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PostPosted: Sat Aug 11, 2007 6:34 pm 
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Silent Mouth
Silent Mouth

Joined: 11 Jun 2007
Posts: 77
WELL WE'RE SENDIN THE GPS BACK. :(


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:51 pm 
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Tight Mouth
Tight Mouth

Joined: 15 Jan 2007
Posts: 168
There is a topic about this on the UKC forum and ive heard nothing but good things there. The signal is not effected by tree cover because the collar sends out a signal to the gps much like any other tracking system. You don't have to have the sattelite signal for it to track your dog. From what ive read people are getting around 2-2.5 miles range and with the car top antenna they are getting up to 2 extra miles. The thing about it is if your dog goes out of range it shows where the last signal came from so you can go right there and begin tracking again. I think this is the best idea to come around for a while but Ive also heard several other companies are releasing their models of gps systems within the next few months. I would wait until the end of the year and see what all the other companies have out before buying one. As far as the vest idea goes i dont like it for hounds but they say the transmitter works well on a collar as long as you have a counterweight on the bottom like an e-collar or even a dummy collar just so the transmitter stays up.


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 Post subject: LOVE IT!!!
PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 10:51 am 
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Silent Mouth
Silent Mouth

Joined: 22 Aug 2007
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I got mine in the other day and I finally got to try it out last night. I went ahead and hooked it to a Johnson collar that I have. That way just in case I had problems I could still track the old fashioned way. She looked kinda goofy with the entire lower half of the collar...one side gray from the Johnson unit and the other side orange with a antenna sticking straight out to the side. Well, there was no need in the Johnson except for it's weight. The Garmin is as advertised. Fellas you better sell your "beep beep beep" while you can before it drops to 10 cents on the dollar! I used my pouch that I had for my Etrex and put the gps in at a tilt for antenna clearance and left in there for an hour. when she treed it sounded the alert so i pulled it out to take a look. it let me know that she was 887 yards out and treed and gave me the arrow showing how to get to her. then i pushed the map button and it showed her on map along with all of the running she had done since i turned her loose...dang a coon dog does some travelling to not go very far away. By the way, she was treed in one of the worst thickets you will ever climb into and it worked perfectly. Then I paused the tracking and we used the gps to return to the truck. I cant wait till i read the manual and actually learn how to use it to its full potential. Already have the stub antenna and roof magnet external ordered. I have to figure something out for the mounting though...maybe a dummy collar with a tad bit of weight on it and it should balance fine. even though the antenna was pointing to her right instead of to the sky it worked perfectly. One thing i also like about this system is that if you get out of range of the dog or it loses communication with her it will still keep the last place it had her. I absolutley love the system so far. I will keep ya posted.

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:05 pm 
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Silent Mouth
Silent Mouth

Joined: 24 Jul 2007
Posts: 96
Location: minnesota
Try www.lcsupply.com They carry counter balance collars.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:11 am 
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The problem I see with it is that a gps is a battery hog. I carry one but never leave it on because it will flat eat batteries. I also don't see how this gps could be any different than any other I have seen for satellite reception. I know from experience that tree cover and rough terrain can have a very adverse effect on a gps's ability to lock onto a satellite. I'm not doubting what anybody on here is saying, just giving my 2 cents worth based on my experience.


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 Post subject: Re: LOVE IT!!!
PostPosted: Fri Oct 05, 2007 9:32 pm 
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Brock_B wrote:
I got mine in the other day and I finally got to try it out last night. I went ahead and hooked it to a Johnson collar that I have. That way just in case I had problems I could still track the old fashioned way. She looked kinda goofy with the entire lower half of the collar...one side gray from the Johnson unit and the other side orange with a antenna sticking straight out to the side. Well, there was no need in the Johnson except for it's weight. The Garmin is as advertised. Fellas you better sell your "beep beep beep" while you can before it drops to 10 cents on the dollar! I used my pouch that I had for my Etrex and put the gps in at a tilt for antenna clearance and left in there for an hour. when she treed it sounded the alert so i pulled it out to take a look. it let me know that she was 887 yards out and treed and gave me the arrow showing how to get to her. then i pushed the map button and it showed her on map along with all of the running she had done since i turned her loose...dang a coon dog does some travelling to not go very far away. By the way, she was treed in one of the worst thickets you will ever climb into and it worked perfectly. Then I paused the tracking and we used the gps to return to the truck. I cant wait till i read the manual and actually learn how to use it to its full potential. Already have the stub antenna and roof magnet external ordered. I have to figure something out for the mounting though...maybe a dummy collar with a tad bit of weight on it and it should balance fine. even though the antenna was pointing to her right instead of to the sky it worked perfectly. One thing i also like about this system is that if you get out of range of the dog or it loses communication with her it will still keep the last place it had her. I absolutley love the system so far. I will keep ya posted.


