best gps dog tracker review on youtube. all the important questions are answered. key points - cell providers, WiFi, bluetooth and GPS. Also battery life, refresh/live tracking and APP features. Well done!
Like others have mentioned if you hear the plastic lip click you can hang it from the charger. I rescue one dog at a time and train it and find them a home and rescue another one so a gps tracker is a must. I too like the Tractive for reason you stated. I think my favorite thing of the Tractive is the accuracy and how often it refreshes. Yes when you put it in live mode the battery goes quickly. However you can put it in live mode to get a location then switch back and then put it back in live mode as you get closer, which is a game saver. I recommend Tractive to all the people who I give the rescues too. Have even thought of requiring it but I would hate to see someone pass on a wonderful pet over a device. I tried the Fi which I love the battery life but not the use of the collar. I tried the Link I thought this was going to be my go too collar but it gives false alerts and the feature I wanted the training beep and vibration rarely works, the light is good and you can use your own collar, I like being able to store medical information on it, I do not like that I have to remove it from the collar to charge it. I also keep an Apple Air Tag on all dogs even with the Tractive or whatever location device as a back up because you cannot beat the battery life even though it relies on Bluetooth device nearby. Thank you for a comprehensive look at the Tractive. Yes you can buy the bands.
Excellent review - I love that you covered the good AND the bad. That's the value of purchasing yourself to do the review, you don't feel like you need to emphasize the positive. I really love your videos. I know how hard they are to make (I've been in production for 46 years!), so I appreciate your attention to detail. Keep up the good work!!
@@gkiss2030 we're currently having an influx of customer concerns but we do have differenr channels and are trying our best to get back to every support request as fast as we can 💙
Purchased one for my cat… for starters… the sound is a very low one beep… can’t even hear it in my house, let alone outside. Second… there is ZERO custom service. No phone number, no email. Nadda, as in ZERO. Third, while it does track, it’s not accurate to a degree I had hoped for. All in all, it was a bad decision and cost me a total of 190.00 for the year with the tracker! Hopefully they will use the money to have at least a f’ing phone number for customers
I agree with you. I have been using Tractive GPS for 5 of my cats and it is very frustrating to try to find a lost gps when the sound is very low and the bluetooth function not that accurate. I was looking for one for at least 10 minutes when it was just stuck on the door of the catflap! If the sound was better I would have heard it immediately but nope, had to use my own eyes only. In terms of customer service, they answer emails but I find them very slow and annoyingly irresponsive to details and requests, like "Please send me the old model as the new one Tractive mini has too short of a battery life" (around 12 hours) to be able to track my cats. But no, they send me a new model nevertheless and my cat just comes back home without it after the battery is already empty and no possibility to find it! :-(
Warning: Tractive has totally worthless Customer Service! All via email, no over the phone Customer Service. And, they ignore your emails. Check reviews on the web. Totally worthless.
I have this for my GSD pup. She is a bit of a wanderer with one of our other dogs. We live on a remote 60 acres, and I have been able to locate and beep her to come back home at 5 miles away. I love this device! I now have a red zone part of our property so that if she leaves, it will notify my phone.
You give the best reviews! I live in an area that says my dogs are ALWAYS on leash outside of our home. Even in a fenced in yard they must be tethered! UUGGHH!! So cruel if ya ask me! So I take them to the country several times a week so they can run free and live their best life for a few hours. They have gotten away from me a time or two so I have been wanting something like this for them!
You can turn the safe zone/wifi zone off in the app under profile/tracker. That way you don't have to unplug your router. I wish it had a brighter light too! Thanks
I just got this unit, but I can’t find out how to turn the safe zone off, if you could provide me with some advice on this, I would be so grateful! I tried going under profile/tracker, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to do it.
If that beeper can be turned on remotely, Trian Ruger to 'Return Home" up on hearing it. That is a common feature of a Training Collar . Thanks Andrew. Mike M.
