I have experience with two Garmin products. I used an Alpha 100 over the past 5 1/2 years on my flushing dog. It was Garmin's high-end tracking and training device when I bought it. It is controlled largely by navigation of a complicated active (touch) screen, using physical buttons just to tone, vibrate, or shock. I never used the feature which tells you how far the dog travels during a hunt, but a friend who has the same device tells me that it will do that, and that he uses it. Personally, I found the Alpha 100 to be overly complicated and unwieldy, and I was unable to get full, or even any, benefit from its many bells and whistles. Maybe that is because I'm 67 and didn't grow up with electronic devices like this.
A couple of months ago I lost the Alpha 100 in the woods while hunting (lanyard attaching it to me broke). In the process of looking for a replacement I found out that Garmin has replaced the Alpha 100 with the Alpha 300 as their new high-end device. It too has most of its controls accessed by the touch screen, and appears to have most of the bells and whistles of its predecessor. I chose to go with Garmin's 550 Pro Plus, which is also a tracking and training device which is able to control up to 3 dogs (the Alpha device would do quite a few more but I only have one dog). My new device is much simpler and more intuitive to use. The display just gives you distance and direction to the dog, also shows which way is north, and whether dog is stationary (ie pointing or treeing). The much simpler controls are with a few buttons and toggle switches rather than a touch screen. The 550 device does not tell you how far the dog has travelled (one of many bells and whistles it lacks). The 550 Pro Plus costs $400 at Gun Dog Supply, vs $800 for the Alpha 300. The collar which works with either, the TT 25, goes for about $350.
To sum up, I hated the touch screen, which if kept active was always getting bumped by things and getting adjusted in ways which were not desired, or it could be kept on screen lock, which required quite a bit of fiddling to make it functional again. The "distance travelled by dog" was one of many features I was happy to forgo in exchange for a simpler device which does all that I need it to do.
I have no experience with Dogtra, which is Garmin's main competitor in the e-collar market. I do recommend highly the gundogsupply.com site. They have a number of very useful videos explaining the features and usage of their products, and they are happy to answer questions over the phone too.
