my initial thoughts on the garmin astro

Yes, in 5 seconds the dog will have covered some distance.



Dog covered nearly 20 miles at 15 mph. This is a picture off my new Alpha,

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You have to trust them to do what they are breed to do. They are amazing, they can fly around the cover and find bird for you.

You have to trust your dog, and the Garmin will help with that also.
But the biggest reason to have an Astro, if something goes wrong, you can still find your dog.
 
holy moses let your dad use it for coyote hunting this winter. I know that would be a big help for him. lab man
 
I'm really interested in an Astro but have to try and justify the $600 cost. I keep telling my wife that my beeper collars don't work very well for me any more due to my hearing loss. She knows I have a hearing loss because I can't ever hear a thing she says! :)

Am I right that the 320 has both a sound and vibrate notification that your dog is on point? Are they sufficient to alert you? I ask because in looking at the Sportdog TEK a common complaint was that the audible sound was too faint to be heard.

And I've love to know how far my dog runs on each hunt. That would be cool. I'm sure if I beg hard enough that Santa would probably bring me one. I'm just not sure what the cost in return would be?? Probably something involving diamonds! :D
 
I actually bought my unit in two parts. The GPS unit with out collar was on sale at a place not normally known for hunting. I purchased the collar from the big outfitter using coupons and credit card bucks.

Saved over $170.

Now that I have it ... I would have paid full price.

Hunting next to big cattail sloughs and large uncut cornfield with a young dog bring about less fear.
 
SetterNut said:
What the Astro's strongest benefit for the pointing dog is it make it easier to find a dog that is on point. This could be due to tall cover, or long distances. When a dog is in tall grass at long distance on a windy day, and Astro / Alpha is about the only way you will find them. In those conditions I find a bell and a beeper to be of almost no use.
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What he said. Last thing you want to do is call your dog in when they are locked on a bird.
 
Dakotazeb said:
I'm really interested in an Astro but have to try and justify the $600 cost. I keep telling my wife that my beeper collars don't work very well for me any more due to my hearing loss. She knows I have a hearing loss because I can't ever hear a thing she says! :)

Am I right that the 320 has both a sound and vibrate notification that your dog is on point? Are they sufficient to alert you? I ask because in looking at the Sportdog TEK a common complaint was that the audible sound was too faint to be heard.

And I've love to know how far my dog runs on each hunt. That would be cool. I'm sure if I beg hard enough that Santa would probably bring me one. I'm just not sure what the cost in return would be?? Probably something involving diamonds! :D
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Tell her it is a safety item for the dog. How many times each year do you see people that have lost dogs while hunting. That will not happen with an Astro or Alpha.

I have a buddy that has a TEK, it is not nearly as reliable as the Garmin units.
 
lab man said:
holy moses let your dad use it for coyote hunting this winter. I know that would be a big help for him. lab man
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For sure. He doesn't know I have it yet, but I was planning on letting him use it when he wanted to.

You guys gotta be getting ready for that? I went out last weekend for the first time. Brrrrrr!
 
GPS use

I feel the GPS, especially the Garmin, is the way to keep track of my dogs. I will tell how the people who introduced me to hunting kept track of their dogs. None of them used a bell. They had a leash and whistle to give some control but that was the extent of the equipment.

I first started hunting with my Dad and uncle when I was 7 or 8. Some of the dogs ran quite wide and all they had was a leather collar with a name and town name burned on the collar. In 1947 my uncle gave me a Llewellyn male that I hunted for 13 years. He was a wide running dog and just carried a collar, as above. I can remember feeling a pit in my stomach when he was nowhere to be seen. He either came to the front or you started checking where he was last seen and he would usually be on point. Hunting areas where much more spacious than today. We only had quail so there was not as much of a problem with them running and sneaking off as a pheasant might do. Later I started using name plates on my dog collars but still depended on the dog checking in or being found on point. It was not until about 1989 that I started using a beeper. That was ok except if I was up wind I could not always hear it. I also did not care for the fact that it produced sound so close to the dog?s ear. I eventually found some that could be set to produce sound when just on point. I felt better but being so near the ears bothered me. When Garmin released their first GPS I looked long and hard but did not care for the way they were mounted. The Garmin 220 with the 30/40 collars looked good and I have been sold on them ever since. I just purchased an Alpha but due to some medical concerns I have not been able to use it other then in the yard.

I described a little of my hunting ways to point out you do not always have to see a pointing dog if he is reliable. I am very concerned about the welfare of my dog and the Garmin allows me to know immediately if there may be a problem as to his location or that he may be on point.

Keep the GPS available and watch the areas to the front. Use it if there may be a concern.
 
I've had my Garmin 220 for about 4-5 years. I used to hunt with a beeper so I could find my dogs in tall grass, but I "lost" my oldest GSP in tall switch grass right along side a busy highway. The wind was blowing about 30-40 mph and I couldn't hear the beeper. I looked and looked and finally about 30 minutes later she found me. I was literally sick to my stomach with worry and went out and bought the Astro right away. I wouldn't hunt without one and have never found the 5 second refresh to be an issue. The peace of mind in being able to pull the Astro out and see where my dogs are is worth every penny to me.

I use a "Gear Keeper" to attach it to my vest and it fits in a pocket on the front of my Buck's Bags hunting vest. I don't walk around looking at the screen, I only pull it out when a dog goes on point if I can't see them.

