I use the Alpha, and I am happy with it. It seems to be more accurate in locating the dog than my previous Astro. It is comforting to know where my setters are in the grouse woods. It also helps to find them in heavy cover when they are on point. It is nice to have the ecollar feature, but, to be honest, my dogs are at the point that I almost never need to stimulate them. I do use the tone feature frequently to recall and get the dogs to change direction. It is much easier on my ears than a whistle. I still run my dogs with bells and carry a whistle. While convenient, I don't like to rely completely on electronics. I like Garmin GPS units. I have always found them accurate and fairly intuitive to use.
