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Interested in a side By Side Review against the DC30 collars.

I have a shipment of them coming in, My current recomendation for my customers is for the DC30. I just don't think the price is worth it.. And I would rather be honest than Sell allot of something..

What I'm really curious about is is the GPS signal with the Antenna on the bottom (built in) rather than the Top is a Pro or a Con...

I have a Metal Dog box, and my DC30's don't lose signal very much, I would Like to See a DC30 and a DC40 in a metal dog box and see which keeps satelite the most or if they are both comparable...

I don't trust people and reviews from those who are selling them.. I want honest Side by side comparisons, (I guess that should include me..) but I hunt Big Game and would rather tell people the Truth as to what to expect with these..

I'll give a Free TreeDogWear Tee shirt for your time if you can write it up for me..


mail@dugraphics.com

Buddy

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Owens dog box, vent closed and tailgate dc 40 on dog, in the truck moving compass pointed straight to the box.

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If your moving the dog should be behind you even if it's lost signal, So in theory it would almost always point to the dog box.

I'm looking for a true side by side comparison between DC30, and DC40 and figure out which looses GPS signal first. DC30. or DC40. A stress test using the Same 220, because they moved the GPS antenna from the top to the bottom, I want to know how much that affects the reception.. (If any.)

The Antenna and Transmitter are the same, so It won't affect Range any, Always going to have some collars that reach further than others.. no matter between DC40, and DC30

The only difference is the Location of the GPS antenna.. I'm just not sure if it's a Pro or a Con...

davebastean's Comment's about loosing the Signal more often is what I'm looking for, that should be the Only difference, everything else is most likely the same.

Buddy

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So let me guess, I'm not getting a tee shirt LOL

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Registered: Jul 2006
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Posts: 285

I've used my dc 40 3 nights in a row side by side with a dc 30,my 30 worked better,my 40 dropped signal 6 times at .73 of a mile and my 30 never lost it once,what a disappointment, I called Garmin did not get any where with them

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: ALABAMA
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Beaglers are having issues with the DC40's.

One says that Garmin told him the issue is the beagles swimming with the collars.

http://americanbeagler.huntingboard...=17&t=61641

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Northern Centre County Pa.
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I won't use it at all on my beagles any more. it is out of contact more than in...DC30 has been good to me though.

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Just a question.. When you guys say out of contact is that when its out of your pocket or just when it's in your pocket or the holder? I know when I put mine in the top pocket of my bibs it looses the DC30 pretty fast but as soon as I pull it back out it picks it right up.

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Mine will not pick up the dc40 even with a long range antenna, on my beagles, if they are in the brush. It doesn't matter if they 10 feet or 100 yards away. Not as bad on a big hound....

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quote:

---

Originally posted by hounded
If your moving the dog should be behind you even if it's lost signal, So in theory it would almost always point to the dog box.

I'm looking for a true side by side comparison between DC30, and DC40 and figure out which looses GPS signal first. DC30. or DC40. A stress test using the Same 220, because they moved the GPS antenna from the top to the bottom, I want to know how much that affects the reception.. (If any.)

The Antenna and Transmitter are the same, so It won't affect Range any, Always going to have some collars that reach further than others.. no matter between DC40, and DC30

The only difference is the Location of the GPS antenna.. I'm just not sure if it's a Pro or a Con...

davebastean's Comment's about loosing the Signal more often is what I'm looking for, that should be the Only difference, everything else is most likely the same.

Buddy

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---

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The difference is, it is covered by the dog and what ever vegetation he is in. From what I have seen, it makes a big difference. take a dc30 collar out, get it linked up and wrap your hand around the small GPS antenna..

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quote:

---

Originally posted by strut&rut
So let me guess, I'm not getting a tee shirt LOL

---

Come on.. You've at least have to give me something to compare.. some kind of write up and comparison....

