Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

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Joe3232
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Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by Joe3232 » Tue Feb 04, 2020 7:03 am

Hello-

I have a pro 550 plus. I am still in the return window and considering returning for an alpha. I am having problems with the gps on the 550.

Basically the collar, lags the location of the dog. It usually can not find the dog when she is right in front of me. Like if we walk in my neighborhood with a leash on, the entire time it will day the dog is 70 yards away. One time it wouldn’t communicate with the collar for 10-15 minutes, one time it wouldn’t find gps for 10-15 minutes. Perhaps there is some gps difficultly in the area I live but we are in a suburb of a major city with flat ground so I doubt it.

I was told the pro 550 takes awhile to warm up and get location. I will say in practice that at times I see better performance when we go on a big walk , say 60 minutes but I have not had a ton of chances to test that.

All in all, do people experience better results with the gps on the alpha?

I am running one dog and like the simplicity of the 550 plus. Chance we could get a second dog in future but would be in many years when our current dog is hopefully fully trained. If the gps works on the 550 plus then it would be great for me.

birds
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by birds » Tue Feb 04, 2020 9:12 am

I have only been using my 550 plus for a few months, but I like it. Its simple. And I don't need to use a GPS to find the dog when he is on a leash or otherwise close by. It gives you a direction and a fairly accurate location at the distances that matter. It tells you when the dog is on point. I have never used the Alpha, but from what I have read the only advantage I can see is that it will help you find the truck and it will give you a lot of data if that's what you need. I have heard complaints about the touch screen and gloves, but again I have no personal experience. Others will disagree, so maybe the Alpha is for you too.

birds
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by birds » Tue Feb 04, 2020 9:17 am

I have only been using my 550 plus for a few months, but I like it. Its simple. And I don't need to use a GPS to find the dog when he is on a leash or otherwise close by. It gives you a direction and a fairly accurate distance at the distances that matter. It tells you when the dog is on point. I have never used the Alpha, but from what I have read the only advantage I can see is that it will help you find the truck and it will give you a lot of data if that's what you need. I hunt open country, but there are enough imposing landmarks on the horizon that I can find the truck and while it may be interesting to know how many miles my dog ran, its not that interesting. I already know he outpaced me by an enormous margin and that's enough to appreciate what he does. I have heard complaints about the touch screen and gloves, but again I have no personal experience. Others will disagree, so maybe the Alpha is for you too.

birds
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by birds » Tue Feb 04, 2020 9:19 am

My apologies for the double post! Now you see why a machine like the Alpha would be wasted on me :wink:

JONOV
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by JONOV » Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:00 pm

I have the Alpha and it's fine but wish I had the 550+. It does all sorts of things but mostly the screen is a pain in the butt. It's a little like having a wifi-enabled Refrigerator.

Sometimes it lags picking up location of the dog but that's rare, and more common if I turn them on and put them on in the house or in the car. Even if it doesn't tell me where the dog is the training portion is connected; I've tested this where it can't locate the collar and it will still beep if I hit the tone button.

Do you know what the refresh rate is, and if the refresh rate can be adjusted? My Alpha updates every 2.5 seconds but can be adjusted to update every 30...which I've done a few times if I've forgot to charge it and have lower batter life than I'd like.

I'll also say that when I hunt in thick woods I still use a bell with the GPS collar. The GPS first and foremost is insurance that I don't lose him. Secondly it's to give me an idea where he is when I can't see him, be it 50 yards or 350 yards. It isn't a remote leash I can follow step by step.

I am not an engineer or programmer, but I also think there's some triangulating that needs to be done to optimize locating the dog, meaning that the collar needs to be 100 yards and 10 yards away to properly calibrate. If you put it on the dog and put the dog on the leash that never happens.

