Garmin Alpha/TT15 Tips and Tricks

S

Schemy

New member
Just pulled the trigger on this bundle. What does a guy need to know as far as tips and tricks?

This is my first time running a GPS collar.

Thanks
 
Spend some good time with the manual, Youtube and studying through the handheld unit's menus and stuff. There is a lot there. Its not difficult, but there is a lot.
Don't forget to mark the 'truck' location when starting a new hunt.
If you use two collars and also use correction, make darn sure you hit the right button when correcting one of the dogs.
If you use correction--be careful and ramp up from 1 low and watch for that wee twitch.

Have fun--it is a wonderful tool and helps a lot with lost dog anxiety and such.
 
Well my venture into the Garmin Alpha will have to wait. Got the box home from Cabelas, open it up ready to start playing with it. The handheld it there, but no collar. My store doesn't have any more in stock. So I'm now waiting on another kit to be shipped to the store.
 
Best purchase I've made for bird hunting period. No more searching for a dog on point that you can't see in heavy cover. No more wondering where/what they are doing, it's all right there in real time in the palm of your hand. Beeps when they go on point, tells you if they are running, sitting,pointing, and gives stats like distances for your dogs and you, as well as dogs average speed. Lots of info to view.
I setup a geofence of 100 yards on mine so if either of my dogs gets out past that point, it beeps at me. Its made my hunt so much more relaxing and enjoyable, not always having to keep track of the dogs whereabouts and how far out they are (I have 3 big roaming gsps)
One downside....im on my 3rd handheld. The screen will freeze up and the unit shuts down. Garmin has replaced it twice. So far no freezing with the one I picked up last month. Fingers crossed.
The technology is so impressive, I couldn't imagine ever hunting without it again.
 
I began using an Innotek TT1600 20 years ago because I liked the track-n-train features. The Garmin Alpha 100 is 5x better. Your biggest challenge will be around what to do with all the features and information. My suggestion is don't let that distract or complicate your time on the ground with your dogs. Set your correction levels for each dog and use the dog tracking (I personally use the compass view) when in the field. you can set tones and vibration for pointing, which are helpful, but don't stop keeping track of your dog visually or directionally when hunting. The ability to know what an out of sight dog is doing allows you to make the most of a training or hunting situation. The other information is far more interesting to me post the hunt, but that just might be me, Bottom line is don't overly rely on it or you will find yourself walking through fields looking at the device like people walking down the street looking at their cell phone.
 
I found it necessary to use screen/button lock to avoid inadvertently correcting the dog.
 
matto said:
I found it necessary to use screen/button lock to avoid inadvertently correcting the dog.
Click to expand...

X2 - i would end up on some screen i had no idea how i got there and then would have to figure out how to get back to where i wanted, screen lock is great once you have it set up how you like it.

Great product in general, definitely nice with larger running dogs and thick cover. If your buddies have the same collars you can see their dogs and be notified when they're on point as well. You can also see where your buddies are if you split up and/or hunt terrain that's tough to keep an eye on each other. No major complaints.
 
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