Garmin Astro Bundle 220 Dog Tracking GPS
Garmin ASTRO BUNDLE DC 30 Collar Plus Astro 220. Tired of searching for your hunting dog in tall grass or dense cover? Now you can leave the hunting entirely to him. Introducing Astro, the first high sensitivity GPS enabled dog tracking system for hunters and sportsmen. This unique system pinpoints your dogs position and shows you exactly where he is, even when you cant see or hear him. The Astro system includes a bright color screen handheld GPS device and the rugged, all weather DC 30 collar. The collar has an integrated GPS transmitter and is specially weighted so the antenna will always point to the sky for optimum signal. To get started, just take Astro outdoors and turn on the handheld and transmitter to acquire GPS satellite signals. Then attach the DC 30 to your dog. Now you are ready to turn him loose / no other setup required. As often as every five seconds, your dogs DC 30 transmits his position to your handheld, and you can see his current location and a trail of where he is been on the Map page of your handheld. Switch over to the Dog Tracker page to view a compass pointing to your dogs location as well as his current status: whether he is running, sitting, on point or treeing quarry. Astro can also sound an alarm to let you know instantly when your dog goes on point. Astro boasts a high sensitivity GPS receiver that can track your dogs position even in the densest cover. You can track up to ten dogs at one time with Astro, at a distance of up to seven miles away /depending on terrain/. The system transmits information by line of sight, so it reaches farthest in flat, open territory.
Garmin Astro Bundle 220 Dog Tracking GPS Features
- Create a Route on Roads with Exact Turn by Turn Directions
- Search for Over 6 Million Points of Interest
- See Current Location and a Trail of Where Your Dog Been on the Map Page of Your Handheld
User Reviews about Garmin Astro Bundle 220 Dog Tracking GPS
I bought 3 Astro 220 with the DC-30 collar for our K9 Search and Rescue team. These units are invaluable when the dogs are working in difficult terrain out of sight of their handlers. They are particularly important for safety; if a dog is injured while searching we may only be able to find him with the Astro. We are also able to download the dog's track onto a computer with a detailed mapping program so we can see exactly where the dog has been and whether there are any gaps in his search. The Astro has many features and therefore it is fairly complicated and it takes some time to learn to use. Don't expect to be able to go out the first day and have it work to its full capability for you. Even if you are familiar with using GPS, the Astro takes some time and effort to get used to. The Astro was designed for use with hunting dogs so it has some features that are specific to hunting that are not applicable to our purpose. Fortunately, you can turn these features off (once you figure out the menus). So far, the units have proven to be reliable and the 220 has an excellent antenna that gets a good signal even in heavy brush and trees. All in all it's a good product that makes our search team safer and more efficient. -- Astros in K9 SAR
At the end of (3) nine month seasons I have nothing but praise for the Astro 220 ad the 2 collars I use. I run two German shorthair pointers 3 months, 2-3 times weekly in fir/spruce forests (7K - 9K altitude) containing deep drainages, open meadows and plenty of time spent in ponds, lakes and creeks. They both love to work in heavy cover which loads the collar antenna interface with sticks and herbaceous stuff regularly - no failure yet. The amazing thing is I rarely lose a tracking signal and even then it is usually because the distance of the dog is over 450 yds. A "lie" you say. Well consider the other 6 months I hunt them in the field (wild and pen raised birds) usually covering 1000 acres of mixed grain, sagebrush, CRP, and various Great Basin shrubbery. The male is a ranger and can lock up 2-300 yds away and hold or carefully relocate while I eat lunch and read the paper knowing the Astro will take me to him without fail. I rarely have to use his beeper. I most often get a "treed" reading which I can verify by checking his track. Wild birds in later season tend to not hold for long so both dogs will relocate when I signal them that I'm near. The only thing that the Astro doesn't do is flush the bird. I don't let my pointers flush either so I'm working on getting a short haired flusher to do the work that won't bring home a mat of burrs. IN SUMMARY: I don't hunt birds, that's my dogs' job - I hunt dogs.
The Astro 220 package has really made my job easy.
' -- A New Standard For Upland Hunting
I've just read all the previous reviews, and don't know that I have much to add; but, maybe my own experience will aid a prospective buyer's decision-making.
I hunt bobwhite quail in mostly open pine woods with open to moderately heavy scrub. My Wirehaired Pointing Griffon is unusually dark colored; before I bought this unit I "lost" him at least once on every hunt, and because he is very steady on point, I usually ended up shocking him into abandoning a point and returning to me. For many reasons this was an awful thing to do to a good dog; happily, those days are over. The 220/DC-30 has never failed to pinpoint his location, and I no longer run to catch sight of him as he courses through the woods.
This past weekend the collar unit and the handheld failed to communicate; that hunt reminded me how much I had come to depend on the unit. Garmin tech responded to my e-mail within 48 hours, suggesting I delete the dog from the unit, then immediately add him back, thus resetting the software. It worked; I just wish the manual had listed that "trick"; it would have saved my day.
Like other reviewers, I wish I could add my e-collar to the DC-30 collar, or that each was narrower.
I have the Garmin 60csx GPS, and so have never bothered to use the 220 for anything more than locating my truck, a simple one-button push. -- A Few Points
If you need to get a new or replacement GPS and your a dog hunter you have to really look at these. You can buy the handheld unit without the collar and at the worst you can use it as a regular GPS. We used these last bear season and there great. You just have to keep in mind the range, add on antenna a good option. -- Amazing
This was purchased on behalf of a friend with no internet access. He has been a happy hunter ever since. -- David's Dog Collar
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