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Garmin Astro 220
The Garmin Astro is a unique product which gives you the ability to track your dog by GPS while hunting. The Astro resembles many of the other Garmin handheld devices but with the addition of a second antenna. In fact, it is really just a modification of the 60CSx. There is a secondary transmitter known as the DC-20 which is attached to your dog. Your dog’s position is then relayed to the Astro so you can see your dog’s position on the Garmin Astro screen.
Position reports come every five seconds and you can view a trace of where your dog has been on the Astro. The Dog Tracker will also give a compass heading and speed indication for your dog. Alarms can also be set to indicate when your dog is on point.
The DC20 transmitter can be attached via a neoprene harness strapped to the collar, or threaded to an existing one inch collar. The Garmin Astro battery should last about 20 hours and the collar will hold a charge for about 17 hours.
Even if you have more than one dog, don't worry. The Astro can track up to five different DC 20 devices and thus five dogs. The range is about five miles in a best case scenario. The Garmin Astro also has the ability to set waypoints for where you found your prey and timestamps with a date, time, altitude, and location.
The Garmin Astro 220 is in fact a 12-channel, general purpose global positioning device. WAAS-ready GPS device accepts radio signals which can help increase accuracy of positioning data to within 3 meters. Share information, update database maps, and add programs using this receiver's USB computer connection. Tracklog function automatically creates a record of the path traveled and stores it as a series of points for later use. Safe in all weather, this unit is waterproof. System includes MapSource trip & waypoint manager.
When Garmin came out with the previous unit, the DC20, it was a bit too bulky to be practical; you would have to use it as a backpack mounted device on the dog’s back, or use a counter-balance weight to keep it up on the back of the dog’s neck. It was too cumbersome to be practical. With this new DC30, that changed. The unit is about the size of an e-collar with a flexible rubber antenna coming out the back.
The collar is solid and appears to be able to withstand some abuse from dog’s running through the brush. It turns on easily and is readily apparent when the collar is turned on or off, by the flashing red lights.
The unit is fairly small and fits comfortably in your hand and has a fairly large screen. It has expandable memory and can be loaded with background maps for your area. And most important - when it comes to pointing at your dog, it does so pretty well. You can either see a compass type screen with an arrow which points toward the dog and a distance to the dog in a window at the bottom, or you can see a map of the area with your location and track and the dog’s location and track.
The unit workes very well, providing updates of the dog’s location and position (running, pointing, treed game) on a user set interval (5, 10, or 30 seconds). Garmin Astro 220 GPS works really well, however, a bird hunter with fairly close working dogs will have to carefully consider whether a $600 ($700 with maps) dog pointer is worth it. The question to ask yourself is if you really spend that much time looking for your dog.
Overall, the system - both the dog collar and the handheld unit, are durable and work very well. However, there are sometimes some limitations with satellite reception in moderate to heavy tree cover. For people who spend a lot of time looking for their big running dogs, this system will prove invaluable.
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