A general forum for the discussion of hunting with beagles, guns, clothing and other equipment and just talking dawgs! (Tall tales on hunting allowed, but remember, first liar doesn't stand a chance)
I've had the Alpha with TT15's for 10 months and don't regret it a bit.
No comparison between this system and my old Tracker Maxima with Marshall collars.
I do plan on selling my TT15's and getting the minis, I just want the smaller size.
I have 6 TT15's, 4 are only 3 months old, $250 each.
I upgraded this past January from the wildlife it is aweful nice but it does have some draw backs.
1. If you have a hound that needs correcting you have to scroll through the screens to get correct hound then adjust sensitivity before correction. Now this sounds small but sometimes you want instant correction and the time has passed before correction can be made.
2. Now this one has nothing the unit does wrong but it is what it does to the handlers. I have noticed fewer and fewer people getting in the brush to see what the dogs are doing because it is easier to glance at the screen.
3. It has made other units almost obsolete to the point you almost have to give them away when upgrading . Great for Garmin not so great for owners.
Now i will say that they have made it easier for those that do get around as well as the once did to keep tabs on hounds which is the reason i bought one. Overall i do not regret buying one at all but these are just a few of my observations.
Tom
I completely understand the hesitation. Especially since it seems you don't ready have the Alpha handheld. Thankfully, the new mini's don't require a new hand held unit too or I probably would have held off. I had the old wildlife system for 9 yrs. before buying the 220 handheld and DC30 collars. 3 months before I bought the intial Garmin system I had 2 of my dogs run what I believe was a bear given the distance and terrain they took it. They struck that at around 7:00 am. I got home at 11:00 pm that night with 1 of the 2 dogs. I still was getting a weak signal on the other dog when I left her. She was deep in big country. I had no light capable of taking me in there after her plus I was done in I had been hiking all day long. The traditional telemetry collars told me she was still moving but I had no idea where I could drive around to get to her. She was my best dog and I was worried sick. After 3-4 hrs of unbroken sleep, I grabbed a topo map at home and went back in to where I last had a signal some 20 miles plus from home. She was still in the same area and still moving around. After studying the topo map I thought I could get closer to where she was but it meant driving another 15 miles around to get to what looked like an old road I could walk in on. Oh and during the night it had started pouring and was continuing to do so. Finally, after 4 hours of hiking I got her back.
In January of 2009 I ordered my first Garmin system. Had I had the Garmin that day and especially with the new TT15's, I am quite confident I would have had both dogs in 4 hrs. or less. Here's why:
1. With the Garmin (TT units) I could have shocked both dogs off the track within the first hour they were running the bear.
They were beyond the reach of my Trash Breaker.
2. The Garmin with topo map card would have shown me where I could have driven and cut them off.
3. The TT collars have tone capability as well. If I'd had them then, once I got within ear shot of the dogs I could have toned them in after shocking them. All my dogs know when that tone is heard they are to be coming in.
Here's another reason. I had a young dog have a seizure in 2009 in the midst of a hare chase. At the time. I didn't know what happened. She had been driving a track for nearly an hour and just went silent. The other dog she was running with continued to run. The Garmin took me into a thick swamp and to within 3 feet of where she layed. I quickly got her collar off her and started rubbing her down. She regained consciousness and was OK.
If you truly can't afford one cause it takes away from your family or other financial obligations, don't do it. If it's only because you think it's not worth the money you're wrong. I have yet to hear anyone that has one say they were going to sell it and go back to the beepers.
PS One of those Marshall collars Swampman refered to is one I sold him about a year after I bought my 1st Garmin system! My new TT15 Mini's came yesterday.
1. If you have a hound that needs correcting you have to scroll through the screens to get correct hound then adjust sensitivity before correction. Now this sounds small but sometimes you want instant correction and the time has passed before correction can be made.
This is the one and only reason that I haven't made the switch yet.
I've had mine for a few years now and love it. I'll sum it up like this. If you ever need to use the GPS function one time, it's worth it. I'm pretty busy and when I make time to get the dogs out, I want to use that time to it's fullest. Spending hours and losing entire days because a dog took off on a deer, just can't work for me.
My biggest complaint has been the size of collars. I really hated using them on my 13" females. My first mini collar just came in on Saturday from Okie and I will say it's a pretty big difference. I am excited to try it out and see how it does. I would still like a smaller unit, but this will do for now.
As for scrolling through the dogs. It's remarkably easy. Just have to hit an arrow on the screen. If a concern is the time it takes to select the dog, adjust the shock and then deliver the shock and you have to do more than one dog, then yes it would be a real pain. My recommendation would be to have the dogs preset on what you would want to shock them at prior to the hunt. I always keep my best behaved dog on the front screen with shock down to level 1, so there are no accidental shocks.
the alpha has made my hound running more enjoyable on all levels. i heard on the radio today people talking about their favorite electronic gadget and if they could only have one what would it be .. and i would choose my alpha over my smart phone or anything else. its more than a dog item its also a fully funtional gps. i take mine deer hunting with me in new areas. none of my beagles have issues with the full size collars but i will probably get the mini next. but i have no issue with the full size so im not going to get rid of them at a loss. i will agree that it is not as useful for training ( bumping for off barks, back track, whatever,) but man do they pack a punch on a trash chase..
I've had the alpha for awhile and the ability to train and track with one unit far exceeds running 2 separate units. I run 15" hounds so the size is of little consequence to me and I have had absolutely no problems with my unit(knock on wood) to date. The hounds that I have are older and broke so the need to shock is rare, but the ability to track their speed and distance is useful to me. What I like most is the security that comes with using these units. I can tell if my hounds are getting close to a busy road or RR track and prevent something bad from happening.
That's my point though, I have what I consider to be broke dogs as well. The need to shock is few and very far between. Say my pack of 6 straight lines a rabbit and they are getting fairly close to danger (country road, tracks, a house etc) and I want them all to stop. Probably the only way I'm gonna be able to do that is bump them with electric. I don't know about you, but the time it would take me to arrow through 6 dogs and correct each one, whichever dog I get to last could cover some serious ground by the time I can hit him.
With the TT you just start mashing buttons. I wish Garmin could come up with a dial/buttons that could be intregrated onto the Alpha that mimics a TT remote.
Smoke'n Mack wrote:That's my point though, I have what I consider to be broke dogs as well. The need to shock is few and very far between. Say my pack of 6 straight lines a rabbit and they are getting fairly close to danger (country road, tracks, a house etc) and I want them all to stop. Probably the only way I'm gonna be able to do that is bump them with electric. I don't know about you, but the time it would take me to arrow through 6 dogs and correct each one, whichever dog I get to last could cover some serious ground by the time I can hit him.
With the TT you just start mashing buttons. I wish Garmin could come up with a dial/buttons that could be intregrated onto the Alpha that mimics a TT remote.
I have been using the Alpha system for a few years now and can tell you I have arrowed through 6-8 dogs SEVERAL times as fast as I could and speed is no longer a issue for me. Plus that's the benefit of using the Garmin, you do not have to wait for the dogs feet to be touching the road before you start calling them off, you should have plenty of time to see on the garmin the dogs are heading that way and you should be on alert to get them stopped with time to spare.
