EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

I ran into an issue with my Garmin the other day, and I thought I would ask about it here.

Turned out Annie ( dog 1) and Brandy ( dog 2) Saturday evening, both collars are DC-30 and less than 3 months old, fresh charge on batteries, and the handheld was updated through the Garmin website last week.  Both dogs made a couple of 1/2 mile loops at the start of the hunt, then on their third loop, they left out to the west. They showed to be out at 1.9 miles, then dropped signal. We headed toward them driving about 1 mile, then picked them back up at 1.2 miles on the Garmin. At this point they showed treed, and we started heading their direction. Got to about 600 yards and they broke, heading northwest in the direction of the next county road. After a while, I showed dog 2 to be moving at 1.91 miles, dog one showed a question mark.

Similar to this screen. except that dog 1 and 2 are reversed.
(http://www.gpscity.com/g/gps/l/a/astro220dc30_img3.jpg)

After a few more minutes seeing that dog 2 was still moving, but the distance was not changing, I pulled out Krystal's long range antenna. It still showed dog 1 with question mark, and dog 2 moving, but no change in distance. So on dog 2 I hit enter, to see this screen.
(http://www.gpscity.com/g/gps/l/a/astro220dc30_img2.jpg)

Only on my screen, it showed full battery, no bars on Comm., and full bars on GPS.  That's when I decided to head to the truck, and go find my dogs.  I drove to the next county road the the west, just a little over 2 miles as the crow flies, and I still did not pick up the dogs on the Garmin. I pulled out the Quicktrack and picked them up west northwest on long range. So I headed to the next road to the west, ` 1.5 miles as the crow flies.  At this point, the Garmin picked up both dogs, showing them both treed yet another 1.39 miles to the west. I was able to drive within 150 yards of the dogs, when I turned the truck off I could hear them bayed. No catch dog, no rifle, so I called them. After about 30 minutes of me calling them, they finally came to me.

Here is the problem as I see it. I am used to the dogs dropping in and out of signal, and with one dog still showing to be moving, I assumed the dogs were still in the area. The Garmin never did switch from a dog, to a question mark, so I did not bother to head to them quickly to let the Garmin pick up their collars again, I figured they were still in the area like the Garmin said. I am still not sure why the handheld did not switch over, but I am darn glad that I continue to run radio collars in conjunction with the Garmin collars. If I had relied on the Garmin collars alone, I would still be looking for the dogs, thinking they were 1.9 miles out. When in reality, according to Google Earth, they had traveled well over 5 miles as the crow flies.

Something to think about when you drop the dogs and they only have on a Garmin collar...

Chris...I had this situation happen one time. I spent 20 minutes looking for a dog in a cedar tree and couldnt imagine what happened...My advice to you is....you need to stay closer to your dogs.  ;D

But seriously....is it possible that your id numbers on your collars are too close together? I think sometimes the collars get bumfuzzled and cause problems. Also...I think think the Astro just has issues.

I turned mine off and took the batteries out and then tried again. It seemed to reset everything. A similar situation happened like your twice. I did a master reset and I have not had a problem since.

If you do a master reset it will lose all stored information but seems to clear the issues on the unit.

Good to know.

Thanks Rex,

   I will do a master reset, and hope that cures the problem.  How do I do a master reset?

 I downloaded the update for the handheldlast week, because it seemed like
I was dropping signal on the collars more often than I used to. Even after I bought new collars.

I've seen it happen 3 times.  The last time it showed the dog 1.2 miles to the west.  As we were finally getting there we closed the gap to 200 yds.  While looking at the Handheld, it went form treed 200 yds to the North, to treed over a mile to the South.    

 Another time it hung up in one spot and I walked around in cold @ss water for 20 minutes looking for a collar that I assumed fell off, as it showed it to be in the water.  Come to find out it was still on the dog around a mile away.

  

Not sure if you tried this or not while hunting. but the number one way to fix most electronic gizmos that start to malfunction is to do what Bump said and turn the thing completely off and then back on.  Usually once it resets everything will work like it should

... and that my friends is why every dog we put down will have a radio collar on also. ;)

It bothers me that so many people are selling their radio systems left and right to buy a garmin. After hunting with many, many folks with garmins... they all have problems. While it's a neat little tool... I wouldn't trust my dog's life on it.

