Garmin Astro GPS Dog Tracking System
By: Garmin Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 14
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 On: 2008-06-15
I bought this Garmin setup after looking for a GPS based dog tracking for a long time. Competing models either require monthly subscription (through cellular phone system) or were dog tracking *only*. The Garmin handheld unit is useful as a standalone GPS device, with the benefit of communicating with the dog GPS unit.
I dont hunt, but rather intended to use this to allow my dog to run free while walking him. He loves to track rabbits and deer and for that purpose this Astro worked great. In the area I walk there is much vegetation and he can easily be out of site as little as 20 yards away. After a very watchful eye the first time I used it, I found that it worked far beyond my expectations ... GPS always gave me a distance and position on the map, and the compass always pointed right at him. Occasionally it would lose either GPS reception or RF communcation, but it would always come back in 10-15 seconds. I tried both the backpack and the collar, and actually had better results with the collar even though it would often swing to the side or bottom of his neck. More counterweight would probably help, but hes usually got his head down to the ground and it could easily be a nuisance for him.
Although the dog unit is supposed to be waterproof, I did encounter severe problems when he decided to cross a small river. He doesnt swim so I didnt expect this to ever be a problem, but this time it was shallow enough for him to cross and it seems to have gotten the collar unit wet enough to be a problem. I cant determine if the GPS reception was affected or the RF communication with the handheld unit, but it started indicating that he was 100-200 yards away, even though he still was within eyesight. Eventually it crept up to reporting him as 600 and even 900 yards away (I could still see him)! The compass indicator started pointing in what appeared to be random directions. It took awhile (maybe 15 minutes) but after it dried out again, the reporting went back to normal and was right on. I intend to investigate what was going on, and maybe I just have a defective unit. My dog never broke an antenna like others are reporting ... come to think of it however, maybe it *is* broken and its just not visible to me.
Aside from the dog collar issues, I love the handheld unit. Im still finding features that I didnt know it had, and it is far beyond my previous model (GPS 12).
 On: 2008-05-09
I purchased the astro primarily for hiking with my dog in the wooded dunes of West Michigan. It surpassed my expectations. My dog will be chasing something 200 yards away, well out of sight and hearing range, and it works great. All of the stress and worry of not knowing where the dog is is gone. Because my dog doesnt stray for more than 200-300 yards, I havent had a chance to test the full range, but within those yards and in very hilly terrain its tracked flawlessly.
On: 2008-04-06
Fantastic! Im not a hunter, but I use the Garmin on my dogs when we go hiking. Ive found the product to be very accurate. The construction of the product is very rugged. Im glad I elected to use the shorter antenna because my dogs like to rough house. Id be afraid they would damage the longer antena when rolling around. The piece of mind I have knowing that I can locate my dog should he chase after a rabit or deer is worth every penny to me.
On: 2008-03-09
I had a hard time convincing myself to try this because I already had a traditional dog tracking system. Trust me it would be like comparing apples to oranges.
Ive been using this system for two months now. I will never go `coon hunting again without it. It works exactly as advertised. I feel a little guilty because it takes most of the guesswork out of hunting. You will know exactly where your dogs are and where theyve been, and you will know when theyve stopped moving.
My gripe list:
The dog unit isnt nearly durable enough. The antenna has been lost. The replacement antenna has now been damaged. The clip that holds the unit to a collar has broken.
The battery only lasts for twenty hours.
The topo maps should be preloaded.
It should be compatible with the RINO series, from a laymans perspective it looks like the same technology.
If you buy this unit go ahead and buy:
The mag mount antenna, you pick up some serious distance with it.
Extra pack of antennas, they come two to a package. I lost one right away and I check them for tightness now. They will get damaged, especially if you use the vest instead of the collar attachment.
Extra collar attachment, it might break if your dog decides to go in a hole chasing something.
Extra DC20 for each dog you hunt. I knew exactly what dog #1 was doing and I hated not knowing what exactly what dog #2 was doing.
 On: 2008-02-24
I am a little disappointed with this product. Technically it works well, but the human/canine usability factors are not well thought out.
On the plus side, the vendor shipped quickly, and the units were easy to set up and use. The main unit works well as a GPS, and locates the tracker unit within at least half a mile if there is reasonable line of sight. Going over a ridge loses the signal, but at least the tracking function lets you know where it was lost. (This was tested by leaving the tracker unit inside a vehicle. The signal might be stronger outside.)
On the negative side, the provided carrier harness is worse than useless. Perhaps it works better on short-coated hunting dogs than my rough-coated border collie mix. Every time we tried it, the transmitter would wind up underneath her within a minute or two. Now it goes in a pocket of her backpack.
Another negative is the lack of topo maps. As shipped, it just has major highways & lakes. The supplied PC map software is worthless - it only works on Windows, which I do not use - so it appears that the only option is to fork over more money for maps on SD chips.
