BigGameHoundsmen.com

First, I want to talk about the 320 hand held and batteries. The Lithium batteries don't last any long than regular alkaline batteries for me and I've yet to find any rechargable batteries that last as long as either of those two. About 12 max on both the Lithium and Alkaline and less than 10 on the rechargable ones.

Now to the 50's. I ran 6 DC 50's, 3 DC 30's and 1 DC 40 and I can say that the 40 was a POS. It took FOREVER for it to catch a sat. and when it did finally catch I would loose coms on the dog when it was more than 500 yards away in the thick cover. The 30's and 50's ran pretty much side by side except when the dogs would get into a deep hollar straight away from us. They both would pretty much loose signal within a second or 2 of each other but, when they would start up the other side even at the bottom of the hollars the 50 would pick the dogs up where as the 30's wouldn't pick the dogs up until they were either half way up the ridge or topping out. The dogs got 3.7 miles away and I could pick up all the 50's and the 1 DC 30 with the long range antenna on it but, I had to put the long range antenna on the 320 to pick up the other 2 DC 30's.

When they finally treed they were well out of hearing distance but, the bark indicator popped up and told me which dogs were treeing and to my surprise a pup's bark indicator popped up before the older dogs did by a pretty good margin. Now this is a "gadget" on the collar I know but, I actually like it because years of driving a tractor and shooting guns has left me with hearing lose so bad that the military turned me down for enlistment when I was 18 and it's only gotten worse in the many years since. Even my friend who has good hearing couldn't hear the dogs barking on the track more than 500 yards away with wind blowing in the trees and all the other ambiant noise.

When we got back I turned all my collars off and knew they were off by the beep they sounded. My friend thought that he had turned all the 30's off but, sure enough 1 was still flashing when I went to put them on the charger. Speaking of charging..... I know that the 50's are pretty new but, they just clip right on with no trouble. I had to take a tooth pick and clean out the 30's charging port before they would charge.

So, if you expect a TON more range and a MUCH higher comms connection with the 50's over the 30's you will be disappointed. If you want "a little" more range and "a little" more comms connection and the bark indicator, rescue mode and the ease of charging, and changing out collars then I would get them. I'm not dissapointed in purchasing the DC 50's at all and would do it again in a heart beat.... however, if all I owned was DC 40's I would sell it on ebay this instant and get something.... anything else.

Hunter,

Here is what Mr. Rod Vinson had to say about all three Garmin Astro Collars. He Hunts a lot and mostly by himself with upwards of 20 Hounds in HEAVY Bad cover running Fox and Bobcat.....

"I also have been testing out the 50's over the 40's and 30's... I have hunted the last 6 out of 7 days.... I left the collars on the dogs after the 2nd trip all day and night and went to get them off the at lunch the next day to see about the battery life... I had battery life on the following.....50- 2bars (which is new, 3 40 collars had 1 bar and 2 30 collars had 1 bar the rest were dead as a hammer and had to recharge 2 30 collars twice... Now I was using 1 dc 50 and 10 dc 40 and 9 dc 30.... the 50 and 40 is set on 5 seconds... 2 30's are set on 5 seconds and 7 30's set on 10 seconds...

Range:: I have been running in beans, cotton, corn and cutovers... I have lost range on all collars in the beans and cotton as close as 500 yards (on occasions) and had distance as far as 1.2 miles on some of all models....just using the antennae from Buzzard Roost on the 320 and 220 and not a long range roof mount... today they left a bean field and went thru a corn field and was maybe .7 miles quickly and thru a cotton field and lost all collar signals and the first collar I picked back up was the 50 and it was .6 miles coming back thru the cotton a then a few 40's and 30's ...

My final thought... all could be better or they could sell them cheaper... I don't use any beep beeps with them... and can gather them all quickly.... the 50 is built better, but is bigger and a little bulky with a long antennae and after you loose signal they pick back up quickly... when the 40's work... I like em as long as you use the after market antennae from Buzzard Roost. The DC 30's are better than before.. I think... I use to have to hunt with a little screw driver in my pocket to reset the collar or have a beep beep collar in my pocket to replace the 30 that couldn't be reset.. Maybe one day they will get better and better.... I prolly put more hours on them in this country than anyone and maybe..... just maybe Garmin will listen to their real customers.... like me one day???? The Garmin's are like having an extra man or two hunting with you when you hunt by yourself.... which I do 88% of the time...they make you worry more about the car coming and the dog heading to the road but you also can tell which dog is in and which is out and how often it gets to the front or lags in the rear... A great hunting tool that ain't perfect but better than .....Beep Beep!!!! Good day!"

