If they are still $169, this is about the going rate everywhere. As far as the DC-40's being junk, well I have recently parted ways with all the 30's, and switched to 40's after some good ol' fashioned testing.
I've been around the Garmin products for a very long time, and I would venture to say I know how to use them better than most.
Funny thing about all this. I have never turned a dog loose without a name collar (all of which are day-glo), and I have yet to have one come off in the woods. That includes while those vicious hogs are attacking them while they are supposed to be finding armadillos.
The major difference between the DC-30 and DC-40 is the ability to have 'collar lock' and to have a longer battery life by only transmitting every 2 minutes (hence increasing the battery life). I don't know many hunters who want to pay $60 more to change a setting to 2 minutes - do you really not want to know where your dog is for 2 minutes, if they are already far out - that could take them out of range. For the guys we deal with here, they tested them for us, and we shipped them ALL back. I believe if they remained the same price as the DC-30, it might be a different story but garmin wanted everyone to charge $250 for those collars. I see they are selling for less now, but the original price that came out made it almost impossible to sell for less than $220 with free shipping.
