We wish our pets to be secure and blissful. However permitting your canine to discover your property and different off-leash areas unleashed can improve his threat of hurt. Balancing “secure” and “blissful” will get simpler whenever you add a great GPS canine tracker to your pet’s collar!
GPS canine trackers have gotten more and more well-liked. However how efficient are they? And does your canine actually need one? In that case, that are the most effective GPS canine trackers to contemplate on your furry pal?
Now we have solutions for all these questions and extra! That can assist you sift by way of the choices, we examined six well-liked location monitoring gadgets you should use on your canine.
How Nicely Do Canine GPS Trackers Work?
Most canine GPS and exercise trackers work by way of a mixture of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile, and satellite tv for pc indicators. Some even work off radio frequencies. However even with all these sign choices, the most effective GPS canine trackers are nonetheless not good and may not work in all situations.
The efficiency of a location tracker is primarily decided by sign high quality. Poor sign can result in delayed location updates or false location updates (that means it may point out your pet is someplace it’s not). Quite a lot of components can affect this:
- Cloud cowl
- Thick tree canopies
- Tall buildings
- Being inside a car or constructing
For instance, on this map, you’ll be able to see a basic path of the place Hercules traveled. Throughout this journey, the Fi GPS monitoring app was not all the time capable of get a sign for his exact location when he was within the woods. He adopted his nostril and wandered round much more than these straight strains point out. However it’s nonetheless extraordinarily useful to know the final space your canine is in in the event that they’re misplaced!
One other issue to contemplate is cellular phone reception. The mobile networks these gadgets use are the identical ones your telephone makes use of, such because the AT&T or Verizon LTE networks. Nonetheless, it doesn’t matter which service you employ on your telephone. The monitoring gadgets join to those networks straight (e.g., Fi makes use of LTE-M through the AT&T community), and that’s what the subscription charges cowl.
What does matter is how effectively the tracker can entry its designated sign in your space? When you’ve got a tool that works through the Verizon community, however you’ll be able to’t get a great Verizon sign close to you, the tracker may not work in addition to you’d hoped!
Do You Want A GPS & Exercise Tracker For Your Canine?
I used to be that pet proprietor who thought my canine would by no means get misplaced. Then final summer season, within the time it took me to enter our campervan, pour a cup of espresso, and are available again out, Hercules had disappeared. A nightmare for any canine proprietor! It took 5 folks looking out virtually three hours earlier than we discovered him.
That have fueled my curiosity in getting a GPS gadget. However a probably misplaced canine (and even canine theft) isn’t the one cause to get a location tracker. Listed here are 5 causes you may want a GPS pet tracker on your pup:
1. Security And Prevention
Not solely do these monitoring gadgets provide help to discover your pet in the event that they get misplaced or wander too far, however in addition they provide help to forestall that from taking place.
Many monitoring gadget apps allow you to arrange secure/unsafe zones. For instance, I get a notification from the Tractive GPS gadget when Cool Whip leaves our residence/secure zone (inexperienced circle) or enters the alert zone I arrange across the street (purple rectangle). That’s my cue to name her again nearer to the campervan earlier than she wanders right into a harmful space.
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2. Monitor Your Canine Walker Or Pet Sitter
Clearly, you belief this individual if you happen to’ve employed them to take care of your loved one pet. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless comforting to know when and the place they’re taking your canine for a stroll.
Most GPS canine tracker apps will present you precisely how lengthy and the place your canine was lively. Some trackers additionally allow you to share your canine’s location with different canine walkers or relations. This fashion, they will help discover your misplaced pup if you happen to’re not within the space.
3. You Hike With Your Canine
Sure, a pet GPS tracker will help you discover your canine in the event that they get misplaced throughout a hike. However they’re additionally a good way to file your journey! You’ll be capable of see precisely the place you hiked, the space you hiked, and the way lengthy it took you.
With some canine tracker apps, you’ll be able to even take footage alongside the way in which that save with the occasion. What an excellent reminiscence to look again on!
4. You Need To Log Your Canine’s Exercise Degree
Minutes lively, distance traveled, time spent napping—all of those contribute to your canine’s total exercise stage. Many GPS and exercise trackers assist regulate your canine if you happen to’re not there to observe them 24/7.
You’ll know in the event that they’re operating across the yard all day whilst you’re at work, or in the event that they take an eight-hour nap. This will help you determine how a lot to feed or stroll them to keep up a wholesome weight. Plus, when you realize extra about your canine’s day by day habits, it could actually provide help to determine attainable sicknesses.