I always just take the collar off and charge. And we did have to order another one because it fell off of one of our dogs and couldn’t find it. So we use a a thick band to secure it! Overall we really like it and use it all the time! The only thing is we have to charge it once or twice a week. But without it we probably would have lost our dogs!
Hey, so I have one too, and I read the instructions, so if you place the wire the correct way and push it, you will hear a click now your wire will not come off it is secured and will charge your tracker.
I just got one had the same problem with loosing wifi randomly. It seems to have stopped after the 1st week. It also comes with insurance for the trackers. Think I pay an extra dollar. They ship you a new one. If your tracker breaks.
Very accurate review. We have had the service for about 3-4 years. Service was pretty good first year The tracker locking up gets worst as time goes on. Rests don't last long. We can barely get it to hook up and tech supports now takes a week to get back with you.
When you put it on the charger, try lining it up on the bottom and hinging it up towards the top. It should snap in like that. Other than occasionally not reporting gps and the sound finder not working any more I've been relatively happy with mine.
I currently have a Fi 2. My dog has outgrown his collar by about an inch. A new replacement collar is about $50. I don’t like that it has to be on a special collar. I’m going to give this Tracker a try
Man that is a nice GPS Tracker. I see the good & the bad on it. I am going to share this video with my son cuz his Lab is getting big. I am really Falling in love with his lab. He is so good & Lazy right now. The lab like to sleep with my grandsons Noah all the time. When Noah see the dog his eyes get really big but he is not scared of him so that good. Good video buddy thanks you for sharing it.
Thanks! Our bull terrier needs this! We live out in the country in rough terrain. I'm more worried about a bobcat tryna drag her off than a car hitting her. And I'd worry for that bobcat. Her bite is tremendous. But yes, she can high focus ramble... completely ignore her "call and response" training. I'd like a reliable tracker. This collar seems to tick the boxes.
Good review. Unfortunately I don’t think Live can work in power saving mode because the cell and gps transceiver is powered down for efficiency, so there’s no way to activate Live. In power saving mode it only seems to ping the servers every 12 hours. I think the logic is if it sees the wifi you shouldn’t need to use live, because your pet is in the safe zone any way. I think it’s just one of the tradeoffs driven by price, size, and battery life. I’ve had the same issue with the network dropping out and requiring a reboot a couple times a month, my roommate’s gf got one and it hasn’t happened to hers though.
I don't currently have an extender installed, but I am about to install the Orbi units. Expensive, but I've heard great things about them. Ubiquity makes excellent products too.
This is a great video and he makes a great point about the Wi-Fi except I have what I feel is a better suggestion than the range extender that he mentions. Spend some more money on a more permanent and stable setup. Ubiquiti makes amazing outdoor-rated reliable equipment. The second thing is I would look into an indoor/outdoor mesh system instead of a bunch of range extenders. If you want reasons why there are plenty of videos already out there that explain it. I myself went the cheaper route and went with Google Wi-Fi Pro. I built a custom plastic birdhouse. It's actually for one of the Google Wi-Fi points. It's on a small tower on the roof of my house and covers my entire years with Wi-Fi. Much cheaper solution but I did have to get creative. FYI it makes a big difference if you insulate the roof of your birdhouse. Summer heat can get a little too hot and the insulation keeps a little bit of heat in in the winter time. I've had - 40 wind chills 4 days with no issues and it's been 110 outside for days with no issues. That's Fahrenheit of course 😉😅
Great detailed review brother...best one I could find. I am considering a GPS unit for my Beagle who I am training to go off-leash. If you know Beagles you know they follow their nose and once on a scent it's hard to get them to come back. I just want this for those times we go for a walk not to use full time since I have a very secure yard....for the most part. It would be attached to her harness not her collar. The charging setup is a bit concerning. Not sure why they went that route versus a standard USB-C port? The random disconnects is concerning too, but based on how I plan to use it...not so much. The one thing I did not get from this review is how it shows the location of the device relative to where the phone is and I have seen no other reviews that show that either. I might just pick one up and test it using a monthly plan since it's not overly expensive for the peace of mind. Thanks again....well done.
