Garmin Astro 900

Quick Overview

The new Garmin Astro 900 is perfect for our Canadian customers! Now operating on 900 MHz, the Astro 900 is compliant with Canadian restrictions and is perfect for those who spend a lot of time at field trials, running in pens or hunting large hunt clubs. Since the Astro 900 operates on a totally different frequency than the Alpha 100 and other Astro-series trackers, you’ll maintain communication without interference issues caused by surrounding Alpha and Astro systems.

Details

The newest addition to the GPS dog-tracking world is the Garmin Astro 900. Garmin has made some real improvements with the Astro 900 that are not available on the earlier Astro 320. The Astro 900 will be a great unit for anyone that that likes some of the main functions of the Alpha 100, but who prefer buttons as opposed to touchscreens or prefer a track-only option for more than 10 dogs. The Astro 900 GPS handheld has a slightly newer look to it, featuring an almost entirely bright-orange case that helps you recover a dropped unit in the woods. Another new feature is the option to use a rechargeable NiMH battery pack which means you can recharge the Astro unit at home or in the truck while driving.

Key Features of the Astro 900

• • New Frequency, less interference
• • Track up to 20 dogs
• • Reliability with high-sensitivity GPS and GLONASS satellite reception
• • 2.5-second update rate, providing faster location information
• • Preloaded TOPO maps of the U.S. and southern Canada
• • Hunt Metrics, which provides details on your dog’s speed, time in the field, and distance traveled
• • The 2.6-inch display is easily read in the sun, and the handheld housing comes in a bright orange color so that the Astro 900 is easily found in the field
• • Dog notifications tell you when your dog is “Treed” or “On-Point.”
• • You’ll be able to access a compass and barometric altimeter for navigation
• • This unit allows you to use rechargeable NiMH batteries or standard replaceable AA batteries
• • Added connectivity means you can use this system with the Garmin DriveTrack or Fenix products

Track up to 20 Dogs

A new improvement that will be very helpful for those running lots of dogs is the capability to track up to 20 dog GPS collars with the new Astro 900 handheld, with a range of up to 5 miles (8 kilometers). This is a great improvement over earlier Astros, which could only track 10 dogs.

Hunt Metrics

New to Garmin dog tracking, Hunt Metrics allows you to train dogs more effectively. You’ll be able to keep better track of your hunting and training times, see the distance your dog has traveled, their total time in the field, and much more. This helps you monitor your dog's progress in training and will be a helpful tool in fine-tuning your program to get the most from your tracking dogs.

Double U believes this will be a great feature for building your dog's stamina and training them for trials. We don’t yet understand the dog score or how accurate it will be, but we look forward to finding out more about how it works and getting feedback from our customers on how the dog score is working for them.

Like the Garmin Alpha 100 and the Astro 320, you are still able to see your tracking dog’s activity such as if your dog is running, treeing, barking or sitting. You will also still be able to use the 3-axis electronic compass and barometric altimeter on your Astro 900 dog tracking unit.

Customizable New Hunt

You can now customize what dogs you want to keep track information for and which dog tracks you want to clear when you start a new hunt.

Improved Tracking and Mapping

You can trust that the Astro 900 is going to keep a good eye on your pack with high-sensitivity GPS tracking. Thanks to advancements in satellite connectivity, it is now less likely for your collar to lose satellite reception while traveling through heavy cover or deep canyons. This is thanks to the highly sensitive top-mounted receiver that tracks with GLONASS and GPS satellites, nearly doubling the number of satellite connections. Now you can feel confident going into deep canyons or thick forests, and you’ll be able to keep better track of your dog's whereabouts using the high-speed 2.5-second update rate.

The Astro 900 handheld GPS comes preloaded with 100,000 topo maps that span the entire U.S., allowing you to start tracking right out of the box. These maps give you topographic detail, roads, creeks, streams, rivers, lakes, etc. If you want to use satellite imagery, Garmin has included a free 1-year Garmin BirdsEye subscription, which lets you load satellite maps onto your GPS handheld, letting you see detailed terrain from a different perspective than just plain Topo.

Additionally, the Astro 900 comes with a MicroSD slot that gives you even more mapping options by using products like huntview or landowner cards.

Go on your hunt prepared. With free trip planning with Basecamp, you can save your data or share an area with your friends and also always be familiar with where you are going before you go.

Faster Update Rate

The Astro 900 is capable of connecting to your collars as frequently as 2.5 seconds, allowing you to keep an even closer eye on your dogs.

DriveTrack

When you purchase the DriveTrack you can enable the Astro 900 to wirelessly transmit and share your dog list to the DriveTrack. This makes it much easier to track your dogs in your cab while hunting out of your truck.