5. It Is Enjoyable!
A number of of the monitoring apps provide social options, akin to leaderboards exhibiting how your canine’s exercise stage ranks in opposition to different canine with the identical gadget. These rating classes usually embody all gadget customers, buddies inside the app, your canine’s breed, and your state, metropolis, or native space. It would even result in new friendships!
What Is the Greatest GPS Canine Tracker?
So, you perceive how GPS trackers work and also you just like the potential advantages of a monitoring gadget. However with quite a lot of pet monitoring gadgets available on the market, how do pet mother and father choose the precise one for his or her furry companion?
Now we have you lined! These are six of the most effective monitoring gadgets for canine. And we examined each to see how effectively they work in the actual world.
- Fi Good Collar
- Hyperlink My Pet
- LynQ Good Compass
- Tractive GPS
- Whistle Well being & GPS
- Apple AirTag
Cool Whip and Hercules every wore three gadgets for a number of weeks in northern Minnesota. The panorama there’s a mixture of open fields and thick forests. We received a really feel for a way every gadget would carry out in optimum sign areas (open fields with a transparent view of the sky) and probably troublesome areas (forests with heavy tree canopies).
Learn on for a breakdown of the important particulars of every monitoring gadget plus a few of our favourite options.
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Fi Good Collar — Test Amazon Value + Subscription
The Fi sensible collar is the slimmest GPS tracker for canine and prices round $149, plus the subscription payment. The precise monitoring gadget sits consistent with the collar (versus on prime of it). It’s a smooth design that’s hardly noticeable as something greater than an everyday collar.
The Fi canine tracker maps your canine’s location and their steps. Inside the app, you’ll be able to set step objectives on your pup and see a breakdown of steps by day, week, and month.
For those who activate the social characteristic, you may as well see how your pet ranks in opposition to all different Fi customers in addition to by your canine’s breed, state, metropolis, and age group. You may even observe his buddies and make new buddies inside the app.
Attachment: This tracker requires a Fi-compatible canine collar. One collar (your alternative of shade) comes along with your monitoring gadget. You may buy further collars by way of different makers listed on the Fi web site. This gadget is for pets that weigh 10 kilos or extra.
Subscription: The Fi sensible collar requires a subscription for full entry to its monitoring capabilities. You may arrange billing for one 12 months ($99), two years ($186), or three years ($248). The gadget works and not using a subscription, however you can’t observe your canine’s location in the event that they transcend the vary of your smartphone, base station, or Wi-Fi. Fi makes use of AT&T’s LTE-M mobile community.
What we love about Fi:
- Unbelievable battery life
- A really low-profile gadget; seems like an everyday canine collar
- Social—it’s enjoyable monitoring steps with the neighborhood rankings
Hercules wore the Fi tracker, and I really like that it was onerous to note there was a tool on him. The situation monitoring doesn’t replace as continuously as the opposite trackers, which preserves battery life. It labored nice within the fields however had hassle finding Hercules within the woods.
The app is the shining star although. The best way Fi designed the step-ranking platform is so enjoyable—day by day I checked to see what number of locations Herc moved up or down in every of his classes.
Hyperlink My Pet — Test Amazon Value + Subscription
Hyperlink is the choice for canine mother and father who need all the pieces bundled into one gadget. For round $135 plus subscription, it’s a GPS canine tracker, exercise monitor, coaching gadget, data keeper, and extra.
Hyperlink’s exercise monitoring consists of minutes lively, energy, steps, and miles. Your canine’s time spent lively is categorized as operating or strolling, so that you get a radical image of their train. The coaching options embody tone and vibrate features to assist reinforce optimistic conduct.
Inside the app is a piece to add vet data so that they’re all the time at-hand, set temperature alerts, create exercise objectives, and extra. You even have entry to Hyperlink Vet, a symptom checker that will help you decode your pet’s well being and conduct.
Attachment: Hyperlink attaches to your canine’s present collar through an elastic strap or plastic clip. The Hyperlink gadget is white and black, however you’ll be able to apply quite a lot of wraps everytime you desire a new shade.
Subscription: Utilizing the Hyperlink canine tracker requires a subscription. You may arrange your billing cycle as one month ($12.99), one 12 months ($99), two years ($186), or three years ($248). Hyperlink makes use of Verizon’s mobile community.
