New GPS tracking system on the market

[larry]

Sounds like you should piggy back your tritronics with your telemetry to eliminate a collar.

that won't work with a johnson collar.

Sure it will!! just have to either trim the collar or put holes in it depending on the age of your tt. Does not matter what part of the body the TT is touching it will still zap you.

Not unless you dogs are 80 lb'rs or better. i have tried it. antennea on the johnson takes up to much of the collar along with the battery molding extending alot further up the collar than the marshalls that everyone is piggybacking. No way am I getting the collar buckled to stay on these 35-55lb plotts. If anyone has figured a way to piggyback the johnson I'd love to see a pic so i can do it too.

[Steve White]

Larry, you need a pic of an old style or new style TT. Old style is easy as just need to punch holes on buckle side. New Style then may have to trim the collar. I don't have any beep beep stuff here, but I can most likely find a dead one to put on a sport dog. Which is what TT copied with their new style collars. I'll have to do it just to see.

[larry]

new exp units. You must be talking about cutting the riveted plastic that is attached to the biothane collar? Most of my dogs buckle about 2 holes up from the last, closest to the antennea, on some the buckles push the rubber sleeve down to fit. either way the antennea is gonna have no support from the rubber sleeve, or a zip tie in my case if you try to stuff the exp in there it will push the antennea out even further. Don't see how it can be done. Hope you figured something out I didn't. C and D size johnsons

[Ike]

http://www.gundogsupply.com/garmin-astr ... views.html

The link above is a review of the Garmin tracking system and it shows that one to three miles (with a long range antenna) is about the size of what a person can expect. Between that information and the battery life I fail to see how these things benefit a lion or bear hunter who is running hounds?????? What have I missed?

ike

[Steve White]

Larry- I'll play with it when a buddy gets back he has a few dead collars. I don't own any beep beep stuff!!

Ike, I'm not sure what you are missing. I bear hunt, and all I ever use is the Garmin. Since I hunt in WI. I do not have any mountains to contend with. The biggest section I hunt without a road is 6milesx 8miles. Never have I lost a dog, or left one over night. Nor will I. Might as well attach ketchup packets for the wolves then. I don't sit at the truck and BS. The dogs go I go. Rarely more than a mile from than anymore. I understand though this is not always possible in the mountains. The Garmin has given me more range than the maxima unit I had. The only downfall I see to the western mountain hunters is battery life.

I do believe that most people are not honest about their tracking equipment. All radio communications follow the same rules. So I cannot see how someone can actually believe they can get 20 miles from a tracking box. Heck the wildlife departments use planes to track the wolves. Also why EMS and cell companies have antennas up on high towers. Some 300ft high!! If line of sight did not play a role in this stuff than there would be no need for these towers. Besides line of sight there is also the curve of the earth to deal with. That's 7 miles. So if you are on flat ground 8 miles away how are you going to get a signal? Same as if you are looking across the ocean. The only way to increase the distance is to gain height.

Short of drawing pictures I do not know how else to better explain how radios work. Especially without offending anyone.

The one thing a GPS reciever has going for it. Is no signal bounce. Even if it does bounce and you recieve the signal. You are still going to go in the right direction. No more ghost chases!!

I have a real hard time believing that someone can only get 800yds at most from one tracker. The get 10miles with another. Then get 5 miles out of a walkie talkie. They are all radios. Some using the same bandwith. So something is not right at all.

[doghunter]

I hunted for the past 4 days and at the end of the hunt I could never track over 9 tenths of a mile and a lot of time lost signal at around 800 yards. This is in Perry Florida look it up no mountains. We had 4 220's tracking 8 collars I think this is a good idea of what you can expect where I hunt.

I also talked to the radio shack in Perry (there is only 1) and some of the people that work their are hunters and also use the Garmin. They told me they only get about 800 yards on an average. Trust me Mr. White everyone is not lying to you about the distance. And if you would come down here and hunt you would loss dogs if you don’t also run a telemetry tracking collar for when the Garmin either poops out or losses signal.

