Garmin Astro - 2nd thoughts

[Neil Mace]

Like most relationships ours has not been without some problems,
seems I pushed some wrong buttons and she wouldn't respond, but
thanks to some counselling from Dr. Thomas Morgan we quickly
reconciled. Thomas said we should not assign blame in these things
if we hope to grow, but I still think she was too sensitive to my
touch and should have known what I was thinking, not what I did.

Some random observations:

1. This thing is too kool for words.

2. The new DC 30 collar is light enough and seems durable, it is
contured to the neck.

3. The little message that comes up saying "Hold Level" is not a
suggestion.

4. I knew I was not a good judge of distance, having claimed 1 mile
casts from my dogs, but the truth was sobering. Even though I was
walking in heavy cover, he rarely was more than a 1/4 of mile from me.

5. When out of sight he was a lot of places I didn't suspect and
didn't like; such as behind twice (even though he showed to the
front), way too close to the road, and piddling, etc.

6. I knew we were both old, fat, and slow, but had thought I would
average better than 2 mph and he better than 6 mph.

7. With just over an hour on the ground, he hit a max of 20 mph and
covered 6.2 miles on 200 acres. Since it was hot, I watered him 3
times (the track shows we were at .02 mph for several minutes), so
maybe 6 mph is not all that bad. I just thought he was faster and
covered more area. He missed a lot of birdy spots I thought he had
hunted until I down loaded his track.

8. Other than the one glitch, I have been able to operate the unit,
including downloading the tracks and maps to my computer, with little
problem. It worked right out of the box.

Neil

[wems2371]

Awesome review.... Denise

[mtlee]

Can't wait to get mine!

[BrettBryan]

Neil, is the new DC 90 Garmin legal for field trials?

[phermes1]

Neil, is the new DC 90 Garmin legal for field trials?

Not for AKC trials. The AKC is looking into it now, but I would not expect it to be approved anytime soon.

[gar-dog]

Uh oh. What is the DC 90? Is that a typo or have they already made the DC 30 obsolete?

[Greg Jennings]

The DC-30 is the new, much smaller collar unit. The DC-20 is the old one.

Greg J.

[Neil Mace]

At this time it is not approved for either AKC or FDSB/AFTCA (American Field), and I doubt it will be, it is still a bit heavier than any of tracker collars already approved.

But for hunters or as a training tool, it is the ticket, even if trialers will have to use their trackers for now when in competition. It does so much more than just tell you how to locate your dog.

Neil

[BrettBryan]

Thanks. I had thought about buying a tracking unit. I was kind of hoping the new Garmin DC 30 would be approved for field trials. That way, I could buy one unit for both hunting and I could use it if I decided to run a dog in a trial too. It sounds like a really neat product.

[phermes1]

Garmin's website specifies a weight that is within AKC requirements. I'm not sure how that is as it definitely looks a good bit bigger than the approved trackers out there.
Regardless of the collar's size, I don't expect it to get approved anytime soon mainly because it's a new technology, (at least in terms of tracking dogs), that the AKC hasn't looked at yet and is probably very leery of.

[Neil Mace]

According to my local postal worker the DC 30 with the heavier collar weighs 9.3 ounces as compared to the approved for field trials Tracker Strike at 7.4.

Now American Field/AFTCA says. "The transmitter, battery and antenna shall weigh no more than 5 ounces", AKC approves collars by name.

I don't know if telemetry tracking = GPS tracking or what the Astro transmitter, battery and antenna weighs.

I believe if AFTCA agrees to its use, AKC will follow, at least they did with the Tracker Strike, which was not allowed at first.

Neil

[phermes1]

According to my local postal worker the DC 30 with the heavier collar weighs 9.3 ounces as compared to the approved for field trials Tracker Strike at 7.4.

Now American Field/AFTCA says. "The transmitter, battery and antenna shall weigh no more than 5 ounces", AKC approves collars by name.

I don't know if telemetry tracking = GPS tracking or what the Astro transmitter, battery and antenna weighs.

I believe if AFTCA agrees to its use, AKC will follow, at least they did with the Tracker Strike, which was not allowed at first.