Makes me want to order one after posting this :lol:


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2007 9:32 pm 
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Silent Mouth
Silent Mouth

Joined: 25 Mar 2007
Posts: 24
I wrote garmin a email and explained my conserns about it and was really set on getting one after seeing the collar I didnt like the way it was made ....made my dog look like a telletubby.......didnt seem like a bad concept but like I was saying garmin didnt say much except gimme the link to their website The regular tracking collar has been out for a long time and its gonna be hard to beat for durability and price

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2007 5:43 pm 
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Bawl Mouth
Bawl Mouth

Joined: 19 Jun 2007
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The GPS units being used in Europe need time to be bought for the link ups. It differs from country to country (and manufacturer??) If that's how GPS units go here as they improve and begin to use the technology already in place across the water I'll be hanging on to my beep beep beep system. Good luck and thanks for your experiences with Garmin. Paul Conway.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 6:10 pm 
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I use this system down in WV in the early bear season, and Let me tell you it worked great. I had no problems finding my dogs, and was able to stay in the race, seeing the direction the dogs were going in, I was able to get around to them and stay more in the race. OUTSTANDING........ I used both the GPS, and the regular collar, but I never needed the tracking collar.


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 2:49 pm 
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Tight Mouth
Tight Mouth

Joined: 12 Oct 2005
Posts: 143
Location: Washington
I have Spent 3 days hiking up and downa Big deep Canyon looking for a pair Dogs. and I know a friend that spend 7-8 days.. After talking with the folks at Garmin they didn't recomend it for us since they said it' was only rated for 17 hours battery life.

Just something to think about, Sure you might not have needed that Old Beep,Beep collar.. And sure it might not take Three days to find them with this new thing... But the Beep,Beep Collar will Still beeping a week later When it critically needed.. this thing will be an expensive chunk of weight..

For me there is nothing more comforting to hear when you first wake up from sleeping in your truck on the side of a road except Beep-Beep-Beep.. at least you have something to chase.

Other than that I think it would be great as a Luxury "second" tracking Collar,

I view it more like insurance.... it's hard to beat the old fasion collars, I'm glad people have been puttin these along with the old collars.. you know those old collars will be there for you when things get bad.. Not just when it's about hunting and getting to the Tree.

My 2 cents...


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:11 pm 
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Silent Mouth
Silent Mouth

Joined: 05 Nov 2006
Posts: 92
for those of you who are using this system and enjoying it are you have problems with it holding up in thick brush and tight fences? it seems to be too bulky and tall on top and would give a dog problems getting through tight spots....


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:52 pm 
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Chop Mouth
Chop Mouth

Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 436
Location: Oregon
hounded wrote:
I have Spent 3 days hiking up and downa Big deep Canyon looking for a pair Dogs. and I know a friend that spend 7-8 days.. After talking with the folks at Garmin they didn't recomend it for us since they said it' was only rated for 17 hours battery life.

Just something to think about, Sure you might not have needed that Old Beep,Beep collar.. And sure it might not take Three days to find them with this new thing... But the Beep,Beep Collar will Still beeping a week later When it critically needed.. this thing will be an expensive chunk of weight..

For me there is nothing more comforting to hear when you first wake up from sleeping in your truck on the side of a road except Beep-Beep-Beep.. at least you have something to chase.

Other than that I think it would be great as a Luxury "second" tracking Collar,

I view it more like insurance.... it's hard to beat the old fasion collars, I'm glad people have been puttin these along with the old collars.. you know those old collars will be there for you when things get bad.. Not just when it's about hunting and getting to the Tree.

My 2 cents...


Buddy

I totally agree with this. I have used the Garmin Astro and can't wait until they come out with something a little smaller and more streamline. I will be buying one. But you can bet that I will still be putting it on my regular tracking collars. I can't even bring myself to use a changeable battery type tracking collar. I am stuck on the 8000 or 10,000 hour collars myself and still send those in once a year for new batteries..

But these things sure make the guessing game go a lot faster :D No more.. I think he should be here. It's.. "@sshole is only 50 yards aways" and, then just crossed that road.. They are really nice in that aspect..