I understand the 7 miles max line of sight. But I would be happy with 3 miles. Can you sell me a Garmin that will do that where I hunt? If so I will buy one tomorrow. Keep in mind my hunt party has a lot of Garmin and none of them do what you claim. I am not calling you a liar I believe you do get the distance you claim but we don’t.

I will purchase the next gps to hit the market that tracks on a map in real time who ever makes it and if it works like they say it does I will never deal with Garmin again because of all the headache and trouble trying to convince someone on the other end of the phone their junk is not working. (And now they want to charge me every time their junk breaks through no fault of mine)

I have no problem with battery life. I would like it to last longer but my biggest grip is you can’t track a dog with a tracking system. That just sucks.

[Dads dogboy]

doghunter,

Ashly from the Radio Shack is using the stock Garmin antennae only so they do not fry the Units with their Marine Band Radio. They also tell me they seldom let their Hounds get over 2 miles from them...but when the have this happen they screw a Long Range antennae on and find the missing Hounds!

If you are who I think that you are...you too use a Marine Band Radio. Moving your roof mount antennae to the hood of your ruck from the roof probably still hurts the Garmin Unit.

I know that you have had many problems with the Garmin and I have given you all the little knowledge that I have. But I have come to the conclusion that some folks are just "Snake Bit" when it comes to using the Garmins!

We are hunting the same club as you and in checking our Johnson Collars to make sure the batteries were good, found that from our Camp(you know where) down to the Turnpike rd (2.3 mile) we were losing the Johnson collars on the Wildlife box...had lost all signal at the next intersection West (little over 3 miles). Yet we still had plenty of com on the Garmins.

In fact I have gotten signal all the way down to the Steinhatchee HWY.

In the Ramsey Bend Club we have had a Pup get out of pocket and could read the Garmin from #7 & township rd with the Pup all the way down to Pull Grader and #7, that is a little over 6 miles with continous signal!

I Just do not understand the problems some of you are having...do not doubt that you are having them...just do not understand.

See you in Florida next week!

CJC

[doghunter]

Yes I think I know who you are also “Dads dogboy” and it is good to here from you. A fellow saw a big cat last weekend again but I could not find his track for you because of the limestone road he crossed.

I respect your opinions and believe you get the ranges you claim but I don’t and the only experience I have with Garmin is all the units they have sent me. I have lost count and now have 2 I personally own and my crew has an additional 4 units we all run the dc30 now but none of us can get over about 1 mile. And that is on a good day.

I think these trackers are the best thing ever invented for keeping up with and training your dogs. But it is very disappointing when you get a split race and when the other race gets at around 7 tenths of a mile he is lost. You have no idea where he has gone. I also run north of Tallahassee and south Florida with the same results.

I talked to a guy at radio shack he did say they don’t use the roof mount antenna because he was afraid he would damage his unit and they had a few Garmin in their group and 800 yards is what you can expect.

I have not had any problem with loss of range since they gave me a new board to protect from high wattage output but my range just stinks.

One of the Garmin they sent me, I think it was about me 4th one would get 2 miles on a good day but all you could expect was around 1 mile with the long range antenna. And for the most part the one mile limit has been the norm for all the units I have owned or seen used in the woods of Florida from around Tampa all the way to an hour north of Tallahassee.

Would you be interested in selling your Garmin to me or do you know someone that wants to get ride of one of these that works the way they are supposed to.

it is very frustrating knowing what a unit is capable of and hearing from people that it does work properly and not being able to get one that works. Keep in mind as a group we have purchased a total of 6 garmins new and sent a total of about 10 or so back and they sent us remanfactured units so that is alot of units for us to have just been getting a bad apple. I think your good unit is the exception not the rule.

It was a pleasure hearing from you, good luck hunting and if you need anything from my way just get in touch.

[Buddyw]

Mines going back to garmin now for repairs today, slowly started losing range, By the end of the trip I couldn't track 50 yards with it. that's With the stock, or Mag mount... I'm too cheap and chicken shit to Bring out the Long range one because I've broken the last two of them..