@@TKCL Okay cool thanks for reply. I only plan to use it when I take her out for walks so the battery life and size, which is somewhat large IMO for full time use anyway, do not really matter to me all that much. So I think I will give it a try. Thanks again brother !!
thanks for the great review. I bought one on a recommendation from a friend and am waiting for it to come in the mail. I was wondering if I made a good choice and I think I did after your review.
Mine worked really well, but the battery life was a little disappointing. I bought the larger version for big dogs now that mine is grown. It lasts forever, but it is BIG! I still highly recommend these.
Have a black lab. I love the bright light on his collar. Without the light he is invisible at night. With light on I can see him quite easily - even far away. I don't call him unless he is crossing boundaries. Last winter the light was invaluable.
You mentioned when you first got Ruger about the collar and passing and I saw the caller and thought nothing of it. It's good to hear your feedback and follow up. You have such good review of all products. Good or bad shortcomings or not? Keep it up. Andrew
Great review! We also have a Ruger who we rescued. Unfortunately, he is NOT friendly with any other animal & I’m constantly worried if he were to get loose someone would hurt him because he is so aggressive towards animals. He’s great with people though🤷♀️ Anyways, my question is are you able to set the parameters to a small area? We live in a subdivision & don’t have a lot of land. Thank you so much for this very detailed review!
Thank you for the honest review. I read a few that I am sure were sponsored by Fi because they disclosed way less info about the tractive and at the end they had a Fi affiliate link. Thanks for helping me with my decision to get the tractive! I live on 80 acres and Remi likes to chase anything that moves! I wish they had a version that would shock as well
There is a company that makes a invisible fence collar. You set a virtual GPS fence and put the collar on the dog. It's supposed to warn as they get close and I do believe shock if they cross the boundary. I'm considering it myself.
Mind “clicks” into place as well. Gotta let the charge connect from the bottom and snap it up if that makes sense. Also, u can buy replacements for the rubber holder. 😊
I use Fi and it's amazing!! Don't get Fit Bark it sucks!!! We had so many issues even after trying to work with them for a year! I might have to share a video and do a screen recording on how it works with Bruce he is my Service dog and he is a Lab German Shephard mix. One Feature I like with Fi is that you can adjust how large of area is the home area with in the app that Bruce is suppose to be with in its really cool in that aspect..
Mine has that same adjustability. I almost bought the fi until I seen that it only works with one cell carrier. That's a big problem for me out here in the country with spotty cell service.
@@TKCL well we spent a year fighting with fit bark because we would test Bruce by sending him on a walk with the trainer forcing lost dog mode.. Well it would never work out.. However att lte-m network which is what the device uses seems to work great so far everywhere we have taken him.. One thing with fi I like is I can force lost dog mode with out him leaving the network or wifi.
Our FI stopped working after a week. Spent a month with email support with no reply from them. The plans are ridiculously expensive and to have to pay to talk on the phone with this type of company. We moved to Halo, who has terrible customer support after a error in delivery. We fought with them for two weeks and finally just asked for a refund. We are excited to receive the tractive and hope the interface is as good as FI, which we loved but couldn't keep a broken device.
Hello! Thank you for the great informative video! It's been a year since posted... but I'm considering purchase, and I wonder if live mode now works on WIFI? I haven't been able to find much info on it...
Awesome review! I have 1 question, If you set the no go zone outside of your wifi range, and the collar is set to every 3-5 mins, Does that mean it wont realize the dog is in the no go zone until it hits that 3-5 min mark? (cuz itll be on gps at that time)
I bought this tracker and the way that it clips onto the collar needs to be redesigned can be ripped off very easily and then it needs to have sound location so you can find it whenever it does get ripped off I've spent all day trying to find this thing and it keeps telling me it's somewhere along the side of my house but I can't find it something to think about
I belong to a community page on Facebook. They are constantly posting lost dog posts . I am going paste this link on the posts. You need to put this kind of stuff in your Amazon store page.
