Yeah, GPS is for the dogs.

Seriously.

Garmin just released the latest version of it’s Astro Dog Tracking System.

Geared towards hunters, it allows you to keep track of your dog from miles away so he can do his job of tracking and flushing out game and you’ll still be able to find him and up to nine friends.

List price is $599 but if you should be able to pick it up for $500 of less online (Amazon had it for $488 last I checked) .

The latest one, the DC-40 now allows you to track up to 10 dogs on the same receiver.

Garmin Astro DC-40 Dog Tracking System - GPS

Looks really cool, but haven’t actually used one of these systems myself since I don’t actually hunt or even own a dog for that matter – anybody care to chime in with their thoughts?  I’ve noticed the old system, the DC-30 is pretty well rated on Amazon and people seem to really like it.

When will it become socially acceptable to put these things on our kids too?

If you want your smartphone to focus on GPS and navigation first, and then do other smartphone stuff, like check email, Twitter, and tell you what song is playing on the radio; the Garminfone available on TMobile might be right up your alley.

Specs

From a pure power an specs point of view, this phone is really nothing to write home about.  It has a 3.5″ capacitive touchscreen just like most smartphones.

The phone only has a 2GB microSD card, a 3 megapixel camera, and completely omits a 3.5mm headphone jack which seems like a major oversight on a smartphone these days.  (Update: Price has been reduced from $200 to $130 with contract – much more reasonable).

However, the phone comes with a windshield mount and a car charger which is, of course, extra with pretty much every other phone on the planet these days.

Software

While you wouldn’t know it immediately from looking at it, the Garminfone is running a highly customized version of Android (seems to be 1.6 and it is unknown if the 2.2 update will ever make its way to this phone).

Navigation

While the specs and software are otherwise underwhelming, this phone is built to navigate and navigate it does.

Let’s start with one of the nice features – it works offline!  No network connections required so if you find yourself in the middle of Montana with no cell service to speak of, your GPS can still get you where you want to go as it does what all PND units do – uses it’s GPS chip and stored maps to do the navigating.

Bottom Line

As far I’m concerned, this phone actually is a very acceptable replacement for your dedicated PND and while not as fully featured as the iPhone 4, Evo 4G, or Droid Incredible, it still has plenty of “smartphone” capabilities that should serve all but the most demanding users.

I’m calling this phone the best GPS navigation phone on the market right now and for the heavy GPS user who wants a device that can do it all, this phone is worth considering.

I’d like to see the price come down as $199 with two year contract is simply too high when phones like the Evo 4G and iPhone 4 occupy that price point and in addition to a ton of other features on those high end phones, they remembered to include a 3.5mm headphone jack.