 Garmin® GTU 10 GPS Dog Tracker / Locator Review by Steve Snell
+ by Steve Snell
STARKVILLE MS
What it is -- The GTU 10 is a GPS tracking device that sends information to you via the Text / Data cell phone tower network.
What it isn't -- The GTU 10 isn't a replacement for GPS Dog tracking units like the Garmin Astro but it has a place in mobile dog tracking. It is limited to areas where it has cell phone coverage.
Coverage Area -- The GTU uses the AT&T DATA network. While coverage is spotty in certain parts of the country, the GTU is using the text based part of that network which requires much less signal then a cell phone call.
Click here to see a full coverage MAP.
How It Works
The GTU 10 is a GPS tracking device, but it's different from what Garmin has with the Astro. Instead of working off radio signals on the MURS band, it works off of the TEXT BASED cell phone DATA network.
Your dog wears a small GPS receiver that picks up location signals from GPS satellites. It then sends that information via text message to a cell phone tower, and then that information is sent to you either via text, email or you can access it online at my.garmin.com. You can also access GTU location info through the Garmin Tracker App on your Droid smart phone or iPhone.
The range of the GTU is unlimited as long as it is inside the cell phone network. Most people are familiar with cell phone networks and how they can be in certain spots, and this unit is working off the AT&T network. As an iPhone user I know how horrific the AT&T network can be.
Keep in mind that this is the text / data side of the network. Text messages don't require anywhere near the bandwidth that it requires to make a cell phone call. I really don't understand all the science behind it, but I've experienced places where I can send a text message but I can't make a cell phone call. It just doesn't require as much coverage. If you look at the AT&T coverage map, it's pretty complete for a large chunk of the USA. My understanding is that they also just purchased T-Mobile, so the coverage should get better in some areas.
Uses of the GTU 10
This product is not perfect for everyone, but it has some great applications. We originally looked at it as a pet containment add-on. I say add-on because it will not contain a pet, but it will tell you when he leaves the yard and help you locate him.
My dog "Em" stays in a 5' x 15' kennel run, and she likes to escape when bad thunderstorms are coming in. I also have dogs that stay in the backyard and have gotten out before. Then there are my customers that have dogs that stay in containment fences and can get out of them. The original idea for this product was to locate your dog once he has gotten out of a contained area, not as a tracking device.
1. Dog Yard Escape Notification:
One of the cooler uses of the GTU is knowing when your dog leaves your yard. The GTU 10 is not a "containment" system since there is nothing to actually keep your dog in your yard, but it works really well in combination with a containment fence or a regular fence or kennel.
I have one dog who is an escape artist. She isn't as bad today as she was in her younger years, but even at the age of 13 she busted out and made a break for it. I got lucky that she came to a house about a mile or so down the road and the man that found her called the number on her collar. The worst part was that I didn't even know she was gone until I got the phone call.
The GTU 10 can fix this problem. Not only will it track your dog, but it will tell you when your dog leaves your yard.
The GTU 10 is designed to stay inside a marked area called a Geofence. A geofence is a boundary that you define using the software on the mygarmin.com website. To set up your home boundary, you simply draw out the border of your house or fenced in area of your yard on the map. Each GTU 10 can have up to 10 Geofences.
Once you draw up the fence, you set your unit so it sleeps while inside the geofence. You also select how often you would like for it to check to see if your dog is safe at home or if he has left the area. The combination of these two options will determine the battery life you get from a single charge.
For example -- A good choice for most folks would be going with the "Balance Battery" setup for the average escape artist. This setup will check your dog's location every 5 minutes to make sure he is still inside the Geofence (your backyard).
What happens is the unit will turn itself on and check its location via GPS sattelites. As long as the unit is still "inside" the correct Geofence (your backyard), it turns itself off to save power and waits to check its location again in another 5 minutes. If the unit finds itself outside the geofence at any point, it sends both a text message and an email to a list of folks that you create (mine has me, my wife, my brother and the general email at the office) telling you that Fido has left the yard.
The unit now stays powered up. It does not drop back into sleep mode since you are now headed to go pick up your dog. You will need to be able to ping the unit and ask for a location. Staying powered up will drain the battery life, but not so fast that we can't go get our dog. In the Balance Battery mode, your battery will work for around 3 days when it is outside of a Geofence.
Using either the app on your smart phone to track him down or having someone watch him on a computer while giving you instructions on your dog's location via cell phone is a pretty easy way to go. Finding your runaway dog is both quick and easy.
The more I have experimented with the Garmin GTU 10, the more I see its applications as a stand alone tracking device and a Long Range tracker.
2. Stand Alone Dog Tracking:
There are some people that could use the GTU 10 as a stand alone location device for their dog in limited applications. It's for folks that don't need a lot of information. They are hiking or they want to spend time out with their pet, and the only reason they would need the tracking would be a lost dog emergency situation.
Using the GTU 10 as the only tracking device on your dog is a possibility for some folks in some areas but I have my concerns. As long as you are always in a text coverage area and you are comfortable using your smart phone in the field, it works. It just isn't the same as what we get from GPS / Radio based tracking systems. You have less of a real time update and once your dog gets out of coverage, you don't have much.
