Any feed back on the new dc30? Longivity.....range.....durability...ect.
In Louisiana, in swamp, forests, the range is only about 20% better than the old DC-20s. That is about 1 mile to 1.5 miles max for the newer DC-30. With Garmin's new extended range accessory antennas for your receiver, it doubles your range to about 2-3 miles on the average. In no way can you get the range of any regular radio telemetry collars, which is 5 to 7 miles in this part of the country. I also noticed in the hills of Mississippi, the Garmin system loses the signal immediately when the dogs go into a canyon or over a hill (that is puts solid ground between you and them) even 100 yards away, contrast that with a Wildlife Materials system with extended range collars, the signal bends around the terrain and you still get a weak but very useful signal 2-3 miles away from dogs deep in canyon bottoms.
Durabilty is better than the old DC-20, but not as good as any regular radio collar. The Garmins use screws with rubber gaskets to water proof. I already lost one of my old DC20's to water intrusion and a second DC20 is acting up, so I suspect it too has water issues. Unfortunately, Garmin is still using the rubber gaskets with four screws on the DC20s. They need to look at the other radio collars, there is a reason they imbed everything in epoxy.
In a few years Garmin may get it right. But for now, any other telemetry system has at least , 3 times the range, worked better in hills, makes tougher more water proof collars, and has much better battery life in the event you lose a dog.
In hind sight, instead of buying an Astro with 3 DC-20s, then 3 more DC-30s and an extended range receiver antenna, I should have bought a regulat tracking system such as Marshall or Wildlife system and than bought a Garmin 60cxs GPS on the side. Probably would have spent the same and been happier.
