Handheld Battery

One of the new features of the Garmin ALPHA is a rechargeable battery pack in the handheld instead of using AA batteries like the Astro.

Garmin says that you are going to get between 16 and 20 hours from a full charge. The handheld battery must be inside the unit to be recharged.

The advantage of not using AA batteries is that it will save you some money on buying either replacement batteries or buying a set of rechargeable AAs and a charger. The downside to not using AA batteries is that you can't just throw some extra batteries in your pocket, and pop them in the handheld if it goes dead in the field.

The ALPHA comes with a Car Charger, so if you are working out of a vehicle or if your battery runs down and you need to track a dog, you can plug it into your 12 Volt on your car, plug that into the handheld, and it will track while it charges.

You also have the option of buying an additional backup battery pack in case you want an extra for in the field. This is what I recommend for folks like myself that hunt multiple days in a row and might need a backup.