Garmin Alpha 100 VS 200/300

Munster927

Munster927

Well-known member
Wondering how many of you guys that used to run the Alpha 100s have upgraded to the 200/300s? I see Garmin just came out with the 300 recently and am considering an upgrade as I like the sounds of a few features but trying to decide if those features warrant the cost.

Anyone upgrade and happy you did? Or is it not worth the money?
 
Bumping because I'm interested in this as well. Had the alpha 100 for 4 years and it's been good. A lot of useful things in the 300i since I do use an inreach for my hunting. And the longer battery life is a major thing for me. But $850 when I already have a working unit is hard to justify. From my view the 200i is very useless when you can do the 300 and if anyone is getting a unit for the first time, the 300i seems the way to go off the back.

I'm almost hoping I break mine on accident to give me a reason for a new one.
 
LittleBigHorn22 said:
Bumping because I'm interested in this as well. Had the alpha 100 for 4 years and it's been good. A lot of useful things in the 300i since I do use an inreach for my hunting. And the longer battery life is a major thing for me. But $850 when I already have a working unit is hard to justify. From my view the 200i is very useless when you can do the 300 and if anyone is getting a unit for the first time, the 300i seems the way to go off the back.

I'm almost hoping I break mine on accident to give me a reason for a new one.
Click to expand...
Same. I have a hard time justifying spending $850 when I have one that works. But some of the features seem great and the multi day battery life would be great. Also, something as small as not having the unit beep when my screen is locked but I bump it or it brushes a stick would be great. It seems like such a small thing but man I'm out there beeping away all day with that thing.
 
Munster927 said:
Same. I have a hard time justifying spending $850 when I have one that works. But some of the features seem great and the multi day battery life would be great. Also, something as small as not having the unit beep when my screen is locked but I bump it or it brushes a stick would be great. It seems like such a small thing but man I'm out there beeping away all day with that thing.
Click to expand...
Do you know for a fact that part is fixed? It annoys me so much I turn off beeps but that means I get no beeps for things like lost signal and out of range which I miss. Just can't put up with extra beeps for screen touches.
 
LittleBigHorn22 said:
Do you know for a fact that part is fixed? It annoys me so much I turn off beeps but that means I get no beeps for things like lost signal and out of range which I miss. Just can't put up with extra beeps for screen touches.
Click to expand...
I watched a video on Gun Dog Supply showing a "button only" configuration and he showed screen locking the unit and then touched the screen, nothing beeped and no message came up about the screen being locked that you have to click ok for. Honestly that fix there almost won me over.
 
Here he shows how to set up a button only configuration but around the 2 minute mark he's touching the screen with it locked and no beeps and no message on the screen comes up saying the screen is locked

 
Munster927 said:
Here he shows how to set up a button only configuration but around the 2 minute mark he's touching the screen with it locked and no beeps and no message on the screen comes up saying the screen is locked

Click to expand...
Awesome thanks for showing that. At 4:45ish he also mentions the annoying alpha 100 lock so I agree they removed it. I still think I'll wait a little bit on the 300 but maybe as a Christmas present to my self instead of waiting for the 100 to break.
 
I’m irritated because I bought a 200i about 30 days before the 300i came out. I am moving from an Astro 430 and an InReach Explorer + to a single device. I haven’t hunted with the 200i yet but I’m hoping it works as well as the Astro. I have a Pro 70 that I use for correction and am heavily invested in the separate track and train collars so I won’t be switching to the combo track and train collars anytime soon or ever.
 
airmedic1 said:
I’m irritated because I bought a 200i about 30 days before the 300i came out. I am moving from an Astro 430 and an InReach Explorer + to a single device. I haven’t hunted with the 200i yet but I’m hoping it works as well as the Astro. I have a Pro 70 that I use for correction and am heavily invested in the separate track and train collars so I won’t be switching to the combo track and train collars anytime soon or ever.
Click to expand...
Yeah I bought my 100 probably 4 or 5 years ago now. It works flawlessly other than the minor hiccups that the 200/300 has fixed. The major interest for me is the increase in battery life and some minor fixes they did that I think would greatly enhance ease of use.

I already have 2 TT-15 track and train collars but the new TT-25s also have much better battery life (so they claim) that has me contemplating getting the bundle again and selling 1 collar and the 100. I usually have to charge the handheld and collar after each day of use.
 
It has been a couple of years. I am thinking about upgrading from the 100 to the 300 and looking for recent opinions.
 
I will say this about the 100 it is not super user friendly. It works great and does what its suppose to but if you are using it for training situations I would look elsewhere or get another e collar in addition to the 100. I will never "hunt" without an alpha (will upgrade to the 300 with my next dog or whatever is out then) but I will not train the dog with the collar. Its especially tough if you have two dogs running at the same time. To cumbersome to correct.
 
The 550+ is the one if you’re more interested in training, yet still has a functional gps to give distance and direction. I can toggle between dogs, give correction, or just a tone to any of 3 dogs without looking at the handheld.

Why does it seem that Garmins user interface on everything they sell seem like they never consulted with the end user though?

My gripe on the 550+ is once the dog is inside of 100 yards, it switches to feet as the units. Why do I need to know feet? I can divide by 3 in my head if I really need to know feet. And everything we do as outdoorsman is in yards. Why my gripe with this? I’m near sighted, so my distance correcting glasses blur the handheld just enough that I can’t tell if the unit being displayed is yards or feet. I can read the number just fine, but to see the units I have to remove my glasses or look over the top of them.

Same problem with my Instinct watch (which I like)-I know direction and which dog, but can’t tell if it’s yards or feet being given.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top