Garmin Alpha advice

[slayerrd]

I can't decide if I should buy the garmin delta upland or go ahead a spend the extra money on the alpha 100? I've always used tri tronics collars with beepers in the past but it is time for a new one. I only turn the beeper on when I lose track of my dog in thick cover or crp. When I relocate him I turn it back off. I would like to stick with the garmin brand. Thanks

[reba]

alpha 100 and never look back..................................................

[NEhomer]

alpha 100 and never look back..................................................

This.

I paid the bucks for the Alpha and now that I have it, I would pay twice as much.

[Schatz's Pop]

I'm a complete rookie here and made most of the mistakes possible with schatz, but I do have a rookies point of view.

I used the Garmin Pro 100 and loved the fact that I could operate all the controls, toggle the collar selector switch, rotate the level dial and hit the stim/tone buttons without having to look at it, could keep my eye on the dog. All very tactile and intuitive. And all, except maybe the level dial, could be operated through a coat pocket.

I have the Alpha and its tracking is wonderful, but it is a device I need to be looking at to operate. It is more complicated to set up and, in my limited experience, harder and less instinctive to use. It took me a while to figure out how to "lock out" the stim buttons and just use the tracking screen.

The stim butons are more sensitive than the buttons on the Pro 100 and I always worry about inadvertent stim's being sent if it gets accidentally bumped, so I primarily use it as a tracking collar, and not a training tool.

I will say this, the dog was made collar wise by another who misused the Pro 100, switching to the alpha collar the dog does not seem to equate it with the pro's and does not seem collar wise with the alph collar.

Just my limited experience with one dog and the Pro-100 vs Alpha.

[slayerrd]

I keep reading about people saying the alpha needs to be recalculated often. Some say it turns off by itself and others say it loses connection with satellites often. Can anyone give me any insight on this? Also does the remote vibrate when a dog goes on point? I thought I read that somewhere but can't find it now. Thanks

[NEhomer]

Mine has suffered no such issues.

...and yes, you can have a vibration alert.

[Marsh2]

I have the Alpha and have two collars. Pretty awesome tool for pointing dogs. One of my collars lost communication with the handheld last hunt. Had to add it again to dog list... Seemed fine afterward though.