Mike,

  I figured you would have something to say ;D

hoghunterdfw,
 
   I did not turn the unit off, and back on.  However, even with the long range antenna attached, it did not pickup dog 1, yet it picked them both up when I got close to them.  So the handheld was not totally malfunctioning, as it did pick them up once I was in range. Having the dog picture instead of the question mark is what I think messed me up. I saw no need to head their direction, as I had not "lost" them on the screen. In the future, I think I will pay more close attention to the "Comm." bars on the collar info screen, if I see that the dogs distance is not changing.

I don't know if you tried this either, but sometime my directional arrows will start acting funny.  Hit the menu button twice, and calibrate the compass.  This has always straightened things out for me.  I suppose your supposed to do this before each hunt, but I don't ever remember.

Usually it is more like, hey you got an extra Garmin collar  O0  You know I am just goosing you, I agree with what you are saying, I just still don't feel right not having both collars on at all times.

I know this is a little Monday morning quarterback of me but if at all possible once you see them bumping on a mile, go that way.  I think you just about have to stay withing a mile or a mile and a quarter to have best results.  If they are lost at nearly 2 miles and then you factor in the time it takes you travel that distance by the time you get to where they were they could be another 2 miles from you and then things get interesting pretty quick.  I am not telling you something you don't already know, it is just info on what we have done in the past to eliminate that issue.

Yes you do have to recalibrate the compass from time to time not before every hunt but I usually find the need at least once every month or two.  You can tell pretty easily when the arrow is not working properly, it always helps when your buddy has an astro too cuz obviously the likelyhood of both being miscalibrated at the same time would be slim

Bryant,

 I calibrate the compass before every hunt.  I didn't calibrate it one time, and it had me thinking the sun rose in the west that morning. Now, it is part of my pre-hunt ritual.  I calibrate compass, "start new hunt", mark the truck, and check the battery amount on each collar to make sure they are fully charged, then the hunt begins.


Matt,
  Remember the upside down compass that used to get us out of the woods. ;D

I think about that and laugh pretty often, dang compass would go on the fritz and you might have to walk a while till it got to working right again haha

In response to this, knowing the land I was on, it is not possible to go with them. You have to leave one ranch, then go through another, to get to the next one.  Part of the story that was left out, is that I got within 500 yards of them. ( I was at the cabin, on the oilfield property, and they were to the northwest of me, past the creek.) When I saw that they were headed that direction, I had to go away to get closer. That does not change the issue that came up with the Garmin not updating.  Additionally, at the rate they were travelling ( Garmin showed an average speed of 7+ mph, they were on the ground the entire hunt, no buggy rides effecting their average speed) I could not have kept up with them on foot, had I abandoned the buggy to go after them once they passed the creek.

I do understand the concept of what you are saying though...

I should have also mentioned this in my prior post, but I have also noticed that sometimes sitting on my four wheeler it will act a little strange.  Get off and walk a few yards away and it straightens back up.  I don't know if it could be magnetic force from the engine, or the metal, or perhaps just in my mind but irregardless it seems like that helps.

Bryant,

    The metal top on my mule screws up my compass. I have to get away from the buggy to get a good reading. Same if I am in the truck.

I'm glad you posted this Chris I was seriously about to put our Quik track for sale to get a garmin but I guess ill wait until I have the money to just buy a garmin and have both systems. I really think the garmin would help out a lot to.

Cristina,

    I don't think there is any denying that the Garmin is a great tool. It usually makes the hunt go smoother. I just don't trust it on it's own.

   

Was there any chance of the collar turning on the dogs neck? That may have a small factor in causing to have to much multi path therefore giving you a bad reading.

I need to get my garmin and see but but I believe a master reset is holding down the map, enter and power buttons.

It will delete all waypoints and saved settings. I need to look back and make sure on the 3 buttons. I know it is the enter and map buttons for sure.

lazyj,

    I guess the collar could have turned, but it was fine when I got the dog back, and I have never witnessed it turning in the past. If it did happen to turn during the hunt, then it righted itself at some point.

Rex,

    I sure don't mind losing any saved info if it will help to keep this from happening again.


Somebody told me the other day, that the higher the number setting on the collar, the better the range they got. Not sure if there is anything to this... anyone else heard of this?  I don't understand how the GPS technology works to know if that even makes any sense. ;)

The garmin is great when it works.  And is your Worst enemy when it dosent.  Its a sick feeling knowing your dogs are out there and you can't find them

Theoretically this would be correct, because the higher the collar number the higher the radio frequency.  BUT, the band of frequencies used are so close together that you would never be able to tell the difference without some type of special equipment to test transmission strength.

