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Review on 🐢 Garmin Alpha 200i/T 5 Dog Tracking Bundle with inReach Technology, Sunlight-readable Touchscreen - 010-02230-20 by Jay Buford

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Good upgrade from Alpha 100

I have upgraded the Alpha 100 to this 200i. Very very happy. The screen is easier to read, not brighter, and colors are more muted than the 100, but it's still slightly easier to read and larger. The touchscreen works much better - it's more like an iPhone. The extra buttons are very handy to set up different functions when managing multiple dogs. Using Wi-Fi to download Birdseye species is a winner. It just seems to work better than 100 for that. Using a bird's eye view to see where the dogs are takes a lot more initiative than trying to interpret a topographical map or anything. Screen layout and features are better than 100. The game changer for me is the iPhone integration. It displays map and dog tracking information directly on a paired iPhone with the Garmin Explorer app. Works perfectly. I usually carry my iPhone with me when I walk my dogs to take photos, make phone calls, check email or whatever. Having it in my hand many times already, it's amazing to be able to display dog data there. And the map/tracking interface is easier to use on the big iPhone screen. Serious hunters might not carry/use their iPhone, but for my trek it's amazing. Finally, the form factor is rather high-tech. 100 soft rubber surfaces are replaced by hard plastic. It has a smoother look. Better to have on hand. It's hard to describe. For me the upgrade was worth it. I sold my 100 on eBay in a day so the cost of the upgrade came down to $400 - easy as pie. For those picking between the 100 and 200i, this seems like the obvious choice. Hope that helps!

Pros
  • Easy to set up and monitor up to 20 dogs up to 9 miles with 2.5 second update rate using multiple global navigation satellite systems (GPS and Galileo)
Cons
  • Compatibility

Comments (1)

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March 19, 2023
Works great...