It may very well be. The Garmin Alpha 10 is a lightweight, handy device that can track your dogs (and you) at a glance without breaking the bank. Perfect for those who are just beginning with the sport, or a seasoned veteran, the Alpha 10 is an inexpensive, easy-to-use device to help get your feet wet without sacrificing quality, and a great tool for any owner/trainer.
At a lower price point than the Alpha 100 and 200i ($399 vs $599 and $749 respectively), yet compatible with the Garmin ecosystem of dog tracking products, the unit also pairs easily to a phone or tablet with the Garmin Explore app for mapping capabilities. Since the Alpha 10 has no way to display a map on its small screen, this feature has the ability to send dog information to a variety of Garmin dog tracking units, or a tablet/phone running Garmin Explore. The Alpha 10 can be easily paired to any of the Garmin Instinct series or Fenix series watches and other Alpha/Astro series handhelds. It also pairs directly with the Garmin Drivetrack series dog trackers. No more wasting a perfectly good Astro, Alpha 100, or 200i broadcasting to a DriveTrack; Just link up the Alpha 10 to your tablet or DriveTrack and you're ready to go.
One of our biggest surprises with this little unit was the huge amount of battery life. By not having a map to update constantly and other features "slimmed down", the new Garmin Alpha 10 sets the battery bar at a whole new level. The best way to measure the runtime of this unit is by days. That's right, not hours- days! No more needing to worry and stress about having enough charging outlets or being in a position where charging is not an option. In our personal testing, we have seen this unit run for more than 3 days on a single charge. Granted, individual results may vary, but any way you slice it, the Garmin Alpha 10 is on top of the dog pile when it comes to run time.
While the joystick operation is something new to the Alpha lineup, it is surprisingly easy and simple to use. Your joystick interface allows you to navigate the menus of the Alpha 10 and make selections with ease. Just a few minutes to acclimate yourself, you can be ready to hit the field with confidence. We were a little apprehensive about how easy the unit would be to navigate, but it turns out it's so easy a caveman can do it.
This product comes highly recommended to anyone for its ease of use, simple interface, and ability to pair with Garmin Explore for quality BirdsEye maps and dog tracking from a compatible smartphone. Lightweight, and relatively inexpensive, the Alpha 10 unit would be perfect for someone interested in getting started with a GPS system, a buddy who wants to tag along a hunt and keep up with the race, or even a small handheld to keep an eye on the dogs within the yard or campsite. The price sits at $399 which makes it a little easier to add it to the cart than that of its sister devices starting at the $600 mark. Pick up yours and get to tracking with the Garmin Alpha 10.