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ALPHA LTE Stops Range Problems
-- Losing radio signal on a regular basis?
-- Alpha LTE fills those gaps and saves you time.
-- No more "back to the truck" to get the long-range antenna.
An annual $50 LTE subscription is required (per collar) to use the Alpha LTE.
Garmin ALPHA LTE Overview
Track your dogs using LTE cellular technology for greater range.
Pair with an Alpha VHF dog tracking system (see compatible systems below) to use both VHF and LTE tracking for extra range and safety.
Smart Switching automatically changes between LTE and VHF to give you the best available signal on your paired Alpha handheld.
See your dog's movements on your compatible smartphone with the Alpha app.
Garmin ALPHA LTE Features
Track your dog using LTE cellphone networks for longer range
Use with your smartphone as a standalone device or as a "companion" to a compatible Alpha VHF tracking system
Pair your phone to your Garmin dog tracking system and hunt with a redundant tracking system that uses both LTE and VHF signals
Smart switching technology automatically changes between LTE and VHF tracking to give you the best available signal on your Garmin dog tracking system
Multi-GNSS lets you access multiple global navigation satellite systems to track with better reception and more accuracy than GPS alone
Multicolor LED beacon lights help you see your dog in low-light conditions
Even if your dog's not that far away from you, but you're losing radio signal on a regular basis, the Alpha LTE can fill in those gaps. There are going to be situations where I'm not gonna know exactly where my dog is, and it's gonna save me the time of having to go back to the truck to get the long range antenna to determine if I need to go pick my dog up. And that's what I'm looking for with this particular system.
Alright. Today, we're gonna take a look at the Garmin Alpha LTE tracking system. LTE is a stand alone tracking system that works off of the LTE cellular network. You can track your dog as a stand alone device using just your cell phone, but it is also designed to work with the Garmin Alpha ecosystem.
Pretty much everything that you can track with the new Alpha system. So Alpha ten, two hundred, three hundred, any of the collars that you can track with that, the alpha LTE will pair up with that. The alpha LTE is primarily designed for folks that are already running the alpha ecosystem of of collar. It is designed to be used in what's called companion mode with the collars that you have.
It's for folks that are running in areas where they're losing radio signal between their handheld and their collar. For folks, they've got dogs that outrun the range of their system. You've got a dog that is working way past what your handheld can do in the field at a mile to a mile and a half, I'm gonna lose the radio signal on my handheld. But with the Alpha LTE, I can get that range.
It's also designed for folks that are hunting in terrain that is difficult for the radio signal. And if if I'm on one side of a hill and my dog's on the other, there's a pretty good chance that I'm gonna drop that radio signal. The cellular signal is gonna get through that. Even if your dog's not that far away from you, but you're losing radio signal on a regular basis, the Alpha LTE could fill in those gaps.
Garmin Alpha LTE can solve your range problems. The Alpha LTE is also a complete backup for your Garmin tracking collars. If you were to have a collar failure while your dog's out in the field, the Alpha LTE works as a stand alone unit and would allow you to track your dog outside of using the standard Garmin radio frequency system.
So in the grand scheme of things, this is not that expensive of a backup. The units are three hundred dollars, and then a one year subscription is gonna be fifty dollars. That's per collar. It's just not that expensive as far as a backup for my dog's tracking system. The Alpha LTE system works on the cellular network. You've gotta have a cell signal on both ends. The dog has to be in inside the network, and you have to be inside the network.
You only need the slightest amount of signal. If you can send a text message, you'll be able to track on this. You need four things for an Alpha LTE system to work. You need the Alpha LTE collar, a subscription for the Alpha LTE collar, smart phone that can download the Alpha app, and then you need to be on the the four g LTE network.
Let's talk about how the Alpha LTE system works. There are two different ways to run the alpha LTE. You can either run it in standalone mode where you're just using the alpha LTE collar to track or you can run it in what's called companion mode where it is linked to your actual Garmin GPS tracking. Alpha LTE stand alone mode is gonna just be the Alpha LTE collar, and it's gonna be your smartphone.
I've got the Alpha app loaded onto my smartphone. Sync the two of them up together, and then you'll be tracking using the map feature on your smartphone. So you've gotta be somewhere where you've got, you know, cell phone signal. Doesn't require a lot of cell phone signal, but both the collar and the phone have to be in network for it to work.
One of the downsides of stand alone mode in this product is battery life. Because in stand alone mode, it's relying on the LTE network all the time. You're gonna have a shorter battery life than you will in companion mode. Depending on the update rate that you're using, your battery life is gonna range between about eleven hours of run time up to about forty five with the longest update rate.