Yeah Chris that's why I want one! It could make our hunts run a lot smoother!

Ditto,

Always the garmin and a regular tracking collar. 

had similar problems with mine kept losing dogs then picking them up in totally different directions would show them north when they would be east. Got mad that night threw that one in the river, bought another one it works fine, have never had any problems with it yet.

Had the arrows pointing the complete opposite direction , calibrated the gps the next round out seemed to fix the problem.
My dog close to medium so dont really know how well it works at long dist. but ill calibrate evry time i put him down.
NO PROBLEMS since.

Had the same problem one time.  We had all the ID numbers close together.  We seperated the numbers and the problem went away.  Example:  frequency numbers were 10, 11, 12, 13   ----  we changed them to 2, 8, 14, 20.

the problem we always had was... the garmin would work great for 3-4 hours, but after then the dog would become a ? mark on the screen, it would still update his movements and we could follow him but it would not log his tracks on the map. then after about 30 minutes to an hour of this it would show him stopped. Only thing, no dog in that spot. So we would break out the quick track and he'd be anywhere from 1/2 mile to 3 miles from there... Once we would catch the hog, I could power off-on and it would be back to normal... WE NEVER RUN JUST GARMIN... TO RISKY!!!!

I never run the transmitter on all the time to track the dogs, but I have learned that no matter what recalibrate the transmitter every hunt, and the truck base antenna has better reception than the long range antenna. Will post what happened to me this sunday.

Anyone running modified antennas on their Garmin systems?

Yesterday a member here forwarded me some info on using different antenna's to improve the range on the Garmin systems. I read what he sent, then did some additional research. I ordered an "upgraded" rubber antenna for the handheld, it should be in sometime next week.Then yesterday evening, it dawned on me that I know a man that owns a large communications company with an office 10 minutes from mine. I called him up last night and told him that I want to increase the range on my Garmin, and told him what frequencies I am dealing with.   Thursday AM I have an appointment to meet with one of his technicians. Here is what we are going to try. Using a ~48" magnetic mount antenna, with a 2.5 db gain, tuning it to 151-154 mhz.  In theory the Garmin puts out 2 watts of signal. They said in reality, it probably puts out something more like 1.5 watts. Matching that with a tuned 2.5 db antenna, it should put out closer to 4 watts. This should, at least in theory, significantly increase the range.

Some claims I have read are. "upgraded rubber antenna"  4-5 mile range
Tuned magnetic mount antenna, 14-15 mile range.
Now, if I can achieve half of the claimed distances, I will be pleased.

Anyone else tried something like this, and if so, what results have you seen?

 Keep us updated with what you find out, Chris.

Way out of my league there.  Are you speaking in English. HAHA rolleyes

Chris,

Interesting to see what he says, but here's how I see it.

The Garmin handheld does not "put out" anything.  The collar is what's doing the transmitting.  By changing the receiver's antenna to an antenna actually tuned to the correct frequency you stand a better chance of receiving the signal being broadcast.  However, none of this will effect signal strength of the "transmitting device" (which is the collar).

Bryant,

    You may be correct, but you still have to receive the signal.   Go out to your truck, and unscrew the antenna from the cowl. Now see what kind of reception you get when you turn the radio on. I don't fully understand how the gain can effect the reception, and I may find that it does not have any effect at all, I should know something in two days though.
Something else to think about. If you are having trouble receiving signal on your television, you go out and buy an amplified antenna. Your tv is the receiver, yet you still amplify that antenna ???

Why wouldn't the same apply to low level frequencies, that are used in MURS and VHF?

All of this is over my head but hoping you come up with something on this. I would think if the long range antenna doubles the range of the rubber antenna....hopefully a correctly tuned gain on a longer range antenna can be found.

Bump,
    What kind of range are you typically seeing with your magnetic antenna hooked up?



Side note:
The radio man that I spoke with last night went into some detail (over my head) regarding physics, attenuation, etc.  However, one of the things that I did understand is that the soil content in the area you are hunting has a definite affect on the signal range.  If you hunt an area with a high iron ore content, you will get much better range out of your Garmin, than someone with little to no iron ore in the soil.  That might explain why some people report better range out of their Garmin systems than others.

I am glad I read this post. I have been on the fence about buying a Garmin but haven't yet. I know the DC-30 collar is a big improvement over the DC-20 but I am not convinced all the bugs are worked out...yet.

