The unit is good for close range dogs at this point. I know of a few coon hunters who have used it. Some really like it for pinpointing once they get close but if the dog ranges out much more than 2 miles they have a hard time with the GPS units, espically if they are in a area with a thick canopy, or deep in a big ravine. Every coon hunter that is using it is still keeping the telemetry collars on their dogs as well to be able to keep tabs on them. They also say the base of the housings were cracking so they were taping them to keep them together and the antennas were breaking off, they were still usable but they were losing range.

ON the plus side they guys who have been using them on close ranging dogs such as bird dogs have been loving them. The feature of being able to see the cookie trail of where your dogs have been when out of your sight is awsome.

Everyone that uses the collar mount antenna has had to use it on a training or dummy collar so there was a counterbalance to keep the gps collar up on top of the dog. I also have heard from friends and also read where the receivers battery life isnt the greatest, the same for the collars.

Overall it will depend on what you are going to use it for. If your using it on bird dogs and close range dogs then go for it. If you are running hounds or even rabbit beagles then hold off on getting one for a bit. The system just isnt meant for that yet. I do know that Garmin is working on making the system more hound friendly and a longer range, there are also a few other designers working on their own GPS systems so in the near future (within 5 years) someone should have a awsome all around GPS tracking system out.

Justin