Alright. Let's talk about the Alpha LTE in companion mode. The LTE collar is paired to my tracking collar. The Alpha handheld is paired to the smartphone app.
When I have VHF radio signal between the collar and the handheld, I'm not using the LTE network. Once I lose radio signal between the collar and the handheld, then the handheld is gonna tell my phone that I need the LTE signal. The phone then tells the LTE unit that we need to start tracking on the LTE network. Pulls information off the collar, it sends information to the phone, and then the phone sends information to my handheld.
And so I'm actually able to see my dog on the handheld. The the beauty of it is is that you can keep your cell phone in your pocket. They're bluetooth together, so the information that's coming off of your phone is going on to your alpha handheld. Now you need your cell phone and you need the app open for it to work, but you're not having to use the cell phone when you're tracking your dog.
All of the tracking is done from your alpha handheld. Alright. Companion mode battery life, because you're not having to use the LTE network the entire time you're running, the battery life is gonna be longer in companion mode. In companion mode, you can get up to about seventy five hours of runtime in companion mode.
This is my favorite part. It's really cool. What I like about it is let me go back. So I'm in compass mode, and when you select on it, you have your regular, and then you have your, alpha LTE. And so when you're in companion mode, you could see, but, you know, signal on both.
And it tracks, you know, when you're in LTE mode, it tracks the same. Alright. Garmin Alpha LTE. A few things to remember.
This is a new product. We are expecting some changes in software. It doesn't work with a five fifty plus in a companion mode. It doesn't work with the watches.
I'm expecting to see that change over time. Remember that you've got to have a smartphone.
You know, you've gotta have a charge on that phone, and it has to have the app open. The Alpha LTE requires an annual subscription for each collar. The Garmin Alpha LTE is tracking only. It does not have any sort of stem, vibe, or tone options at this time.
Another thing that you cannot do with the Alpha LTE is change settings on your collar through the LTE network. You do have the ability, the running lights that are on the Alpha LTE, and you can change that through the network. So if you're in a low light situation and you wanna turn the tracking running lights on, you can do that. Right now, in companion mode, I recommend that you pair it and put it on the same collar strap.
That just makes life a little bit easier, but we do offer it with a collar strap if you need it that way. So when you place your order, there's a drop down menu. You can just select collar strap if you need one.
Alright. So this is Garmin's first foray into tracking systems using, LTE cellular technology. I'm pretty pleased with it overall, but it is very specific for certain customers. There are a lot of places that I hunt that I don't have a cell phone signal.
And so it's just not gonna work for me in those situations. So you've really kinda gotta know where you're gonna be running your dog. Places where you do have a signal and it does not require an enormous amount of signal. If you've got just a you know, if your phone is showing a network, it's gonna work.
Your phone's dropped into SOS mode and and or you're showing just nothing, it's not gonna work in those areas. So you need to make that decision prior to buying this product as to whether or not it's gonna work in the situations for you.
But overall, I've been incredibly pleased with what I have seen from this right off the bat. In North Dakota last week, and I was way out in the boonies. And I was able to track, you know, the entire time. A lot of places that you wouldn't think that you would have a signal, you know, you have enough signal for this to work. So it's a neat device.
As a stand alone, I'm not as happy with it. But in companion mode, I've been really pleased with how it works, and I'll be running it next year. But overall, it's a pretty neat system, and I'm expecting some changes on it in the near future. Alright. So I will be running this is the setup that I will be running on my dogs this year. It's basically gonna be a twenty five.
This is actually a regular battery, but it'll be a twenty five with an alpha LTE on the strap.
As a general rule, I hunt off foot and my dogs, while they're big running dogs, you know, for bird dogs, they're not gigantic running dogs. But I have a few that have an all age background and they have a tendency to occasionally play that game.
If I if I lose range on a dog, what happens after that just depends on some things.
As a general rule, it it's gonna come down to what's the weather and where am I hunting.
But if I don't pick a signal up relatively soon, I'm typically going to go back to my truck, get a long range antenna.
Usually, you know, when I hook up the long range antenna, I'll immediately get a signal. I'll figure out where the dog is. I'll drive to pick him up, and then I'll start hunting again.
