# Garmin Alpha 100 TT15 collars



## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

Purchase this system for the boundary alerts and for the online basecamp software. Currently using it at night . Have removed the stimulus prongs and am deciding how I am going to introduce tone training (haven't decided exactly what I want to achieve)

seems like a lot going on in this system but following the manual and some youtube videos on the basecamp software. Everything set up just like it said it would.

here's what I see on the computer using base camp.










am happy


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

So cool! That's an expensive piece of jewelry around your dogs neck  I'm sure it's worth every penny.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

lol yes  , lots of features/reviews won me over. 

close up


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

Neat! How responsive is the GPS when the dog moves? Can you see it as it's moving or is it more like snap shots as the dog moves?


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

seems instant , on both the hand held device and the computer screen.. tells me if the dog is moving or still.
answer you direct question it shows the dog moving on the map in real time not snap shots


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

it even showed him in the metal barn and going out the other side.. 










so cool... will set up multiple geo fence areas tomorrow it alerts you sound and vibration and messages that they are entering or existing the boundary's by name...


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## jade5280 (Feb 20, 2013)

That is so awesome!


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## InkedMarie (Mar 11, 2009)

That's awesome!


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

OHHHHH!!!!! HolycrapIWANNIT!!!!

I've been wanting to get another handheld GPS unit for myself......and Caeda's Dogtra is getting old.....but it certainly is expensive.....there is the Astro, which is a step down but still pricey. I remember now that Garmin bought Tritronics, looks like they're making full use of both product lines!


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

GS your right... There is always an option to buy used and refurbished collar and handset from dealers that will stand behind their sale. The older models still work and comparable to the newer models and use the exact same technology that the new ones are using . The Astro series and the D30.40's and new model T5's are all tracking (only) 

lots of older model of the (training and tracking) models for the Alpha, not sure what happen but they were in the process of releasing a new Alpha 200 that had radar on it give you a visual of anything approaching your dog or an idea what your dog is chasing lol lol lol .. guess you would correct a dog in the field not to chase after unappropriated wild life for them to get back to their task. I haven't seen it listed for sale yet, but it will mean that the Alpha 100 will soon become the older model.

do think there are other reasonable and reliable cost options out there.. 

right now am seeing how long the battery will last after the first 5 hour charge setting them up... They worked a full night 5pm until 9am on a 2.5 second update rate Abhik used 1 bar, and Arka used 2 bars on his battery.. The collars are back on tonight starting at 5pm and will see were we are at in the morning.... There are several adjustments on the handset that will use less battery life on the collars...


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

What an awesome 'toy'! And I can't think of a better test pair either.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

this is where this is going to come in handy for me... feeling confident to let the dogs do their job after dark... across the street from my property is broken down road equipment two road graders and a bulldozer, been there for 10 years now and always a violent point of interest for the dogs from the back yard area to go crazy in that direction after it gets dark.. Having access Arka was smart enough to tear through the barn and right at the creep.. 5 seconds top from the house to that corner with a guy actually there to start walking down the road away from us... in a direction that is nothing but vacant open pasture and a dead end road... ???? at 9pm at night in the dark.. I had street lights put in years ago to light up my second property along the homestead fence line in that corner that it lights up that section of the road where the equipment is to be able to see the guy start walking on the road from the graders.. totally strange in the middle of no where without a car just walking around in the dark.. Kudos for Arka for being so keen and fast ... he's the black line on the map.... too much distance out here to cover in the dark.. night vision cameras have been useless....


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Good boy Arka... I wonder, since it is their duty to protect your property, do they intentionally patrol the grounds throughout the day and check specific points or do they more stay in a base area and head out only if they hear/see/smell something off?

