Garmin Tri-Tronics PRO 70 Review

I was lucky to get a chance to field test the new Garmin Tri-Tronics Pro 70 on a few of my beagles. I was very impressed with the feel of the transmitter which is very similar to the G3 Classic 70 I have used for years. The toggle switch which changes the button setup has the collar colors shown opposed to a circle and a dot, which in my opinion is easier to tell what collars you are transmitting to. I am also a fan of the charger for the transmitter; I very much prefer the plug over the older Tri-Tronics cradles. The collars charge with a clip which is much smaller than the cradles we used to snap the receivers into when charging them. I like this because they're easier to store or pack when we have an away game. Another change made by Garmin is that all extra receivers come with the needed charging equipment and they do not need to be purchased piecemeal like in the past. I can be somewhat absent minded sometimes and the 2 hour charge time with included chargers for everything comes in handy when I need to charge on the fly.

I believe my smaller beagles really appreciate the smaller receivers on a 3/4" collar strap but I am 100% sure that they do not like the included bark limiter! This alone is one feature that I have always wished someone would get on one of the training systems. This feature is easy to use, just turn the collar on and hold the button down until the LED light turns blue. When the dog barks the collar delivers a rising stimulation until the dog is quiet, if he starts up again right away, it will start where it left off. If he waits 30 seconds, it starts low making it very nice to teach young hounds when it is OK to use their voice. The bark limiter feature is nice when leaving dogs in the box or on a chain gang waiting to run. The guys at Garmin have also added remotely activated lights on the collars which is excellent when running in the evening and I run out of daylight. I can tell exactly where the dogs are ad the lights are bright enough that when the dogs are on a lead you can see as well as if you have a flash light.

The six levels of continuous stimulation may be a bit strong for general obedience type training, rather better used to stop unwanted behavior such as trash running, digging or generally ignoring your calls. I find that I can generally get a proper response just using the tone. We tested all features and were very pleased to see that we were getting just less than one mile of range. 1400 yards according to the Garmin Alpha (1mi=1760 yards) this was no way line of sight and very much the same terrain we hunt and run. It was half again as far as my G3 Classic 70.

-Andy Purnell, LCS Customer Service