Sheriff Andy, I'll try to explain.. When I'm driving with dogs in my Box.. Only Momentarily the dogs show right behind me.. Most of the time they show a ways behind me.. Because the system only updates the dogs every 5,10, or 30 seconds they are most of the time 5 seconds behind you.. I always use 30 seconds.. Which on 30 seconds at 60 miles an hour is (I think) a couple hundred yards.. so only for a little bit are they right next to you on the screen the rest of the time they are a ways behind on the screen... (does that make sense??..) If you set it to 30 seconds look at the map.. and drive down the road you'll see what I'm talking about.. The dogs will always be behind you and the arrow will almost always point behind you.. although it might think they are 100 yards behind you..


Duke, Andy .. That what I was looking for, that was my suspision that might happen.. I was hoping it wouldn't be the case.. I have one coming tuesday to test for myself.

Send me an email mail@dugraphics.com and I'll get a shirt out to you guys if you want..

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This test here was when I got to a point of the signal starting to cut out on the DC 40 I turned off the handheld and then turned it back on to see if it would pick up. I walked around in about a 50 foot circle and it picked up. It still would momentarly loose the signal at this range but then pick it back up. This was with a folding antenna on the handheld.


Next day I did the same test in cloudy conditions and light rain.
I only got about 1.5 miles during that test.

When testing the DC 30's in the past, everyday I would get different results also.

As far as collars loosing signal in a dog box that is common and I have seen DC 30's do that on a regular basis. Again sometimes they don't and it is not consistent which collars loose the signal.
These are closed winter type boxes. But then again I don't use my system for tracking my dog in the box so I don't care if it has a signal there or not.

I have tested these systems with about every antenna you can think of and I have built antennas that I heard you could get 7 miles out of. That was a fire stick antenna designed for the frequency the garmins run on. I only got a solid 2 miles but I was on my way to town and when I crossed over a tall bridge leading to town I did pick the signal up and that was 5.5 miles. Lost signal at bottom of bridge and picked it back up when I was crossing the bridge again on my way home.

I have tested these with a YAGI antenna with good results (3 miles) but the YAGI designed for this frequency it to big to carry around.

You have to remember two things here. There are two signals required for your collar to track.
One is the GPS signal between your collar and the Sat. just like your handheld needs and the second is the VHF signal between your collar and handheld. When you loose signal you can go to your information page for the collar and see which signal is lost. When you loose the vhf signal the GPS signal will also show nothing because the vhf signal is bringing that information to the receiver. If you look at the information page and you see vhf signal but not gps then it is the collar and the Sat not communicating. To increase VHf signal you imporve the antenna on the handheld or make sure the vhf antenna on the collar is not damaged. To improve gps signal that is left up to the garmin engineers.

There is a lot of misleading information given out on these message boards about these systems. Like for example my garmin keeps loosing signal. That is true but the rest of the story like which signal is it loosing (gps or vhf) is an important key that will help you solve your problem.

Even with the mysteries of gps communication we are all experiencing, the Garmis are the best thing going as far as dog tracking.

Last edited by on 08-28-2010 at 01:41 PM

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Bruce, Your absolutely correct.. But I don't care about the VHF Antenna signal.. And that seams to be the Only thing You tested, was distance?? I could have told you what you would get with that test..

That hasn't changed and I didn't expect that to change on the DC40 collar. I won't even bother wasting my time with that kind of test.. That's all about antennas and you could have two of the same antennas on the same collar and get different Results.

My question is the GPS Antenna reception.... that is the ONLY difference between DC40 and DC30. That is the Difference I want to know about.. How does it react by moving the GPS antenna On the bottom of the dogs neck.

And Putting these in a metal box, or Heavy Brush,Rocks, Etc is the only way to test that.. Obviously Swimming is probably going to be a problem which I didn't think about..

I guess I could test them with the Dog Standing in a Field and Say YUP.... HOTDOG.. .. They work great... Get your DC40's here.. Garmin is the best... and rake in a Pile of Cash..

Sooner or later, People are going to learn the truth. I'm a Crappy salesman, But I try to take care of my 2 or 3 customers.

