DC40 collars

[ferjr]

you are wrong about more battery life means you have to have a bigger battery. ever looked at an old cordless drill , say a old makita now look at the new lithium makita. notice anything different, the batterys are way smaller and have 4 times the life so i would say that pretty much blows your theory out of the water doesnt it wise guy! it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure that out does it?

[doghunter]

Mr. Steve White, I always appreciate your responses. And like I posted prior to your reply I do understand line of site and all the other factors that limit our range…..

That being said it does not stop us all from wanting more range and there are many ways to accomplish this. And somewhere on this planet I will bet someone can get it done. In fact if I wanted to accomplish this task I would probably start with some high powered engineers that specialize in this area. (Like the ones Garmin has on Salary).

Again I understand the limitations and will not debate the range any longer. But I will tell you I now see more people that get around 2 miles with the long range antenna and around 900 yards with the small antenna. But when we started talking about this a lot of people were claiming 5 and 7 miles with some claiming 10 and 14 so what is the normal consistent range for a Garmin. Because if I get just less than 2 miles where I hunt and someone else I trust says he gets 5-7 miles in the same woods I want the same range he is getting.

So are they performing to their maximum potential? Also they can use 2 watts where are they measuring the wattage is it at the power source or is that measured at the antenna when putting out. That can make a huge difference. (Kind of like a 80 horse motor measured at the head or the prop) I am just giving some examples they could improve on. I bet they have engineers smarter than us dog hunters that have even better ideas.

Battery life can be done no doubt about it. I run a Garmin, A telemetry collar and an E collar at the same time. A little extra weight is not a big deal. And like ferjr stated improvements in batteries are happening every day.

And last the frying of the units, this is my biggest problem and it was not even addressed. The gamins are great and I would not want to be without them. But because of their oversight in producing a unit that will not operate alongside other legal devices has made a lot of people pull their hair out and lose confidence in their product all together. In my opinion this would have been # 1 on my list of things to fix if I were Garmin. Battery life would have been #2 because it appears to be an easy fix and would make a lot of people happier. 3 would have been improvements in collar function and range.

Let me just ask you outright other than the new collar material and now having the room to add an Ecollar or second tracking collar (that adds weight by the way) are you pleased with the changes. And do you think they addressed their market properly.


I allways see it posted what makes a true houndsman and have never chimed in but one of the most important attrbutes is the ability to look at things for what they are and make the correct changes to improve what ever you are working on. I am giving the truest account of what i see and Garmin has failed to make the changes they needed. Just my opinion but i bet alot of people agree with me.

[not color blind]

hey doghunter check your PM's

[ferjr]

i agree 100% with doghunter!

[Steve White]

I do not know where they test the power at. I hate to make an ass of u or me, but I have to assume it would be at the antenna. Never checked it myself, and will have to do that.

Range is going to vary with conditions. There is no doubt in my mind that some folks have seen 10-12 miles. I'm sure I could get that as well or more. Would just have to climb a fire tower since there are no mountains here. All radio signals are also going to being influenced by obstacles. Some more than others. The harder the surface the more influence. This is why a dog on one side of the hill and you on the other is hard to get. Just like the pics show in the manual.

Avg range for me is a little over a mile with the stock antenna. Up to 2 miles with the longer ducky, and close to 3 with the PBLRA. This is average. The best I have seen in WI is close to 8 miles. This was in very flat mostly open farm country using the PBLRA standing on the tailgate. Which when using the line of sight formula is damm close.

I kinda doubt the smartest of engineers on this planet are smart enough to re write the laws of physics concerning radio communications. Maybe I am wrong hope so. Until they give us a fully satellite system the range is what it is.

There will always be people that claim more than is true. Still know people that swear they can track 20 miles with a blue box. Yet their 65watt radio normally can't touch 10 miles.

