- Bundle includes Astro 220 handheld GPS device, DC 40 dog GPS collar, and accessories
- Rugged, orange polyurethane DC 40 collar pinpoints your dog's position every 5 seconds
- Astro handheld has all the features of Garmin's top-line handheld outdoor devices
- Accepts downloaded map detail, including TOPO maps with elevation information
- Barimetric altimeter provides elevation profiles for climbers and hikers
The early versions featured an orange "box" with a non-amplified antenna built into the top of it, plus a li-ion battery. You got a velcro harness to hold it on the dog and keep it pointing skyward. After 2-3 trips the velcro was full of hair and the antennas were being broken by anxious dogs racing through brush.
Garmin re-designed the astro and fortunately for us all we had to do was buy the upgraded collar design. The (now black) collar works the same but features an amplified antenna on top, the electronics box down below where it naturally hangs, and an improved longer antenna with better range (about 25% better in my testing)
From the top of one mountain I can now find my dog 7.48 miles away with almost full signal strength, so this really works. Getting to the dog is another matter.
The collar transmits either every 5, 10, or 30 seconds. 10 is a good value as you get about 2 days of use from the transmitter before the battery dies. 5 seconds will die in under a day (about 18 hours). These settings are made by placing the collar in close proximity to the handheld tracker and uploading them.
Finally for the radio folk the collar transmits on the MURS VHF frequencies at 2 watts digital. The frequencies are 151.82, 151.88, 151.94, 154.57 (old analog radio channel not a good choice) and 154.6 (same as 154.57) [all in MHZ]
The 151 frequencies provide the best range near towns becuase every fast food drive through uses the 154 frequencies to talk around. These correspond to the last 2 sets of 10 channels in the Astro.
If you are wondering how they get 10 channels on one frequency, its simple both the receiver and transmitter have GPS inside, so they know EXACTLY when a second clicks by to a great precision. They then divide a time period (1 second) into 10 parts, each 1/10 of a second long. Channel 23 for example specifies frequency 2 (151.94) and timeslot 3 the 3rd 1/10 of a second after 0.00 seconds. Since the radio and the transmitter both know when the transmission will happen the radio tunes frequency 2 at 0.3 seconds after a second "ticks" to listen for the 1/10 second transmission from the collar.
The only problem with this is you can not put multiple collars next to each other as the receiver needs time to process the data it receives (about another 1/10 second) so if 151.94 is a good channel for you, pick dog numbers of 21, 23, 25, 27, and 29 if you have multiple dogs on one system or are hunting with another astro user. Also, you can't have the radio tune different channels at the same time, so don't pick dog A on channel 14 and dog B on channel 24 because their transmissions will be at the same time on 2 different freqencies.
Keeping those simple rules of separation in mind you can track alot of dogs a long ways with Astro.
Buy Garmin Astro 220 Dog Tracking GPS Bundle with DC40 Wireless Transmitter Collar Now
I purchased the Astro 220/DC30 in May of 2009 for my Samoyed who if you have ever owned a sled dog (Samoyeds, Huskies, etc), you know all too well their fondness for roaming, chasing, and running all the while forgetting to listen (ignoring is more like it!) for you calling them!I now feel extremely comfortable when my dog is off leash on hikes, as the Astro 220 does as advertised. I know whether my dog is on the move, treeing some sort of critter, or resting. I also know what direction she is located and approximately how far away she is. It's also come in handy finding my way back to the car a couple of times.
On the occasions that I have had to retrieve her the GPS/compass has been 100% on the mark each time. It saves me a lot of time wandering through the woods aimlessly calling her with that slightly panicked edge to my voice!
So far the collar has withstood several swims, miles of terrain, lots of digging into boroughs, and rough-housing with other dogs.
As someone else mentioned, make sure the units sync up before you release your dog. I sync them off the dog, then put the collar on her. Carry spare AA batteries with you. I get about 24 hours out of a set on the Astro. You don't want to be DOA when you are looking for your pup. The collar however gives me about 15 hours on a recharge with the 5 second refresh.
Aside from all that, if your dog is a hard-running type, you will be amazed at how much ground they can cover in an amazingly short time.
If there was a wish-list for this product I would say some sort of rechargeable battery for the handset would for me make it perfect. A second-tier wish would be to make it slightly smaller.