Buddy

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THANK YOU , I UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING,.... NO DEFENCE TO GARMIN... BUT DOES ANYONE REALLY THINK THEY ARE GOING TO CHANGE WHAT THEY ALREADY HAD IN THE DC30S TO SOMETHING THEY DIDNT TEST, THAT DOESNT WORK ,THEY SURELY DIDNT MOVE THE SATI. RECIEVER TO THE BOTTOM TO MAKE MONEY ON SOMETHING THAT DONT WORK.. IMPOVEMENTS ARE MADE EVERYDAY ON ALL KINDS OF THINGS NOT VERY OFTON DO THEY GO BACKWARDS.... I HAVENT GOT MY NEW 40,S YET AND I WILL BE FIRST TO TELL YA IF THEY ARE JUNK WHEN I SEE FOR MY SELF.. TILL THEN I WILL GO BYE WHAT THE GARMIN TECKS TOLD ME....TOM

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I use a dc 20 and a dc 30.

The 20 will loose signal more often than the 30.

I gave up trying to keep the 20 on top of the dogs neck, Im not sure it matters much anyway...But I was attributing that to the signal loss.

I still dont understand why it was so important to get the antenna on top of the dogs neck, but now with the 40 it dosent matter? Or does it?

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so what you guys are telling me is i need to keep my $599 in my pocket or just get the dc 30 right!

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Hounded you sound like you got an axe to grind so I will get out of your way and let you have at it.

Sorry for trying to have a civil discussion with you.

There is not a day goes by that I am not doing something with the Garmin Astro. It may be tracking a dog, it may be running different test, it may be taking one apart for parts.
I have had many people call me looking for parts to fix their systems, which I sent at NO COST to them and many of them brought their astro somewhere else. Doesn't matter to me, if I can help someone I will.
I have had many people call having technical questions about their astro that purchase them for someone that doesn't even know how to turn one on. Doesn't matter to me, I will give them all the advice they need to get their system running.

If I can help someone I will, thats what's important in life.

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I HAVE OWNED A GARMIN ETREX GPS FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW. WHEN NOT IN USE IT IS IN MY TRUCK JOCKEY BOX... SEVERAL TIMES I FORGOT TO TURN IT OFF AND WHEN IT WAS TAKEN OUT OF THE JOCKEY BOX IT HAD GPS SIGNAL ON IT AS I WAS SITTING IN THE TRUCK, WHEN I DO CARRY IT , IT IS LEFT ON HANGING AROUND MY NECK ON A LENARD STRAP, IN WINTER IT IS UNDER MY COAT AND OR COVERALLS AND STILL KEEPS SIGNAL MOST OF THE TIME, I DONT KNOW THIS FOR A FACT BUT SURELY THE DC 40 HAS A BIGGER OR BETTER GPS MODSUAL THAN THIS LITTLE ETRAX....TOM

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I have used my dc 40 twice this past week and seems to work ok for me. Farthest the dogs got was eight tenths of a mile but it worked good.

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I have no axe to grind.. I just am looking for an answer, (I've been told many times that I'm a A-hole and I come across as an A-hole.. Your not the first.. and I appoligize up front, this is not personal.. I just call the shots as I see them.) , So honestly Not looking for a Review from someone who is selling them or Pushing them..(No offense here) I just don't want to figure out If you thinking about Money in your pocket or not.. Just the Same as I don't get bent out of shape when people would question about me and my intentions...

I'm Sorry.. I was just going off your statement.. "there is allot of Misleading information on these Boards" and then you went off talking about the VHF signal for the whole Post, except a small one liner about in the dog box which you quickly discredited.. Because the DC30's do it all the time.. Unfortunately That sounded like a Biased Review to me, (and you are pushing the DC40's hard right now)..

I'm sure you've gotten a Good Rep and I haven't heard of anyone that had anything bad to say about you.. Even some of your Over sea's customers from New Zealand that I got to chat with.. All spoke well of you and your customer Service. So honestly I think your a stand up guy, and you treat your customers well.. On the Down Side, I've seen you market hard on these forums and sites, I did have to Boot you or your Friend Leroy or something? off my site for Spamming it with Advertisments.. I don't allow Bussiness advertisments on my Big Game Forum.