A minor irritation is the fact that the manual and menus refer to all the dog-related functions in hunting terms - and bird hunting in particular. That seems oddly restrictive.
To summarize, it is a good product, and with a little tinkering should do what I want - keep track of a dog who likes to take off on her own - but with a little extra thought, it could have been much better.
 On: 2008-01-22
First my compliments to both Amazon and Garmin, for great customer service and warrenty.
The Astro GPS Dog Tracking system worked great in EZ going terrain, however in much of California, we have low hanging trees, thick brush and fence lines. First time I used it, my dogs bayed up a nice boar "151 yards to the north east". The next time I used it, in about two hours of hunting in brushy terrain, my three dogs broke three antenas and destroyed two harnesses.
The sending unit with antena, is held by the harness directly above and on top of the dogs shoulders, getting hit (and destroyed) when going through or under these obstacles. The optional way of mounting the sending unit (to the dogs collar) does not work very well either.
Garmin was great and willingly sent free replacement parts yet I sent the entire unit back and received a credit. Discussed with Garmin Tecs and they said they are working on another design. They should also come up with a better battery pac system. I anxiously awaiting new design and will reorder if and when available.
The current harness/antena system probably works fine for grassland bird hunting yet not for tough cover where dogs are going all out to catch a pig.
Hurry up Garmin and get it fixed! Perhaps if they dont come up with another design a competitor will come up with a dog GPS system that will stand up to the test.
On: 2008-01-09
I dont hunt, but I hike with my dog. Being a bird dog, she instinctively runs far from me, and I was always afraid I wouldnt find her.
The Astro is very easy to use, which is great for a dog tracking novice like me. The compass screen points to where she is and how far away, and the map shows the routes were both taking. There is a lot more information, like the distance shes traveled, her average speed and plenty of other things that I havent figured out yet. Every time I use it I find something new. The best thing about it is that I dont worry if I dont see her. I love it!
The only problem I have had with it was a broken antenna, but it was easy and not too expensive to replace.
On: 2008-01-09
The product was exactly as advertised, and what I wanted however I paid 30 some dollars for expedited shipping and it took over 2 weeks to recieve luckily I did recieve it in time for xmas.
On: 2008-01-07
The transaction was excellent...good price, quick delivery time. My husband was thrilled with his new "toy", and couldnt wait to try it out. He was very impressed with the details he was able to see when tracking his dogs in the area. However, upon the first real hunt with the unit, the dogs managed to disconnect and lose the antenna (which seems to be pretty wimpy!) and of course, the unit is useless without the antenna! When I placed a call to order a replacement, I was told that parts must come straight from the manufacturer. It was impossible to reach a person at the manufacturer, so I resorted to ordering a replacement antenna online which I did receive in time for the next hunt. We are now waiting on a reply to my husbands email (he also gave up on talking to a real person) to complain about the antenna and ask for the manufacturer to provide a free replacement b/c this is an expensive piece of equipment and if the antenna is that easily lost (which renders the unit useless), I anticipate that this will be an ongoing problem and become the gift "that keeps on giving!".
On: 2008-01-07
In short, the product works beautifully. I am no longer a hunter. My interest is a combination of pure fun as well as working the dog on tracking and possible future SAR work. However, for the hunter, this unit affords the same advantages and benefits I use, and much more. I have had ranges thus far of around 900 yards, however, the best signal strength is line of sight, and I live in the mountains; sometimes that can be an issue. My only complaint about the unit as shipped is that the mapping software included is very limited. I had to purchase the Garmin Mapsource TOPO 2008 disc ($80.00 +/-) to really make the operations more accurate and readable. Overall, the units are accurate, durable, well thought out, and the information capture is little short of amazing.
On: 2007-12-30
GARMIN ASTRO COMBO UNIT GPS BASED DOG TRACKING SYSTEM - GARMIN - GPS HANDHELD]]
I am very satisfied with this item
On: 2007-12-24
Astro works perfectly....buy it, and relax....never again worry about losing a wayward hound, or disturbing one on point by yelling, etc.!! It has changed our lives for the better....a first-class product that really delivers, plus you get far more than dog tracking capability....such a true bargain is rare these days.
On: 2007-10-21
I am learning more about this all the time.Every time I go hunting both units need a couple minutes to recognize each other[turn transmitter and gps on until the gps says dog is near] Do this before putting the transmitter on the dog-hold them both in your hands.then put the transmitter on the dog and it will work fine. I lost the rubber coating off the transmitter, garmin is supposed to send me a new one -I am using the other one with a piece of rubber hose on it with silicone caulk in the end .it works well-garmin wants my broken antenna - I will wait to see if they send me a new one first.