Going forward, I may not have to do that as much because being able to tap into the LTE network, even if my dog gets out of, you know, regular radio frequency range, the LTE is gonna pick up, and now I'm gonna know where that dog is. In the past, if I didn't have a signal, the debate was, okay, do I keep moving forward to find my dog, or do I go back to my truck? You know, because as I'm pushing to that dog, he's pushing away and and we're both getting further away from the truck. And so, you know, in a situation where I don't know exactly where he is, if the weather's hot or if we're hunting somewhere that that that he has the opportunity to get to a road, you know, I'm gonna wanna pick him up as soon as possible.
So I'm gonna go back to my truck and I'm gonna go from there. You know? And you just can't carry a big enough antenna on your person to track at long distances.
And so so those are situations where I would go back to the truck, you know, to hunt, to pick up a dog that's lost. Now by having the alpha LTE on here, I'm gonna be able to track that dog at a longer range, and I'll have a better idea of, okay. Yeah. He stretched out this way, but I can turn him.
Or if I go this way, I can cut him off. And so I'll just know a lot more. And at that point, I'll be able to make a a more informed decision as to whether or not when I've got a dog that that that's stretched out on me, if I really need to go to the truck or if I can pick him up in the direction that I wanna hunt. And so it's gonna change the way that I do some stuff.
So I'm I'm I'm excited to see how that works out for me. So the advantage that that the Alpha LTE system is going to give me is that there are going to be situations where I'm not gonna know exactly where my dog is, and it's gonna save me the time of having to go back to the truck to get the long range antenna to determine if I need to go pick my dog up. And that's what I'm looking for with this particular system. Now the other thing that's a deal for me is that this will give me a backup system on my dog.
I have been very fortunate in the last what? We've been running, you know, Garmin collars for fifteen years. I think I've had one or two collar failures in that time period as far as where something went wrong with a collar on a dog in the field.
And that's that's pretty good, especially because I run a lot of prototype stuff and and I'm sometimes testing software, and so sometimes I'm running stuff that's a little on the sketchy side. And so, so having this as a backup is something that's just gonna make me feel a little bit more comfortable.
As a general rule, I don't need a backup to find my dogs. As a general rule, I'm able to track my dogs, and I don't lose signal. And so it's one of those things that, you know, nine times out of ten, it's it's not something that I'm gonna need. But every once in a while, I have a couple of dogs. I've got young dogs. I've got I've got three young dogs right now that are are all wanting to run and they're, you know, they're running straight lines and they're just leaving the country.
And then I've got a couple of older dogs that every once in a while, they'll stretch out. The cowboy still occasionally likes to leave the country. And so, so having this as an option is just gonna let me know what's going on, but having it as a backup, it's just gonna make me feel better about being able to find my dogs if something were to go wrong.
Already used successfully the Garmin Alpha LTE to track a lost dog in the mountains of Lost River WV. Just need to remember to MANUALLY turn the tracker on daily for use.
Pros
Charging cradle works well. Love the use of a phone to track. Tracked 1 1/2 miles to within 30 feet of lost dog.
Cons
Original Garmin LTE collar could be size appropriate. One size does not fit all dogs so, a small, medium or large collar size option would prevent a second supply order for a replacement.
By Kevin
Hadley, PA
Works well
August 16, 2024
It was easy to set up with the app. Waterproof thus far. Light weight. I like having a map rather than just a directional arrow with distance. Provides peace of mind to know the dogs whereabouts. I would gladly choose this again.
Pros
Light weight. Reasonably priced.
Cons
Need to have the cell phone in addition to the e-collar. Subscription required but it is not expensive. Needs charged daily.
By Daniel
Ct
Hopefully Great
August 16, 2024
Love the idea that Garmin has finally come out with a tracker that you can pair to your phone with your phone with cellular technology, seems Long overdue!,, The tracker Works great and is Super easy to set up. The issue I have with it so far is that the maps On the app,could be more detailed and tracker could give a much closer actual position of your dog in terms of feet away. Hopefully, they update the app quickly and improve this feature, and it will be great!! My biggest concern is that Garmin wants you to keep using the Alpha handhelds with this tracker. I believe the vast majority of people want LTE tracking for just their phones!!,,and not combined with the Alpha ,,The dog tracking market is so huge hopefully they make the realization That trackers sold to hunters is a small market and trackers for pet owners is massive ,, I just happen to be both and this LTE to your phone is the the wave of the future hopefully Garmin improves the app quickly !!
Pros
Cost effective and cellular tracking ,, supporting a family business in this day and age is very important!!,, love that Steve takes the to do in depth fantastic reviews on his products,, makes all the difference in the world , if every business was run like this it would be a much better world to live!!
Cons
App needs improvement
CA Residents: WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - P65Warnings.ca.gov.
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