I hunted with two guys a few weeks ago, both had the Garmin Astro and Dc-30 collars. One kept getting an "interference" reading on his collar (while his dog was off hunting) and he said he needed to change something on the collar but the dog/collar had to be within a few feet of you to do so. That isn't any help if the dog pulls out before coming back and you can't get a signal.

The other guys Astro was telling us north was to our east....I had a regular compass and I followed it to come out on the road. If I had used his Astro reading I would still be lost in the woods.....

So I feel there is room for improvement on the Garmin units. Longer range would definately help. Hopefully Garmin will use everyone's input to build a better unit. THEN I may buy one......... ;D

This was due to operator error.  You need to calibrate the compass before the hunt. I am pretty sure it triangulates based on the satellites it connects with on that particular hunt.  I mistakenly thought that once I had calibrated the compass on a particular piece of land, that it would remember the settings. I learned the hard way, it does not work that way. Just recalibrate prior to each hunt, and you will not have any problems.



I agree that there is plenty of room for improvement. That's why I run both the DC-30 and the radio collars. 

That said, to date, I have had more issues with Tracker brand radio collars, than I ever have with the DC-30's.  For radio I run Quicktrack, and some Mike Kelley collars, and would not hesitate to run Marshall, or Wildlife. I will not buy another Tracker product.

On my roof mounted antenna....about 2 miles at best. Sometimes a little more if I am on a hill.

The incorrect compass reading may very well been operator error. It just wouldn't have helped me out of the woods that night!!

Having not owned a Garmin (yet anyway) I don't know about having to reset/recalibrate before each hunt or downloading updates from Garmin. Seems like if you forgot to do that before you turned dogs out (which is something I would probably do) you would be out of luck.

I use a handheld Garmin GPS all the time for marking spots in the woods, tree stands, etc. I do know my hand held loses signal if I get under thick trees (which is most of the time down here). Does the Astro/ DC-30 have a problem receiving a signal in thick woods? I have never had that trouble with a regular radio tracking unit, but have had the dog closer than I thought, due to thick cover. Just curious if the Garmin loses satelite signal under heavy cover.

I think the Garmin would be a great tool to have, being able to see where and what your dog is doing would be really helpful. I just am not convinced all the bugs are worked out of the system yet.

Plus I would like to see more consistent range estimates. Some guys say they are getting 2 miles. I have talked to guys that lose their dogs at 900-1000 yards max.

Other than that I would love to have one!

Circle C. As I think you have already figured out, you need to ALWAYS check the communication status of your dog on the dog screen. We have had the same thing happen to us several times but you can check his communication status and it will tell you if you're getting a false reading.
As far as the antennas, you can get some that will give you more range but nowhere near 5 miles. The mag antenna will get you about 2 miles in the woods..
We still always run quick track collars on the dogs too just insurance.
AND lijke has already been said,always calibrate your compass before every hunt and if your hunt lasts over about 6 hours you will probably have to calibrate it again.
The garmins could definitley use some improvement but they are worth every penny and the little bit of aggrevation. If you get one and learn how to use it you will wonder how you ever hunted without it..

I have had some similar problems with moving updates and such. I usually turn it off then back on, and will reupdate. What mine usually does is drop the collars in order then pick them up then drop them. I turn it off and on and it goes back to working right. Here, the best range you are going to get is 1 mile with the handheld alone.
Anthony

Yes......however, when it comes to GPS the limiting factor would not be the hand held it would be the transmitter/collar.  If I am not mistaken the garmin system works like this........ The Collar communicates with a GPS satelite which then sends a message back to the collar and then the collar sends a radio signal with the coordinates to the Reciever/hand held.  The Collar and Hand held DO NOT communicate via satelite with each other if they did the range would seemingly be unlimited if both had GPS signal   So if the hand held did not have GPS signal but was recieving radio signal from a collar that did have GPS signal then it would show the dogs location but not YOUR current location.  The problem arrises when the collar does not have GPS signal which Can happen with a thick canopy or multiple canopys, ie. a cover of vines and and a Tree top canopy.  That being said, I have yet to notice a time when I was so close that I should be recieving radio signal but have not dog location due to the collar not getting signal.  But usually if i am that close to a bay I can hear the dogs and dont pay any attention to the garmin.