Thanks for the information, hope others respond. Al

t

Here's my 2 cents, I decided to bite the bullet and start upgrading my older stuff, I have a 220, 8-dc 30's, and I had 2- dc 40's, I never had good luck with the 40's, (sold them) primarily used them as back ups or if I was hunting someone's dog. I like my 30's, bought a new 320, and 2-dc 50's, first impression was I liked them, easy to change day-glo collars to match what dog I wanted it to go with, I did a test run at the house with few 30's, and the 50's for range got about mile from house lost my 30's, mile and half lost the 50's, (just with short antenna) and they picked back up a lot faster which was good. First trip to the woods, I couldn't get a 50 to pick up on the 320, I finally had to delete it from the dog list, re add it and it worked, other 50 (that day) no issues, dogs got way up a canyon, had the 50 most of the time, lose it here and there, but didn't have the dog with the 30 on. It was really steep country and real big open faces, with brushy draws.
Few other trips out no real issues. Till yesterday, same issue with the one 50 that wouldn't pick up as before, I deleted it twice yest, still would not pick up, I finally put a 30 on the dog, I had an extra, and started riggin, I kept messin with it while I was driving, change comm on it twice, and finally got it linked up, I stopped took the 30 off, put the 50 on, not much farther I struck and turned out, wasn't payin much attention at the time, but that 50 showed 25' from my truck the entire time, Max was 500 yds up the hill with the rest of the pack, and it showed him 25' from me, when I took off in the truck, it showed him with me, like he was on the dog box. Never picked him up again, and the other 50, (that I had no problems with up to this point) had been working, I lost it halfway up the canyon, and I still had all my 30's. The 2 dogs that had 50's on crossed the upper rd, into a real bad area, (didn't know they had crossed at this point because I lost comm with them) my other dogs were headed right to me so I grabbed them as they tried to cross, (real bad country, no rds, and had just cut a pack of wolves cruising the ridge rd.) after I got most of them loaded, it dawned on me that sharp had already crossed the rd, he is always out front, super fast, I look at my gps and I have him 300 yards below on the bad side of the rd, (no barking) then all of sudden I hear Max, (gps showing him at my truck still 25') and he is barking like I have never heard, he bays hard on a bear, this bark was real strange sounding, something didn't feel right so I hustled down in there, I get to where the gps is showing sharp, and it says I have good comm with him, big open hillside, I don't see him, but I also don't spend a lot time looking cuz max is about another hundred yds below me (approx) still didn't have him comm on his collar, I get down in there, and he came running out of the brush to me and stood next to me (never would done that if he had been bayin a bear) he was acting strange, I had a real uneasy feeling, and I was going to go in a look around, but my gut was telling me to go back up the hill and look for sharp, (which gps was saying he was about hundred yds above where I was at this point, so I did, I scoured that hillside, nothing, that was a sick feeling looking for a body, but I decided that the 50 he was wearing was acting up, so I wrote it off, and walked back to the truck. Keep in mind, now that I had Max back, walking right beside my the collar still never linked up. Hooked the 320 to the long range ant, hoping to pick him up, nothing, drove around on all the high points, nothing, finally broke out the beep beep box, had a beep on him in the general direction where I had gotten Max, which made sense, thinking he was further in that canyon, drove over into another canyon just to make sure, nothing, led me back where I had come from, took off walking with my beep beep box, got to where I had the intinuator on, and I was right where Max had run out of the brush, I walked in there and found sharp dead, killed by wolves, the most sickening feeling I have ever felt. He had his throat tore open, bit from head to toe. Now I know this is a little off the subject of the Dc 50 review, but had I had 30's (that were working) on all my dogs, I would have seen sharp and max down in there, had I known sharp was in that brush, with wolves standing over him, while I stood 20' from them, I would went diving in there in a heartbeat. So I am not real impressed with the 50's, (and I had my 320 on me when I was looking for sharp, and it never picked him either)...... bad day to lose comms, I guess.

Chad H