One of the hunting leases that I am on is a perfect spot for testing this. I took Brandy out and ran her with a combo Garmin Astro with GTU unit but I limited myself to only using the GTU. It worked really well in this particular location. We had great cell coverage and I was able to track her using the app on my iPhone. It still isn't as handy as the Garmin Astro, but it worked well and I had no issue locating her as she ran and covered the ground.
Having said all of that, the GTU10 sure is better than nothing. Given a choice between no tracking unit and the GTU 10, I'll take the GTU every day. I just want folks to understand the limitations of the product in certain areas.
3. Long Range Dog Tracking:
For hunting dogs, the GTU 10 is not something that's going to work as a real-time tracker like the Garmin Astro or the SportDOG TEK Series. It just doesn't fit that application. But what it does do is fill is the gigantic gap in range and battery life that exists in MURS based GPS dog trackers.
In situations where you need more range or you need to have a general idea of where the dog is once your dog has gotten out of radio range, the GTU is awesome. After working with the GTU 10 for just a few minutes, the advantages of adding it to my Garmin Astro seem insanely clear.
Add the GTU to your Astro collar strap or set up on a separate collar. When your dog gets out of radio frequency range and you need an update on his location, ping the GTU on your smartphone. The GTU can get you in the general area where the dog is located so that your Astro can pick up the regular radio signal.
The GTU 10 has unlimited tracking range as long as it is inside cellular coverage. It also has a battery life that can easily extend out to 7 days of run time and up to 40 days if set up correctly.
To test the GTU in the real world, we did a "rabbit chase test" where we outfit a car with an Astro and a GTU 10 and turn the driver lose. We'll hunt him down strictly based off technology with no knowledge of where he's going. It's always a fun test that we started doing when the Garmin Astro first came out. Basically, it's a high-speed version of tracking down a dog. The idea behind it is that the Astro is going to give you the radio signal as long as you can keep up. When you lose the signal, you will have the last known location. If you can get close enough to where the last known location was, you can normally reacquire the signal.
Now, on a moving object, you may lose the signal again, but now you have a "new" last known location to go to. So it's going from spot, to spot, to spot trying to find a moving object.
 This test was similar in that we had the Garmin Astro hooked up to the rabbit vehicle, but we also had a GTU 10 in it. Instead of using just the last known location of the Garmin Astro, once we lost the MURS radio signal we would tap into the cellular network and pick up the location of the GTU 10 using the Garmin app on my iPhone. Using the GTU 10's location, we would track until we could get close enough for the Astro to reacquire the MURS radio signal.
It was a pretty interesting combination of tests and gear. We were working south of Starkville, MS on a major highway surrounded by two national forests and a bunch of state land. It's a pretty remote area, but has good cell phone coverage.
The combination worked like a champ. We sent the dog vehicle with the Astro and GTU in it south and the tracker car was going north. We were able to track the Astro until we got about three miles away from each other. Once we lost the Astro signal, we turned our truck south going to the last known location on the Astro. The entire time we were pinging the GTU 10. We never once lost the signal with the GTU.
There were a couple of times where the GTU wouldn't update as fast as I wanted, but there was no question in my mind where the GTU was the majority of the time. It's not as real-time as the Astro as far as the updates, but it got us enough information to get us close enough to use the Astro to pick up the dog. Because of the combination of things going on - pinging the GTU and it sending signals back to you through the cell towers - there's going to be a little delay.
Once again, I'm not putting away my Astro and replacing it with a GTU, but my dogs will be wearing them next season as part of my tracking gear. Most of the places that I hunt - Texas, Mississippi, Nebraska and Kansas - have almost complete coverage. South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana are not as complete, but they cover big chunks. Having more range and battery life as a back up is well worth it to me.
Battery Set Ups
There are multiple ways to set the GTU as far as how you can access it. The correct setting to use in combination with the Garmin Astro is going to depend on where you're hunting and what you're looking for as far as battery life.
There is a setting with the GTU 10 called "On Demand", which means it will not send you information until you request it. Initially, my thought was that would be the best way to go for someone trying to track a dog over a long distance at a time. But now I don't believe that's the case. The advantage of "On Demand" tracking is that is you get about seven days of battery life. It's always going to be in standby mode and it's ready for you. It's just waiting for you to ping it. You have no idea of the location UNTIL you ping it. That's the downside.
The advantage of using it in the "Moderate" 15 minute update mode is that every 15 minutes it's going to send a signal that says, "This is where I am," whether you do anything or not. The beauty of this is that you are going to be getting updates all along with the dog's location every 15 minutes. It's going to get you close to the dog and give you a last known location if the dog gets out of cell range.
Let's say you are in an area that has spotty cell phone text coverage. The unit is going to send messages every time it can every 15 minutes, so you are going to be getting information with out having to ping the unit. The battery drain on it is in the neighborhood of five days.
If your dog drops out of cell phone coverage area, the GTU is going to continue to look for a cell phone signal. When the dog reenters cell phone coverage, it's going to send the information without you having to do anything. That cuts down on the user having to be involved with it. It's going to send information when it can, and you can track that information on your computer or smartphone.