Also, hearing stories about the shady characters around your area over the years... Do you need to teach your dogs not to eat (potentially poisoned) food it offered or thrown at them? Sorry, not meaning to get off topic. Just seeing the lines on your snapshot made me think more in depth about guard dogs.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

nothing is off topic for this thread.. is about dogs and gps trackers.. I just started opening that side free play area off the barn for Arka and Abhik to have access to at night when nothing should be moving around out in this area.. During the day it is now normal for more traffic coming in and out for the commercial MJ grows trying to get their businesses built in this area... I have always kept the dogs off the frontal property road area during the day and kept them to the backyard area.. No need for them to get upset at people doing normal things during the day, like riding a horse, or kids on their bikes, and traffic that has business on the road those are not the targets to get upset over.. They do alert about it,, but they quick to calm and let it go and not have it become an obsession in their daily behavior.. 

The poison thing was the first thing that crossed my mind..... It's well know it's worked before ... All you have to do is drive by and toss it out the window.. I've never trained for it before.... Arka had an opportunity at the vet office to take a treat and he didn't take it when offered.. (But it was a really crappy treat wasn't a miracle that he didn't take it) Vet tech did it so quickly while I was paying my bill I didn't see it was about to happen to tell no don't offer him food.... I didn't say anything at the last moment, to give Arka the wrong impression that he should be eating people at the vet clinic. Vet clinic should always be a safe place in Arka's eyes.. and talked to the tech after the fact not to offer to feed Arka for Arkas protection.. 

Have a K9 guy that lives West of me,, he hates driving over the mountains my way as much as I hate driving over the mountains towards his directions. I'll give him a call tomorrow about training for it.... An hour later two vehicles came down the road "is it a coincidence that two vehicles came from the same direction of where the guy was walking away .. ??? Arka seen them coming and ran to the fence at the road, I was walking in that direction myself just walked out the side of the barn as they were crossing the dry wash area and then they stopped on the road right before the corner of my fence.. I was half way to the front of the property and just coming out of the dark into lighted area where you could see someone being there... And they started moving again passing the property and leaving out.. Just weird behavior.. why stop on the road like that... Makes me worry that they thinking it's just them and the dog with no one around.. and that they safe because of the new frontal fence.... I'm jaded from past experiences not to feel their behavior is coincidence... ...


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

Just a FYI on batteries ...

It looks like that they are using Lithium Ion batteries which are the same battery technology as cell phones. They typically don't have memories like nickel cadmium batteries do which is great but you do want to have them discharge all the way down (almost empty about 15% left) once in a while to get a full discharge/charge cycle. Of course if you are only using a little bit of battery per night it may take a while when you do try to discharge them totally. Being these batteries are similar to cell phone they may be good for about 2 years and then have a sudden drop off in performance, that is what I have noticed with the cell phone batteries in my family (I also repair medical equipment and have seen that there as well); if for some reason you see a sudden change in battery life usage suspect the battery first vs a problem with the collar. Also, it takes a few charge cycles to get the most out of the battery as far as life is concerned so you may see the battery life increase after a few chargings. Garmin claims that you can get 20-40 hours of use from the battery which is great considering in the winter you may be dealing with over 12 hours of darkness (5P to 6A) and if you find you do run close to being too low on battery I would think adjusting the broadcast frequency to 5 seconds would give you additional time.

Sometimes technology is great! But it is a shame you need this technology!!


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

I was wondering about the battery always use to hear when cell phones first came out that you had to discharge them first. Good to know if I had to , it wouldn't hurt them to charge them earlier.. Arkas battery died after 5am so that was 16 hours the first night and 12 hours last night for a 28 hour time frame at high usage setting.. Can change the settings for less usage and also able to go into a rescue mode that turns everything down to extend the battery life. Abhik still has one bar left this morning also at the highest usage settings.. All good on that. yes it's a shame to need it... or to even think you need it...


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Wow, that is really cool!


