BigGameHoundsmen.com

The alpha has been out for awhile now, I would like to hear everyone's opinions on them. What are some of your biggest complaint's?.

I've had mine for a couple weeks now no real complaints yet. It does sometimes stay on when I shut the truck off... noticed this the other day. I was eating lunch and it was on. Taking some adjustments for what level to use on the shock collar. I haven't tested the shock collar part to much but one concern I have is when you put it on a dog in the box but you aren't able to track the collar if it'll still work... I haven't tested the range yet either.

Thomas, Not sure but you might have a setting that will turn it off when it loses external power.. I don't have one handy but it seams like I have seen that setting somewhere?? Maybe not..

buddyw I don't know anything about them , not trying to steal your post but what do you prefer buddyw alpha or astro ? im think about selling my astro

I used the Alpha all last season for cats. This summer for coons and just exercising the mutts......Here is my opinion of the Alpha so far.....

1). It is a lot of stuff crammed into a little container. It will do all the stuff that several handhelds and multiple collars used to do. Therefore it's much nicer to just keep track of one handheld and one collar. Downside to that is the controls are not always the easiest to use, especially with gloves on. Most of the time I just take my gloves off before I even take it out of my pocket. The training controls are easy to run with gloves on, but the screen, not so much.

2). The range of tracking is much the same as the Astro system. Some days better, some days its just the same, but never has it been worse.

3). The ability to track other handhelds would me great if my hunting partners had the Alpha system. In reality, me and the guys that I hunt with are seldom far apart and hopefully we all end up at the same place(looking up!).

4) The range of the training system is far superior to that of any tri-tronics I have ever been around. period.

5) My single favorite thing about it is the rechargeable handheld battery. I would venture to bet that I saved enough in battery purchases to make up the difference in price. If I haven't yet, I will soon.

6) The ability to control the collar and all it's settings from a distance has been really nice. Obviously not a necessity, but really nice.

7) I had a hound that would leave the tree for a little while if another dog even looked at him wrong. I would set up a geofence around the tree area after they treed. That way while hiking in to the tree, if the dog left the vicinity of the tree, I would get a warning and could correct him. Turned out really nice and ended up solving the issue with the dog.

The collar lights are really kind of nice while hunting in the dark. If you are wanting to know which dog is over there or where exactly ol' Blue is, just turn on his light and there you have it.

9) There are a ton of personalized settings. It takes a while to get it all set up just how you like it. That is a double edged sword, so to speak.

That's the basics of what I think about the Alpha.

Scott

Buddy.

Usually the system has a automatic count down to shut it off. I may of hit a side button that keeps it going ? I'm not sure I just haven't messed with it much. I just fiddle with it while at lunch at work. Anyone wanna post a walk thru for tracking other alpha units and setting up a geo fence ?

I don't have the exact steps but for the Tracking another handheld you need to go into the contacts,

Then on one unit you will Add, on the other unit you will click Pair. this will put the handheld on the unit you placed "add"

to add the unit on the other handheld do the same thing but select Add and Pair on the opposite units.

I would probably set the update rate to 30 seconds or 2 minutes since you don't normally need to track them as often as the dog and it will use more battery life in your handheld.

I will try and post some how to's on the alpha screen for the geo fence.

We are working on making a better help section for them Might be good to check and read some of the topics.

http://www.dusupply.com/info

Bad.
The tree symbol does not work at all. Not a real big deal just takes a guy a few minutes to tune into the fact each time you are treed.

The rechargeable battery saves you money on replacement batteries but......the rechargeable only lasts 5-6 hours which can and has left me without the unit cause the battery went dead. As we all know technology is great when it works but it's hell when it doesn't. As spare rechargeable is in my future.

The training function is much more versatile and reaches out there but is no where near as quick to use as the old Tri-Tronics and I can see mistakes are bound to happen.

Good.
The unit uploads a lot faster than the Astro and makes contact with the dog collar much faster too which is great when starting a new hunt or dumping fresh dogs.

Tracking your companions is absolutely great, it adds a whole new dimension to your bag of tricks.

Birds Eye..........what a great thing.

To this point at least the units do not appear to be at risk of radio frequency burn out.

Love the new whip antenna.

Also agree with the previous posts above.
Overall the Alpha is without a doubt a better system just takes some getting used to.



Eric

So, will the unit provide stimulation in the train mode as far out as it has a signal? Just curious, I have an Astro and Tri Tronics 4 dog trashbreaker unit not planning on replacing until I have to.

Jimmy,

To answer you question, Yes if you can track the collar you can stimulate the collar.

Buddy

Had to send my alpha In . Wouldn't turn back on wouldn't charge and they sent a batterie still wouldn't work.tried plugging it into the computer and it wouldn't recognize it . I called ad sent it in got a new one and never had a problem with it.

Ive got the alpha and four collars. The collar that came with the unit doesnt get half the range of any of the other collars. Any of you had this problem. How do I fix it?

RugerHound wrote:Had to send my alpha In . Wouldn't turn back on wouldn't charge and they sent a batterie still wouldn't work.tried plugging it into the computer and it wouldn't recognize it . I called ad sent it in got a new one and never had a problem with it.

Sorry I just noticed this post. Did you try this below sounds like it was completely dead and there was an issue with some of the old software that. I'm surprised that the Garmin techs didn't tell you this info.

http://www.dusupply.com/info/garmin-alpha-wont-turn-on/


Rez dog, I would check the antenna connections, what your describing is Definitely not normal.

Had another issue today. Had dogs out on cat about 800yds out and was caught in a rock pile. Left the cat and got all dogs, but one back to the truck. She was caught up on the ledge above the cat. I tried to tone her out etc. Gave her a minute to work her way around the cliff. While sitting there my alpha shut its self off. So i turned it back on and I had no dog tracks or a single dogs info anymore. It was zoomed out far enough to see the moon and just added salt to the wound at the moment. Strange and super inconvenient! I was lucky they werent in bad country or on a cold track! Buddy can u come hunt with me and teach me how to fix my problems!? Ha.