Neil

The Garmin site says that the antenna and transmitter alone weigh about 4.1 ozs. That # seems awfully low based solely on how much hardware appears to be attached to the DC30 collar.
AKC does specify a weight requirement of less than 5 ozs, but like you said, they also approve collars on a case by case basis.

[Neil Mace]

Garmin confirms that the transmitter weighs 4.1 ounces, so we only need clarification that the new technology is acceptable.

Neil

[Neil Mace]

From the AKC web site, note the last sentence:

The transmitter, battery, antenna and screws placed on the dog shall weigh no more than five (5) ounces. The transmitter shall be mounted on a one-inch (or less ) wide collar. A regular ID plate may be affixed to the collar. The collar surface adjacent to the dog shall have no protrusions.

Regulations on the Use of Tracking Collars

A dog while under judgment may wear no more than two collars. This may be any combination of one tracking collar, an ID collar or a flash collar. All collars must be worn on the dog's neck. The tracking collar shall remain on the dog during the entire brace. If a handler elects to remove the tracking collar, the dog shall be considered out of judgment.
The handheld receiver shall be kept in the possession of the Judges or the Marshall.
The handheld receiver can only be used after the dog is determined to be out of judgment.
The use of a tracking collar is an elective and the running of the stake shall not be held up due to lack of available equipment.
Tracking collars are not allowed in a callback for a retrieve or honor.
Any person using a receiver to locate a dog currently under judgment and prior to official authorization of its use by one of the Judges shall disqualify the dog in that stake and the offender shall be disqualified from that field trial.

Note — GPS units and electronic flashing collars are not allowed in AKC Pointing Breed field events.

[Vonrommel]

I know for sure that 2 AKC reps are currently reviewing the DC30 and will give their input to the AKC after a thourough evaluation. The word is that Garmin has never contacted the AKC to get it approved so the AKC reps contacted Garmin after recieving a ton of request by people to approve it for field trial use. Garmin did let them have a unit to review after the reps contacted them. The rep I spoke to said they would give the garmin a fair evaluation and give their input to the board for review. At least they are reviewing the product to evaluate the possibility of allowing it, so there's hope.

[Neil Mace]

I undertand that AKC expects to make a determination by the end of the year.

Neil

[phermes1]

I undertand that AKC expects to make a determination by the end of the year.

Neil

That would be cool. A LOT quicker than I would have expected, too! If they get approved, I know what I want for Christmas!

[jsd245]

My astro came in yesterday. This thing is pretty cool. One thing I would warn people about, the literature states it will fit a dog with a 12" neck, my GSP is small, only about 45 pounds and I measure her neck at 16". I've got to have the collar tightened down to two or three holes from th GPS transmitter, and I don't think you could use the last hole so I don't know how it could fit a dog much smaller than mine. I've also got several inches of extra collar sticking out which I have not quite figured out what to do with. The way the collar is built it ends up hanging down. The radio transmitter tends to slip slip to the side slightly and want to rest there rather than at the bottom of the neck (her E-collar does the same thing_) but that does not seem to affect the function.

In my brief period of time using it it seems to work really really well. I'll got trips planned to upsate New York and Maine this year to hunt Grouse and I'm going to feel alot better running her with this. I also like the way it notifies me of a point rather that having to listen to a beeper.

[Neil Mace]

Even though I think AKC will approve it, you want one anyway, for training and hunting. It does so much more than just locate the dog.

I have had mine on a 35 pound Britt, I take the end of the collar strap and feed it back through the buckle, other wise she might step on it. Unlike an e-collar you do not have to worry about it coming off and getting lost, you can always find it, so it can be a bit looser.

Everyone needs a good GPS, they cost about 4 or 5 hundred. The Astro will stand alone and fully function as the top of line ones, so for about 200 bucks you have a dog tracking system, and the other applications are free.

Folks this will change how we trian and hunt dogs.

Neil

[Greg Jennings]

This is going to end up costing me a chunk of change....

Greg J.

[jsd245]

I emailed gun dog supply and they suggested I do the same thing, they also confirmed I could cut it which is what I probably will do. I just wasn't sure if there were any wires in between the layers of nylon that far down.

My rationale for buying it is that I needed a good handheld GPS, so why not spend the extra money and get the peace of mind the tracking collar brings. You can load it with all the same maps you can put on a regular garmin.