wildly inaccurate Garmin

[tops911]

I have a Garmin Alpha 200i that is wildly inaccurate. I have been using it to lay blood track for dog training, 400 meters and in that distance 8 oz of blood. I came to realize it was not accurate so I started checking it against my older Alpha 100, the dog's TT15 collars, my iPhone with onx and my reliable Army landnav pace count.
Here are my results:
Alpha 200i; 583 meters
Alpha 200i TT15 collar 250 meters and av speed .75 kmh
Alpha 100; 243 meters
Alpha 100 TT15 collar 250 meters and av speed 4.43 kmh
Iphone with onx; 360 meters
my pace count; 360 minutes
I carried all above with me clearing out all date and starting new hunt. I have pretty good experance with military GPS going all the way back to some of the earliest ones in Desert Storm.
I have talked with Garmin and have had no luck with them resolving the issue. they now want me to walk a known distance of 1/2 a mile with he hand held unit and collar, I figure I walk mile marker to mile marker on a road.
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Has anyone experienced this issue before?

 

[FlGunner]

When's the last time you updated the unit. I use Them for dog hunting in here in Florida and if or when they act up, have them updated. I have not experienced inaccuracy issues with either the Alpha 100 or 200i. If it's within a year of purchase you should be able to swap it out at a Garmin dealer. Heck I busted the screen on my Alpha and took it to see about getting it repaired and they just gave me a brand new one in exchange. I also use it on every out of state hunt I go on for private property lines, public land, hiking trails. Been spot on. I also use the Garmin hunt view micro sd cards for the state I'm in. Not sure what mapping card you're using with it…may have something to do with it.

 

[tops911]

I have it upto date with the latest updates. On the Alpha 100 I use an OnX chip and of course the Alpha 200i is not compatible with OnX so I HAVE to use Garmin's mapping. I have OnX on my phone but with our cell coverage here in Montana the OnX in the 100 is invaluable. And of course Garmin is trying to put other mapping companies out of business. So when I hunt with the 200i I have to carry my phone for the OnX maps, kind of defeating the purpose of the 200i with InReach. I did a test Garmin recommended, walked from mile marker to mile marker on the side of the road. all devices were spot on, my phone, the 100, 200i and the dog collar. so it's only slow short distances what the accuracy is way off. I expected better for the cost of the Garmin stuff, GPS is nothing new. My take on the 200i is that Garmin actually took a step backwards with the software and programing. I've been using the Garmin's (100 & 200i) for around 9 years now in many States hunting. I would not hunt without it. but my faith is gone in its true accuracy. I'm not calling in close air support or "danger close" artillery fire but I expected a little better accuracy than what I'm seeing.

 

[FlGunner]

Yeah I know what you mean there. I've had good luck this far. We do a lot of dog hunting in Florida for both deer and hogs and it's completely changed how we hunt. Being able to track and tone/stop (behavior control) our dogs at any time has opened up so much more places we can hunt. Boundary blocks that used to be avoided are easily hunted. If dogs are running towards the line I can simply tone mine and stop em. Many times deer turn back into our property.

 

[Hugnot]

Like all - interesting & informative - learn something new every day. In the distant past it was LORAN & sunlines at noon. Then GPS stuff took up as much space as a kitchen. Things change.