Thank you for the detailed review. Will this tracker work for when I want to check on my dogs while I'm on vacation in another state? Someone will be caring for our dogs, but I'd like a backup for piece of mind and know where our dogs are by checking the ap.
Sadly if the dogs are in the wifi range you can't track or use the main functions. It will just let you know they are in the safe zone you set. It will notify you if they leave your zone and you can live track them where they go, for example if your care taker takes them on a walk.
Hi Andrew, thanks for the review. I am new to any of these trackers so my question is, when you walk your dog, guess it will drain the battery more? Also, if when I go on vacay and take my dog to a dog sitter, can I add the dog sitter's wifi network to the app? Thanks.
Leaving the zone does drain the battery quicker. You can change the wifi safety zones as long as your sitter will allow you to access the guest network of their wifi. I bought their larger xl version for dogs. The battery life is amazing on that unit.
So the virtual fence only notifies you that your dog got out of your zone, it doesn’t stop the dog from leaving your area like buzzing the collar or a light zap that would make the dog think twice and turn around? Im thinking about getting one for each of our Dachshunds. They’re so fast that by the time we’d get the notification they could be 5 acres away on their way to who knows where.
I bought the xl many months ago and love it. Ruger is full grown now. I got tired of charging the small one every few days, I can literally go a couple weeks without charging the XL. Keep in mind it is large and bulky, but I love the extra battery capacity.
Going to try, I had 3 fi collars in 1 year. They keep falling off and breaking apart. I had the whistle collar and that keeps falling off. Hopefully this works
Just got mine yesterday. Today he chased my mom as she left my driver way which was a good test for the collar. It wasn’t connected to my WiFi and it wouldn’t connect to the gps when I tried to go live. Did you ever figure out what caused the issue? Pretty disappointed it didn’t work on the second day considering I just paid $250 for the tracker and subscription.
I am now running the bigger dog tracker with a huge battery but had plenty of experience with the smaller model as well. It's not going to notify you that a dog has left the safety zone until you setup a wifi home zone. I've never tried the collar without this zone so I can't say why it didn't work without it. My new collar has worked very well, always notifying me within 1-5 minutes after my dog leaves the home zone and allows me to click on the live tracking function.
Thanks for the video. I currently have the Fi and it only updates my labs location every 15min. My pup can cover a great distance in that time. What is the refresh rate on the tractive?
I have cat one on inside the house is all she has been, and the the holder broke...it just a thin rubber thing that holds it. What is the fix for that?
@@TKCL thanks for replying! I ordered on yesterday in their 40% off Prime Days, so I’ll soon find out. I plan to activate it for a year anyways, too! Thanks for this video! It was really helpful in deciding to purchase.
Hello I just bought this and it’s coming in the mail in a couple days. My phone that i will be using to connect to the tracker is an old phone that does NOT have a SIM card. The phone does NOT have a phone number, which means it cannot receive calls or text messages. But the phone has access to WiFi internet connection. My question is, will that phone be able to receive location from the Cat Tracker? I understand that the tracker itself has a built in sim card, but I don't know if a Phone with No Sim card will connect and work with the tracker. A response would be SO helpful and i will be very grateful! thank you and have a nice day.
Andrew uses an android phone so apple AirTag won’t work for him. Plus out in the country where there not many people around the AirTag won’t help. The AirTag requires people to be around since it relies on other iPhones to be nearby to to send its data back to the network. It don’t have a built in gps it all works by bouncing its own signal off others iPhone.
@@TKCL it might be some what a flaw but in locations like where I’m at works great. That is one reason the battery life of them last a year. They only use Bluetooth LE. But like in your case it a no go.
