E Collars

I’m starting to research E collars for the pup. I realize that this is somewhat of a Ford/Chevy or Marcum/Vexilar topic, but:

1) What do/have you used?
2) Likes/dislikes?
3) Type of dog? (pointer or not?)

The trainer I’ve been talking with recommended the Dogtra 2500 T&B. I like the beeper since my pup is a pointer, and I like that the beeper and receiver are one unit, so there is less bulk around the neck. It does not have a “vibrate” function–I’m not sure if that is a big deal or not.

I’ve looked a bit at comparable Sport Dog and Garmin/Tri-Tronics offerings, but their beepers seem so much larger. Ripley will be a big dog, so that’s probably not much of an issue, but more compact seems better, in my eyes.

We have a Dogtra and really like it. Don’t have any comparisons, but no complaints.

I have a tri-tronics. 9 years old. Still works great. Use it daily.

Not sure it’s a ford/Chevy thing though. Spend the money to get a good one and you’ll be very happy.

biggill wrote:

Not sure it’s a ford/Chevy thing though. Spend the money to get a good one and you’ll be very happy.

Well, the big players in the e collar game all seem to make good products, so I think it’s all about finding the features that you want/need. This is my first collar (and first bird dog), so knowing what I need/want is the battle. I’d tend to trust the trainer, but I’m just looking for some other opinions as these things are not cheap.

I guess decide on the features you want. There are basically 3.

1. Dog hears beep or vibration
2. You hear beep (pointer location)
3. Dog rides lightning.

Mine just has beep for dog and lightning. I dont use it anymore on my current dog.

I have a Sportdog Sporthunter 1225. I really like it and it has never failed me and the battery life is very good. My brother uses one of the newer Garmin units with GPS. It is really neat but isn’t necessary for me.

404 ERROR wrote:

My brother uses one of the newer Garmin units with GPS. It is really neat but isn’t necessary for me.

Yes, that seems excessive to me, but for what a good gun dog costs, I can see why some people go that route.

The thing that seems weird to me about that Dogtra is that the beeper will be pointing down, under the dogs head, wouldn’t it? I’m sure you can still hear it just fine but it seems like something that loud would be better directed away from the dog off the back of it’s neck like how it’s placed on other collars.

I have a pointer and use Sportdog 1875 without a beeper. In ~3 years the battery died once after leaving it in freezing car for a week or two and they shipped me a new one no problem. My dog chewed up the antenna once and the Sportdog rep at Cabelas gave me a new one for free. The battery lasts for a weekend of hunting with no problem, I don’t bring the charger with me anymore. Overall I’ve been really happy with it.

Feature wise it depends on how you you’ll train with the collar but for me it turned out I use nothing other than the continuous stim button and the dial to change level. I never use the “nick” option, I just tap the continuous button. I never use vibrate. I never use tone other than to check if I remembered to turn the collar on.

I’m Tritronics is or is one of the best. that being said I don’t think they make the field version anymore since being bought out by Garmin. with a pointer you may want the longer range of a pro collar, I guess only you can decide what you need. I hunt flushers that hunt close opposite of a pointer.

Bought a Dogtra 1900S from Trainer for my Lab. He said he never uses the Pager feature (non-stimulating vibration). After a command the dog either complies or gets a nick, no warning. I have only used the continuous stimulation once when she was starting to range too far away and not listening. THAT got her attention.

Nice Fella wrote:

After a command the dog either complies or gets a nick, no warning.

My GSP hates the shock function so much that he responds IMMEDIATELY to my command if I sound the beep function…I’ve have to nick him once or twice and that was it…It’s almost comical how fast he turns on a dime and corrects his behavior when he hears the beep…

I use the Garmin Alpha which is a collar, trainer, GPS combo on my Pudelpointer and have been 100% satisfied with this collar.
It has tone, vibrate, electric stimulation and in the settings you can set it so if your dog is on point it will emit a tone and vibrate on the handheld part to let you know the dog is on point then if need be you can just fallow the GPS screen to find the dog. (I do also use a bell or sometimes a beeper in the woods so I don’t have to be looking at the screen all the time.)
I also like to be able to reset the info before each hunt so I know how many miles the dog travels and how much I do. (always amazed how much ground the dog covers.)
Another thing I really like is I can put a “map chip” in the hand held part and it is a great hand held GPS.
I have a chip for public hunting lands, I have a snowmobile chip that gives me trails throughout the Midwest and I can also put a lake chip in the see depth contours etc. for ice fishing.
I know they aren’t cheap but for what you get I think it’s a pretty good deal.

eric borkoski wrote:

I also like to be able to reset the info before each hunt so I know how many miles the dog travels and how much I do. (always amazed how much ground the dog covers.)

