Garmin Alpha Handhelds, Collars & Parts

Current Alpha handhelds - the 200, 200i, 200 Plus, 300 and 300i - are built around the TT 25 and T 20 collars, and they also track the older TT 15 and T 5. The original Alpha 100 was sold with the TT 15. In practice any Alpha handheld can track any Alpha-generation collar; the pairing that matters is which one Garmin currently bundles. The full picture is on the collars page.

The 'i' means built-in inReach satellite messaging. An Alpha 300i is an Alpha 300 with two-way satellite texting and SOS that works with no cell or VHF coverage, on a paid subscription. The tracking and training hardware is otherwise the same. The side-by-side is on the 300 vs 300i page.

Up to 9 miles line-of-sight with a compatible collar, with position updates as frequent as every 2.5 seconds. Real range is far shorter in timber, hills or heavy cover, which is why a better antenna is the single most common upgrade - the options are on the antenna page.

Yes. Garmin has moved the catalogue on to newer handhelds, but the Alpha 100 still tracks current collars, and batteries, antennas, chargers and cases are all still available. If a unit will not hold a charge, the battery is almost always the first thing to replace, not the whole handheld.

It depends on where you run dogs. The VHF Alpha system needs a handheld (or an Alpha 10 paired to a phone) and works with no cell signal. The Alpha LTE drops the handheld entirely and tracks over the cellular network through your phone - excellent where there is coverage, useless where there is not. The trade-off is laid out on the comparison page.

For most hunters the honest answer is the simplest current handheld that tracks the number of dogs you run, plus one good collar - not the top bundle. The buyer's guide walks through the real decision, and the model comparison lines up the whole lineup so you are not paying for inReach or a 10-inch screen you will never use.

The Alpha 100, 200, 200i and 300-series handhelds share a user-replaceable lithium-ion pack, and the collars use their own internal cells. A handheld that dies mid-hunt is usually a tired battery, not a dead unit. Part numbers and the units each pack fits are on the batteries page.

Through Garmin Express on a computer or over Wi-Fi on the newer handhelds - the collar firmware updates separately from the handheld. The step-by-step, including the older Alpha 100 route, is on the update page, and setup basics are on the manuals and setup page.

Yes. The handhelds take a microSD card for preloaded TOPO and HuntView maps, and BirdsEye satellite imagery downloads over the device or Garmin Express. Card sizes, map types and the BirdsEye route are on the maps and BirdsEye page.

Not necessarily. A frozen screen usually clears with a master reset, a unit that will not charge is often a worn battery or a dirty charge port, and a cracked screen is a documented repair rather than a new handheld. The fixes, in the order worth trying them, are on the troubleshooting page.

No. The Astro was Garmin's earlier dog-tracking handheld - tracking only, no training stimulation - and it used the DC and T 5 collars. The Alpha added training to the same idea. The two share an antenna style but are different systems; the comparison is on the Astro page.