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:47 am 
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Tight Mouth
Tight Mouth

Joined: 12 Oct 2005
Posts: 143
Location: Washington
I'm positive it would be very helpful.. wouldn't mind seeing one in action some time...

I a dog that was so Damned determemend to Catch stuff and I mean "STUFF" . that when I was trash breaking her, she just went in stealth mode until she was out of shocking range..Smart B@tch..... i was thinking.. Yep she's on her way back now that'll teach her :D .. only to here 5 minutes later.... Ought..Ought...Ought.. further out and just barely out of collar range :( .. ........ Sure would have been nice to have something during those times.

I would have been all over that screen like a damn video game..


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:04 am 
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Tight Mouth
Tight Mouth

Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 151
Location: Minnesota
We have been using the system on one of our dogs since season opener and all I can say is WOW!!! The Astro has literally saved the livs of one old dog and a pup that was with it. We were hunting some private land that had some old hog barns on it that had manure holding tanks under them that had 3 to 4 foot concrete walls around them. One of the barns was open on the end and the two tried making it across the pit. Needless to say they didn't make it and both were up to the ears in the chit. We were approx a half mile away tracking another dog running a split trail and wondered where the other two idiots were. My brother flipped on the GPS and it showed the dog as being on tree, so we headed towards the signal and got to the old barns to see no dogs, GPS just kept showing dog nearby. After we stood there for a couple of minutes, we could hear the sound of the dogs "dog paddling" under one of the barns. After much coaxing we got the dogs to the open end of the barn and hauled em out. Both were totally exausted( and stunk enough to gag a maggot). Without that collar on (an excellent test of its water resistant capabilities) both dogs would have been toast.

The battery life is not an issue......with this system, ya just go to the last reading and reset the unit, it will pick up a new reading and ya head from the there, with this unit you will find your dog (we do not and have not left a dog in the woods, we stay until the dog is in the truck). If you can't find your dog in the 17 to 20 hours the batteries last, you have a real problem.....like someone stole them. We haved used it in the river bottoms, flatlands, swamps and lakes , and hills (about the only place we havent used it is in real mountains, but some of the bottoms we are running have some ridges on em that would make a billy goat tremble LOL).

The biggest weakness I have seen with the system is the "whip" antenna that comes standard on the collar. It is not designed for real coon hunting. The second night we used the system the antenna (it has a plastic housing around the wire antenna to hold it upright) got snapped off right at the base while hunting some pretty thick cover, and the housing was lost. The system still functioned but dropped the signal down to about 500 yds. With some quick use of some duct tape, the system was back in business. My brother also managed to lose the "wire" antenna to the system somehow (that was at his place and not in the field). Quick use of a straightened paper clip, had us an operational antenna for the night (I am sure this is not covered under the warrenty, but hey, we got our hunting in)!!!! We have the stub antenna (costs an additional 30 bucks) on order and hopefully it arrives today.

The vest is taking a beating, but seems to be holding up well (no worse than our hunting cloths LOL). We are in the process of negotiating with our better halves to sew us up a new one out of tougher material, but haven't been successful yet.

The system has more than paid for itself already and we are in the process of getting the additional collars for the other dogs.

Just my two cents, but I would definiately recommend this system to anyone looking for one.

Hope this wasn't too long!!!
greggf

PS

I have researched a new GPS collar system that is out of Canada that sounds very good too. Its called the "Talkback". Very, Very, well priced (suggested is around $300 for the generation 1 model) and has a range of 12 miles, built in speaker in the collar (you can yell at your dog 12 miles away LOL), and built in remote controlled LCD lights. I haven't seen one in action yet and I don't know if they are available in the US yet (the release date keeps getting bumped) and when I contacted the manufacture, they sent me a web link to their distibutor's page (which doesn't list any distributor's, just a map of the area's distributor's are in) and a pile of research data and infor on the unit.

If anyone has seen or used one of these units, I would like to hear some feedback on it!!


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 10:23 am 
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Chop Mouth
Chop Mouth

Joined: 29 Dec 2006
Posts: 395
Location: ILLINOIS
I have been using mine since august and have no complaints in performance, other than it being bulky and hard to counterbalance. We were hunting a few weeks ago with no wind and dogs struck a long track and the wind picked up to 25 mph and coulnt hear thm. looked at the astro and it told me they were 850 yds. treed. went to the truck and drove right to them . sure beats yelling and driving around all night looking for dogs (especially with GAS prices) and if you have to work early the next morning.


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