Home Forums Birds & Dogs Hunting Dogs Garmin alpha or Astro ?

Any of you use have one you can remark on.

I'm thinking about getting an Astro

I have an Astro. It works well, and has made hunting 100 times more enjoyable and stress free. I let my dogs hunt... and they do range, which means that I don't see them much. Instead of wondering "where is hell is the dog" all the time, I can just look down at the astro. If they are moving in the wrong direction or if they are too far, I just give them a tone correction on the training collar. You can instanly see if they changed direction and are moving back in. My only complaint is that the "on point" alarm isn't loud enough to hear. Maybe they have changed that. I have an older model. I would never hunt without one these days. Game changer.

I have the Astro and really like it, but when I bought it the Alpha wasn't available. Plus, I already had some Tritronics e-collars.

I really like the GPS collar when hunting in areas with a fair amount of cover, especially thick & tall CRP fields. When my DDs go on point, it can be hard to find them if the bird(s) they're pointing don't flush. Before I got the Astro collar, I sometimes would have to search many minutes (15-20+) to find a dog on point in a dense CRP stand. Now I just tap the GPS unit and it shows me the location of my dog.

If I was starting from scratch and didn't already own e-collars, I would seriously consider the new Alpha units. But I've read some negative comments of the products ever since Garmin bought out Tritronics.

Also, if you're not a GPS-genius, I suggest you play around with some Garmin units before you commit. IMO, their user manuals suck and they sorely need a good technical writer to translate what their engineers are thinking into user friendly owner's manuals for their Astro & Alpha units.

I used to love to see them far ranging pointers work a field. Cause I would take my close working lab into that field when they were done and shoot birds that those speedsters missed. What fun is it to hunt with a dog that goes so far away that you can't see them work? Sounds like some of you are hunting your dogs, not the birds. Teach them to work closer. You'll get more birds and have more fun.

Still plenty of pointing action to be had. You haven't hunted many quail, have you? It's all about covering ground. According to the gps tracks, my setters have ran upwards of 25 miles in a day. Granted, they don't spend much time walking around sniffing at my feet, I'll give you that. But they don't miss many birds because they run far and fast. I love and hunt behind labs as well, but there is no comparison to what ranging pointing breeds can do finding all the birds.

I have lost track of my DDs many times in thick CRP and they have been locked on point, totally out of sight, within 50 yards of me. Normally they work within 100 yards of me, and at that distance, I can lose them in only moderately thick stands of CRP, or in normal cover in riparian areas. So, it's really not a case of the dogs working too far, but what type of cover you hunt in. BTW, some of the cover I hunted ruffs as a kid in northern New England was so thick that you couldn't see a dog at 25 yards...

No, never hunted quail, no wild populations near me. My lab did put one up once as we were walking back to my car with my limit of pheasants. We were at some state land where a dog club was allowed to train and trial. It was an escapee. It's mostly pheasant hunting here with some all too few grouse and woodcock. There have been many many occasions where I've hunted cover that had been previously hunted by pointers and on some occasions where he hunted with them where he would find birds they missed and ran by. His nose was legendary among those in my club who witnessed him work. We were very often the first ones back with our club's 2 bird limit. One time comes to mind, my wife had set up a pheasant hunt for us at a pvt preserve. The operator had a couple Wirehaired Pointers with lots of experience. My young Lab was still in his first season. Because my lab was young and inexperienced he strongly suggested we also use his dogs. While working a field my lab put up a pheasant that his dogs ran by. I shot the bird but it sailed a ways before going down. As all 3 dogs ran off to make the retrieve, the operator said, "Betcha one of my dogs comes back with the bird." I figured that was a safe bet as they were a lot faster and more experienced. When my lab came out the cover with the bird in his mouth, he was real quiet. I'm still smiling over that one 16 years later.

If you are running a pointing Dog within shooting distance, then you might as well switch to a flusher. The really good Pointers get out.

+1

Good Pointers don't miss much in their journey. Wouldn't have believed it until I hunted with guys with good ones. I have had some fine flushers, but they were batting cleanup for the most part. Retrieving is were they shine when they are hanging around with good Pointers.

None of my setters wanted to retreive while a crap. I never worried too much about force breaking them either. As long as they found the dead ones,Im OK with that. All they want is to drive on and find more birds. Got to say "on them" to find dead ones.

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.

I really like the Alpha I have. I have been using it for going on four years now. All the hog hunters down this way have switched to them. I can't start to tell you how much abuse those guys throw at those things and they love them.

I went with the alpha.. Plenty of other good comments on it as well on other site...