My unit has Never used or been around a marine Radio. And Sitting next to my buddies Garmin that never lost the dogs with the stock antenna at 900 yards.

It's frustrating to say the least. They are not Sturdy.

I think there are so many variations with conditions, connections, tempuratures etc. Much like CB's and antennas, they really need to be dialed in, and there isn't really any way to "dial" and tune them in, except to trust the Garmin is doing it right.

I'm not devoted to Garmin, but they've got the best thing out there right now.. and I'm itching to get mine back from Garmin.

There are a couple things that I would change quick if I could. and I told them, on the phone today..(although I doubt they even listen)
#1 I don't want anyone able to change my collar settings, I would like to see some kind of Pin or Password enabled to be able to change collar id and settings.
#2 battery life could be better, Would like to see the collars switch to longer updates as the battery wears down, And possibly change updates them on the fly at distance(Like after the race starts) But it would always default back to a 30 seconds after say an hour or so, eventually 1 minute and maybe even a 5 or 10 minute update after a day or 12 hours to really extend the battery life in bad situations.
#3 I would like to see the last time the collar made communication, Like the Rino's do. I can look and see that when a dog loses signal, I want to know the last time it was picked up.. ie. dogX was picked up 5 minutes ago. or 1hour ago. etc. etc instead of just a ? mark.

[U.R.E.]

My Garmin is flawless.....I have never removed my stock rubber antenna from mine.

I have a friend who is very radio savy......He told me a ton about how these things work but I only heard these rules of prevention.

1) Mount it in your truck. The number one killer of all portable electronics is vibration (diesel owners beware). He said the circuit boards will break down if they are exposed to continued vibration. He has no experience with the Garmin unit itself but says this is true for ALL electronic.

2) Give it a SAFE power source.

3) Don't mess with it unless you have to. This will lessen the chances of the unit being dropped and avoid problems with the ports such as the antenna port and power port. He said that they are likely connected directly to the circuit board and will fail if you are constantly pulling and pushin on them when you plug and unplug into them.

4) He also said to avoid using it in town or on major highways. He said all it will take is for someone to use a high powered radio next to you using the right frequency to cook it. Someone like highway workers, law enforcement or even a tow truck.

I know little about radios and have little intrest in learning to be honest. That is why I asked Big Dave. I have been following his advise and have zero problems so far and have got my dogs at 2 miles from a high ridge. Where Bud and I were hunting is rough country that is broken up pretty well and I was getting them at 900 yds. with the unit inside my truck.

I hope this helps........

Don

[getgone]

Did you get that information from b. case i hear him and d.ferricks(alias the ferret know a lot about radios and tracking equipment)

[Arkansas Frog]

http://www.easttexashogdoggers.com/foru ... ic=11621.0


seen this on east hogs

[Mr.pacojack]

Frog, That is some damn good news

[doghunter]

Thanks frog I can wait for someone else to come out with something for dog hunters. May be it will make Garmin tighten up a little on their quality control. I would have already purchased the tinyloc if they were a usa company but I think you could have problems dealing with an over seas company.

Has anyone asked it it will be real time and have a map page like garmin

[BIG J]

Sure is nice to know where the dogs are heading with a map. esp if it takes you 45 min to get around the section or more and know that the dogs are still going that way. range is one thing but maps are 3/4 of the unit. I can always get range with the mag. marine ant. then pull it out and put the stub back on. Once the dog comes back up on screen go to where you have to go if you can get there. Garmin says 10 feet from radio to radio and ant to ant. nothing over 5 watts. AND everyone in the group has to switch to low power. Still have alot of watts going through the air and into your Garmin if your buddy is running 50 watts and he is only 1/2 mile down the road. Sure is also nice to see which dog is doing the work out in the woods. Also is nice to see if the dogs are circling or just bogged down working a track if you cant hear them. Where we hunt it would be nice for more range but we can get along with it. In my opion garmin help but they still could use a little work esp. for a unit that was intended for a bird dog. And finnally yes you can piggy back Johnsons and EXP collars. Bad thing is you cant use the bottom holes so only big dogs. Just my 2 cents on all of it.