BigGameHoundsmen.com

Saw this in a hunting magazine. The site says the US part is not up and running yet.

What do you all think?

http://www.tinyloc.com/index.php

Saw that too...The ideas are cool. They might be great...but, from the pictures, it almost looked like cheesey equip?

I was just going to look them up after seeing there ad in one of my hound mags. I was really like the thought of them being able to do GPS and RF but I see they are running in the 400.00 mhz so that makes them not able to work with any other system.

Actually the US version will use 216. The europe version is 400mhz.

Brady was right, they are pretty cheesy. GPS is displayed in lat/long. There is no mapping software for it. So that will make it tough to use.

Top it off they are pricey. Starting at $763.

All right, tried out the tinyloc system with the 25 day free trial thing. I was hunting for bear and what can I say. It looks “chinese” and ugly as a brick (actually a brick is nicer than the receiver).But what made me try this system is basically because I HATE the range with garmin like a lot of other people do.

The maximum range I got with the Tinyloc GPS was 9.1 miles. That’s pretty good I think (never got up to 13.4 like the add says). With radio tracking mode I got up to 19 miles before the “pip” gave up. In our forests, that’s not bad.

They do not have a topographical map built in to the receiver, but I could connect my receiver to a hand held laptop and see where my dogs where on a topo map that was more than satisfying. A bit uncomfortable to carry a laptop with you when hunting but if someone wants to do so then it is possible. But I must admit, I missed having the topo map in the receiver to see where my dogs were.

To summarize, the improvement in range alone makes this system more usable for me. What good is a topo map if garmin loses the GPS connection all the F’’’ING time? The combination between GPS and radio tracking works nicely and can’t complain about the battery life either.

+: GPS range
GPS and Radio tracking in one
Simple to use
Battery life up to 7 days

-: To expensive
No Mac version of the software "Dog Stat"
No topo map built in the receiver
Ugly

Check out their website www.tinyloc.com and look at the videos under "tutorial". They explain some stuff that could be interesting to know before making the decision to purchase one.

Thanks for the info 9 miles that is great range! What state were you using this gps device in. Mnt terrain or fairly flat.

Jason Waterhouse wrote:Thanks for the info 9 miles that is great range! What state were you using this gps device in. Mnt terrain or fairly flat.

I was hunting for black bear in the forests of Montana and there are some smaller mountains and hills here and there. I guess there are places with more mountains than here. But the way I see it is that my garmin astro got a maximum range of 3.4 miles and when I got that, I considered myself lucky. To get a range of 9.1 miles with any other GPS tracker (in this case tinylocs hound tracer) is a miracle.

I have to point out that the display on the receiver feels like something out of a toy. There is no comparison with the garmin display and this is a bit annoying at first.

People have to ask themselves: Do I want to know where my dogs are on a topomap within the range of about 3 miles, or do I want to find my dogs at the end of the day?
I choose to find my dogs...

So all in all this is nothing more than another style of beeper unit. Without a mapping capability to tell you where your dogs are you gain nothing using this unit. The idea of a GPS unit is to tell you exactly where your dog is. Not just what direction he is. I'll keep my Garman and if I get into bigger blocks I'll just double up the collars with a beeper.

Will, the tinyloc doesn't have a map page, but it does have an arrow and an exact distance readout on the screen... There's not a beeper system on the market that I know of that gives the distance.

The U.S. version operates at the 150. frequencies ( same area as the garmin ) not 216.

will the garmin collars work with the tinyloc reciever ?

I messed with the systems and tried: The Tinyloc will not pick up the Garmin collar as a GPS signal,,,BUT!!! it does pick up the radio signal that the Garmin sends out, and reads it as a radio beep signal. The signal is more of a scratchy pulse than a clear beep, but I could read it at 9 miles (didn't try it farther).

At very best you would only be able to read 5 garmin collars at a time, since there are only 5 frequencies used by Garmim.