So unfortunately all this makes me a bit skeptical.. No axe to grind, just good honest questions I have to ask myself when reading your review?



Now back to the topic at hand.. I'm not sure if it's a pro or con.. I'm keeping an Open mind on this and just want a Side by Side comparision test on the GPS signal.. I'm about 99% sure that there will be no difference in the Distance you'll be tracking... I'm worried about the GPS signal of the collars.

Today I was out.. Crappy satelite day.. all the Satelites were on the horizon Except two of them, It Took me 15 minutes to get my 220 To sync up, which normally takes 2 minutes, and my 220 lost GPS signal all day long. almost annoyingly.. DC30's did better but still had a hard time. Everytime I would cross a creek with a Mountain on the East side I would lose the Signal(Talking about the GPS signal)... If I was testing a DC40 today without DC30's I would say... DC40's sucked.. But in reality the satelites were all in Poor locations... and I needed those satelites on the east to keep the position.. tomorrow those satelites might be in better spots.. who knows.

There are a Ton of Factors from Day to Day collar to collar.. the only way to really know is to have a DC30 and DC40 side by side in the same situation and look for consistancy or patterns... Anything else is assumtion

I'm sorry if I offended you, Your Post was all about the VHF signal (Distance) And you discredited any Faults the DC40 may have.. To me there is no difference between the DC30 and DC40... That's not what is going to make the DC40's good or Bad.. GPS signal.. that's the difference..

So I appoligize to everyone, Not trying to pick a fight here.. Seams like everyone that Sells these things get's territorial on them... I don't Give a **** who sells what or what Garmin says, they are selling them, of coarse they are going to say they are good and better.... I called GunDogSupply and asked them.. (just to see what they said.. Her answer was, The DC40's are newer so they would be better... I didn't expect anything different.. but it was fun to check..

Full Disclosure.. I sell them too, I try to be a Hunter first, and a Crappy (and I'm underestimating the word Crappy)..salesman second.. Guess that's why I don't get to play with the Big leagues...

Anyways.. No hard feelings here.. I'm just on a quest for an Answer... So far it seams most people aren't happy with them, and I would rather be honest with people rather than Blow them off like they are stupid and just don't know better..

Soon we will have no choice but the DC40's and this will be a mute point. But for now, I have allot of questions which is better.. and this is a question I haven't been able to honestly answer yet..

Buddy

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The author asked to remain annoyomous.. But here is the most detailed review I was sent.

Every Review that I've seen on these things are Pumping them up.. And Every review I've seen are from people Making a buck on them...

I posted it on my Blog. I will confirm them Soon myself, but I trust that this guy knows what he's talking about since he's been using them for allot longer than anyone..


http://garminastrodog.com/garmin-astro-dc40-reviews/

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Leroy here I guess.

FYI, No-one (except you) is puffing up the Garmin systems from what I have read. A lot are just sharing information. Some like them and some do not

BUT,

I have seen several comments you have posted that seem to insinuate that some people may not be as honest as you. lol

Example below....from your little board. and there are several here on this board..

Author Message
Buddyw Post subject: Garmin DC40 Review and new Garmin Loaner Program.Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 1:28 am


Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:39 pm
Posts: 1286
Location: sw Washington
State: Washington So lots of Deals out there on Garmin DC30's..

copied"
Lastly, Here is a Review of the DC40 from a Guy that's been field testing them for the Last couple months.. He is not impressed and is very disappointed with it.. Only good reviews I can find on them are from those that are selling them.. LionCountry, GunDogSupply, Conkeys.. Etc.. All these guys are puffing them up pretty good.. I'd rather not do that and Be honest with folks..
"


I WOULD BE VERY CAREFUL WHO I INSINUATED WAS NOT HONEST if I were you!



More info for hounded/buddyw in case you missed this one.

