Is the Alpha 300 that much better than the Alpha 200?
Updated 6/4/24
Short answer- Yes. After a year in the field every day and night I have had zero issues with the 300. We have stopped stocking the 200 because we feel the 300 is well worth the $100 difference. I still am not 100% a fan of the Outdoor Maps+ it still has the same limitations Birdseye had and now includes a yearly subscription. I use it for the areas I regularly hunt but still use Map Cards for other states.
If you are running a 200 I don’t know that I’d get rid of it and upgrade to the 300. But if your upgrading from the 100 or this will be your first Alpha I’d highly recommend just going to the 300 rather than the 200.
Original Post below
-Screen Brightness
While the Alpha 200 screen never bothered me especially during daylight hunts, I can say the Alpha 300 has much better brightness and color depiction. This makes it easier to see the maps and not have everything blend together with dog tracks, maps, etc.
-Processing Speed
The Alpha 300 has a higher processing speed and cuts down a lot on the lag when scrolling or zoom changes on the map and changing between functions.
-Battery Life
Garmin list the Alpha 300 at 55 hours of battery life nearly triple of what I got out of the Alpha 200.
-USB-C Charger
One thing I disliked about the Alpha 200 was the Micro-USB charging port. It felt so fragile and you had to make sure the charger was inserted the right direction. The Alpha 300 now has a USB-C charger which to me is a much better design, doesn't have a up or down position and seems better constructed.
-Group Sharing and Channel View Scans
While someone hunting 1 dog at a time or by themselves may not find this useful it is a huge improvement for those that run with others, with multiple dogs or go to the hunts and are tired of the interference issues that seem to pop up at those events.
Group Sharing expands on what the 200 brought with the ability to create groups of dogs and turn on/off the tracking of those groups which made it great if you ran Beagles or Coyote Hounds with different groups of friends. Just add them once move them to a group and then you could turn them on when you were hunting with them or off when you were with someone else. Group Sharing allows you now to share the entire group of those collars with another Alpha 300 instead of having to have the person add each dog. I do not believe this feature will be available on the older devices.
Channel View Scan allows you to scan every channel (Dog ID) frequency and it will tell you what numbers have interference allowing you to select a channel without interference before you get that dreaded interference message after cutting the dog loose.
-Wireless update and collar controls
With the new TT25 and T20 collars coming out Garmin made it easier than ever to update the collars. Now once your handheld is connected to your network you will be able to connect the collars and they will automatically sync for updates while charging. Eliminating the need to plug them into the computer for updates.
The new collars also feature 7 different color led beacon lights that will be able to changed from the handheld during the hunt.
-Birdseye and Mapping
One change from the Alpha 200 that I am still not 100% on board with is the mapping. You can certainly still run the Garmin Map Cards by putting the card in under the battery. However, in the past I just used the Birdseye Direct feature on the Alpha 200 and downloaded the imagery for the areas I hunted locally and it didn't cost me anything with the 200 (I still use Map Cards as well for other areas). Garmin has designed the Alpha 300 to utilize their Outdoor Maps+ platform. While it looks like it provides a lot more mapping solutions and is updated regularly, it does require a yearly subscription plan through Garmin. For those that don't want to pay the subscription Map Cards still work fine as well!
-Menu Options
The menus on the Alpha 300 are a lot easier to customize so you can have frequently used options on the same screen instead of having to navigate menus to find something quickly. The ability to drag and drop items like on your cell phone makes the Alpha 300 much more user friendly than the Alpha 200 series
-Conclusion
Updated 6/4/24
I can say that the Alpha 300 finally seems to address the issues with each previous model and should be around for the long haul. The 300 battery life, processing speed and screen is hands down better than the Alpha 200. I used to have to charge my 200 after every hunt and my 300 can go several days before needing to recharge. We don’t stock the Alpha 200 anymore because in my opinion the 300 is worth the extra $100 for all its features. We can still order 200s for you though.
For those still running the Alpha 100 it mat take a little getting used to but I think once you switch you will really like the Alpha 300. The Alpha 100 has been discontinued.