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Garmin's Astro 320 GPS handheld offers nine-mile coverage, keeps your hunting dogs in line
Before you and your pooches head out to hunt innocent ducks this year, you might wanna check out Garmin's new Astro 320 dog tracker -- a handheld GPS device designed to help hunters keep even closer tabs on their four-legged sentries. The latest addition to the Astro family can simultaneously track up to ten hunting dogs per receiver, with a revamped antenna and three-axis electronic compass covering up to nine miles of flat terrain. Boasting a 20-hour battery life, the 1.7GB handheld can also tell hunters whether their canines are running or pointing, while its mapping capabilities provide their precise coordinates relative to powerlines, buildings, and individual trees. All this information is displayed on a 2.6-inch display, where users will be able to access 100k or 24k topographic and satellite maps. A keypad lock function, meanwhile, will make sure you don't accidentally press any buttons while you're in the thick of a hound-led hunt. The handheld will be available in July for $500, with the full system (including a DC 40 tracking collar) priced at $650. You can flip through the gallery below for images of some antenna-toting doggies, or head past the break for a more testosterone-laced pic and the full PR. %Gallery-125121%
Garmin upgrades its doggone Astro tracking system with DC 40 collar GPS tracker
Chances are the closest you've come to hunting with a pooch is swearing at that giggle-happy mutt who shames your every miss in Duck Hunt. In the real world, dogs are sent out to flush game and track down new things to shoot at, often way out of sight. Garmin's Astro receiver, combined with the DC 30 collar tracker (pictured above), made it easy to keep the all seeing eye on your very own mutt even when miles away, and now the DC 40 makes it even easier. The DC 40 sports a redesign that should make it a more reliable companion, including a new charging connector that won't get clogged with mud. Also new is the ability to create a PIN so that other Astro users can't spy (and possibly even steal) your pooches. The Astro receiver can track up to 10 hounds at once at seven miles of range, and will even let hunters mark where their companions scurried up some prey for future reconnaissance. The price? Garmin isn't saying just yet, but the current DC 30 and Astro receiver package goes for $599, and we'd expect this to cost about the same, though the DC 40 collar unit itself is also said to be available separately if you just want to make sure your hound has the latest couture. Update: Garmin was kind enough to send us a picture of the new DC 40, above.
