H.S. I have always stayed away from setters because I was afraid that they hunted to close for me. I am like you and let my english pointers out of the box and listen to there beepers. With quail populations they way they are a dog must cover ground to find them.
How far will your dogs range? I know my dogs depending on cover but alot of times they are 200 to 400 yards which is what I like. If they can see me they will really turn it on and range.
Dink
My setters will cover about as much ground as many pointers. It depends on the bloodline of the pointer or setter though. In general, a quarter mile is not unusual for my setters run beanfield edges and I have had them go a bit farther than that if they can see me. They are pretty smart and tend to adjust their range to the cover. When I'm hunting grouse in the gray dogwoods of MI, they'll work quite a bit closer (but then again, I sort of hack at them to keep them a bit closer).
