Astro vs Alpha

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jfwhit
Rank: Junior Hunter
Posts: 83
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:19 am
Location: Oklahoma City, OK

Astro vs Alpha

Post by jfwhit » Mon Oct 13, 2014 9:03 am

Are most upland hunters using the Alpha so everything is on one collar? Or do you prefer your GPS and ecollar separate? I like the tube style remotes. Is it too cumbersome to mess with a screen with gloves on? I'm getting back into bird hunting. Dog being trained. Looking into ecollars & GPS's. My intitial thinking was TT Pro 550 & Astro DC50. The all-in-one system is appealing. But with seperating the two, I feel has its advantages also. Everything is being updated and discontinued so fast. I want items to use for years. Maybe seperating them, I can get more life out of at least one item. Just brainstorming. Any thoughts, advice, experiences with much appreciated. I have a Brittany and hunt quail in Oklahoma.

41magsnub
Rank: Master Hunter
Posts: 219
Joined: Wed May 29, 2013 3:58 pm
Location: Another forum

Re: Astro vs Alpha

Post by 41magsnub » Mon Oct 13, 2014 11:01 am

Assuming you are only talking about hunting, not field trials and like. The nice thing about the alpha is the correction functions are not linked to the display. They are separate buttons. No matter what screen the alpha is on, the correction buttons are always the way you programmed them. The way my alpha is always set up in the field is the screen is locked on the dog location compass deal. The limitation is there are only 3 correction buttons limiting flexibility for running multiple dogs without having to manipulate the display. I would liked to have seen 4 buttons which would be nice for 2 dogs - 1 nick and 1 beep for each.

I'm sure some razoo new version of the alpha will come out in the next few years, but I can't see upgrading to it unless I somehow kill my current unit. They do firmware updates and seem to be making new collars backwards compatible with older handsets so I'm not concerned about future proofing.

Mountaineer
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Re: Astro vs Alpha

Post by Mountaineer » Mon Oct 13, 2014 12:39 pm

jfwhit wrote:Are most upland hunters using the Alpha so everything is on one collar? Or do you prefer your GPS and ecollar separate? I like the tube style remotes. Is it too cumbersome to mess with a screen with gloves on? I'm getting back into bird hunting. Dog being trained. Looking into ecollars & GPS's. My intitial thinking was TT Pro 550 & Astro DC50. The all-in-one system is appealing. But with seperating the two, I feel has its advantages also. Everything is being updated and discontinued so fast. I want items to use for years. Maybe seperating them, I can get more life out of at least one item. Just brainstorming. Any thoughts, advice, experiences with much appreciated. I have a Brittany and hunt quail in Oklahoma.
Young dog?
Personality of the dog?
Range of the dog?
Reason/need for the e-collar?

Personally, I recently replaced my 7 year-old 220 with a 320.
I prefer a separate e-collar and touch screens are often fiddly for me....as well, the learning curve is shorter from the unit being more recognizable, to me.
No regrets here.

However, I would first consider trying out both units...but, that could be problematic if you do not have access to friends with those ownerships.
Still, I would consider that route and err on the side of slowness to decide even tho pup or dog may be arriving soon.
Maybe, find out what exact manner of birddog will be in front of you as well....if you truly do not know.
Still the rush.

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