Lastly, I will repeat. Garmin did add an RF sheild to the units. Still you cannot transmit on the same channels. Same as with any other radio system. Transmit from the truck radio with the handheld on next to it you will damage it. FACT! Hook an antenna to that handheld and transmit with the truck radio. THe damage will happen faster!! When I was young and a High Powered CB nut. Smoked a lot of radios by pulling up to them. Some punk would start getting nutty, and would hunt them down. Pull up next to them crank the kicker, and smoke him. Ohhh, what fun that was. Until I did it in the McD's parking lot and smoked the drive through intercom. That cost me a few bucks. Blew the speaker out of my TV once with the base. Man was the wife ticked about that!! A little common sense has to prevail on this. Something I lacked when younger obviously

Almost forgot Fegr! The garmin battery is not the old style NiCad battery you are speaking of!!! They are the latest Lithium battery's available. So I guess your theory has been blown out of the water. In fact if you were to do some research. You would find that there is a new battery coming. I forget the name off the top of my head, but it is stronger, and smaller. The guy wanted to build the factory in the US, but like everything else he had to go overseas to build the factory. Not only was the factory more costly to build. The labor rates are vastly different. In china is looking at 85 cetnts an hour VS $20. That's before a union get's involved!! I will get the name of the new battery monday so you can get a bit more educated!

[ferjr]

i already know about the new battery, you can buy one for $50 but it doesnt last any longer. i am not trying to argue with you but they can make a better unit than what they have. they , in my opinion have not improved the dc 40 enough to run out and buy one. there is not enough difference in the dc30 and the dc40 for me to change over. yeah it might be a little lighter but honestly i dont think my dogs are going to notice the difference, i am not running minature hounds.

[Steve White]

There is no doubt the can make a better collar yet. Said that right away. When the DC30 first came out ere a lot of complaints about the weight of the collar. It did not make a lot of sense to me since a lot of people are using the heavier Johnson collars at twice the weight. Adding a few ounces for longer battery life. I would believe most people would be OK with!

[ferjr]

i agree

[Digger]

Hey Steve,I hear what you are saying about range, and I understand it. You cannot change the mind of people who think their hound is 10 miles away because the beep is week or that they don't loose contact. Garmin is its on worst enemy because hunters refuse to believe that just maybe their hounds weren't really all that deep all these years.What I would suggest, is for you to draw a picture, line of site, curvature of earth,etc. and post it. Might save you typeing another physics lesson and a few point on the blood pressure.

[Buddyw]

Looks like my earlier prediction of a price increase for the DC40 were correct.

Just got an update and the price is up 30 bucks.


*******************************************************

For a Limited Time, I'm running a special that with Every DC30 collar purchase you will recieve a Free Dayglo Collar.

http://www.dugraphics.com/shop/products ... 65-34.html

[loaded4bear]

I don't know if your an expert or not. My hunting buddy has burnt up three garmins and we talk on 144.070 and do not have magnet antenas. As for not adding more weight Why would Garmin not have more than one selection (Johnson as 8000 hr and 16000 hr colers) I think someone else that wants to please hound hunters will come out with a unit that will slow the sale of garmin units. If Garmin would listen the could stay on top.
Just my two cents worth. I'm waiting for something better to spend my money on.

[B&T man]

I found a fix for the garmin getting burned out by two way radios....

Try hunting more and talking on the radio less.. or.. turn off the gps.

If you know it wrecks your $500 gps not sure why you would do it ??

I know it wrecks my bumper when I back into trees, so... I stopped backing into trees.
I didn't call Ford and scream about the bumper.

[B&T man]

you are wrong about more battery life means you have to have a bigger battery. ever looked at an old cordless drill , say a old makita now look at the new lithium makita. notice anything different, the batterys are way smaller and have 4 times the life so i would say that pretty much blows your theory out of the water doesnt it wise guy! it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure that out does it?

Garmin probably thought of that.

I'm sure they didn't buy old stock off of e-bay

[ferjr]

i am sure they didnt buy old stock off ebay, but you cant tell me that in the past few years they could do nothing to improve on what they already have.

[loaded4bear]

b&t man siad stop backing int trees.

I say I am going to backing into trees. So in stead of replacing the ford bumper with a new ford bumper. I made a bumper that now the tree needs fixed instead! I think that is were Garmin needs to get..