GARMIN ASTRO NO PANACEA…UPDATE
Update: To clarify my position on Garmin and battery life, you should understand that I think the technology is awesome!
However, if you hunt for days on end and plenty of hours on your Garmin, you better keep it charged and be worried about when your rechargeable Garmin battery will fail.
The BIGGEST point I’m making is that KNOWING where your dog is and GETTING to where your dog is can be quite difficult! If your dog gets on to property you don’t have permission to travel on, and/or there are locked gates, and/or there are streams – obtacles to get to your dog, YOU HAD BETTER BREAK THE TRESPASS LAW before your batteries go dead. Do so at your own risk but if I had an expensive dog and a collar that had been on all day before my dog was lost, I WOULD ALMOST PANIC!!!!!
You had better get to the dog, even after dark, because the batteries AT BEST only last 36 hours IF fully charged and that is IF they were ‘just charged’.
I think the 3rd generation collars will address this. The other thing is this, if you train a lot or use these things alot, you know as well as I know that at some point rechargeable batteries will lose ‘life’. So the ‘36′ hour rule that Garmin puts out to the public (30 sec. sampling on full charge) is definitely a soft rule that will, in my humble opinion, eventually bite your butt.
It’ll take a while for those stories to come out…but leave it to a pro to field test stuff and tell you what really can go wrong…I’m one of ‘em!
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Well folks, I lost 2 dogs 2 days ago wearing fully charged Astro’s.
I lost them on FLAT prairie.
The bottom line, Battery life. I’ll say no more.
Battery life is the key in finding lost dogs. Battery life on the Garmin lost
my dogs.
Yesterday I “lost” a dog and my old faithful tracker which bounced signals and
made me zigzag over coulees and prarie brought me to my dog. Overnight? Signal
strong. Signal reliable.
RETHINK your needs. All-age? (big running dog) Tracker. Period. Don’t risk it. I’m still
missing one dog.
Gun dog? ok.
8 comments
Ohhh no I sure hope you find the dog Dave I have a Garmin and this never happen to me so far? How long berfore the batteries died do you think ?
It varies as to how often you have the collar transmit its position.
Basically you have to keep the thing on a charger all the time and over the lunch hour when not in use.
This is not good. What concerns me more is the recharging of batteries all the time will result in failure. So you have to hope when the batteries do fail, they don’t do it on your best dog.
forgot to mention we now have the lost dog.
I’m glad you found him, Dave. I’ve spent many days in the same boat- once for 5 days in NM. On my way home, driving through TX, my wife called and a hunter found him 21 miles away from where I last saw him and on point! Still alive was the amazing thing. It’s a sick feeling, but a real sweet one when you finally see the crazy mutt again. I’m glad for you.
I have a garmin with 2 collars. I am hopeful with my gun dogs that this will be OK.
Yea I have noticed the same think about keeping it charged but so far I have not had it go dead on me except in EXTREAME COLD
SOOO glad to hear the dog is back
Does gundog or any of the other supply houses carry fresh rechargeable batterys that you can install yourself ? My unit is 2 years old and is probably ready for a new one ……….
I hadn’t heard that one PSU re: extreme cold but makes perfect sense.
Rusty, don’t know about replacement batteries but I would be concerned.
WELL, since my admonition about the Garmin, I have gotten feedback from two different field trialers with big running dogs. They both have lost their dogs with fully charged Garmins. It seems that big running dogs DO outrun the coverage and that it IS possible to go the place of last signal and NOT find another signal. I hate to say I told you so. I am successfully continually to use my tracker striker collars which have a long tracking range.
Note about ‘big run’. That could happen to dogs who chase deer or any other animal that would run out of the country.
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