Astro battery life

[Scott Linden]

Garmin just sent me an Astro and it sure seems like the hand-held unit eats up batteries. Anyone else feel that way?

[Ruffshooter]

No, but I just saw that Sportdog came out with their tracker and training collar for $669 and they claim it will hold a charge for 20 hours.

[MTR]

I get multiple days on the handheld DC220, but don't make the mistake of thinking that the collar(dc30) has enough for "just a short hunt" the next day. It is not a good feeling to loose signal due to battery loss in the grouse woods. I also always carry an extra set of batteries in my vest, just in case I forgot to charge the handheld unit the previous night. I have tried to make it ritual to charge e-collar,e-collar transmitter, DC220 and the DC30 each night while hunting.

[Mountaineer]

No, not at all.

[Pineywoods]

Garmin just sent me an Astro and it sure seems like the hand-held unit eats up batteries. Anyone else feel that way?

Battery life and range are their big shortcoming.

[fishpond]

My Asto 220 handheld dosen't quite make through a 3 day wknd hunt. But its not a problem because I carrry

spare batteries.

Found the DC30 collars are good for just about 2 days. They die the AM of the 3rd day. That was a problem

because you can't get it recharged from the cigarrette lighter traveling between fields. So I too have learned

to recharge the collars every nite in the motel

Carl

[Mountaineer]

Battery life and range are their big shortcoming.

The Astro's range is a big shortcoming?

Glad I am not associated with Garmin's complaint department.

[chicken19590]

Astro real life range is 1mile to 1.25mile in most hunting or trialing areas. Not sure how garmin gets their range, must be over water like the fsr radios, they claim up to 35 miles but I have never had much more than 2 mile range and that was talking one mountain to the other mountain across the valley. Battery life on 220 has been 18-24 hours and about 18 hours on coller. You can not recharge the handheld astro so carry exter batteries.

[Scott Linden]

I'm seeing 4-5 hours before the hand-held unit starts telling me "low battery." Anyone else?

[BirdBuster]

Do you have the Astro 220 or the 320? I have the 220 and I can get several days on one set of batteries.

I'm seeing 4-5 hours before the hand-held unit starts telling me "low battery." Anyone else?

[Az Draht]

With alkaline batteries in the 320 the low battery warning goes off at about 40% battery life. Your on point alerts and backlight also shut off. I highly recommend you use rechargeable batteries

[Scott Linden]

With alkaline batteries in the 320 the low battery warning goes off at about 40% battery life. Your on point alerts and backlight also shut off. I highly recommend you use rechargeable batteries

I'll try it. Using Lithium batteries now and am very disappointed in them or the unit - jury is still out. Thanks.

[Willie Hunter]

Batteries are no doubt an issue with the Astro, you just have to come to grips with it and manage the problem. I know firsthand that changing batteries is much better than trying to locate big running setters in the rough country in Nevada. I bought mine after having Ringo missing in chukar country for 6 hours.

[timhambidge]

Scott, are you running the 320 with both the beep and vibrate alerts on? I'm no battery expert but i just changed mine to beep only figuring the vibrate has to decrease battery life. also there is a power saver mode on set up. have you got that enabled?

[Az Draht]

Scott, are you running the 320 with both the beep and vibrate alerts on? I'm no battery expert but i just changed mine to beep only figuring the vibrate has to decrease battery life. also there is a power saver mode on set up. have you got that enabled?

Actually, if you notice the tones on the 320 are quieter than the 220. The engineers said they were driving the 220 "too hard" with the tones and recommend the vibration. So for some reason that I don't understand the vibration is better for battery life.

Go to main menu - settings - display. Turn the battery saver mode to on. That will turn off the screen after some period of time. It will turn back on when you push any button

[nj gsp]

I've put off getting an Astro because I've been waiting for the new version (320). I don't like the idea of the batteries not lasting through a day of hunting. I have a Rino 530HCX that will still have a 60% charge after a full day of heavy use of both radio and GPS. Seems to me the Astro is based on essentially the same system so short battery life in the Astro would be very disappointing to me.

[Willie Hunter]

I've put off getting an Astro because I've been waiting for the new version (320). I don't like the idea of the batteries not lasting through a day of hunting. I have a Rino 530HCX that will still have a 60% charge after a full day of heavy use of both radio and GPS. Seems to me the Astro is based on essentially the same system so short battery life in the Astro would be very disappointing to me.

I can hunt for 2 full days with no problem with mine. I wouldn't think of putting my big running dogs on the ground without it.

[Scott Linden]

Thanks everyone. BTW, I have the new 320. I've now figured out - with your help - all the battery saving features. Fingers crossed. I can see some real value for this gizmo in Willie Hunter's country!

[nj gsp]

Does the Astro handheld accept an external power source? I have an eTrex in addition to the Rino and they both can operate on external power. I checked the manual for the 320 on the Garmin website and it did not say whether the USB cable can act as an external power source or not.

[Az Draht]

I use an old cell phone car charger. It works fine.

[Scott Linden]

I use an old cell phone car charger. It works fine.

How do you use it - really, really long cord? Will it re-charge the batteries (assuming they are rechargeable).

[nj gsp]

I use an old cell phone car charger. It works fine.

How do you use it - really, really long cord? Will it re-charge the batteries (assuming they are rechargeable).

I'm pretty sure he meant that he uses a mini-USB cell phone charger to supply external power for using the Astro in a vehicle so it doesn't burn up batteries.