Which Garmin Setup?

[TSAMP]

If you hunt in groups. The garmin is nice because you can monitor other people's dogs or the handheld itself. When I ruff grouse hunt its common to drive together and go opposite directions. Helps keep tabs on guys and when they're headed back to the truck.

 

[Speaks]

I mostly use a 550 pro plus and tt15 mini. Then new tt25 collars are great but I would choose the same hand held again. Paired with a fenix watch.

 

[ianpadron]

If you hunt in groups. The garmin is nice because you can monitor other people's dogs or the handheld itself. When I ruff grouse hunt its common to drive together and go opposite directions. Helps keep tabs on guys and when they're headed back to the truck.

That's a major pro for sure.

 

[Tilzbow]

The watch is probably only a couple seconds slower than the handheld. My issue with the watch is once I get an on point alert. It covers the direction arrow for 5-10 ish seconds. So I'll just look at my handheld so I can start closing the distance. Which defeats the purpose of the watch. Ive yet to find where I can modify that setting. Realistically the above is a 25% of the time problem, as I usually have their general direction in memory. Id bet 50% of my pointed birds dont give me a notification. Not because the device isnt reliable. They just dont hold long enough.

In grouse cover the direction arrow is spotty at best. But its usually good in pheasant habitat. I think this device is for piece of mind in always knowing you can find your dogs. It certainly isnt an advantage in killing birds. My beeper collar provides nearly instant point notification and makes it far easier to find a dog in thick cover.

Disable the point alert on the watch. Enable it only on the Alpha unit with a unique alarm. Then when the alarm sounds you can use the watch to determine the direction and distance to the dog when it goes on point. Thats what I did after the second hunt and it works great, the delay was horrible so I disabled the alert. The dog still shows on point on the watch via a little dog icon, until the dog moves, but doesn’t interfere with the view of the direction arrow or distance on the watch display.

 

[Tilzbow]

I have an alpha 300i with a couple of the tt25 collars. The battery life is stellar and the main reason I went with the new version. I hunted for a week and didnt need to charge the units. They were at 10% and I would of but forgot the charger.

Training with it isnt great but its doable. I have a fenix 6 watch and I like the interface but only when im running a single dog. If I have both out the watch interface sucks.

It was expensive but it works.

I think the point alert is super slow. Ive watched dogs be on point 10 ish seconds and not be alerted. Only an issue on public land roosters usually but frustrating.

The update rate settings on the Alpha unit impact the timing of point alert. Longer time on update rate results in more delay on the point alert. Shorter update rate lowers battery life but if you’re able to charge the collar daily this won’t be an issue.