Finally a review from somebody off the countryside! I purchased 2 while watching the video for my small hunting dogs. They chase game for miles so this will be a big help for me. And also for making sure they don't go after the neighbors chicken and get their butts kicked by the livestock guardian dogs in this area. I hope these devices will give me some peace. Thanks for the review!
I can’t find it explained if work gps for real without any cell towers. I’m in mountains and woods. No cell service and WiFi only covers 3 acres. My cat leaves and goes in the mountains. Every since she was bit by timber rattler 2 weeks ago (yes, got her to the vet within 2 hours for anti venom, she’s like nothing ever happened now.) but I worry when she’s gone so long. I couldn’t find her today and now she came home with one paw twice as bit as other. Crazy cat. Sooooooo, will it track in the woods?
does the collar notify you immediately if your dog leaves the zone you've designated as the invisible fence? or does it wait to notify you until the 3-5 min refresh?
@@TKCL that's what i figured, thank you! i've been looking at the tractive, the fi, and the whistle go explore and it seems like that's the case for all of them unfortunately. i live by a busy road and my dog has learned how to dig under the fence so i was hoping there was one that gave instant notifications
If the beach house has wifi you can setup a perimeter there. Otherwise the collar will still work, but always be in live mode. You'll need to charge a lot more often or turn live mode off and have no perimeter.
No, you'll need to change the wifi connection and add a new peremiter at the beach house. Remove your home perimeter so it doesn't think the dog has left it. It's honestly a 2 minute job and easy to do.
Pretty much, these are small and only have but so much battery capacity. These are indented to notify you as soon as you pet is on the loose and provide you with accurate location data. In theory there is no reason you shouldn't be able to get your pet long before the battery dies. That's assuming you are not on vacation or some other reason far away from your pets.
Place the bottom of the charging connector in place and pivot the top of the connector firmly in place and you will notice that it sorta snaps over a small little tit that holds the connector firmly attached.
The tractive looks hard and very uncomfortable, inflexible and restrictive. I would prefer an inserted tracker underneath the dog’s or cat’s skin which I feel would be much more comfortable for our furry friends!!! 🐈⬛🐾🦮
Amazon offers a 2 pack, can I hook both devises up to 1 suscription? That way I can always have 1 charging and 1 on the dog. Also...what router do you use that gives you such a great radius?
I don't know if you can add two to one subscription, you would need to ask the manufacturer. My router is a cellular router, probably not something you would be interested in.
That's the point of having a GPS isn't it? So you can immediately go get your dog and know it's exact location. Who's going to let their dog roam around for two days while wearing a GPS and they can see exactly where to go get it? 🤷
![Best Dog GPS Tracker in 2024 [I Tested All of Them]](/img/1.gif)
best gps dog tracker review on youtube. all the important questions are answered. key points - cell providers, WiFi, bluetooth and GPS. Also battery life, refresh/live tracking and APP features. Well done!
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm now running their large dog tracker, battery life is amazing.
Like others have mentioned if you hear the plastic lip click you can hang it from the charger. I rescue one dog at a time and train it and find them a home and rescue another one so a gps tracker is a must. I too like the Tractive for reason you stated. I think my favorite thing of the Tractive is the accuracy and how often it refreshes. Yes when you put it in live mode the battery goes quickly. However you can put it in live mode to get a location then switch back and then put it back in live mode as you get closer, which is a game saver. I recommend Tractive to all the people who I give the rescues too. Have even thought of requiring it but I would hate to see someone pass on a wonderful pet over a device.
I tried the Fi which I love the battery life but not the use of the collar. I tried the Link I thought this was going to be my go too collar but it gives false alerts and the feature I wanted the training beep and vibration rarely works, the light is good and you can use your own collar, I like being able to store medical information on it, I do not like that I have to remove it from the collar to charge it. I also keep an Apple Air Tag on all dogs even with the Tractive or whatever location device as a back up because you cannot beat the battery life even though it relies on Bluetooth device nearby. Thank you for a comprehensive look at the Tractive. Yes you can buy the bands.
