BigGameHoundsmen.com

Has anyone tried the Garmin GPS tracker yet?

My hunting buddy bought one and he loves it. The two biggest problems of the system that I can see are the antenna is hooked to a harness. Velcro is what holds it on and it can come of easy if you dont use other things to help hold it on. The other thing is that the collar battery only lasts about 17 hrs. If you have good road systems where you hunt and you can get to your dogs fairly easy, I would use it. If not just keep your old telemetry system as a back up and strap a collar on them for back up. They have a new weight that fits on a collar with the antenna and it is supposed to be better than the harness but my buddy doesnt have one yet. We went bear hunting and chased a bear for a good while on the boulders we know exactly where his dogs were at all times and we could see the trail the dogs followed chasing the bear. We had his dogs gathered up and in the box hours before we got everybody elses found. I think he said that after about 2 to 3 miles you lose a good signal but I am not sure on that one.
Reagan Myers

The biggest drawbacks to the system are the antenna mount, short battery life, and limited range. I dunno, but like was mentioned, you still about have to a regular telemetry system to back them up. I wouldn't want to rely totally on the garmin system for big game hound hunting.

I have been using one, and it worked GREAT in West Virgina. I hunted the whole week there, and I think I used the regular tracking collar maybe a dozen times, and most of that was to compare where my buddies dogs were in relation to mine. I use an external antenna in the truck. It give a little more range. I do not worry about the harness, and I just fasten the garmin tracker to an extra collar. It hangs down on the dog. I only have lost 1 antenna this way. I am going to try the stubby antennas at the beginning of December. I hope they have the same range.

theres a couple good threads on this at the coondawgs site, and there is another good one here in the equipment forum.
Josh

Why would someone who is selling all their dogs because they're "in a bad spot" need a gps tracking system?

[quote]Has anyone tried the Garmin GPS tracker yet?

I cant see where he asking to buy one. He is asking how they work maybe he is curious.


Like my momma always says if ya don"t have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all

Thanks for all the great info seems like it has room to improve.

PS bearkiller mind your own buisness please.

A friend has a Garmin and likes it a lot......

Working in the technology industry, I can tell you that it is never a good idea to buy the first release of a product...a first-gen product it is always more expensive, offers fewer features and has more issues.

Companies use the trials and tribulations of those who buy the first generation of a product to improve the product and take it beyond the "proof of concept" stage of the product lifecycle...why put yourself through that.

If you can bear to wait, you will be able to buy a system for your dogs that provides the unlimited range of true GPS (the current model is not), more features, and fewer problems at much less cost.