I do not think the following poster sells the Garmin systems or DC 40 collars. He is just sharing info also.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wingpatch
well my dc40 findly came today, i was begining to wonder and dought getting one after all the different things that have been posted, so here is my personal review . now this is with the telescoping fold up ant. [ i have gained from 2oo yds. to 1/4 mi. with it ], i took 2 of my dc30 collars along with the dc40 hung them side by side in a tree, i drove down the road [ rollen hills ] with the astro 220 laying in the front set with the ant fully extended , the dc30s lost signal off and on at about 700 yds the dc40 never lost signal at all till 1.17 ml. . i was over the hill and going down in a hollar... when i stopped and got out it picked right up... i like what i seen so far , and will post more under actual hunting condishions.....

---

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NO I DONT WORK FOR ANYONE OR SELL ANYTHING , WHAT I DO IS HUNT 7 NIGHTS A WEEK, NO I DIDNT BUY MY FIRST GARMIN ASTRO 220 WITH 2 DC30 COLLARS IT WAS BOUGHT FOR ME PART TRADE ON A DOG I SOLD. NO I DIDNT BUY THE SYSTEM I GOT IN THE MAIL TODAY I TRADED MY TRACKER MAXAMA & 5 COLLARS FOR IT TO VALLEY CREEK [REDGIE ] POINT IS I DONT OWE ANYONE BROWNIE POINTS , AINT A SALESMEN FOR NO ONE . I AM A COON HUNTER THAT WANTS EVERY ADVANTAGE I CAN OBTAIN... MY NEW COLLAR DC40 LINKS UP JUST AS FAST HAS MORE RANGE WEIGHS 2 OZ. LESS THAN MY DC30.S AND AINT GOT NO UNNESSARY JUNK ON TOP OF IT WHERE I MOUNT MY LED COLLAR LIGHT...AS FOR NOW I LIKE IT JUST FINE , IF THAT CHANGES I DAM SURE AINT GONA BE AFRADE TO POST IT....FRIEND IN SPORT...TOM

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GASCONADE RIVER GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLIE [ TOAD & MOLLY ANN ] ENGLISH



HONEST OPEN MOUTH, STAY PUT TREEDOGS.. THAT CATCH GAME.....

573-765-5461

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Mr. Silccox.. I remember you.. For what it's worth, You were Banned from my Site for Spamming Conkey's Supply also... Every Day I would come in with a new Ad for Conkey's.. I asked you to stop and you kept right on doing it..

I knew that by posting on this site This thread that it would turn into this... It always turns into EGO when there is Folks selling Garmins. Like I said, I haven't heard anything Bad or negative about him.. But I definately don't like what I'm seeing for his reviews..

You see it's like this.. you can find what you want.. You can find that guy that Put his collar in a Field and said.. Man this thing works great!! It's like the guy that was Begging for someone that has and Likes the DC40.. It was pretty quite..

Are you guys not getting it? It's not the distance deal.. it's the GPS Signal.. I'll type Slow..
THE G>>> P>>> S>>> part is what people are saying S>> U>>> C>>>K>>>S>>

About my comments on my site.. All I'm saying Is every Review I've read from a Site that sells them (including Conkey's review you posted Here)
They are seam to be the best thing since sliced bread or they leave out the problems people are having.... they Just Doesn't have any of the Bad stuff about them. I'm sorry but if I had a Pile of those DC40's in my Shop.. Hell I'd probably be telling you that They actually double the chances of Catching something if you just Put it on the worst dog...

you should mention my post on my BigGameHoundmsen forum .. I'm alittle more Open and Honest on that site and I don't bite my tounge as much as I try to here.. I'm pretty sure they would bann my ass for sure here If I said what I thought sometimes.... And I Should definately Appoligize about making that statement.. Because I' did recieve some Negative Feedback about the Garmins from someone on that list. (Unfortunately Your guy was not one of them, your guy PM'd me some more excuses for Garmin) My point stands, that Publically they have not Mentioned the down Falls of the garmins.

But Yes privately They Have,

If my comments Puts the Pressure on people and bussinesses to do the right thing.. good for me I'm not going to lose any sleep over it..

Call it what you want, I'm cancelling my DC40 Shipments.

If I can't give the Good, the Bad and the Ugly..



Buddy

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