BigGameHoundsmen.com

Hello Folks,

Well I have had to keep a secret for several weeks that I can now talk about!

Garmin has been having a new system Field Tested and while Garmin has tried to keep “the Lid ON” this project several testers have shared their findings, thoughts and feelings about the new System with me, however to protect their agreements with Garmin I have had to remain silent. Now with the Press release on the Alpha I/We can now talk about it!

There are several neat features with this new System….more Dogs, very little Collar interference, Hand held units can communicate with each other, Topo and Birds Eye Satellite Imagery, and Tri-tronics Shocking capability….all of this is very Good…..the BAD NEWS is “IT DON’T WORK WITH the equipment that you already have!

That’s right it is not COMPATABLE with the DC 20-30-or 40 Collar or the Astro 220 or 320!

Here is a Link to view the New System:
http://www.dusupply.com/garmin-alpha-combo.html

The Testers that I have talked to have had mixed feelings about the System. Battery Life is better. Range is the SAME but Communication is much more consistent between the Collars and the Unit so you feel as though the Range is better. You can Shock/Correct your Hound much farther than with the old Tri-tronics gear. Having 20 Hounds or any combination of Collars and other Units (being in communication with your Hunting Buddies) is a nice feature….you will be able to let them track your Hounds but not have them be able to Shock or turn off your Hounds collars or adjust the settings.

There will be various Update settings which will effect Battery Life in the Collars but I have been told that with the fastest Update you should get 3 Days of life on the Collars…This is Great News.

The Hand held will have a Rechargeable Battery now, much like a Cell Phone which I am told will last better that 24 hours without a Charge and will come with an Auto/12volt charger.

The Collars, as you can see in the Photos have the Satellite Antennae moved to the top of the Collar like the DC 30…this is good and will help to have the improved Com between the Unit and the Collars. Also Garmin has put Stainless Steel Long Range Antennae’s on the Collars and a much improve Antennae on the Hand Held.

Collar interference is almost completely eliminated by the changing the frequencies that Garmin has made. Also the “Burning up” of the receivers by Audio Radios (both Marine and Icon) has been ALMOST eliminated…if some nitwit is running a large Booster on their Radio and you are parked or are standing next to them and they Key their Mike….your will have problems.

There are more things to discuss and maybe some of you Testers will get on here and correct the things that I have misstated…I hope so!

But Boys and Girls here is the real kick in the Guts….I am hearing that the MSRP of the New System, a Receiver and 1 Collar is going to be in the $700 - $800 range.

That and the fact that it will not work with what we already have rules us out…but Garmin is telling my sources that they will continue to service the old Systems for the foreseeable future…what ever that means…..hope this helps some one.

so they taunt and tease us with all these new features that would be awesome for what we are doing, but to hell if i am going to throw out the thousands of dollars in gear i already have. im just totally floored by this. i just dont know what to say. live and die by garmin i guess.

I'm wonder how many steps you have to go threw in order to correct a dog, then you would have to multiply that times the number of dogs you have down. If dogs are on a trash race they can go a long ways fast and if only one dog is getting corrected every 30 seconds (or what ever time it takes) they would have time to get sucked back in with the dogs that haven't been corrected yet. I like to correct them all at once!!

Guys and Gals this non-compatability really sucks!

Several Dealers are out this morning with RAVE reviews of the new ALPHA....beware as they are trying to sell this "New Mouse Trap".

I wish that I could report that Marshall will be out with their GPS System soon, but that is not the case.....they are like that Little Ole Wine Maker.....it Aint going to be ready before it is RIGHT! From what I information I have pieced together it will be a "Hell of a lot" better than Garmin's stuff.....one heck of a lot more range, sturdier, dual Telemitry and GPS, a reciever which can track existing Telemitry collars, plenty of Battery Life.....but "Possibly" slower update speeds.

My suggestion for Houndsmen would be to pick up the used DC 30's, 220s & 320s that the suckers are going to be selling to buy the ALPHAs, then wait till Spring when Marshall may have theirs out. JMO

Mr. Budd, I am told that one of the good things about this new Garmin is the Extended distance that you can Shock a Hound. As to how easy it will be to go from one Hound to another I don't know. I do know that I have hell with my "Smart" phones touch screan, with gloves I bet the ALPHA's will be a chore!

My suggestion for Houndsmen would be to pick up the used DC 30's, 220s & 320s that the suckers are going to be selling to buy the ALPHAs, then wait till Spring when Marshall may have theirs out. JMO

Well, I guess I'm a sucker.....I'll be buying the new system while you other fools are running 2 old systems..... 2 dog tritronics - $500. 2 dog astro 320 system $800. total, $1300. New alpha 2 dog system - $1100 and only one collar with all the greatest features.....seems like a no brainer to me....