Circle C......I have a magnetic mount antenna but lost the screw on antenna part the first day I had it in the woods but still had the magnetic mount.  Rather than trying to get just an antenna  from garmin or buying a whole new setup,I tried using an extra radio antenna that I had purchased to put on a chevy suburban and it fit and the unit works with it.  I can get about 1 1/4 - 1 3/4 mile with my riged up antenna.  I have nothing to compare with as far as the stock magnetic mount antenna goes, because I only used it once and never at long ranges.  However, sometimes I can only get about 600 yards with the small handheld antanna in thick cover, so even a mile and a quarter is an improvment.  Keep us filled in with what ever you find out.

Waylon

Waylon

You young breeders need to start working on longer necked dogs. It sounds like there will be a market for them. Regular collar, shock collar, GPS collar, radio collar.  ???

Take a look at this..

http://cgi.ebay.com/Garmin-Astro-220-GPS-Folding-Antenna-INCREASES-RANGE_W0QQitemZ250536603207QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a55252e47 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Garmin-Astro-220-GPS-Folding-Antenna-INCREASES-RANGE_W0QQitemZ250536603207QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3a55252e47)

Bryant a buddy of mine just bought one. Used it one hunt and broke it. It will get you a little more range but if you go in the woods much with it ,it wont last long.. It's just like an antenna on an old radio, bends easy..

One thing we figured out to increase range significantly in one of those situations that your dog gets way out of range of the garmin. If you have an old telemetry antenna that is tuned the 155 frequency, a lot of the old ATS antennas run on 155. You can buy an adapter for it and hook it straight into your garmin astro. This has gotten us more range than anything else we've tried. Just keep one of the old antennas with an adapter on the cable in your truck or boat or whatever you hunt off of and in an emergency you can hook it up to your garmin and usually get the signal back so you will know which direction you need to go..
You can buy an adapter that will fit it at most electronic stores.  I have no clue why someone has not already started selling a setup like this on the interent.

That's what I figured when I first looked also.  Looks like the folding, unfolding, telescoping, etc would end it up broke pretty quick.

Just as a sidenote, thanks to my two boys I also discovered that the Garmin long range antenna's absolutely SUCK when used for the purpose of a sword.  I straightened best I could and it's functional, but far from being 100%.  

Boys.... rolleyes

lol..

Just got back from the radio shop. 7 miles, still showed 4 out of 5 bars on the comm.   I did drop the signal at ~7.25 miles and I turned around at that point, I am not sure if it would have picked it back up or not, and I dropped it a time or two around 3.5 miles as I was driving by some large office towers. I assume they had something to do with the dropped signal.
Radio man says I should see much better range once I get away from the radio interference in the city.

(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p204/ccoughran/CIMG0071.jpg)

HOLLY number 2!

Is it a huge antenna or still serviceable size? Give me a call about that!

Steve

The antenna I used is a magnetic mount with a ~40" whip.  It looks like your standard issue FM radio antenna.

I will continue to field test. Might have been a fluke...

Yea let us know how it works in the field..

Just did another mod to my Garmin system.  I stopped at the parts house and bought some shrink tubing. One color for each collar.

In the past I have always labeled my collars by number, that I etched into the housing. Sometimes with mud and dirt buildup, the etching was hard to read. Now I will have an easy to identify color antenna on each collar.

(http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p204/ccoughran/CIMG0072.jpg)

PLEASE TELL ME WHERE TO BUY THE UPGRADED ANTENNA,,,I have green paper burning a whole in my pocket. I will start my own feild studies I just want one asap!!!!

Pm sent.

Now THAT is an awesome idea! Everything that I have tried to mark mine with has either come off or become unreadable.... Including etched numbers. I'm going to have to try that.

Steve

I have ten or more collars, so my son started using the heat shrink tubing and colored plastic electrical tape wrapped collars in various color combinations.  Also makes it easier to see the dogs in thick brush and woods.  Tape is surprisingly durable.

UPDATE:

I have not had the opportunity to really put the new antenna to a test, other than a few hunt where the dogs did not range out very far.

A week ago, hunting near the Trinity river, north of Madisonville, the dogs were continually crossing a creek at 2.25 miles. The collar would drop while they were crossing, but would pick back up once they were on the other side.  At one point, I did lose signal for a couple minutes while they were near the creek. Not sure if they were in the water, or if the system had trouble picking them back up for some other reason. On that hunt, 2.25 miles was the farthest that I ever got from the dogs...

