Garmin Astro Review

[broncobilly]

I love my gps system, and at least once it has allowed me to save a dog that otherwise would have died before I found it. However, recently I have been having problems with the dc 30's loosing satalite signal, they would work fine for several hours, then all of a sudden they would say: "BB has lost satalite signal". Also, today, when I took the collars off the dogs, one of the dc 30's will not turn off. I haven't had a chance to talk to garmin about it yet to see what they say. Has anyone else had either of these problems.

Bill A. Brockman

[FullCryHounds]

Bill, the units seem to loose signals frequently when you're a long ways off or in steep rugged terrain. Simply hit the "ent" button and the signal comes right back almost instantly. If you don't have the long range antenna, I highly recommend it. It doubles the range or more. I only use mine when in the truck going to where I'll head out on foot. Once I'm on foot and closer to the dogs, I just use the stock antenna. Haven't had any issues with any collars not turning off. Let us know the outcome.

[broncobilly]

Dean,

I'm not talking about loosing communication between the astro and the dc30, like you said, when that happens you generally get it back fairly soon. I'm talking about the dc30 loosing the satalite signal and not knowing where it is. I have had this happen both when the dog is right there 10 yards away and when he is over yonder a couple of miles. My experience has been that when that happens you don't get it back untill you turn the unit off and then back on. I had the same problem with the dc20s when I first got them. With the dc20s, I ended up having to keep returning them on the warrantee and getting new ones until I got two that worked. Both of my dc30's do it some, but one is much worse than the other.

Bill

[FullCryHounds]

Wow, that's not good. I did have my 20 stop one time on me, maybe that is what it was. I'm still running my old tracking collars also, I think I'll continue doing that for a while!! Thanks for the heads up.

[DerekE]

Used mine for the first time last night. The furthest I still had signal was 1.8 miles on flat ground with little brush. When the dogs got in a small canyon I lost them at times when they were only 450 yards away. I could still hear them. The Garmin is a very cool tool to compliment the tracking collars but in no way replaces them. If they were smart they would incorporate the two into one collar.
Derek

[broncobilly]

If they were smart they would incorporate the two into one collar.
Derek

I have heard that garmin is working with wildlife materials to do just that. Don't know if it is fact or rumor.

Bill

[mnb&t]

I love my gps system, and at least once it has allowed me to save a dog that otherwise would have died before I found it. However, recently I have been having problems with the dc 30's loosing satalite signal, they would work fine for several hours, then all of a sudden they would say: "BB has lost satalite signal". Also, today, when I took the collars off the dogs, one of the dc 30's will not turn off. I haven't had a chance to talk to garmin about it yet to see what they say. Has anyone else had either of these problems.

Bill A. Brockman

yep, my first collar puked out on sunday. it was real cold and it would not turn on when i was ready to drop out. i pushed real hard and broke the switch inside. it was probably my fault but this one never did work right, had the same problem not swithing on off even when warm. my second collar works flawlessly and gets better range then the first.

where did you hear they might combine the garmin with a radio tracker built in??? that would be perfect. i still run intello collars even with the dc 30.

thanks, matt.

[broncobilly]

Thats what happened to my dc30 that wouldn't turn off, the switch inside broke off, garmin said they would fix it, we'll see what happens.

A software update from version 2.3 to 2.6 seems to have fixed the problem of loosing the satalite signal, at least in an 8 hr test here in the yard, will know more when I take it hunting.

Bill

[az_gogetem]

Bill I left mine outside one night when it got down to about 10 degrees and it wouldn't turn on the next morning, so i tried to put it on the charger and it wouldn't charge. I threw it on the dash with the heater on and in an hour or so it would turn on but wouldn't charge. Thats the only problem I've had with the dc30. Tman I would like the info on that antenna when you find it.

[broncobilly]

az_gogetem,

No amount of warming up was going to fix mine. I took it apart and the on/off switch had come completely off. Thought about trying to fix it myself, but my soldering equipment is not really designed to work on wires that fine, and it was still under warrantee, so I just sent it in.

Bill

[FullCryHounds]

Looks like one issue with these units is the temperature when it gets down below zero. I keep my collars and gps inside the house instead of leaving it in the truck. I had no problems a few weeks ago when the temp was ten below. I also keep the collars in the truck until I'm turning out the dogs so they stay warm. Not a big deal at all but something others need to know before they have the same problems. Keep the info coming everyone. This is good info for everyone.

[WyoRookie]

How do you change from the 5 second to 15 second to make your battery last longer?
thanks

[mutt_walker]

So for someone looking to invest in a tracking system would you go with the Astro dc-30 system? How about on a scale from 1-10? Will be hunting fairly open country with plenty of damn juniper and rim. I need to get something sooner than later. Just want it to be money directed in the right product. Thanks

[tman308]

Wyo Rookie,

You turn the Astro on and the collar once they have acquired each other go to the dog compass page, press enter, then press menu, then press change comm. settings, press enter to keep current identity, then press ok, then on the next screen scroll up to the 5 seconds and press enter. Now you can change to 5,10, or 30. I run mine at 10 and have never had a problem with battery life last over 24hr.

Hope that helped

[catdogs]

After using this system for an entire week, my conclusions so far are still - the range sucks! The farthest I have communicated with the collar is 1.4 miles in what I would consider average hunting terrain and that is with the long range antenna. However, other than that the system is AWESOME.

Couple more things to check. Make sure you have the most current software version for your Astro, mine was a 2.3 version and I have since updated it through the Garmin website to the latest version which is 2.6.

Something else I have learned. Changing the frequencies of the collars may help gain range and also decrease battery power consumption. The rule of thumb is to use the lowest frequency range possible for transmission in rough terrain. The higher frequencies also require a higher output level to deliver the signal (more battery power). The Astro runs on the following 5 frequencies:

151,82Mhz (ID code: 0-9)
151,88Mhz (ID code: 10-19)
151,94Mhz (ID code: 20-29)
154,57Mhz (ID code: 30-39)
154,60Mhz (ID code: 40-49)

These are assigned via the dog collar ID number. So by simply changing the ID from say 47 (154,60mhz) to 8 (151,82mhz) may help in both range and increased battery longevity.

I am not this smart, just have done some research on the internet.