gps

[Allin13]

What gps are you using? Looking at the garmin Astro 320 or SportDog TEK 1.0L .

[Francois P vd Walt]

Sunrise & sunset will give you a good idea of direction.

[Brazosvalleyvizslas]

Do you want to be able to track and train or just track? Do you compete? If you compete and want a combination collar then I would wait until the Garmin Alpha is approved. If you are not a gadget or information type person and want a combo unit then I would go with Sport Dog. More information as to what you need the collar to do would be helpful.

[reba]

I ran a Garmin Alpha 100 for more than 3 months on two dogs, hunting 6 days a week.

The Garmin Alpha 100 is awsome!!!

[PntrRookie]

...I would wait until the Garmin Alpha is approved...

Don't hold your breath on that - especially from the Field. I would go with the Garmin and have 2 collars. One TT e-collar and one gps Garmin (Astro)

[Allin13]

yes I need it to be weight approved so I stay away from the garmin alpha. so you think the sport dog is easy to use?

[Brazosvalleyvizslas]

My understanding is that they did away with the weight issue. The sport dog is huge but if you need it quick, I'd still go with the Astro and when the Alpha becomes approved (and it will) you can sell and upgrade.

[Allin13]

Have you used the astro? How easy is it to use.

[DonF]

I got the Sportdog. Didn't give accurate location from the start but I kept fooling with it thinking I was doing something wrong. Talked to customer service two time's and the second time they had me send it back to them. Then rather than fix that one, they sent me a new one, maybe a week and a half ago. It was doing the same thing as the old one. But I went ahead and was figuring out where to look normally. It normally showed the dog about 15* to the left of where it should be. Occasionally the dog would come in from 90* to the left. Twice the dog came in 180* from where it told me the dog was. Last straw for me was today the collar battery just gave up the ghost! Supposed to last up to 20 hrs,this one didn't. The last one did. Hard to believe that someone would send in a faulty product and they would send out a new one without making sure it worked right. That was my first and last sportdog product.

[Allin13]

I had a sportdog 400 and 800 and both were bad. so maybe I'll just stay away from them.

[Brazosvalleyvizslas]

The Astro is easy to use and gives a lot of info.