GPS for dog

[Firehawkclone]

I recently lost my two adventure buddy's on a camping trip(still haven't found them). Any way I'm researching gps tracking devices for remote areas, which means no cell signal. The one I'm looking at is the Garmin Astro 320 with a DC40 collar. It doesn't have great range or great battery life. Basic specs, up to 17-48hrs, up to 10 collars, with a 9 mile line of site range. It may or may not have helped my situation, but it would have been something.

Do any of you use this one? Or do you have a recommendation?

Thank you
My little buddies at the Mojave road mailbox 12/26/12 my tread in the Ca/Nv http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/92334-Lost-my-adventure-buddy-s

 

[craig333]

Never considered that before but its certainly an interesting idea. I lost my dog many times. He was never lost of course. Either found him back at the truck wondering where I was or on the road heading back to camp. Sure would have been some great piece of mind. If the new dog (when he/she arrives) has that same problem its something I think I'd invest in. Sorry can't offer any real useful info.

 

[DirtAddictLC80]

For longer range, battery life and reliability you can use traditional telemetry. Hound hunters (i.e. those that use hounds to hunt game) have been using this technology for decades.

Marshall makes some of the best out there.

https://marshallradio.com/marshall-radio-telemetry-sporting-dogs


Many sporting dog owners have migrated over to Garmin GPS However, because of the concern about battery life and distance, some owners will run both, or haven't made the switch at all. The nice thing about GPS is that it will give you an accurate location on a map, or at least the last known location before the signal was lost...very high tech. Traditional telemetry will give you a direction. If you're good at telemetry you can triangulate to get a more accurate location, but it takes practice.

 

[Norbullitt]

So sad to read about your dogs. I lost mine on a camping trip too, 2 hours hike away from the car in bad weather.
Luckily she was found again the next day.

I also considered the Astro after that incident.
The battery is what makes me hesitate. Thinking that it might give me false sense of security,
as the dog would have to wear an activated collar most of the time, and I again would need to make sure the battery
is charged before using it.

Garmin is also releasing a new tracking unit and collar, the Alpha. But I think the battery capacity is the same as the Astro devices.

Theres also collars with decent battery life that can be tracked by iPhone/Android apps, like http://www.pettracker.com/.
But then you need to have cellphone signal to use it. Depending on where you travel, this might be difficult.

I just bought a new GPS, without dog tracking. Still thinking about some sort of tracking solution...

 

[Mack4]

My crazy Texas Blue Lacy's use a SportDog Tek 1.0 that I found in the clearance section at a Bass Pro Shop. Like all Cur Dogs they want to wander and keeping track of them while hunting has gotten to be a real chore since we picked up a second dog.

It's a little bit smaller/cheaper than the Garmin unit and has no maps/waypoint ability, but it does what I want it to do; shows me where the dogs are, which direction they are running and if they have stopped. I don't necessarily care where my dogs have been, I just want to know where they are currently. You can also strap on their E-Collar on the same setup for stimulation and a beeper, probably not what Ceaser Milan would recommend, but a good option when your dogs suddenly develop a hearing problem!

I think it has a 20 hour battery life and a 7 mile range, but I could be wrong. It also may have the vehicle antenna adapter (Like the Garmin) that gives you a little bit more range, and provides you with a good excuse to have another antenna on your expo rig.

After using it for a year, it seems like the Tek works great in West Texas (mesquite trees), but in East Texas with all the dense cover and pines it can have trouble getting a fix on my dogs. It will poll the data eventually but often after several minutes. In those minutes my dogs can cover a lot of ground, so it gets tricky figuring out where they are headed when they are really moving.

Before the Tek 1.0, I used a combination of Bells, Light Up Collars and a DT Systems beeper collar to keep track of them. The light up collars are pretty awesome at night and I still run them in combination with the Tek GPS.

I've seen the telemetry used on Hog Dogs and it's pretty bulky gear by comparison, but does work very well. It seems like there was a company making a combination of telemetry and GPS, but it seemed pretty pricey. F&T has a good selection of these systems.

I hope Penny turns up at some point. Jake, my male, took off after two coyotes when he was about 9 months old (what he thought he was going to do if he caught them, I'll never know!) and he showed up the next day underneath my pickup truck, and I thought for sure he had gone "Call of the Wild" on me or been eaten by his new friends. My aunt had two American Brittanys disappear for almost a month before showing up in the adjacent county, destroying someones garbage cans.

-Mack