I've known about this since Feb. and have been waiting to buy but I think for now I will keep my older system's. I'm sure they will hold their value.

Catdogs,

We run 15 DC 30s (cost about $2500) 2 DC 20s @ about $100 replacement cost, 3 - 220s @ say $450 replacement, 2 - 6 dog LR Tri-tronic Shocking systems @ about $800 ea, all working Great with all the same Tactical Features of the ALPHA.

To try to sell this equipment at what will probably be a much discounted price, to upgrade to a System that is not "Significantly” better just does not make sense.

Now if we were only running a few Hounds maybe it would. For some one just getting started maybe it makes lots of sense as at $300/collar that is cheaper than a DC 40 and a LR Tri-tronic collar.

But folks can look back just 10 short months ago to the 320’s launch and all the Hype….then we find that for “Lots” of Folks the 320 was not a lot better than the 220.

The thought that I was trying to convey is this may not a “Better” Mousetrap, just a new one!

I think it's a win/win, Not really sure why it bothers you that there is a Different system that you don't like. If it's not good then It will flop, from what I can tell, they have done some serious work into making some real Changes.

This isn't a Facelift Like the 320 was, This is a Gut job and they built it from scratch, So On one hand you faulting them for doing a small face lift that was compatible with everything and you say that was a joke, Now you faulting them for Gutting it and starting over. I just don't see how They can win.

We need to get the pressure of the Astro, The interference messages are getting worse, I don't see any harm for anyone when some folks go to the new system. It's going to help those that don't want to Upgrade, And those that do want to upgrade will not have to fight interference messages either and they can enjoy more battery life and a few other things like the built in shock.

Another benefit is there will likely be allot more Used collars for you guys, I'm sure that eventually they will have to Lower the Astro Prices, So it's going to Save you money in the long run if you stay with the Astro.

Why are we so worried about what the other guy is going to do. If you don't want to upgrade there isn't anyone twisting your arm. I have told folks that it will probably mean you'll get to find better deals on DC30's if nothing else.

Heck I just bought 6 DC30's and probably paid more than I should have for them since I knew this was coming out.

I'm not going to tell anyone what to buy, That if for them to take all the information and decide themselves.
Buddy

did someone tell garmin that hound hunters spend half their time shocking the hell outta their dogs or something? i don't know anyone who was wishing for a piggybacked gps/shocker system. just more money for a feature that i don't need.

eRokv,
One of the best things I ever did was put a shocker on every dog in the truck. It is like therapy when they won't shut up in the box. It is also very handy to have to correct other things when you're hunting. The more/better I learn to use it the more value I find in it. It has much more use than just juicing a trash running dog.

I agree with these other guys. If you like it, go for it. If you're already set up then why switch until your current unit croaks. We won't know the full deal on these until a bunch of them get put out in the field with hunters. But if all the options and features work half as good as advertised I can see myself switching over sooner rather than later.

I will be switching as soon as they are avaliable in a couple of weeks my dogs necks can not stretch any farther it will be nice to eliminate one collar and be able to get extended batt life. It is a no brainer for me so if you want to buy some old gear get ahold of me for 5-dc-30s and 2-220 and a 6 dog trash breaker.

Thanks

kevin.

I don't want to Pressure anyone here, But I think it's going to be a hassle to start out. I think we will only get the Combo's first and only a handful at a Time, Then after a couple weeks we'll get Collars. It's going to be a mess...

But if history is any indication it will be a month or two before we start getting caught up to orders. I've placed a Huge Order but I only expect to get a handful at a time.

Again I don't care, I don't want to lead anyone stray, but it's something to consider when your switching right before hunting Season. I don't want to see anyone left hanging without tracking gear this year waiting.

My advice is Either get your orders in Soon, Or make sure you have a back up system.

And it really bothers me to say get it soon because that just adds pressure, I don't like Hard selling something, but In my opinion it will be difficult to get units and collars this month, probably even next month.

Just be careful when you jump.

Buddy

Does it hold 20 collar numbers but only tracks 3 at a time or will just the shock system work on only 3 collars?

sorry if I didn't research enough but I read where it will track 3 dogs...
If in fact it will track 20 dogs, will all 20 show on the screen if all collars are on?

That caught my eye too mondo but I think that was just referring to tracking using the birds-eye imagery mapping.

Because later when it talks about the topo maps it says track up to 20 dogs/buddies at once.


Not sure about how many to shock at one time.

And I could be wrong, just the way I re-read it after the initial shock.

You can setup so that each of the three buttons have three different dogs. basically so that you can quickly access one of three buttons. You might want to put your three Pups or trashy dogs on the buttons. Just think quick access buttons.

Otherwise you can use a different Method and go to the dog screen and shock/Tone which ever dog you want.

You can only shock one dog at a time. You can't shock more than one dog with a single push of a button.