any bought the new garmin tracker??

[PREACHERS KENNEL]

i was reading about it taKES UP TO 10 DOGS runs off satelite was thinking a bout it always like to hear someones opinion thats already has one!

[Big Head]

From the reviews I've read they are a bit pricey if you do more than one dog... I think the reviewer said around $1000.00 for the unit and one dog and each additional unit for the dog was about $200. The range is somewhat limited compared to a regular tracking system and 2 miles was pretty good... On the plus side it does give you a location for the dog not just a signal... You can go to the last shown location and possibly stay close enough to the dog to finally catch up to it... They did say they thought it would work well for beagles ...
When you get yours just box up that old tracking system you have and send it to me.....LOL

[Spruce Ridge Beagler]

Cutthroat beagler on here has a Garmin Astro 220. He has not had it long but maybe he will post about it.

[xdawg]

http://www.eisenhutdogsupplies.com/garmin/Astro220.htm

Based on what i've seen...

Its $600 for the unit and one collar.... Then $200 for each other....

For $1000 you could track 3 dogs

For $2400 you could track 10 dogs....

Jack

[sgc]

Theres some talk on these on the http://www.beaglescanada.com site. I'd go read these before I bought one.

[BJK]

The Canadians are saying that they're having problems staying on the dogs.

[cutthroat beagler]

I've been using mine for about 2 weeks and I like it.

There are pros and cons for this unit. I will try to break it down for you.

Cons:

• It only reaches 5 miles under perfect conditions. (-I laid mine on the ground in the state game area in a field next to a section of woods and then drove away. I got about 1 mile and lost signal. I stopped the truck and hooked up the Garmin trunk mount antenna and was able to go get out 2.56 miles and then I lost communication again.)
  
  The antenna's rubber coating is junk! My dogs managed to tear the rubber off of the antenna on the second use.
  
  The harness if used in the briars also gets torn up pretty quickly.

Pros:

• Unlike most other Dog GPS's on the market that require a monthly service fee, and that require you and the dog to be within cell tower range in order to broad cast a location to your cell phone computer or pager. The Astro 220 talks directly to the DC-20 collar with no middle man needed. (ie, NO towers, or subscrition fees are needed)
  
  If you lose communication with the collar the handheld will hold the dogs last known position. (even if you turn the reciever off and then back on)
  
  You can monitor the battery power and signal strength that each individual collar is getting, right from the palm of your hand.
  
  If the rubber antenna does tear it's not a big deal. The actual wire that's underneath of the rubber is really quite strong. (sure your antenna will be tattered, but should remain functional)
  
  Garmin also offers an optional mini antenna that is just a little nub. This is what you would use in thick tangled cover and dense briars. however you will lose some distance with the shorter antenna in place. I'd recommend that you save the stock antenna for the Hare terrain (Cedar Swamps and Hardwoods). and use the aftermarket antenna when in Cotton Tail country (Weeds and Briars).
  
  It comes with a bracket that allows you to connect the transmitter directly to the dogs collar without the use a harnes if you like. We put this on a coon hound monday night and just let it hang from the dogs neck. It worked flawlessly!
  
  You can set up a perimiter and an alarm will sound if the dogs reach out too far.
  
  It can tell you if the dog is On Point (Bird Dogs) or Treeing Quary (Coon Hounds).
  
  It can tell you how many yards and in what directiont he dog is from you.
  
  It can mark your truck and other waypoints.
  
  For beagles I can see it as bing a great tool for learning gow your dog behaves on track. It leaves a trail on the map view and shows where your dog has already been and is headed too. Run a hound solo and find out if he has a back tracking problem just by watching the display. If he breaks down and harks back in going backwards you can see the light bulb come on when he shuts up, turns around and goes back to the check area only to go the correct way this time you will have a log of this activity on the screen. (their's a 5 second refresh delay and I wouldn't recomend that you shock a dog for backtracking unless you can absolutly prove that the rabbit didn't double back.) I've found that when using this the dog will tell on themselves. and you have to give the dog a chance to figure out the check before grading them as to weather they messed up or not.
  
  The handheld is a fully functional GPS system. It is actually based on Garmins 60CSx handheld GPS. It can do all of the gps functions that unit can do, and the dog tracking is a bonus. So in the off season you can still use the handheld for all of your hunting, hiking, camping, and fishing needs. It even came with software lets you load maps for driving directions into it.

until I've had at least a dozen sucsessful hunts in hare country I think I will run it in conjunction with a traditional tracking collar for a while if I head to Hare country. So far their is room for improvement but this is a good start.

~Hosea

[Rneil]

Cutthroat, thanks for the post, good information.

[LR Patch]

Hey Red , why do you want to track them soorrry Patch Hounds of your from what I'm hearing all you need to do is look under the truck where you kicked them out !!!!!!!!!
Just Kidding , it was too easy.

[Chip E]

XDAWG was right on the price on the unit and the extra Transmitters.
I have found the on the beagles the Harness will get ribbed off in about and Hour if you are in heavy cover or Briars, but I have fixed that problem as I have made something to add on the Harness that you will not lose the unit no matter how thick the cover is and will stay on the Dog.
I do not like the life of the batteries on the dog but everything else like ther person above said is the way I see it also. I am mostly selling the units to Bird Hunters and they really like the unit with all the features.
Chip Eisenhut

[PREACHERS KENNEL]

lol good one randy .. well i been thinking about doin a hunt a long ways away and in case they just get runnin and go away i wanna find them,, if they cant find their way back.. sounds like i'll just stay with my tracker right now!

[cabin fever]

If anyone is interested there is a new one of these listed on E-Bay for a buy it now price of $487 with $12 shipping.

[Drop_tine]

Scroll down a few pages on this link and you'll see it in action. Pretty cool but I don't think I would use it on beagles.

http://www.worldclassbreeder.com/32August07.pdf

[hillbilly]

when it becomes a little smaller; and it will; i would love to have one its just going to take a little time and i don't think it will have as much impact as the shock collar but it will have one never the less.....


hillbilly

[PREACHERS KENNEL]

cut throat how far do thay go with the little antenna??or rather what is the the distance of reception of signal??