Registered: Jul 2004
Location: In the wild blue yonder!!Of VA!!!
Posts: 1269

Garmin Astro or Alpha? What's your opinion and choice and why? Looking to upgrade from my 220

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Registered: Aug 2015
Location:
Posts: 68

My opinion, hands down, is the alpha. It's extremely helpful to have the shock system in the same unit as the tracker. As long as you have signal on the dog you can shock them. So if your buddies a few miles away tell you they see your dogs on off game, you can correct them. Also if you are like us and run the beep collars as well as the gps then the regular collar, it keeps you from having to run a fourth collar on your dog. It does cost more than the astro, but I believe it is defiantly worth it.

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Registered: Feb 2009
Location: wi
Posts: 165

since your choices are 430 astro or alpha I would go with the alpha. the astro 320 and 220 have been discontinued. the alpha seems to be getting range and not losing the dogs as much. plus it has built in shocking capabilities. I haven't heard one person that has had both alpha and astro units complain about the alpha. I have astro only because I have 7 collars and it would cost to much to start over. I don't believe the 430 astro is worth it other than it works with the dc50 collars.

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Registered: Oct 2011
Location: upstate ny
Posts: 106

alpha is good , they have a lot of extra stuff that hunters don't need , they can be some what confussing at first but so is riding a bike , i have 2 alphas and 8 tt15 collars , i would not have any thing else , have had 220 for years , i did have some issues with the alpha but they were corrected by garmin, do get extra battery for rec. exspect about 8 hrs battery life on rec in cold weather hunting , we use both tell. and gps , great for cat hunting

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Registered: May 2009
Location: Western North Carolina
Posts: 57

Alpha hands down have used both. Touch screen gets some getting used to just read the book that comes with the alpha and it will be your best friend. Its a nice addition to have the shocking capability built in.

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Registered: Mar 2011
Location: michigan
Posts: 260

Alpha

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Registered: Jun 2007
Location: Menard,TX
Posts: 1158

Alpha. Way smarter than me....
Adios,
Gary

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Registered: Mar 2010
Location: maine
Posts: 213

its a good thing the alpha came out because I thought we were all gonna have to make a cross with giraffes x hounds to hold all the darn collars.i suppose someday there will be a small implant that will take the place of tracking ,and correcting collars.maybe a set of sunglasses that show the map to us .I have used the alpha some through hunting friends,and the alpha is the way to go for sure if you need it all in one package.that being said I still really like using my old 220 with dc 30s and use them all the time. they have the longer life batteries ,and long range antennas,plus I also have the long range antennae on the truck with a 320 mounted to the dash. I also have a bunch of dc 50s,and a spare 320. its really all great equipment.in fact I find that it is so good I have to remind myself to oh ya listen to the dog stupid.its really kind of pathetically sad. we are so spoiled.i still ride my ats telemetry around in the back of the truck why I don't know since I got that long range antennae on the truck I haven't put one on a dog.its like a kids security blanket I guess(hard to give up.)

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