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

Have Adele on the T5 tracking only collar tonight with Arka on the TT15 training collar using the Alpha 100 receiver.. I paired Adele's first time to the receiver and ???? it whiped out all my map and geo fencing set up I had, even had to repair and re add Arka's collar... have to call Garmin and see how these two collars work together on the same receiver..... The training collars can't work on the Astro tracking only receiver.. kind of bummed that I will have to re do my geo fence...


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

I had a download to my handset that might of wiped everything out to have to start all over.. Have everyone loaded... Adele and J have the T5's Arka and Abhik are on the TT15's cool thing about it is ,, when Adele does the freeze and think it's funny for me not being able to see a black dog 5 feet in front of me in the dark... I just set her collar lights to start flashing lol lol lol .... NO MORE having fun with mommy for her....


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

Pleasant surprise doing new pasture fence training with Arka and Adele.. Adele is on the T5 tracking only collar paired on the Alpha 100 handset... The handset still alerts to the set geo boundaries on the homestead and also alerts when setting a radius alert for the T5 collar... I didn't expect it.. Thought you needed the TT15 training collars for that.. am very happy now since I have 2 TT15 for Arka and Abhik to use the tone on them and that also the T5's for J and Adele will still have a great benefit for the other alerts on the homestead areas..

Arka and Adele cooling off before we head back towards the homestead.... still walking the area with them.. Always like changing gear doing the same training so it's not linked to anything particular gear,,.... Arka really loving his Julius k9 harness..


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

first attempt for a tone recall home unassisted worked.... Only been using it once every other day while walking on lead out in the pasture.. One long tone, then command house and ending out pasture time to come all the way back to the house.. Arka was out in the front property with the other dogs.. I left to come in the house leaving them behind to look for rabbits.. Toned him once I was inside... Am sure it's less likely to work if he is actually engaged on something .... but for right now it's a start .. Keep doing the assist out in the pasture for now.. cool that he got it without me and without a verbal command..


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

That's great it's working well. I'm kind of a tech geek so I find this interesting. Unfortunately with a small property (approx. 1/3 acre) and a fenced in yard I don't have a need for it.

Have you found that the batteries have a little more life now that you've used them for a while?

When I looked it up, the specs say it's good for 9 miles, is that 9 miles from the receiver or from the "base camp"? Does your computer see the tracking without being hooked up to the handset?


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

am very stoked  for performance so far. Am using the highest settings and yes the battery on the collars has improved. was using 2 bars on a night shift and now it's only using 1 bar for the same night shift

its 9 miles from the receiver so if your out driving around, you will be expanding your area.. there is two antenna's that come with the receiver, one is a long range that I haven't tried, comes with a car charger too for the receiver.

No the computer can not see or receive information when the receiver is not hooked up to the computer.. I like that you can attach it to your lap top and take it with you get a larger view if you had a lost dog driving around for them. and that you don't need internet or cell phone service...

you can send information wireless, haven't looked into to know exactly what and how it does..

wanted to add::::: that if you are a trial hiker , traveler or camper... you can set up a geo fence or radius boundary anywhere . .. if I had this when I was traveling with my GSD to my relatives my dogs would be wearing them lol lol ... nothing scares me more then the dogs getting lost in an area that I don't live..


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## Dog Person (Sep 14, 2012)

Thanks for the info!

I wasn't sure if the collars would ping a GPS satellite and show up on a computer without the receiver. But as you said having it in a car or even the laptop does make it very versatile.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

been working off just the receiver today, trying to get use to not having a huge screen to watch.. It's not so bad looking at an area of the property that is a satellite view seeing all the property details, hard fencing, buildings that I am familiar with. 

The Alpha 100 with a TT15 collar bundle came with a free year subscription to Birds eye view which gives you the google earth type view.. There is no monthly subscription to use this system you can buy more detail maps or pay like $26.00 for a year of the Birds eye which allows you to down load any areas you want to put into your device.. and they do have land mark areas all ready done... There is no real streets out here so it's easier for me to use the Birds eye view ... for faster reference and direction..