On: 2007-10-20
I got my Astro about a month ago and from the start the 2 mile range wasnt there (more like .33 miles maximum). I checked it with a pulse wattmeter from HP/agilent and it was outputting only 0.45 watts for .38 seconds, not the 2W rating (and the battery lasted alot longer than it was supposed to for some reason!). I shipped it to garmin, got it back and it was now putting out 2.2 watts. Range was still disappointing at 0.6 miles (city - granted - but my rinos do far better and they arent digital!)
Next, I found that there are 5 channels Astro can use of which 2 of them are used by every jobcom radio in construction etc (154.57 and 154.600 are the worst and are in use all over the place) - my unit was on one of those channels which was almost always in use, so using another RF tool (spectrum analyzer) - I found a much better channel and suddenly the in city range went up to 1.5 miles which wasnt bad.
Mounting -
You get 2 mounting options - a screw bracket that will mount the transmitter to the dog collar which works really well, or a velcro pocket to put the transmitter in, strap it around the dogs breast and put a tab under the dog collar to keep it upright. I tried the vest option first and when the dog came back, the whole assembly was swinging around the dogs neck (and velcro fills up with hair if your dog sheds - the gripping effectiveness goes to zero).
The collar I thought would be better because the tags are always at the ground, but now the heavy part is up high. My guess was to put a lightweight fishing sinker in the dogtag strap which would keep it verticale - without that weight the dog comes back with the collar rotated sideways and the antenna horizontal, which hurts your range again.
Once factory adjusted to full power, put on a clean freqency, and mounted with a counterweight it works really well - 1.5 mile range in the city and 2.0 mile range or better in the country are not uncommon. I found my dog had gone on a 5 mile chase one time from the truck.
There is a problem in the few bits that garmin uses for "dog status" like "treed" or "quarry", etc - when the gps has moved a bit they are meaningless so I ignore that and leave it on the doggie detail page which tells you how far away your dog is, where it is, and the battery level/gps coverage in the dogs GPS, along with the radio signal you are getting. I would have preferred "moving" or "stable", which you can get from the map if the signal reaches.
You can get a nice VHF (marine type) antenna if you become car bound and unscrew the garmin antenna and connect the outdoor antenna which more than doubles range or better right away - great for end of the day searches for the dog. Both the dog and user antennas are SMA and removable unlike the rino which by law must have a permanently attached antenna unless you are good at soldering on external jacks yourself, which allows you big outdoor antennas and high power amplifiers on one radio. Dog transmitts at your programmed time interval, the handheld transmitts when only when you need to adjust the dog parameters, making it a 2way link temporarily on the AA batteries.
The GPS(s) in both the dog and handheld use the highly sensitve SIRF chipset (which is dirt cheap because the entire gps is in one chip, but because of the indoor usability of it garmin sees fit to charge almost 2x more e.g. the rino520HCX is also using the sirf chipset for gps, which costs them less!) - it trades sensitivity of getting a signal for accuracy compared to their old 12 channel receiver garmin made (like putting a ford engine in a corvette). Anyways they are very sensitive, the handheld allows you to load 2GB of map data on a micro-SD card like your cellphone uses so there are alot of nice features in the set, plus you can use the handheld without any dogs.) Ive put highway and topographic mapping data for the western USA, along with the entire roads CD. I have GPS mapping in my car and garmin really has a poor algorythm on this one - it will insist you drive 5 miles backwards to get on the freeway, to drive 5 miles forwards to the destination 1/4 mile ahead. Its better for 4wd or marine navigation than on-road accidents. ON-Road navigation probably is a feature to avoid.
MY ONLY "STRONG" NEGATIVE is that they use 2-AA batteries in the GPS handheld. Worldwide there is a push away from disposable batteries due to price - countries like Germany and Switzerland charge more than the battery for a disposal fee - if you are caught putting them in the trash look for $500 fines. Most of europe has adopted this, hence the move to li-ion standards. Ive been evaluating some 3000-3500 mah prototype AA cells in my lab from a battery company. The combination is really good - better in all cases than alkalines. Im accustomed to the Li-ion cells on the Rino radios I use which last forever. Garmin could have fit some sort of Li-Ion pack into the battery area making it charge from both the dog charger (which is li-ion) and the dogs car-charger (included in the kit). But alas, we are stuck with kids toys AA batteries.
The waterproofness will outlast any rainstorm and the worst weather - for both you and the dog. Overall, knowing what direction and how far my dog is is great information. I have not found any geo-fencing yet which would be nice to keep your dog out of problem areas on the map like traintracks or highways.
In summary you are getting 2 really sensitive GPS units (one rechargable and one AA powered) that communicate one way their location. To top off the system, Garmin gives you a nice hard case to seal it all up and keep the wet soggy stuff out of the dry stuff with a clever X strap holder on the outside of the case
Be sure to get it working good in the city before going on a hunt with it - youll know what buttons shortcut to where, and what limitations are in the unit, and what the beeps decode to.
Happy Hunting!
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