Registered: Jun 2003
Location: ALABAMA
Posts: 5183

Are some of the systems created differently?

Bruce says he is getting 4 miles with roof mount and he is not in mountains.

You say your getting 5-8 miles in mountains with a roof mount.

That's a big difference. Your getting double the miles than his 4 miles in a non-mountain area.

I would think that your ranges would be opposite due to the terrain.

Bruce, do you still have that Garmin site you created?

You should put a section on there where people can list their range as well as the terrain they are hunting them in to give a broad idea on the differences.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Los Angeles, MN
Posts: 4236

Once you learn how to use the garmin the range really isnt much of an issue.

Say a dog gets out 1.5 miles and you loose signal, the garmin shows exactly on a map where the the dog was when the signal was lost.

Head that direction and get as high as possible and you will get your signal back....pretty simple.

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Registered: Aug 2007
Location: SE Iowa
Posts: 950

I have a Tracker Maxima now, and it has been a good system for me but I will be selling it in a few months and getting a Quick Track 6000. A buddy of mine recently got one and he used a Tracker Maxima for years.

He says it's night and day different. Not as handy as the Maxima, but when the QT beeps, thats exactly where the dog is. Not the guessing you have to do every now and then with the Maxima.

Hope this helps.

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: North GA
Posts: 14395

Buckshot they must not all be created equal..Mine dont get no where near that kind of range.In the hills of north Ga or the flat lands of middle and south Ga..Neither does my hunting partners! Ga must be in a dead zone lol...While I've never lost service on the handheld yet.The collar has NEVER got me over 1.5 miles and once again neither has my buddies.I just got my truck mounted ant and will test it when the time comes.I still would hate to cut a dog now without it.It tells you right where they are or where they are headed..It can save a hounds life as long as you can drive to where they were last picked up or toward them to cut em off.

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I think the range depends on several things and atmospherice conditions being one of them. I test these systems several times a week with different antennas and I get different results. When I come on here a post a simple one line statement I generally go to the average of what I am getting. One day I tested several differrent antennas on the tansmitter with the magnetic antenna on the receiver and got several repeatable test that were 4.4 miles. I have tested and gotten 5.2 miles and I have tested and got 3.8 miles so I threw out 4 miles as a safe number and what I would expect. These test were with the magnetic antenna. The other day we were testing and we had a couple different receivers and 3 transmitters with three types of antennas, no magnetic antenna was used. We both lost signal at just over 2 miles. My buddy walked about 40 foot from where I was standing and picked up the transmitters and had them out to about 3 miles. I went over to where he was standing and picked them up also.
IF IT WAS JUST ABOUT RANGE AND RANGE IS ALL I CARED ABOUT I WOULD THROW THE GARMIN IN THE GARBAGE AND GET MARSHALL COLLARS WITH EITHER A MARSHALL, WILDLIFE OR QUICK TRACK BOX. THERE IS A LOT MORE TO IT OTHER THAN RANGE AND WITH THE GARMIN IT IS LIKE BEING EVERY STEP OF THE WAY WITH YOUR HOUND.
I would be very surprised if in 5 years if anyone is using anything but some type of GPS systems on their dogs.
Lets say you got 5 Bear Dogs and they are the best you ever owned and you don't want anything to happen to them. You turn your dogs loose with your beep beep collars. They go straight away and just about out of hearing you hear them bay and fight. Then they break and run again, going away from you. Now they are out of hearing and your tracker shows they are going straight away so you drive around and position youself closer. Now about an hour later they tree. You go to them to see one of your prize hounds is not with them. You drag out the beep beep and see the dog is back in the direction they came from. You get to the dog and find it about dead from the fight.
What the Garmin would of done for you is let you know there was a problem when it happened. When the dogs broke and ran after the first fight you would of seen one of your dogs was not with the pack. One of you could have went straight to the dog and maybe saved its life. I could go on but unless you experience what these systems can do it is no use.
Like I said before, unfortunally dogs have been lost with these gps systems around their neck. There is some design changes that need to be done. They are good now and only will get better.
I don't think there is a coonhunter on this board that hasn't been fooled by there beep beep system or have seen there hunting partner look like a fool trying to use one.

Last edited by on 05-04-2008 at 05:38 PM

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: ALABAMA
Posts: 5183

Somebody posted a few minutes ago on the CoonDawgs.com forum this:

quote:

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well i have to say last night i was very disappointed in the astro's performance, we hunted some ultra thick bottoms and lost communication for long periods of time, after the dogs were treed it would pick em up on and off..... and the sad part is they only treed 600yds away. very,very disappointed... looks like the tracker will be around my dogs neck during the summer months, the problem seems to be with the dog unit not being able to communicate with the handheld due to more dense cover, after we leashed the dogs and headed out we are still able to follow our tracks out perfect with no problems with gps reception on the handheld or the dog unit, i have done nothing but talk the system up so far and really didn't want to make such a negative comment, however i felt the flaws needed to be discussed and if you are having similar experiences please tell

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Buckshot its like anything else on this board, you can take one position or another on a point and beat it to death.
A good counter point to what you just posted from your board would be this. Your dogs tree say 50 yards from you and you loose communication, heck even turn the collar off that is not a fatal flaw. You can still drive 100 miles away and give your receiver to someone else and they will see where that dog is treed. They will be told exactly how to get to the dog and the easiest route to get there. I don't think any beep beep system would do that.
Actually this pont hasn't been bought up yet and it scares me but I see the game and fish comission in different states outlawing the use of GPS system on running hounds. If your hunting game with running hounds such as deer or bear and your using roads to cut off your dogs and harvest the game from, these units will make the hunts too successful.
With the GARMIN ASTRO it's more about knowledge than it is about range.

Last edited by on 05-04-2008 at 06:16 PM

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Registered: Jan 2007
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WILDLIFE TRX-3S. I'M IN LOVE WITH MINE..

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Registered: Feb 2008
Location: Albemarle North Carolina
Posts: 811

garmin,cuts down on finding your dogs and your truck

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