That is pretty cool! So on an average hunt, how many miles does your dog travel in comparison to you?

Usually more than double easy.
It’s amazing how quickly they can put on 4-5 miles and mine is not a “big running” dog.
That collar has a lot more features that I have found very handy just a lot to list. LOL

eric borkoski wrote:

I use the Garmin Alpha which is a collar, trainer, GPS combo on my Pudelpointer and have been 100% satisfied with this collar.
It has tone, vibrate, electric stimulation and in the settings you can set it so if your dog is on point it will emit a tone and vibrate on the handheld part to let you know the dog is on point then if need be you can just fallow the GPS screen to find the dog. (I do also use a bell or sometimes a beeper in the woods so I don’t have to be looking at the screen all the time.)
I also like to be able to reset the info before each hunt so I know how many miles the dog travels and how much I do. (always amazed how much ground the dog covers.)
Another thing I really like is I can put a “map chip” in the hand held part and it is a great hand held GPS.
I have a chip for public hunting lands, I have a snowmobile chip that gives me trails throughout the Midwest and I can also put a lake chip in the see depth contours etc. for ice fishing.
I know they aren’t cheap but for what you get I think it’s a pretty good deal.

That looks cool as hell. I wish I wouldnt have looked it up!

Hard to go wrong with either Dogtra or Tritronics. I have a Tritronics Pro 550 at the present and it seems to be fine. My last 3 were Dogtras and they were also good units and tough.

Getting back to the “likes and dislikes,” I do like a “page” or “tone” feature. My pointers are and have always been whistle trained, but I find the page works as well or better than a whistle and gives spooky roosters one less bit of information.

I had a Dogtra 2502 and it was a great unit, but as my hearing has gotten worse with age I had a harder time hearing the beeper at a distance or in the wind. I’m not sure if it was because the beeper faces down or not. That said, I did hear my older Dogtra 2002 with a top mounted beeper better. I hear my current Tritronics beeper “OK”, but I’m going to move to a Lovett’s VLT (very low tone) based on my hearing needs.

I tried out a Garmin Alpha, but I was a little overwhelmed by it. Me not so techy… I wish I had the wherewithal to use one, but I also value staying simpler. That and I often hunt with my best friend and he likes hearing the beeper so he can know when the pointing starts and also bore in for he shot. A point only beeper been working well for me for a long time.

I’ve had a few collars and the best one is dogtra.
We had a tri Tronic to and liked that. They are now owned by Garmin
Stay away from sport dog
And stay away from DT

U can’t go wrong with dogtra
Or tt

I have had a Dogtra 1702 NCP for 10 years and it still works great. The only thing I have had to do it replace the batteries in the two collars and the remote. I run labs to I don’t use tones, but I use the vibrate feature fairly often when in the field to bring the dogs back in range if they start to get out more than I would like. I prefer this as I don’t like talking/yelling while in the field to control the dogs, I like to be as quiet as possible.

Ralph Wiggum wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>eric borkoski wrote:</div>
I also like to be able to reset the info before each hunt so I know how many miles the dog travels and how much I do. (always amazed how much ground the dog covers.)

That is pretty cool! So on an average hunt, how many miles does your dog travel in comparison to you?

On one day of hunting, on average I will walk about 6-10 miles. My Garmin consistently will give me about a 4-5:1 ratio with my dogs. So for a 6 mile day, my dogs will run about 24-30 miles. Its amazing what they do!

Circling back around, it’s kind of interesting how different people find different functions useful and use them differently! We were able to go to an e-collar seminar at Pheasant Fest this weekend, too. I guess it goes to show that there is more than one way to successfully train a dog.

I ended up purchasing the Dogtra 2500 T&B. I’m going to let the trainer introduce the collar, but I am sure we’ll be happy with the purchase.

That’s a great unit, Ralph.

I have the Dogtra 2500 T&B and it is awesome. Ive used and abused it for 7 years and its still works like day 1. Never replaced any batteries or any parts. Ive got a pointing lab. Use the beeper function to find her in heavy cover, trees or most importantly in GIANT standing corn fields. When I hit the beeper, I can locate her fast because it is very loud even in corn, and she knows I cant see her so she always doubles back to my hip to check in. ITS BRILLIANT!
Rarely use the Electric. Just the beeper.
There are also several pointer specific modes that I dont even use.