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Coveyrise64
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by Coveyrise64 » Tue Feb 04, 2020 10:54 pm

JONOV wrote:
Tue Feb 04, 2020 1:00 pm
….I also think there's some triangulating that needs to be done to optimize locating the dog, meaning that the collar needs to be 100 yards and 10 yards away to properly calibrate. If you put it on the dog and put the dog on the leash that never happens.
On the Alpha about the only calibration that needs to be performed is the compass. That said, after I have the proper settings I normally don't calibrate the compass unless I move in a direction that is at least a couple hours drive from my last hunt. I typically use the compass screen and lock the screen.

Using the Alpha setup function (Setup>Heading>North Reference) there are three compass setting choices: Magnetic North_True North_User. If the accuracy of the compass appears to be off the amount of Magnetic Declination could be the problem.

Google True North vs Magnetic North. It will offer more insight about magnetic declination.

From Google.....
"On the west coast of the United States, the compass direction lies between 10 and 16 degrees east of true north. In locations on the east coast, the magnetic declination is about 10 degrees west (-10°). "

Using the link below one can determine the amount of declination for their region and using the User option on the Alpha can enter the amount magnetic declination to improve compass accuracy.

http://www.magnetic-declination.com/

cr

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Urban_Redneck
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by Urban_Redneck » Wed Feb 05, 2020 8:47 am

I've had an Alpha for a few years, two things I have learned that cleared the 99% of the glitches I experienced.

Update the software every couple of months.

Switch the collar OFF if you are driving more than a mile or so.

JONOV
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by JONOV » Wed Feb 05, 2020 12:45 pm

Urban_Redneck wrote:
Wed Feb 05, 2020 8:47 am
I've had an Alpha for a few years, two things I have learned that cleared the 99% of the glitches I experienced.

Update the software every couple of months.

Switch the collar OFF if you are driving more than a mile or so.
Ditto switching the collar off.

Playing around with mine last night I took the dog to a dog park. Put the collar on and turned it on in the car in the parking lot. It seemed to struggle more than it would than if we walked down a trail, since I mostly remained in a 30 yard radius and the dog remained in a 200x300 yard area.

averageguy
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by averageguy » Wed Feb 05, 2020 2:52 pm

I bought an Alpha and used it extensively for a couple of years. Hated the touchscreen, never used it for training because the buttons are far too limited and slow, and I already had a 550 which was/is a far better tool for training. I never used all the complicated Alpha features. The GPS worked well from Canada to Texas, Brush to Prairie is the one positive I experienced with my Alpha.

When the 550 Plus came out, I bought the transmitter and continued using my same collars. Life has been way better ever since.

My 550 + does not require recalibration and works equally well as the Alpha in terms of GPS. They use the same GPS locating technology and I do not find superior to the other for GPS.

Once the 550+ transmitter and collar have sync'd I have never had any problems. As others have noted if they are slow to sync I turn them off and on again. I turn the collar on first and then the transmitter to avoid having the transmitter searching for a collar which is not yet putting out a signal.

I have had no problems with the 550+ and like it. I have never used the Alpha since.

10-15 minutes to sync when you initially boot up the transmitter and collar is an indication of a problem and is way out of the norm for the 550+ or the Alpha in my experience.

Joe3232
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by Joe3232 » Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:01 pm

thank you all. i am keeping the 550 plus

Trailgunner
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by Trailgunner » Sat Feb 22, 2020 3:03 pm

I too have had location issues with my 550+ in comparison to the Astro 320. It will locate them and as soon as we go over a hill it will lose his location and start increasing distance to 290+ yards at times although he is 50 yds in front of me on whoa. I tried recalibrating with no success. I love the simplicity of the device.

Tenderfoot
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Re: Garmin Alpha vs 550 plus- GPS issues

Post by Tenderfoot » Sat Mar 14, 2020 8:31 am

I have the 550 plus and like it. I was having tracking issues as well, returned the device now it works great. One thing I've learned is to keep transmitter out so it maintains a signal. I was putting it in one of my ammo pouches and when I pulled it out to see where dog was it would take awhile to reconnect, so I started clipping it to the outside of my vest and haven't had an issue since.

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