I am new to this and i dont understand exactly what the benifit is of the topo map. If the arrow points and says 1.5 miles then i know where my dog is right? Is the benifit the ability to see near by roads or something? Couldnt you carry a hard copy of the map and just look at it. Your GPS would give you your position and it seems to me like you could quickly find exactly where the dogs are. Someone explain.....

Seems I was a little ahead of the pack on these, so now am a little behind. The original unit for sale was the R1!! The US version used 216. The current version is now R2 which is the only one available to US now. It is now 150. HMMMM, must have been a problem. Some of the software is a joke. Only being able to use a single operating system. Also as far as the GPS is concerned it is using the same channels as the Garmin!!! Check the manual is plainly states MURS! Whcih makes me wonder about the radio tracking part of it as 150 is not in the murs band! Does explain why the antenna is so long though. Guys that hate the portable long range antenna of the Garmin, are going to just love the extending antenna of the R2. wonder how many will get broke. Then wonder how much the shipping will be to them in spain!

Now as far as the range goes. Well, with all this tracking stuff. There is always going to be someone that truly believes that they can beat the laws of physics. No matter how you look at it line of sight is line of sight. Things like antenna length, height of antenna will make a difference. SO right off the bat, the R2 has a larger stock antenna. Compare apples to apples and you may find things to be about the same.

I got to look at the r1, but not the r2. Have not been able to get specs yet on the collars. My guess would have to be the transmitter strength to be the same as it is an FCC law. Again makes me wonder about the interference issues that would come up in trying to track multiple gps collars. As there are only 5 channels allowed with an average deviation of 11.25khz. Would be real hard to pack 1000 collars in there without some kind of problems. This company has not been very receptive to any kind of info yet. Just getting a hold of them has been hard. 3 emails, and 2 phone calls with nothing back yet. Yes, I called spain!!!!! People complain about not getting ahold of Garmin for 20 or 30 mins. At least you can get ahold of them!!!

In the end really this is nothing more than a cheap copy of other tracking units.

Vise, having the location of yourself, and the dogs on one map at your fingertips sure is nice. The ability to see where the are going in an instant. I would bet that very few poeple out there could take a lat/long reading and put it on a map. Then to top it off you need to carry one with you at all times. Way more convienent to have that all in one spot!

I will be the first to admit that the(portable) long range antenna of the garmin is easily broken,But the fix is very simple. if you are a backpack kinda guy take the antenna off the handle,cut a piece of PVC to length and 2 PVC caps that fit push the caps on,and you are good to go (insert antenna of course) pretty bullet proof..The other option is to leave antenna attached to handle,use a larger diameter PVC that will go over the handle,Tape securely to handle ,cap the top end ,when needed pop the cap poke in a couple fingers pull out the antenna to extend as needed,again pretty bullet proof...Now watch ,garmin will steal this idea and make zilllions, prolly be space age magnum materials or some such wondorous fix

I have had the tinyloc hound tracer system for a while now and yes there are good and bad things about it. I wrote some stuff about it earlier if you would like to read.

I see that Steve White has been complaining about the antennas on the R2 receiver. Funny since you have not even tried it. The antennas have worked fine on my unit and they have not broken yet. If they do break I simply replace them by unscrewing the old ones and replacing them with new ones. Replacement antennas can be bought on tinylocs web shop. Does not look like a big operation.

Steve, you also said something about the channels that are used. When in GPS mode, there are no interference. You can track up to 100 collars without interference. When it comes to radio tracking, there can be interference since there are only 4 channels in the US. I spoke with some friends in Italy that also use the system and they actually explained to me how I can use the European channels as well. That gave me more channels to use.

About the customer service. I have called the company in Spain 3 times and emailed them twice. They have always answered my calls and emails and given my excellent service. That is actually one of the reasons why i felt comfortable buying it.

As I said, there are some negative points with the system but nothing that would keep me from not using it. Steve if you have not yet tried the system, you should!

//Skytten