Last Sunday, I hunted in some open country in Fort Bend county. Dropped the dogs at a little under a mile with just the handheld. Plugged in the new antenna, and picked them up right away, and never dropped them again for the rest of the hunt. The furthest that they bayed that day was ~1 mile out, so once again, I did not get to put the antenna to the test.

This is not a good photo, but its the best on I have of the antenna. Just a magnetic mount, with a ~40 whip.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v311/DEERHUNTER280/12-27-09IV.jpg)


Hopefully I will be able to report back with some better info in the coming weeks.  If I take the dogs out west, I feel confident that they will range out several miles and I can see if the new antenna will work better in a real world situation.

My name is Murphy and I am the guy that they wrote the law about.

I hunt alot down around Franklin, Tx. and several of the guys I hunt with have Garmins. Sometimes they work great--I have seen 3 different ones working at the same time and did a good job on that one hunt.

Other times the collars got the antennas torn off and then they were inop. Sometimes they lose signal for a while and I don't know why this happens. One hunt they were not able to use them because they would not lock on the collars. They seem to have alot of trouble with the batteries.

One hunt I will not forget. They had Garmins on two dogs and we were in a bunch of hogs. The hogs swam to an island in a lake. The dogs went after them and when they hit the water that was it for them. No signal--no nothing.  We caught one hog but evidently the others broke and left the country taking the dogs with them. We rounded everything up except the dogs with the Garmins. One dog was found the next day and the best dog was not found for 17 days.

I have a Wildlife TRX-10 and it works. A little more bulky but when you turn it on and track a dog you WILL pick up a signal. If you use the ear phones you can get pretty close on the range.

I know that they are probably the future but for now I am sticking to what works for me.

Hog Dog Mike,

  That's the reason I use both, Garmin and Quicktrack ;)  Get the best of both worlds.

What law or did I not read something correctly?

"Murphy's Law"

Wow! That went so far over my head that air traffic control didn't even log the flight plan!  :P

Steve

Duhhhh....thats funny NOW,,you know I am a little slow  rolleyes

Steve, I am glad it was just not me lol

Circle c thanks for the pm with there contact info. I got the 40" magnetic whip and had them out to 5 mi with no problem it was GREAT!! Do you have an upgraded one for feild use? if so is it doing better than the stock rubber antenna... I just ordered the folding after market antenna from valleycreekhuntingsupply.com, susposed to double it.

I have an upgraded rubber antenna sitting in front of me, but I have not tried it yet. I plan to turn out Friday AM hunting coyotes and hogs, so hopefully I can field test it a bit while I am out.


5 miles sounds like a pretty good distance out of the Garmin.  I know I will be pleased if I can consistently get 5 miles out of mine.

When they are working they are slick. You know exactly what direction and how far.

Another update:

As I type this, my handheld is in a box waiting on the man in the brown shirt to pick it up and send it to Garmin Intl. in Olathe, Kansas.

I have had a few strange things happen with my handheld, first is the issue that started this thread, then during a number of recent hunts I have had the screen go completely blank. I am not sure if the unit is powering off, or if the screen is just blanking out. Whatever it is, I can hit the power button, and the display comes on and is immediately tracking the dogs. ??? Last thing happened on my last hunt. I was dropping the dogs at 100 yards or less. no difference between the factory rubber antenna and the long range antenna.

This morning I called Garmin tech support. We tried a few things, removing all collars and reloading them. No improvement. We did a master reset, then reloaded collars. Again no improvement. So the tech said to send the unit in to them and they would repair it. I mentioned that I have had it for close to a year, and that it could actually be a little over a year old. He said not to worry and that they would repair the unit free of charge, and have it back to me within two weeks!  By rights they could have had me provide a proof of purchase, and tell me it's out of warranty, then charge me. They sure impressed me today with their attitude toward customer service.

Garmin has been great to me and my huntin buddies when it comes to customer service..

Same here, no BS.  Great repair and warranty service.  I have two Astro units, around 12 collars.  I just had one of my Astros shut off on me last hunt, the blank screen thing, with good batteries.  I had to hit the power switch and turn it back on.  Did not lose any data.  I was hunting around 3 others with Garmins, so who knows the issues.

Got my package in the mail from Garmin yesterday.  They sent out a new unit (possibly a refurb?) whatever it is, it looks brand new, and has a different serial number than the unit that I sent them. 

I also got my collar back that I had sent in to Quick Track. Looks like they sent back a brand new collar as well. It might be the same internals, but its a new collar, antenna, and body.


Outstanding customer service from both companies.