 On Demand
- Estimated battery life 7 days
- Geofences (if any) will not be applied
This allows you to locate the unit no matter where it is located. It does not go into sleep mode and you can ping it at any point. It does not "check" it's location at any time since there are no geofences to check. This set up works for some folks but I prefer either Moderate or Balanced.
Moderate
- Estimated battery life 4 weeks inside geofence,
5 days outside of geofence
- Checks location every 15 minutes
Moderate works better for me since the unit is checking in and leaving a
history of it's location. This way you will at least know the last location if the unit gets out of a cell coverage area.
Balanced
- Estimated battery life 10 days inside geofence,
3 days outside of geofence
- Checks location every 5 minutes
Balanced works the same way as Moderate but it does it much faster and uses more battery. Despite the faster battery drain, I also recommend this setting.
Heavy
- Estimated battery life 24 hours inside geofence,
20 hours outside of geofence
- Checks location every 30 seconds
There really isn't much of a reason to use Heavy if you are running an Astro. The short battery life just isn't worth it.
Using Geofences to Help Locate Your Hunting Dog
The GTU 10 has an option for setting up "Geo Fences." These were originally designed for the unit to let you know when you dog left your yard. The GTU would then email you and send you a text message to let you know
about the escaped dog. There are some applications for using Geofences to help track your hunting dog.
You have the option of being told when your dog enters a geo fence and when he exits a geo fence with a text message. To save battery life you can make the unit fall into "sleep mode" while it is inside a geofence. The down side of doing that is that you can't track the unit when it is inside a fence. The GTU will inform you once the collar has left the fence and you can actively track it once it is outside the fence. You have the option of NOT allowing the unit to fall asleep inside the fence, but it lowers battery life since the collar is always in "standby mode" waiting for a location signal request.
During our rabbit chase test, I set up geofences along part of the highway route that the vehicle was driving. I had given the driver directions and said, "Okay, I want you to go here, then I want you to go here, then I want you to go here." The GTU in this test was named "Brandy."
Once he crossed a geofence, I received a text message that said, "Brandy has entered the 'Old Highway 25' geo fence." I made the geofences long and narrow following the highway so the car would stay in them for a long period of time before coming out. When the car emerged from the other end of the geofence I received another text that said, "The GTU has left 'Old Highway 25' geofence."
Once it entered the first geofence, I received a text. Once it left that geo fence, I received another text. Once it entered the next geofence, I received a third text message. Without doing anything, I received text information saying that my dog had crossed these points. Since I set up the GTU so it couldn't fall into sleep mode, anytime I wanted to ping it for a location (even if it was inside a geo fence), I was able to do that. It gave me information by itself, and also allowed me to request information when I needed it.
Using Geofences on a large area that you hunt can allow you to keep up with your dog without you doing anything at all. The idea here is that you can take the area that you hunt and split it up into sections. I took one of my leases and broke it into 4 parts.
As long as my dog stays inside one of the areas nothing happens. If he moves from one area to the next, I'll get a text message that tells me he has left one geofence and entered another geofence. If I have him set to where I can't track him while he's in a geofence, I'll extend my battery life and I'll know what section he is in. If at any point he leaves the property, I'll get a text and his unit will go from sleep mode to on demand. At that point I can use my phone to track him.
You can have up to 10 geofences per unit. If you want to really take your hunting ground and break it into very detailed regions, you can do it. It's a neat way to track your dogs.
AT&T Coverage
The GTU works off the AT&T network, but you do not have to have AT&T service or an AT&T contract to track your units. Your first year of service is included in the retail price of the GTU and the deal is with Garmin. After the first year, you will then buy another year of service (current price is $50 per unit) from Garmin. There is no contract or monthly fee.
I track my GTU units on my Verizon iPhone with the Garmin Tracker App. I track them online at http://www.mygarmin.com.
Deluxe Tracking Service Plan -- Garmin does have some additional features on my.garmin.com that I have added and they come in pretty handy. For $5 a month, I have the Deluxe Tracking Plan. The Deluxe plan allows me to keep over a week's worth of tracking history on every unit I have.
If you are willing to spend the 5 bucks a month, there are some interesting additional features, especially if you live in an area where the cell coverage is an issue. If you set the unit in the 15 minute update mode, the Deluxe will record it every 15 minutes with you doing nothing. If your dog runs out of the coverage area you will still have tracking history.
With Deluxe Tracking, you can access 7 days of track history. You can also control the level of track history detail by specifying the intervals you would like to record track points.
Deluxe Tracking works in conjunction with Standard Tracking, so you'll get the same great features as always. You can still locate your GTU 10 whenever you need to, using your computer or mobile device. And in addition to the track points being recorded at your specified intervals, your track history will also be recorded anytime you request location, a geofence boundary is crossed (if geofences are being applied), or "low battery / power off" is detected.
Check the Coverage Map
Before you even think about getting a GTU, check the COVERAGE MAP.
If you have coverage in the areas that you run your dogs, it's a really amazing product with all kinds of possibilities. I have added them to my gear and while I may never need them, the added security to help me find my dogs is well worth it to me.
© 2012 GDS
|