I am sure I will buy whatever the next-gen of this product is as it can only go from Very Good to Excellent, I think.Nowadays when you can see your mailbox from space on google earth, basic cell phones have gps and mp3 players and you can buy 16gb usb flash drives for less than the cost of a tank of gas, technology products come with high expectations, especially ones with $500 price tags. The Garmin Astro meets expectations, but stops there rather abruptly. Okay, that may be a bit critical. The technology is pretty amazing. When you first get it out of the box, work through the quick start guide, and put it on your dog, it is impressive. Once our Schipperke, Lucy, was more than about 15 yards away the handheld unit clearly and accurately showed her position on a simple color map and the dog tracker pointed at her approximate location while correctly tracking her distance. My wife walked across our neighborhood with Lucy and from our home, I could easily follow their entire walk(500 yards away). But the glow wore off quickly. When you start to examine the features of the device, you'll realize that there isn't much more too it. Outside of the one (admittedly cool) feature, the GPS is basically a run of the mill GPS from 5 or 10 years ago. The included map shows highways, but not surface roads (it costs another $100 to download detailed maps). It has a compass, a barometric altimeter and some gps games that I'll probably never play. The collar (despite being an improvement from previous versions) is also a bit big and bulky for a small dog, though seeing Lucy run with that antenna sticking up fromm her collar is awful cute. In total, we love being able to let Lucy run free in the forest without those moments of panic when we don't know where she is, so I'm glad I own the Garmin Astro. I was on the fence between 3 and 4 stars and price pushed me to 3. At $500, I'm still not sure it's worth it. Fundamentally, this is a GPS unit that communicates with another GPS unit via radio. I can't see any reason why this shouldn't be half the price. Give it two years and I anticipate that it will be. For now, this appears to be among the best gps dog trackers available, but that it isn't saying very much.
Want Garmin Astro 220 Dog Tracking GPS Bundle with DC40 Wireless Transmitter Collar Discount?
This season we used the Astro 220 with six DC 30 collars for deer and hog hunting for the first time. The astro is a big improvement over radio trackers. We can determine precisely where the dogs are, which direction and how fast they are moving and recover then much more quickly. However,the range is limted. In flat terrain with heavy tree cover we found the maximum range is about one mile with the factory antenna. The unit does retain the dogs last known location so most times you can regain the lost signal by simply moving closer to that point. When I added the Garmin magnetic mount antenna I found the range is about doubled. You can also use your old radio collars as a backup. The two collars do not interfere with each other. We did have problems with the DC30 collars interfering with each other when they are in close proximity but Garmin gave us the solution with their online support. All in all we are pleased with the product and the support so far.Save 16% Off
I bought the Astro to use with my pointing dog, primarily for grouse and woodcock. I tried it at home, before an early season trip to North Dakota for sharptails, and it worked like a champ, tracking the dog as my wife walked her around the neighborhood, and beeping to show me the dog was on point when they stopped. But, in North Dakota, it would never tell me the dog was on point, even though she had been for a long time. I took it home, messed with it, and again, had it working at home. Back to ND two weeks later, same thing the dog would be on point but the unit would not pick up the signal. I called Garmin, and the support rep said to change the COM setting to 30 seconds. That didn't make sense to me, but I tried it no difference. I emailed at the same time to Garmin, and got an much better answer back the next day. "Likely the system had become corrupted, and you should perform a hard reset, and download the latest operating system at the same time." The instructions were very clear, and after performing those steps, the unit works like a champ. I used it this last weekend in the north woods of Minnesota, and it signals EVERYTIME the dog goes on point. It works great!!! I may get rid of the beeper collar completely (instead of just using it on point-mode only). I'll keep the bell, so I can track the dog between points. I also bought the Topo map, and that is a great help in the woods know where the hills and potential swamps are, as well as most logging and all county roads. As other reviewers have mentioned, its not a "high end" GPS, and you still have to use a training collar, but it does what it is supposed to do (with the help of support at Garmin). I really like hunting without all the noise of a beeper collar, and I think the dog can hear me much better too. I'm surprised it works as well in the hills and woods as it does, as I have tracked my dog out 250+ yards. One other issue, if you have a small dog like mine (33 lbs.) the unit won't fit well around the neck as the two units (battery/radio and gps) are not flexible and not curved much. It's very uncomforatble for the dog, and kind of heavy. Overall, 8 out of 10.
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