BigGameHoundsmen.com

OK.... it looks like I've missed the boat as far as acquiring any more DC30s. The only ones being advertised now - apart from websites that haven't been updated - are grossly overpriced. ($300)

Next question is whether to take a deep breath and buy DC40s, in spite of the negative experiences reported and trust that Garmin's claim that the software upgrades have "fixed" the "issues".... or wait. It seems that any wait for an upgraded model might be a long way off.
We hunt tall timber that sometimes has heavy undergrowth, the sort of conditions that are going to challenge any system that needs a good look at the sky.

So what are users experiencing in the Real World?

Thanks.... Peter

Garmin Stopped Shipping the DC40's for a few weeks.

One indication was they were working on a fix, Another email said they had supply issues for them.

I don't know what to think but I would at least wait a couple weeks before Buying a DC40 to see if they find a way for us to get better GPS signal on the DC40s.

Buddy.

The caution sounds reasonable and it's one reason why I started the thread. I'd like to keep it open for anyone to comment. It'd be frustrating to spend $$$ only to see a better product brought out a short time later.

There have been many updates to resolve the issues the 40 had. Seems most of them have been fixed. At least what I have been hearing from others using fully UPDATED collars. I just finished up my 8th day of bear hunting. Been using a 40 every day with no problems what so ever. In fact have been putting that collar on one of my best dogs. No other tracking collar at all. Now I know that I live, hunt, etc in the land of perfect. But others are seeing the same results. Myself and the other field testers are seeing the same results while testing the 320. Even never having used a garmin before this bear season. Feels the 40 is working better than the 30. He hunts in a crap hole. Well about as crappy as WI gets!

Truth is it has a bad rap. There really is nothing that can be done to change that now. Regardless of what changes get made. Does not help either that you will hear few other dealers say anything good about them. Why? Simply put MONEY! There is little to no profit being made on them. Why promote something that does not make a profit. Would take one hell of a lot a 40's to keep the lights on!!

I have to agree, i have 40's and hunt some thick steep country with deep canyons, in the past with telemetry the signal bounces so bad it was hard to tell which way to go, but with these 40's i might lose them for a minute but the have yet to let me down. i've never hunted with the 30's but the 40's still make me feel like i'm cheating a little

Thankyou, gentleman.

What I'm really looking for are people who hunt a mixture of 30s and 40s. When people who do that are telling us that they cannot pick the difference, that will give us some confidence that the early issues with the 40s really are "fixed".

Or maybe I should just harden up and do the testing myself..... Always nicer (and cheaper) to learn from someone else's experience.

Peter

Cooch,

I have been trying to wait and see what others have to say about your question before answering.

We use DC 20s, 30s, and 40s. We hunt as hard as anyone, 4 to 6 times a week in heavy bad cover. Here at home in AR we deal with steep terrain in the Ouachita Mts.

What we have found is that if current on all updates the 40s will give adequate service. They will loose then reacquire Sat. signal about on par with the old 20s. Range is consistent with the 30s.(better on both with the after market antenaes)

I would still rate the 30s as superior with the 40s just slightly over the updated 20s.

As I have learned on here all collars can used the longer 2 min dog updates with the newer software updates…we only use the 5 sec. so that is a feature that I can’t speak to.

We have not lost any Hound with a 40 for over a minute or two before the collar picked up the sat. again. Always had the ? displayed so we knew the area Hound was in.

I am hearing from some of the Field Testers that the 40s are going to work even better with the new Astro 320…..hope so since there are no more 30s.

Hope this helps!

CJC

Folks here is an exchange with a Gentleman who Fox Hunts on the East Coast about the DC 40s. Hope this helps someone!

Greetings!
I read your posts on Speeddogs about GPS systems coming out. I just wanted to inform you of my experiences with the DC40's. I chose to go with 40's over 30's when I bought into a GPS system. The first problem I encountered was not holding a charge. Downloading new software solved that. I sent my system and a few dogs with some friends to a field trial in a 640 acre enclosure. The two buddies had DC30's on their dogs. One buddy said that if he owned my DC40's, he would back over them with a truck. One of my collars was untrackable almost the entire time. That later was solved, to a point, with antenna replacement. Two other collars were also "dropping out" continuously. I contacted my dealer and he has been very helpful. I own a 140 acre enclosure. I have ran several "tests" inside the enclosure. I locate almost dead center of the 140 and at the highest point. I connect the receiver to a Garmin magnet mount approx 15' in the air. Two of my five DC40's are constantly dropping out. On viewing the "dog info" page, I discovered the one plummets from 4-5 bars, down to 2 or less on the comm display. The other plummets from 4-5 bars, down to 2 or less on the GPS display. One gives the lost communication message, the other just goes to a ? The one that goes to a question mark cannot be picked back up if it stays that way for several 5 second intervals. I have switched antennas between collars to eliminate the antenna as the culprit. I have also used Garmins' updated antennas and Buzzard Roosts' aftermarket antennas. The latest thing to happen is one of my 40's that was working fairly well, has quit working altogether. I know for a fact that Garmin has stopped production on DC40's to make a change(s). Currently, my dealer cannot even get me a replacement DC40. He feels like I do - that there are a ton of 40's out there not working correctly, and their owners are unaware of the situation. I felt "OK" with the 40's when I thought the problems were strictly antenna caused. I now know that is not the case and am very apprehensive as to how all of this will be resolved. I do know that my dealer has gone above and beyond (and will continue to do so) in helping to rectify the problems. He also sent me a new Sport Dog GPS system to try. After using a Garmin, there just are not enough features on the Sport Dog system to satisfy me. Maybe those that have never used a Garmin, or those with one or two dogs, would like it. It just doesn't work for me. I would go back to beep beep tracking collars before using the Sport Dog system. My reason for going into all of this is to try and keep new buyers in the market place from purchasing DC40's until (and if) the problems are resolved. Thanks for reading this rather lengthy email

CJC wrtites:
Sir:

Thanks for the Information about your findings with the DC 40s. We have had very similar results when we first received the 40s. I had quit using them, and then one of our friends said that he had used the latest Garmin Update and the DC 40s were working better.

I updated my two (we have 12 DC 30s and two DC 20s) DC 40s and they are now as good as the old DC 20s. I do throw away the stock collar ant. as soon as I open the box and take the collars out. I use one of Bruce Conkey's long replacement Antennas and find that they give better range and service than what Garmin uses.

We have several other friends whose DC 40s are like yours....just NO damn Good.

I am afraid that the Astro 320 will be as bad as the DC 40s. Now that I have had Hands On, I would not buy one for a while.

Too many people are bragging on them, most of the Braggers are also selling them!

C. John Clay

I recently bought a couple of DC 40s simply because of availability and price increase of the 30s. I hunt with both 30s and 40s. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the 30s are a much better collar. The 40s loose signal way more than the 30s.
I know people that trust their garmin collars so much that they don't use anything else. I won't a 30 alone and sure as hell won't run a 40 alone.

I have been comparing a brand new forty with a half dozen thirties and it has been the weaker collar from the get go. Unfortuneately garmin is going backwards and its causing a lot of unhapiness. I would sugest garmin needs to discontinue the forties and go back to the thirties or come out with a new collar that actually has some advantages............

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=23857

Here is the Link to the video's of the testing out a modified DC40 that we did this weekend.

Buddy

I think its funny that someone running a 140 acre enclosure would use a Garmin at all , even a 640 acres is only a square mile. My DC30 work well and am holding off on the 40's.