I posted this on another forum and I thought I might move it over here in case anyone still hadn't had a chance to see or play with one and was interested:
UPS brought the Astro yesterday. I am impressed with its apparent quality. Both units seem very robust and the displays on the handheld unit, once I figured out how to backlight them are bright and seem quite functional in both daylight and after dark.
I do think that Garmin should work on a smaller package for the collar unit, but I tried it on one of my smaller dogs,(on an e-collar...I just don't trust the little saddle that comes with the package)and she seemed to have no problem at all lugging it around. We were out for thirty minutes maybe, and according to the log page, she logged about 3.2 miles, with one cast up to over 700 yds (guess I need to take her out of the kennel a little more often,huh?)I never lost contact with her and the compass indication seemed to point right to whereever she was working once she was more than say 10 yds away. Inside ten yds, it just kinda floated around, and indicated (correctly) that I was standing very close to her. I am not crazy about the location or configuration of the antenna..that being said, it is very flexible, and hanging on brush will probably not be a problem...but, if they could come up with something that was more like the Tracker collar units and their antennae in both size and configuration, it would be a great improvement. I will also be trying to find a suitable holster for the handheld unit. It comes with a belt clip which seems sturdy enough, but having dropped a brand new cell phone and scratched the display, I am gunshy about what will happen to the Garmin in the brush.
All in all, The Astro package seems to be a wonderful tool for keeping up with your dog under adverse conditions, and I look forward to utilizing it this fall. So if you are so inclined, go for it! GDA
Gary I gotta say yours is the best review I have read in terms of detail. The weight of the transmitter seems to have been an issue with several people in that it flips over, even with an older Ecollar. The G2 and G3 would have to be cranked down it sounds like. The antennae was an issue for one poster, said it broke the first run in the woods. This is possibly going to be like many tech ideas in that the first gen will be replaced by a second gen quickly. Or maybe they will do like the Iphone and drop the price 200 bucks after a couple of months. Thanks for the review I am seriously considering one to replace my tracking units.
Yep, you heard right that it slips at least to the side, I am using G2's, and I haven't seen it go under the neck yet, but at least at the ranges my dogs have been at, I've not seen any loss of service.
One problem has surfaced with my unit that I've talked to Garmin three different times about, and they have not resolved. It's no deal breaker, I can live with it for now, but it is irritating. My unit will not stay in pointing dog mode. I put it in pointing dog mode, and it switches back to automatic mode on its own. When the dog has been still for a while, sometimes he shows up on the unit as being on point, sometimes as treeing, but mostly sitting. I hate that! I have POINTING DOGS! It is a royal pain to get thru to speak to a live person for technical help, and at the end of my last fruitless phone call, when I asked might there be a glitch in the software, I was told "I'll check with the engineers, and let you know via email in a couple of days...no need to call back." Well, I'll give them a couple of days, but believe me, I will call back.
Now Gary....who knows for sure what those dogs are doing when they are out of your sight? Those dogs you got from me may very well be "union" dogs and they may very well be sitting...cuz they're on break. Just kidding. (FYI...I am a member of the United Steelworker's Union. I'm not real clear on how our refinery is under a Steel Worker's union, but it is nevertheless. Just didn't want anyone to think I was baggin' too hard on us union guys.)
It sounds like Garmin has the same kind of tech. support that Innotek ended up with. Initially, when Ed Rader joined up with Innotek, they offered a very good, well designed, relatively reliable product, with some real people in tech. support to offer help. When Innotek changed hands, got rid of Ed and "redesigned" their product, along with changing up their approach to tech support, the whole thing started spiraling downward fast. After multiple issues with them and their new and "improved" systems, I refused to be a dealer for them and sent back my inventory along with a note to tell them never to contact me again. It really was a blessing for me as that allowed me to be in the position where I am now, able to offer several more brands of electronic equipment; Tri-Tronics, Dogtra, Sport Dog, DT, Garmin, Tracker and Innotek.
"Your legacy should be that you made it better than it was when you got it."
That may be exactly what it is, but if its true, I'd just as soon not know about it!
BTW:
Callie will be a big help to me running off the truck this year...she is a bird finding fool, as I told you before, and is the spittin' image of Stitch (her head looks just like the headshot you have posted of him on the Pointer page). Libby (last trip to Bodarc) will most likely work more on the shooting preserve this year to gain experience before I take her into the brush country. Both will get their little fannies worked off between end of next month, and end of February, but I'd just as soon them get back in the box to take a break...not on my time! GA
After examining a friend's Astro, purchased at a different time and place, I am positive that what I am seeing is a software glitch that Garmin has not worked out yet. His does the same as mine.
