Garmin International, a division of Garmin, the worldwide leader in satellite navigation, has introduced the DC 40 tracking collar that is an improvement over the widely used Astro GPS-based dog tracking system.
This system is used along with an Astro 220 receiver for pinpointing the location and activities of the user’s dog exactly even in regions having dense cover up to a distance of seven miles, based on the terrain.
Garmin High sensitivity GPS-enabled dog tracking system
The DC 40 is positioned on a collar strap, one inch in size and coated with durable orange polyurethane, along with the GPS puck. In the earlier version, the GPS puck was placed on the collar’s top and now it has been integrated in the main housing of the unit. Now dog owners will be able to combine standard e-collar receivers with the DC 40, obviating the requirement of placing two collars on a dog.
Garmin has also redesigned the charging connection, which results in charger being clamped on the housing that does not have any recess area for mud accumulation. The collar’s reconfigured LED charging light flashes during the charging process and when completely charged, has a solid glow.
Collar Lock is a new feature and an option that permits users to develop a four-digit PIN number so that other people cannot see the dog’s whereabouts. This feature will be useful for trial judges who can make sure that the Astro can be used like a recovery tool when a dog is lost during a competition.
The user-friendly system needs very little out of the box configuration. Once the transmitter and receiver acquire the GPS signal, users automatically come to know their dog’s location.
There are no setup fees or subscriptions or setup for using this gadget.
Astro is able to monitor a maximum of ten dogs per receiver simultaneously, with the collar providing updates at intervals of user-selectable 5, 10, 30 or 120 seconds.