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

still doing well. you can de-clutter the live viewing map which will erase the track lines of where the dogs have been a little bit at a time, but each individual dog still keeps the entire tracking information map for you to save. some nights are more active then others for Arka and Abhik so it's night to take a glance getting an alarm and have a clear view to following what is going on.. Still getting solid information, even though Abhik has chewed on her extended antenna wire and Arka's antenna too have some pretty hard chewing on it.


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

still going strong using both the TT15 and T5's.. if I wasn't interested in trying to teach tone alerts with the TT15 collars... The T5 tracking only collars with the Alpha receiver give you all you need for keeping track of where your dogs are and being alerted if they leave /enter into different areas or near certain points.. Wonder if you could mark a point in your house (lets say like for counter surfing the kitchen, or the litter box in the bathroom) to get an alert for that lol ... Love the Base came software having the bigger screen to watch at the beginning.. Now I carry the receiver with me all the time while I am getting more done and not worried about being distracted,, leaving all the gates open on the homestead property while the dogs are out running around doing their own thing.. Funny with all that new freedom, they usually are hanging out on the back deck lol lol ... Only when there is something going on passing the property do the dogs alert to run out to that location... Blind spot at the horses barn, near the road that the neighbors and the neighbors kids like to stop at thinking they undetected... NOPE the dogs are quick to dash out of the back yard into the front property right to that corner, right to where people have been entering off the road through the barb wire fence.. Its only a horse panel barrier since it is an interial property fence from the front property into the horses pasture/ corral area, I want the dogs to be able to get through it.... when truly motivated.. Anything after dark is especially free game... only a few serious hits on that area from 10 pm to 2 am and it's been really quiet for that blind spot never knowing if the dogs are out and have access... Dogs did find meat on the property by the front fence line 3 days after an incident in that area.. (vehicle stopped on the road then took off when the dogs came running after dark) not sure how much as Arka might of eaten it... (for his breed he shouldn't have  ,, it caught my attention,,, to know something was on the ground when Abhik was also focused in on something on the ground but she didn't eat it.. File a report with what I found... 

The fun part doing some off leash pasture night training is turning their collar lights to a slow flash.. Doing a lot of day on leash training, work towards introducing day off leash training... working up to some night on leash training.. and 2 so far short off leash night training... again on the back pasture anything lurking around 4 or 2 legged at 10pm to 2am is free game not to worry about the dogs taking off on something... and knowing if they did take off I would know exactly where they gone off too..

lots of good training opportunities with the collars.. Right now Abhik is in her first heat... so she has the collar on all the time even in the barn where she is secure in her kennel with the barn door closed... she leaves that barn I'll know about it... And if she leaves the house when it's her turn to rotate with Arka I'll know about it... also helps me keep track of where Arka is lol... getting more done then needing to mind the dogs every single second...


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## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

Good to hear the collars are doing their jobs. I hope Arka is alright from that meat! Did you induce vomiting? I'd be very wary...


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

Nope didn't have anything for that at the time... He was fine afterwards this time,.. there was another time I feel something(s) where happening close together a year ago during the night.. I had walked out to the horses corral the next morning and found the pasture side corral gate closed ( ??) the horses had pushed on a panel in the back of the barn where the back yard is and the dogs had clawed through it and I had thought there might of been someone trying to come on the property for them to force themselves through it. I had it blocked with a horse panel after that.. but you could still see through it to know there was a hole there.. Calculated for someone to come back on the property after dark and close the gate at the horses corral, so if the dogs did go through the barn again they couldn't rush out into the pasture because now the gate was closed.. during that time Arka stopped working completely, his gums were all white, he stay'd curled up on the deck for a week.. Local vet was no help... They so use to playing this cat and mouse game for years now, had no support for the other dogs getting sick and needing to do emergency PTS once their bodies got saturated and shut down. Arka is going to have to live up to his breed dealing with these people or he will end up like my chow hound GSD's who were easily sway'd and baited until it killed them.. Good news is Adele is not a fool and she is not interested in food from strangers she is the only left that was confronted and fought back while I was gone from the property... Hardest thing is telling the new VETS to stop trying to force feed them food... to work with them... they don't need it to work with the dogs and it's a bad thing for the dogs to learn taking food from people.....


