Since its unveiling a few years ago, the Garmin Astro has quickly become an almost mandatory piece of equipment for bird hunters. The benefits of the product range much farther than just the ability to keep track of your dog. It allows you to mark and monitor coveys, analyze the course and speed of your bird dog as he hunts, and much more.
Garmin has taken the time to listen to its consumers and improve the design and function of the collar by the addition of the DC 40. The new collar, the DC 40, is a self contained unit that can be put on the same collar that you are running your electronic collar. This eliminates the need to have two separate collars on your dog (and the much joked about need to breed dogs with longer necks to accommodate all of the new fangled equipment!).
Garmin also improved the charging system on the DC 40. The DC 30s were known to have faulty charging connectivity should even the slightest bit of dust or mud get in the connection. Garmin has replaced the old charging method with a slip on flat contact charging interface.
Garmin has also added a security feature of a collar lock. The lock gives you the ability to control who can or cannot track your dog’s signal on a Astro unit. This feature will make the unit more field trial friendly as it allows the judge to lock your collar and hand you the PIN to unlock it once your dog has completed his run.
We intend to be training and hunting with the new collar after its release in August. Once we have submitted it to our rigorous use, we’ll let you know the pros and cons that we encounter. However, while this new collar may not revolutionize the bird dog world, it definitely is a step in the right direction for Garmin. Thank you to the staff at Garmin for listening to consumer’s concerns and issues.
