Garmin Alpha Tri Tronics Tracking and Training System

bigtrucker

bigtrucker

New member
Ive been looking at the Garmin Alpha Tri Tronics Tracking and Training Collars. I was wondering if anyone on here has had any first hand experience with them. I am seriously thinking about buying this but before I buy I would like to do a bit of research.
 
None in the feild yet that I know of.I also would like to hear some good about them before spending 800$ for a "control/receiver", and 300$ per collar.But it will control 20 dogs.
 
IF the technology proves to be reliable, then that unit looks like it'd be a homerun for someone runnin' a pack!

Looks to be even more 'user friendly' than the 320 on the human end with the 100k topo maps built in, text capability, 3way compass and built in e-collar capability. Plus, only one collar to run on each dog! I just wonder what the battery life would be on both the collars and the unit itself with all those functions needing juice to run???

Just got a new Garmin GPS for personal use and the new technology is simply amazing! Glad to see those improvements being incorportated into gear for houndsmen, so long as the units prove to be as durable as is claimed...
 
I know I won't be running out and buying one for a few reasons. I dont like the first runs of new technology. They will have problems and the second and third generations will be far better. Second, I don't like that you have to click through 2 screens to shock a dog. Thirdly, I don't think the touch screen will be very reactive in cold weather or with gloves on. I will stick to my turn dial and push button shock and gps systems I currently own. Sometimes simpler is better. I do like the dual purpose collars and handheld but I can live without some of the other bells and whistles. Who knows on these collars, I may be totally wrong and they may change the game, only time will tell.
 
I have been testing the Garmin TriTronics Alpha since late spring and it beats my old Garmin Astro by a country mile in accuracy,speed & function ability. The Tone button and the two button that operates the electrical shock can be delivered without any page change. The tone is loud and sharp and much better than my stand alone TriTronic system. The Alpha has a lot of functions that I think will work great in training and running a lot of different breeds of dogs and different type of hunting venues. I am really like the fact that I can set up boundaries on a particular dog and it will let me know when the dog has breached my boundaries that I have preset so I can bring the dog back to within whatever distance that I want and do it with electrical or tone. I think it will be a very popular tool in all kinds of dogs & traing situations.
 
Thanks for the input, Roger!
Would you mind getting your brain picked some?
Would love to hear some 1st hand user knowledge and I respect your opinion!

How many dogs are you running?
Is the 'refresh rate' any faster than 5 sec.? I know a fast dog can be ~50yds away from the last marked position with the old Astro 220 due to the lag in the refresh rate.

And you can actually set a predetermined distance on the unit to issue a 'tone' or 'nick' if the dog goes beyond that?
Can you set that for each individual dog, or is that a blanket boundary set for all collars in the system?
Can you set one collar to 'nick' on level 2 and the other to 'nick' with more/less juice?
That would be a nifty feature for keeping a wide ranging dog in check and for running a hard headed dog with a soft one. They don't all need the same level of correction, so that feature would be excellent!

Jesse, that's too bad about the new units not being compatable with the old, but that's just smart business practice on the part of Garmin. Make your own technology obsolete with new innovation!
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Thanks for your time, Roger!

 
Originally Posted By: knockemdownThanks for the input, Roger!
Would you mind getting your brain picked some?
Would love to hear some 1st hand user knowledge and I respect your opinion!

How many dogs are you running?
Is the 'refresh rate' any faster than 5 sec.? I know a fast dog can be ~50yds away from the last marked position with the old Astro 220 due to the lag in the refresh rate.

And you can actually set a predetermined distance on the unit to issue a 'tone' or 'nick' if the dog goes beyond that?
Can you set that for each individual dog, or is that a blanket boundary set for all collars in the system?
Can you set one collar to 'nick' on level 2 and the other to 'nick' with more/less juice?
That would be a nifty feature for keeping a wide ranging dog in check and for running a hard headed dog with a soft one. They don't all need the same level of correction, so that feature would be excellent!

Jesse, that's too bad about the new units not being compatable with the old, but that's just smart business practice on the part of Garmin. Make your own technology obsolete with new innovation!
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Thanks for your time, Roger!