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

got to track down my first on the run dog (J)... was doing work with the tractor and took a look at the hand held seeing all kinds of crazy tracks in the wrong places.. shut the tractor off brought up go to J on the map to see her trotting around outside the backyard out in the pasture. When I called her name she turned around and started heading back .. hit the compass to get a direction and there she was coming back to the horses corral from the pasture. Immediately felt better seeing she changed direction for the better when I called her name. Checking over the whole track record I could see she went through her normal gate areas and not a down fence section on the property...


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

an update... had some software cliches, Garmin tech support is awesome for wanting to spend the time on the phone and go through trouble shooting steps on the device with you and wait for the results.. did a hard reboot on the handset. Did learn that when I check for updates and it say's no new updates that I should go ahead and hit next.. and I was mixing the newest update... Garmin express , and base camp also will search for updates.. but the Garmin Web Updater program is the best to use .. plug the receiver or the collars into the usb on the computer and then open the web updater program.. don't hesitate to call Garmin for help...

The other thing I've been doing in saving my tracks.. and going back over them You can pull up a current track map, or a saved one. ( I do it in basecamp on the computer for a larger image) click on the track and the written data base window opens to scroll through... based on your update time (mine is at 2.5 seconds) the data file list feet traveled the time frame .02 how fast (mph) the exact gps location and when you click on the data file entry it will high light the section on the actual track

very interesting .. When I was younger I did read a book about the behaviors of lost people.. and this is as interesting watching the dogs movements and time and reaction as the book was .. just cool...

on collar I picked up this information.... 

how fast can a LGD move in .02 seconds when they motivated 
( 59 ft in .02 seconds 20 mph ) just a data stamp from the garmin collar when Arka alerted for a strange vehicle that pulled in at the main gate to turn around. the rest of the data before that was all ( zero's ) for over 4 hour time span lol ... am always amazed how fast they are in a split second.. think it's cool.. still finding things about the abilities.. and that it can be used as a stand along gps unit if your not using the dogs...


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## PatriciafromCO (Oct 7, 2012)

still enjoying the collars, even though Abhik has chewed up all the antennas pulling on the other dogs the signal is still strong and clear. Will have to get replacements in the near future just to have on hand. But for right now it's a work in progress to teach Abhik not chew on Arka's antenna. Was watching the receiver and knew it was not the right behaviors for the dogs.. Both dogs were all over the place going every where non stop.. No, that is not Arka's normal outside behavior.. so I went outside to go look.. It was Abhik she had pulled Arka's collar off (by the antenna and was running all over the property with it in her mouth... So proud of her self ... lol


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## dashosh (Mar 4, 2019)

I have exactly the same model and it works amazing for me and my dogs. It's been 6 years though and the battery seems to be slowly dying. I am curious is it cheaper to replace batteries if there are any... I was not able to find so far.

I check this article about different Garmin collars I am thinking maybe switching to a cheaper model e.g. Astro 430/T5. Seems to be cheaper and have GPS as well as GLONASS system and that's exactly what I need. Have anyone tried that collar?


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## LittleFr0g (Jun 11, 2007)

dashosh said:


> I have exactly the same model and it works amazing for me and my dogs. It's been 6 years though and the battery seems to be slowly dying. I am curious is it cheaper to replace batteries if there are any... I was not able to find so far.
> 
> I check this article about different Garmin collars I am thinking maybe switching to a cheaper model e.g. Astro 430/T5. Seems to be cheaper and have GPS as well as GLONASS system and that's exactly what I need. Have anyone tried that collar?


5 year old thread.


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