Garmin-vs-Sportdog

[wireman252]

For those of you that have tried both gps tracking units, could you please tell which one you prefer and why. Considering a possible purchase. Thanks

[yoteslayer]

I love my Garmin, but havnt tried the sportdog. For $50 seems like an easy pic to me. The birdseye upgrade for the garmin is so cool, I can see what tree my dog is standing under.

[DIXIEDOG]

I've only used the Garmin but I can't imagine using a gps tracking system without base maps in it. It's worth it to buy the Garmin just for knowing where the roads are and how close your dogs are getting to them let alone the topo data.

[hillbillyridgerunner]

i was checking out the sportdog Tek 1.0 the other day myself. I don't know if they make any other models or what they do but the fact that that the Tek 1.0 can shock & track from 12 miles away seems like a winner to me

[jim matuszewski]

i have the sportgog,and have been around thr garmin for the last 3 years,if i was going to go out and buy one at the time it would have been the garmin. but for an early xmass presant i got the sportdog tracker,trainer,man am i impressed!! first the collar construction is 100 times better than the dc40. a solid rubber unit. plus to have the tracker trainer in one collar keeps it down to 1 collar on the beagles, plus the trainer has great range up there with the trash breaker. with 100 levels of stim. tone and vib.you know the map thing would be nice but the guys i run with don't even download them,most the time when i put down i really don't need a map.i am woundering though with garmin buying tritronics why by know don't they have the same system or even better?

[cburchett77]

I have the Gramin and A friend has the Sport Dog. Either one will tell you where the dog is. The reason I went with the Garmin is the map. The way I looked at it is, the reason I wanted one was to protect the dog mainly. Well with the Garmin you have the map which tells you if there around roads, across roads, running beside roads. Or it even tells you if they are on the R/R or how far fromn the R/R they are. It also tells you if they are on the other side of a creek or river. I can pull distances from dog to road to find out if I need to be worried or not. You can also zoom in to look at the map and watch how the dog is working a check. All of these reasons is why I chose the Garmin.

The Sport Dog is good also but another reason the shock and tracking collar did not impress me was the size. It looks like you have a barrel tied around a little dogs neck. It is pretty bulky. Just my opinion. Don't mean much. Buy what you like and don't let no one talk you in to anything else.

[Mo. Beagler 5000]

For me, after watching the TEK demo I decided on the garmin for the following reasons.

1. Birdseye and topo maps make it easy as heck to find the best route to your dogs and what terrain they are in... So even if it looses signal over a mountain you can still figure out where the dogs are.

2. You can use the 320 as a regualar advanced GPS system without the dc collars. So for me camping and hiking a lot it becomes an all-in-one deal.

3. The 320 has a million functions like calclators and fishing reports etc. but almost all of them are easy to use and figure out.


I love sport dog as a company and believe that eventually they will get maping and do it better than garmin but for now the only comparrison is the sport dog tells you where the dog is located and the garmin does a HELL of a lot more..

[bucks better beagles]

For ease of operation, I go with the Sportdog. I have owned several garmins and found them to have way too may functions. The sportdog requires very little getting used to and has never dropped a signal. Both transmitter and receivers are rechargeable.

You can put in 20 waypoints and a starting point so you can get an idea of where the dogs are without a map. Once these are established for your usual hunting areas, who needs a map.

The sportdog combo transmitter seems big but consider a garmin and a shock collar on the same dog. I would say the comparison is relevant then.

The sportdog people still have some work to do to get a few bugs out but the unit is my favorite.

[jim matuszewski]

buck i agree with how easy it is to learn to use i always set a new start point when i get out of the truck and set away points of arear that i don't want the dogs not as good as maps but very functional plus on the same collar you get the traning range if not more than the tritronics trashbreaker in one collar. i seen were guys added the tritronics trainer to there dc40 collar,probably looked even a little more bulkyer. then you got to walk around with 2 different receivers hanging around your neck. i'm not a salesman for them or nothing just saying that its a good product.buy what you want. i posted on this on another post that with garmin buying tritronics i'm real surprised they have not come out with something simalar

[bucks better beagles]

Its fun too Jim, I now have 4 collar transmitters hooked up. It has an on off button for use in vehicles which the garmin doesn't have. This allows you to drive down the road and navigate towards your dogs without magnetic or metal interference. This feature has benefitted me greatly when my dogs were miles away on a coyote. Found them once just ready to get killed about 50 yards off a major highway.

[bucks better beagles]

Service on the sportdog is great. I had a cover break on my transmitter antenna cover. They sent me an overnight mail slip on my e-mail, I put it in the mail on Monday and got it back today Wednesday. It is a brand new unit.

[barnold1]

bucks, the "pause tracking" on my Garmin seems to work pretty good when I want to get in the truck and drive somewhere else.

[mobeagle]

For ease of operation, I go with the Sportdog. I have owned several garmins and found them to have way too may functions. The sportdog requires very little getting used to and has never dropped a signal. Both transmitter and receivers are rechargeable.

You can put in 20 waypoints and a starting point so you can get an idea of where the dogs are without a map. Once these are established for your usual hunting areas, who needs a map.

The sportdog combo transmitter seems big but consider a garmin and a shock collar on the same dog. I would say the comparison is relevant then.

The sportdog people still have some work to do to get a few bugs out but the unit is my favorite.

??? The garmin is so easy to use my 9yr old regularly runs it while hunting with me without ever a snag. Can add a buddys collar while I'm a mile away from him and instantly track his dog. Dont know how much simpler garmin could possibly make their tracking unit? You can also mark as many locations as you like for all your favorite hunting spots in a garmin. I mark gateways, brush piles, barns and all other types of markers to give me an exact local on my dogs.

[Norshore]

Garmin Astro w/dc30 collars and Tri-Tronics shockers, no problems, no complaints, no worries....

[bucks better beagles]

Sorry Mo. didn't want to make a competition out of this. I have owned 3 garmins and I am probably not as smart as your 8 year old so I found that the sportdog was simpler to handle. Have you owned a sportdog? It sure comes with an owners guide that is much smaller.