue. We cannot help if people do not call in for help

Carolyn, first off let me say thank you for getting on here & showing interest in these matters, I have had issues but the service I've received from Garmin has been top shelf to say the least. The issues of locking up are documented with Garmin. I've spoken to several different reps & at first they were saying they hadn't heard of these issues either but the last two said they were aware. That at least shows communication & potential progress. I will say for the price of these units I would like to see a different approach to correcting this problem other than replacing a new unit with a "refurbished" unit to "see what happens". That & the turn around time discourage hunters from dealing with Garmin directly. I have been dealing with Garmin in hopes of finding a fix but I know several people that don't because they argue why would they spend an hour or more on the phone only to have to walk through a bunch of "diagnostics" then do it all over again in a few days when they didn't work finally to have to send their unit back and go without their system for 10 to 14 days. The alternative is to call the dealer they bought it from & most will send a new system & tell you to mail yours back when you get the new one so you don't have to do without a system during hunting season. On top of that some even pay shipping both ways. I understand Garmin can't fix problems they aren't aware of but surely you can see the disadvantage of going the Garmin route. One of the reps I spoke with said we would check some settings & ideally it will fix the issues. My response was no ideally when you pay $1,700 for a system the darn thing works properly when you get it. This exchange was in a laughing manner but there is a certain level of frustration associated with the situation as well.

[beaglenutz]

Garmin told me that they were going to give me a download to try out to see if it fixes the freeze up problems. If it works they will release it!

[Crow]

Hope it does, mine just arrived in Kansas this morning. Hopefully the replacement will make it back here in a couple of days. Maybe they can put the download on it for me before they ship it back

[Mo. Beagler 5000]

Does Garmin make you send back your unit and receive it before giving you a new one? That would waste a lot of hunting time. I haven't had any issues out of my Astro but the sport dog people send you one that same day you call them and you send the old one back when you receive yours so hunting time is not too wasted.

[Crow]

You get the choice of either sending yours back and them shipping the replacement when they get yours (ships out same day usually) or you can give them a credit card number and they'll go ahead and ship the replacement. If they don't receive your product within 30 days they bill your card. If you ship priority mail it usually gets there in 2 days and then 2 or 3 back. Throw in a weekend in the mix and you look at about a week or so. It doesn't bother me for 2 reasons, 1 is I work 7 on and 7 off so I just sent it in on my last day off, can't run for a week anyway. 2 is a buddy of mine has an alpha and he coon hunts. He just lives about half a mile from me and only uses his at night so if mine is delayed I can use his. If time was a major issue you could always give them a card number and use yours until the replacement arrives then mail yours when it does. I'll have to say the service has been excellent, just frustrating that I'm having to use it to begin with.

[S.R.Patch]

Sounds like the perfect solution, each system should come with a "back-up" system. When one fails, just send it in and use the "back-up" until it's returned. They could double package them to save on postage when you buy and maybe a two-for-one discount could reduce the total package price. Maybe $3000. for a 4 dog system w/ back-up?

I know at work, the cold has wreaked havoc on our controls systems. When it was cold, they just froze up locking in the last good reading. Now that it's warming up, their all failing with bad readings and it's hard to cover when megawatts are $700.
I sure miss the old days...

[Crow]

Gee patch, I can't say for sure but I'm beginning to think you may not be a fan of the alpha system, tell us how you really feel.

I'm pretty sure even the good ole TT and Sportdogs have their issues. I used TT for a decade before the alpha, I had to send a few of those back as well. Matter of fact the first Trashbreaker I bought wouldn't reach 50 yards straight out of the box. We mailed back and forth for a month before I finally got a system that worked properly. Them were the "good ole days" to.

[S.R.Patch]

Re: garmin alpha

Postby S.R.Patch » Thu Jan 09, 2014 4:27 pm
Are you running on the primary unit or has it failed and your using the back-up unit?
That's the whole issue here, locking-up/loss of signal.
I really hope they can get all this straightened out, I'd like to have one someday, but like hounds, I hate to spend the money and have to make excuses for it...

I'd like to have one, and I hope this becomes the best system on the market, but promoting and making excuses for anything costly that someone spends their hard earned money is not my style until it's proven performance comes shinning through. Then, I jump on the ban wagon...

ps. I had 3 of the tri-tronics, 1-dog, 3dog & 6 dog. Just lucky I guess but no problems here...

[Crow]

Re: garmin alpha

Postby S.R.Patch » Thu Jan 09, 2014 4:27 pm
Are you running on the primary unit or has it failed and your using the back-up unit?
That's the whole issue here, locking-up/loss of signal.
I really hope they can get all this straightened out, I'd like to have one someday, but like hounds, I hate to spend the money and have to make excuses for it...

I'd like to have one, and I hope this becomes the best system on the market, but promoting and making excuses for anything costly that someone spends their hard earned money is not my style until it's proven performance comes shinning through. Then, I jump on the ban wagon...

ps. I had 3 of the tri-tronics, 1-dog, 3dog & 6 dog. Just lucky I guess but no problems here...

I do promote the alpha as a superior system. Again this is just my opinion. I would like to point out however that while I do promote them to those that inquire about them, I also am very open about the issues that they are currently having. I give my opinion then give facts about the positive and the negative. It's up to the individual to take the information and decide whether or not it is worth spending their hard earned money on. If folks were only saying the good and hiding the bad I would agree 100% with you but everything I've read on here the folks that are having issues a). Really like the system and b). are very open about the problems they are having. The good out weighs the bad to me, when they fix the bad it'll be even better.

[S.R.Patch]

Ok, that's great!
Let me know when this all get worked out, I'll keep the piggy bank at the ready till it happens...

[Crow]

Nah, your a smart enough fellar, you'll figure out on your own when the time is right for you. I wouldn't wanna promote anything and persuade you into spending your hard earned money on something you weren't happy with. I don't want any part of those excuses