It took me a while and a lot of research to finally pull the trigger and buy the Garmin Alpha. For the most part all my hobbies are really expensive (at least that is what my wife tells me) and any other time I usually don't have an issue purchasing something so costly, but this time it was a struggle. So much a struggle I had to have my wife buy it for me, (maybe in some crazy thought I figured I could blame her for spending the money, Joke). The struggle I was having was "honestly could it be worth that much money"? Not to mention I have 2 dogs and by the time I was done purchasing everything it was very close to 1200$. All the reviews in the world and all the youtube videos I watch kept stoking the firing and I just could not wait until it arrived, almost like a dog waiting for their people to come back. When it arrived it had everything, and like a stereotypical male I passed on the instruction manual and turned it right on, and this is where the first lesson comes into play, don't do that. I should have read the manual, and not relied on the Garmin website videos, not that the device is overly complicated to use, it just has many features I overlooked and would have seen if I just had read. As far as the tracking and training features of the Alpha, they were quite easier to setup than I thought they would have been. Switching between dogs is a breeze and using the touch screen appears seamless, when changing between simulation and tracking. One of the helpful features of the Alpha in my opinion is the ability to change the settings of the collar on the fly. The ability to adjust the refresh rate is very beneficial with the change in environment and helps to save battery life, along with being able to adjust training levels. The feature that my wife and I love the most is the lights, we find it a lot of fun when our 1 1/2 year old Vizsla thinks she is getting away with something in the dark, and within a few quick nano seconds lights on, (lights freaked her out the first time we turned them on while she was wearing the collar). So now that I have pointed out the feature I like, let me tell you what I don't like. As much as I love Garmin Gps units, and I love Tri-tronics e-collars, as far as the Alpha is concerned the design seems very arkayic. The size of the hand held unit is surprisingly large and fairly cumbersome and honestly there is not real good place to put it, so I suggest getting a comfortable lanyard. As for it's size I would figure Garmin would have made the screen a little larger, making it easier to see. The screen itself being recessed into the unit is great as far as protecting the screen from breaking if dropped, but when you try and touch certain points on the screen near the edge you may have issues if you have large fingers. One of the least problem some but fairly annoying things about the Alpha hand held is that when you plug the unit in to charge the screen stays on. I have read, and chatted with Garmin and there doesn't seem to be away to turn the screen off while charging so you constantly get this annoying bright light. In closing all in all, great system, love all the features. Some of the things I didn't touch on but are important I think to mention is the collar itself hardly weights anything which is great for the dog. The GPS tracking reacts very accurately consistently just as the training features do. If I was able to change one thing about the Garmin Alpha it would be the oversized unit and the undersized screen.


Thank you for reading my long and hopefully not to boring review

Thanks a bunch for the review. Get back to us with any direction problems after you've used it for awhile. My directions (pointing arrow) has been perfect after I got rid of my outside power source. I still have to use the AA batteries on my 220. I just change them more often. Certain hunting vehicles seem to cause errors of up to 45 degrees in direction. The gap closes as you get closer to the pup.

We had another Garmin find on our hunt last weekend. The Garmin took us to the area. The backing dog came in and did the rest.

Little update! Something I have noticed and I have heard before, the alpha is not as hot as just a tri-tronics e-collar. What I mean by that for example is for the momentary feature for just a standard collar I would use level 3 on the low setting and now with the alpha I am level 5 on the low setting. Some people have call this stupid, but for every collar I have ever used, before I ever put the collar on my dog I test it on my arm. I am a firm believer in knowing what your actually doing to that dog when you hit the button. In saying that you can definitely tell that the alpha is weaker. So as far as direction problems I haven't had any problems yet. The 3 axis compass in the alpha is great, and this allows you to be holding the handle in any direction and still get a reading. This system seems to be very accurate to within a few feet. I know I have said it a few times but I think the size of the hand held and the screen size is really the alpha biggest down fall, something you will really notice when download a topo map.

Another update,

I last posted about the Garmin Alpha back towards the middle of February. I had some likes and dislikes but really had not used it very much until now. I would have to say that I use the Alpha about every day with my dogs now, (I finally got my GSP back from the trainer), and I love it, probably the best purchase I have made next to the dogs themselves. I am running 2 dogs and love the paging system, my dogs respond very quickly and I rarely have to increase the stimulation level to shock them. The one and only new dislike I have is how you have to switch between dogs. As much as the touch screen very sensitive and responsive its just a little awkward when trying to select different dogs because the on screen arrow that you have to hit is smaller than a pencil eraser. I personally would much rather have a toggle switch or a scroll button. I have not really ran into any problems, the gps system is accurate and syncs up quickly. One of my favorite parts of the Alpha is to be able to see how much your dog has ran and how fast. I constantly look at their stats after we are done for the day and it really shows me not only how hard working they are but just how lazy I am. I know that I said I had only one new dislike but something I want to point out is that the collar itself is a little large and will take your dog a little getting use too while they are swimming, so just be aware that they might look a little weird while going thru the water. Thats about all I can think of at this time, but again I must point out that as expensive as the system is and as hard as it was for me to buy it is cheap in comparison to losing a hunting dog, and more importantly a true friend and companion.

Thank you

Thanks for the review. I pulled the trigger myself a couple weeks ago. I have not had any operatioal problems with mine. It felt good the first time my dog disappeared in the woods and I could look on the screen and follow where he was and what he was doing. I actually prefer the larger handheld. My dog had no trouble swimming. In fact I don't think he paid much attention to the collar until the first time he jumped through a barb wire fence and it hit the wire. Now he stops and sizes up the hole first. Also I wish it had more memory or a way to easily and safely delete the 100k map without turning the handheld into a brick. I was unable to install a 2nd 24k Texas map because there was not enough memory. I wanted to have the 2nd 24k map on board and use a Texas public land/landowner map from a card.

Will be getting one for Blue this year as well. Haven't been happy with our lowest end garmin.

You guys are above my grade level. All I want is direction and distance. It's worth every dollar for that alone.

Looks like Garmin is changing up the other models too.
Adding bark inhibitors to the higher priced models.
The cheaper model with the bark collar built in, has had problems.
It can pick up the signal from radio control toys, and shock the dog.
You may want to get your TT collar while they are still available.
Looks like Garmin is phasing them out.

Was gonna get this one. Is this the one you say is getting phased out?

http://www.gundogsupply.com/garmin-tri-t...CFWgF7AodaAIA5g

No they are changing the TT pro models.

Yep, there was a lot of talk last year about them phasing out the old tritronics models. FYI, to date I still have had zero problems with the Garmin Alpha I bought last month.

I just added two more collars. Picking up another Setter and Brittany.

My biggest issue is the collars on the little dogs are a little big. I would like to see a small plastic unit.

Love my Alpha
For a good pouch for the hand held unit. Go to your local gun store or surplus store and look for a radio pouch or magazine pouch.
Something like these
http://www.majorsurplus.com/Radio-Pouch-P13856C2235.aspx
http://www.majorsurplus.com/M9-Pistol-Pouch-P13859C2235.aspx