What we love about Hyperlink My Pet:
- The choice to trace your adventures and embody footage
- Coaching controls (tone and vibrate)
- One-stop-shop GPS tracker, exercise monitor, and well being help
I actually like what number of options include the Hyperlink app. And their customer support reps are extremely useful you probably have questions or simply need to discover ways to maximize your gadget. Additionally, you may get a Hyperlink Puck, which is sort of a Bluetooth beacon that helps strengthen the sign and protect battery life.
Hercules wore this tracker and it delivered the fewest false location updates. A number of wins with Hyperlink. It’s the tracker that Myles from GoPetFriendly wears!
Lynq Good Compass — $409 (Two Gadgets)
The Lynq Good Compass is just a little totally different from the opposite trackers. It’s strictly a location monitoring gadget, with no exercise monitoring. So, your canine gained’t put on the Good Compass until you’re on an journey.
And slightly than speaking along with your telephone utilizing a mobile community, you get two (or extra) gadgets that pair with one another (like GPS walkie talkies). So if you happen to discover locations with little or no mobile sign, it is a nice choice!
If you’re able to go on an off-leash hike or to let your canine roam your property, activate the Good Compasses. Then look ahead to the 2 items to hook up with GPS and pair collectively. As soon as they’ve discovered one another and a satellite tv for pc, you’ll be able to clip one to your canine’s collar and the opposite gadget stays with you.
On the display screen you’ll see your canine’s distance from you. Alongside the outer fringe of the display screen is a marker that signifies your canine’s path from you; and it will get bigger as you get nearer.
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Attachment: One finish of the Good Compass is a carabiner-style attachment. You may clip one gadget on to your canine’s collar, harness, or backpack. The opposite gadget can clip to your backpack, belt, and so forth.
Subscription: The Lynq Good Compass doesn’t require a subscription.
What we love about Lynq:
- No mobile sign required
- No subscription payment
- Quite simple to make use of
- Helpful for quite a lot of adventures with or with out pets
Whereas the Good Compass is the most important gadget we examined, I like how straightforward it was to trace Cool Whip’s location. I additionally like that it’s not one thing it’s a must to go away in your canine’s collar 24/7. These gadgets are all the time lively and have to be recharged each few days.
If you’d like one thing easy and also you’re not all for well being or exercise monitoring, positively take into account a Good Compass.
Tractive GPS — Test Amazon Value + Subscription
At a value of round $50 plus subscription, the Tractive GPS tracker is a formidable choice for canine house owners. The Dwell monitoring choice updates the situation each 2-3 seconds—leaving hardly any time to panic whenever you’re attempting to determine the place your canine is wandering.
The exercise monitoring consists of minutes lively, energy burned, sleep time, and calm time. Tractive additionally has a leaderboard the place you’ll be able to see the way you rank by minutes lively domestically, globally, and amongst your canine’s breed and buddies.
A characteristic I didn’t discover with every other gadgets is Tractive Care. It’s an insurance coverage choice on your gadget. You may declare a free substitute in case your tracker is broken, misplaced, or stolen.
Tractive additionally affords a GPS cat tracker, for cats who love adventures and small canine. Most canine GPS trackers match canine who’re 5 kilos or extra, so it may be onerous to seek out one that matches the smaller canine breeds.
Attachment: The Tractive gadget attaches to your canine’s present collar (as much as 1 inch vast). This gadget is for canine 8.8 kilos or extra.
Subscription: The Tractive GPS tracker requires a subscription plan. Billing for the Fundamental plan is month-to-month ($12), one 12 months ($84), or two years ($120), which incorporates GPS monitoring and Dwell monitoring.
Billing for the Premium plan is one 12 months ($96), two years ($144), or 5 years ($300), and consists of GPS and Dwell monitoring, household sharing, 12 months of location historical past, worldwide protection, and extra. Tractive makes use of AT&T’s mobile community.
What we love about Tractive:
- Location monitoring could be very responsive in Dwell mode
- Simple to arrange quite a lot of secure or alert zones
- Free substitute gadget with Tractive Care
Cool Whip received to put on the Tractive GPS gadget as a result of she is the canine almost certainly to lose one thing. (I triple knot her bandanas, and so they nonetheless come untied and fall off!). The Tractive Care is precisely the kind of service I would like for a canine like her.
Additionally, the choice for secure and alert zones was extremely useful. They might be arrange wherever, akin to alongside the street that I didn’t need her close to.