Other Wearable Devices

The Astro 900 is also compatible with Garmin wearable watch devices. When paired with a Fēnix series watch, for example, you can see distance and direction of your dogs by simply looking down at your watch.

Change Collar Settings

Changing your collar setting while hunting is simple with the Astro. Change update rates and rescue mode at any distance (must have communication between Astro 900 handheld and T9 collar)

Compatibility

The Astro 900 is compatible with Garmin’s DriveTrack series vehicle tracking screens, the fēnix series GPS tracking watch, the Garmin VIRB Action camera, and ANT+ sensors like the Tempe dog box temperature gauge.

Compatible Devices:

• • T9 Tracking Collar
• • DriveTrack series in-vehicle dog trackers
  
• • Fenix series watches

Not Compatible:

• • Alpha 100 GPS
• • Astro 430 / 320 / 220 GPSs
• • TT10, TT15, TT15 mini
• • T5, T5 mini
• • DC50, DC40, DC30, DC20
• • Astro/Alpha aftermarket antennas
  

Track & Control Codes / Permission Codes

While using an Astro 900, you’ll be able to share dogs with other Astro or Alpha users but still remain in control of your own dogs. You’ can choose who can make changes to your collar system, like update rates and the ID, by sharing a permissions code that must be entered first.

State-of-the-Art GPS Tracking for Dogs

It is less likely for your GPS dog collar to lose satellite reception while hunting in heavy cover or deep canyons due to the highly sensitive top mounted GPS module that tracks with GLONASS technology. With GLONASS, both your handheld and collar are able to receive signals from a total of 49 earth orbiting satellites. That’s 21 more satellites than the 320 and early versions of the Astro.

Rescue Mode

Enabling Rescue Mode allows for increased battery life by dropping update rates down to 2-minute intervals when battery life decreases to less than 25%.

Quick Collar-Strap Changes

The Garmin T 9 uses the same collar strap design as the Garmin Alpha T5, TT15, and Astro DC50 collars. These collar straps are quick and easy to switch without the use of tools. Simply slide your collar straps through the integral channels on the Garmin T9.

Helpful Tone Indicator

Tone indication is a feature that came added to the Astro 430, and sounds off as audible feedback when adding a collar to your handheld or changing the settings. For example, when you change the dog type to “treeing dog,” your T9 will beep to let you know you have successfully completed the task.

Adjustable Dog Status

Using the updated Astro 900, you can change the status for each dog wearing a T9 to reflect what they’re doing. This lets your Astro know that when your dog is sitting idle he or she could be on point or has game treed.

Protective Antenna Sleeve

The T9’s antenna sleeve protects your antenna from wear and tear but also keeps it upright so as to receive satellite signals. The use of zip ties and electrical tape are no longer necessary with the protection of the T 9’s antenna sleeve.

Basecamp

The Garmin Astro’s USB port plugs right into your laptop allowing for the use of Basecamp to track your dogs when hunting out of your truck.

Battery Life

Garmin estimates the Astro 900 run time is up to 20 hours, however in our real-life experience we have had a difficult time getting 20 hours. We have seen as little as 4.5-5 hours of battery when using it consistently with a full 20 dog list.

Highly Visible Design

The Astro 900 comes with a vibrant, bright hunter’s orange case, which will make finding your Astro GPS much easier—if you happen to drop it.

The newest in Garmin’s tracking-only technology, the Astro 900 is a must-have!

Buddy’s review of the Astro 900

For those who hunt in relatively close proximity to other hunters, interference can be a problem. Additional collars can reduce your device’s range from interference. For some customers, switching to the 900 could help relieve this problem, as Garmin has added a total of 1000 channels to the device—a step up from the 100 channels that the Alpha 100 and previous Astros utilize. This benefits the Astro 900 by performing better in “high collar traffic” situations.

This device will be good for pen and field trial hunters who are hunting with a lot of dogs in close proximity. When mounted to a stock antenna, in our tests the Alpha handhelds perform similarly to the Astro 900. Where we see the Alpha perform better is when they are connected to a long-range antenna, but for those who don’t need such a long range, the Astro 900 is certainly comparable to the Alpha systems.

Pros:

• Interference can often be an issue when tracking your dogs. The Astro 900 tackles this problem by giving you 1000 channel options—whereas the earlier Astros and Alphas only include about 100 channels. This keeps interference down and improves tracking ability.

Con:

• Unfortunately we haven't found many options for external antennas on the Astro 900 and just don't see the performance gains like we do on the Alpha and other Astros.