Hi Fred,
I am an upland hunter and predator hunter and so all my work with the Alpha has been one dog at a time so my on hands experience is limited to that.
The refresh rate is adjustable by the end user so he can extend battery life if he so chooses but the default is 2 1/2 seconds. Which for my purposes is faster than the old 5 second on my old Astro.
The blanket boundary is just that. It will let you know when a dog leaves that circle boundary & that is for any dogs that have collars on. You then have to make the correction that you desire on that dog it doesn't do that automatically. You have three buttons at the top of the unit that you can change to three different dogs or leave it as it is and you have one button for a nick. A second button for continuous and the third for tone. Or you could have all three tone, or nick or continuous shock. You just have to decide what you want to use on the dog you assign to that button. You can have more dogs than that but than you will have to go to a drop down menu to handle the other dogs out to 20 dogs. But that is way out of my expertise for sure. Lol!
 
Thanks Roger! I was wondering the same thing about setting up a boundary. It would be nice to have it progresssively buzz them as they left the predefined boundary areas. That would make camp and exercising the dogs much easier!
 
Originally Posted By: yfzduner450Second, I don't like that you have to click through 2 screens to shock a dog. Thirdly, I don't think the touch screen will be very reactive in cold weather or with gloves on.

Agree 100%...I'm sure those who get these will love them...but I think I prefer my trashbreaker seperate & mounted on my vest for instant access even with heavy gloves on.
 
Originally Posted By: yfzduner450I know I won't be running out and buying one for a few reasons. I dont like the first runs of new technology. They will have problems and the second and third generations will be far better. Second, I don't like that you have to click through 2 screens to shock a dog. Thirdly, I don't think the touch screen will be very reactive in cold weather or with gloves on. I will stick to my turn dial and push button shock and gps systems I currently own. Sometimes simpler is better. I do like the dual purpose collars and handheld but I can live without some of the other bells and whistles. Who knows on these collars, I may be totally wrong and they may change the game, only time will tell.

No need to scroll through screens to shock a dog.....press any of the 3 buttons on top and they get instant correctoin just like the dial and push button unit. I've been using the Alpha a lot since September when I bought one and so far it's been great. I like it a lot better than my previous Astro 220 and Trashbreaker setups, one collar, one unit/transmitter. The touch screen is very quick and easy to use and the Alpha has quite a bit more capability. My favorite two new features for the Alpha are the "geofence" perimeter alarm where you can place a fence around any area on your map and if a dog crosses the line an alarm goes off on your handheld or even easier is to set the radius perimeter....if you don't want your dog to be over 500 yds away then set it up to go off at 500 yds and you'll get a tone/vibrate to warn you. The other feature I like is the rescue mode for if the battery gets low, the unit will reset the updates to allow for maximum battery life.

Not sure how reactive the screen will be in cold weather since I've only been able to use it down to 30 degrees but at those temps it works great....the touch screen works well with gloves too.



Time will tell if they are worth the expense or not but so far I think mine was a good purchase. I'm still not confident enough that it's going to work in below zero temps to sell all my old gear yet though.
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The Alphas have a slightly better battery life then the Astro but it is still only two days at best. So for me, I'm still running my old Telemetry collars along side my GPS. Last year one of the houndsman I run with had three dogs out for a week. He only had a GPS system so he lost contact by the next morning. If he would have had an old Telemetry system, we would have found his dogs the next day. The new GPS systems are outstanding in many ways but they need to get that battery life issue fixed before you can rely on them as a stand alone system.
 
A guy I hunt with bought one and said he doesn't think the collars send as strong of a signal out in timber and heavy brush. This is definitely not a fact, more of an observation by one user.
 
FullCry - I asked over on Big Game Houndsmen, but have you (or anyone else here) seen or heard any new rumors on the Marshall systems? I would assume they have packed gps and telemetry into one collar, but would like to here what anyone else has heard!
 
This is off the Marshall website and pretty much what thye said when I talked to them.


Marshall GPS Tracking System Update






"Is Marshall Radio coming out with a GPS Combo Tracking System? If so, when?"


Here's an interim update from Dave Marshall:

"To answer the numerous inquiries coming in daily from our anxious customers, I can only confirm we are still working on the combination GPS/Telemetry tracking system, have worked through several functional versions over the last year, and fully intend to see it through to production. We can also say that the testing over the last few months have proven the breakthrough technology for greatly increased distance that we developed specifically for this product is working incredibly well. The final design will carry the descriptive name "The LongRanger".

Though no official date has been set for production, it'll be unlike anything currently out there in surpising ways."

- David L. Marshall
 


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