Whistle Well being & GPS — Test Amazon Value + Subscription
There are a couple of totally different gadgets obtainable from Whistle. One solely tracks your pet’s well being and exercise and two provide location and exercise monitoring:
Whistle – Well being: Tracks your canine’s exercise (minutes lively, distance, energy, relaxation) and well being akin to licking, sleeping, consuming, distance traveled, and minutes lively. This gadget prices round $50, however has no GPS location monitoring.
Whistle – Well being + GPS: Tracks well being, exercise, and placement for round $150 plus subscription prices. You may see precisely the place your pet is and get notifications in the event that they go away any secure zone you create. That is the gadget we examined.
Whistle – Well being + GPS + Health: For round $199 plus subscription, this gadget tracks well being, exercise, and placement. It attaches to its personal collar and has two interchangeable batteries. So there is no such thing as a must take away the gadget to cost it—simply swap batteries!
Attachment: The Well being & GPS tracker can connect to any collar. The Well being & GPS+ gadget requires a appropriate collar (one comes with the gadget; further variations can be found for buy). Each gadgets are for canine weighing 25 kilos or extra.
Subscription: Whistle monitoring gadgets require a subscription. You may arrange billing for month-to-month ($12.99), one 12 months ($99), or two years ($192). Whistle makes use of AT&T’s mobile community.
What we love about Whistle:
- Detailed location monitoring
- Quick updates in Discover My Pet mode
- Exercise and wellness monitoring
Hercules wore the Whistle Well being & GPS gadget (previously known as the Whistle Go Discover). The Whistle gave me essentially the most false notifications once we had been contained in the van (autos can block indicators). Nonetheless, once we had been exterior, it was essentially the most correct gadget, which is why it is likely one of the hottest GPS canine trackers.
When Herc snuck away one afternoon (whereas carrying three trackers), the Whistle tracker gave essentially the most frequent and exact location updates. Every of the orange dots reveals the place the app up to date his location. There have been hardly any delays, even whereas he was deep within the woods.
We drove a four-wheeler down an off-road path to gather him, and he popped out from the woods precisely the place the app was exhibiting his location. It was like watching your journey progress on Google Maps.
Apple AirTag — Test Amazon Value
Robust the Apple AirTag is just not a GPS tracker, it’s value mentioning on this publish. This gadget is the smallest and, at a value of $29, the least costly approach to observe your canine.
It’s a Bluetooth tracker, which implies it operates on Bluetooth indicators solely. When a appropriate telephone or gadget utilizing a Bluetooth sign passes close by, the situation updates.
The AirTag is just not the most effective pet tracker for sparsely populated areas as a result of there are so few appropriate gadgets to choose up the Bluetooth sign. Nonetheless, if you happen to fear about your canine happening the lam within the metropolis, this is a superb choice.
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An enormous plus for the AirTag (the small white disc within the image of charging gadgets) is that there is no such thing as a battery charging required. The battery is designed to final one 12 months or extra. When the battery dies, you buy a new AirTag.
Attachment: Attaches to your canine’s present collar. You need to buy your personal attachment system akin to a silicone cowl that slides onto your canine’s collar or a collar specifically designed for the AirTag.
Subscription: No subscription required.
What we love about Apple AirTag:
- The least costly choice obtainable
- No subscription or battery charging required
- Small and simple to connect
The AirTag is the smallest and lightest gadget we examined, and I hardly discover it on Cool Whip’s collar. As a result of we spend most of our time within the wilderness away from populated areas, the AirTag is just not an efficient on a regular basis choice for us.
Nonetheless, it’s so small and cheap that I feel it’s value having as a backup on the canine’ collars for once we go to extra populated areas.
The Greatest GPS Canine Trackers For Your Pet
Every monitoring collar or gadget has barely totally different options and advantages, simply as every canine has totally different wants. The most effective GPS canine collar finally is dependent upon what you need on your pet.
- Fi Good Collar is smooth and maximizes battery life.
- Hyperlink’s app hosts a wealth of knowledge and choices.
- Lynq is ideal for adventures the place there is no such thing as a mobile service.
- Tractive is nice for establishing digital boundaries and alerts.
- Whistle is quick and exact with its mapping.
- AirTags are small, cheap, and good for metropolis life.
Go to our Amazon retailer to find out about extra merchandise we depend on to make touring with pets simpler, safer, and extra enjoyable!
Do you have already got a monitoring gadget on your pet? Go away us a remark to tell us what you want about it and the way it’s labored for you!
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