I hunt 40-50 days a year and have never had any issues with the Astro or the collars!! I think I kill more pheasants now that don't use the whistle or the beeper. I don't speak unless I shoot a bird and I'm telling the dogs to fetch or hunt dead. I firmly believe roosters run like hell when they hear a human voice after the first week or two!!

I also never had any idea how far a dog goes compared to you. It's wasn't uncommon when my pups were younger for them to travel 18-20 miles in a day. I keep track of that in my hunting logs along with how far I travel!

I would sooner hunt without an E collar than my Astro!!!

AM
 
I just bought the Alpha and the quickest update rate is 2.5 seconds. I set it for pointing dog and the third button across the top to tone (beep) the hand held will vibrate / beep when dog is on point. My complaint is that the volume is low for the beep....just saying.
 
HighBrass68 said:
I just bought the Alpha and the quickest update rate is 2.5 seconds. I set it for pointing dog and the third button across the top to tone (beep) the hand held will vibrate / beep when dog is on point. My complaint is that the volume is low for the beep....just saying.
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I have mine on the shoulder of my strap vest. When I am just running them I put it in the breast pocket of my shirt.
 
HighBrass68 said:
I just bought the Alpha and the quickest update rate is 2.5 seconds. I set it for pointing dog and the third button across the top to tone (beep) the hand held will vibrate / beep when dog is on point. My complaint is that the volume is low for the beep....just saying.
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Wonder why they would do a 2.5 second refresh on the alpha but not the astro. 2.5 seconds would be great.

I agree on the beeping being too quiet. I did find the different tones, but with it in a pocket, even the loudest tone is quieter than I would like. Today was very windy though, so on a calm day, maybe it will be good enough?

Sorry for the novel, but thought I would share this:

I got out yesterday and had a few experiences that really highlight where the astro shines. First off, it was the first time where wind affected the beeper collar. I was hunting with a buddy and his lab. Last time we hunted together, his dog picked up on what the beep meant, so I wanted to bring it along. When the stiff wind was pushing the noise towards us, it sounded like he was right in front of us, when he was actually a long way away. When working with the wind at our back, I shut it off. Once he was a little ways away, it was pointless.

Now onto the big ordeal that has me convinced I will never leave home without the astro. The birds didn't want to fly yesterday, which was sort of a shock. With the snow, the way we were working the wind, and the fact that they were freshly released, we thought they would hold tight, and then flush, but we were wrong. My dog got on the trail of a bird and starting tracking it. We were walking through some thick stuff, so I couldn't see him, but my buddy saw him heading north. By the time I got out of the crap I was in, he was almost 300 yards away. He wasn't moving very fast, so I just sort of watched him. We walked out another little section of marsh grass with my buddy's lab, and by the time that was over, I looked down and he was 600 yards away and still leaving. I hit the tone button on the e-collar to bring him back and he stopped for a while and started heading east......then west.....the east....then north again. He was stopping every once in a while, long enough to throw a point tone on the GPS. I knew at that point, he was lost. He started north again. I was yelling his name, but the wind was pretty strong, and he was up over a large ridge, in the woods. If I hadn't had the astro, I would have been a nervous wreck!

I did get nervous though when the communication with the collar was lost when he was almost 800 yards away. I rushed to the edge of the woods and got communication back. I started hitting the tone button to get him to stop as soon as the collar was lost. Now he was still over 700 yards away, but at least I could see him on the screen again. I got up on the ridge and the wind died down a little and I started calling his name. He must have heard me because he immediately starting working back, and very quickly I might add. Occasionally, he would start veering off, but I would call his name and he would adjust accordingly. Eventually, he found his way back.

Was a very scary situation for me, and without the astro, I don't know how it would have turned out. I was able to get to a good spot to yell based on the last known position reported.
 
I have two hunts under my belt with the 320. Im sure there is less manipulating that goes on because of the 320. In the first hunt, when I was alone, I dont think I said a word, or hit the beeper the whole time.(running my 2502 in conjunction with the 320) It was sweet..

Didnt really care for the 5 second refresh rate. Im sure my dog covers alot of ground in 5 seconds, like alot of yours. It is nice to be able to see just how much ground your dog has covered, thats for sure. I would guess that the actual amount of ground covered is considerably less that what is show in the statistics.. If my dog starts out on a 100 yard circle at the beginning of a refresh cycle and completes it at the end of the 5 seconds (for example only, shes not that fast) she traveled 954 feet in actuality (.18 miles) but will only get logged in at the difference between the initial point and the refresh point.

Shes only been lost a couple times, for a few minutes, but.. its very upsetting to me when it happens..

The peace of mind, knowing where she is, and what she is doing, was well worth the $390. at least to me. (probably not my wife)
 
Well, today I absolutely loved the astro! I was by myself, and managed to hang it off my coat so I could easily hear it. I honestly think that without it, I wouldn't have bagged the bird we got.

I emailed garmin to ask if there was a way to increase the tone volume.....they said no.
 
You can pick up a Gear Keeper for about $20 or so, and if you don't know what they are, Google them. I have one on each side of my vest for my Astro and the other for the TT controller. They keep the device out of the way and it's not tucked in your pocket where you can't hear it go off. When you hear the tone just grab it and pull it out to where you can see it and way you go towards your dog.

This might not work for everyone but it works for me!

AM
 
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