Excellent review - I love that you covered the good AND the bad. That's the value of purchasing yourself to do the review, you don't feel like you need to emphasize the positive.
I really love your videos. I know how hard they are to make (I've been in production for 46 years!), so I appreciate your attention to detail. Keep up the good work!!
Thank you very much
I've been looking for the definitive review on Tractive...yours is definitely it! Thanks very much!
Glad you found it useful.
Hi Andrew! Thanks for the review, we're glad you're enjoying Tractive. We wish you and Ruger many happy adventures together!
Thank you very much! I hope you took my criticisms as improvement ideas for the future. Take care!
Do you have a response for manual gps mode switch, or have you heard of the disconnect issue?
Hi, many people complain, that you have non-existing customer service. Is it true?
@@gkiss2030 we're currently having an influx of customer concerns but we do have differenr channels and are trying our best to get back to every support request as fast as we can 💙
@@TractiveGPS What are the reasons for those concerns? Thanks!
Purchased one for my cat… for starters… the sound is a very low one beep… can’t even hear it in my house, let alone outside. Second… there is ZERO custom service. No phone number, no email. Nadda, as in ZERO. Third, while it does track, it’s not accurate to a degree I had hoped for. All in all, it was a bad decision and cost me a total of 190.00 for the year with the tracker! Hopefully they will use the money to have at least a f’ing phone number for customers
I agree with you. I have been using Tractive GPS for 5 of my cats and it is very frustrating to try to find a lost gps when the sound is very low and the bluetooth function not that accurate. I was looking for one for at least 10 minutes when it was just stuck on the door of the catflap! If the sound was better I would have heard it immediately but nope, had to use my own eyes only. In terms of customer service, they answer emails but I find them very slow and annoyingly irresponsive to details and requests, like "Please send me the old model as the new one Tractive mini has too short of a battery life" (around 12 hours) to be able to track my cats. But no, they send me a new model nevertheless and my cat just comes back home without it after the battery is already empty and no possibility to find it! :-(
Warning: Tractive has totally worthless Customer Service! All via email, no over the phone Customer Service. And, they ignore your emails. Check reviews on the web. Totally worthless.
Thank you for your work, concrete, well-argued and useful information. It's nice to hear competent people.
Much appreciated!
I have this for my GSD pup. She is a bit of a wanderer with one of our other dogs. We live on a remote 60 acres, and I have been able to locate and beep her to come back home at 5 miles away. I love this device! I now have a red zone part of our property so that if she leaves, it will notify my phone.
They are great
Good Afternoon. Been watching several videos to get caught up this afternoon.
Thank you for watching
You give the best reviews! I live in an area that says my dogs are ALWAYS on leash outside of our home. Even in a fenced in yard they must be tethered! UUGGHH!! So cruel if ya ask me! So I take them to the country several times a week so they can run free and live their best life for a few hours. They have gotten away from me a time or two so I have been wanting something like this for them!
That's sad to hear, dogs want to be free and run. At least you are giving them that opportunity when you can.
You can turn the safe zone/wifi zone off in the app under profile/tracker. That way you don't have to unplug your router. I wish it had a brighter light too! Thanks
I just got this unit, but I can’t find out how to turn the safe zone off, if you could provide me with some advice on this, I would be so grateful! I tried going under profile/tracker, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to do it.
If that beeper can be turned on remotely, Trian Ruger to 'Return Home" up on hearing it.
That is a common feature of a Training Collar .
Thanks Andrew.
Mike M.
I feel like this was a great comprehensive review 👍🏼 Answered all the questions I had
Glad it was helpful!
I always just take the collar off and charge. And we did have to order another one because it fell off of one of our dogs and couldn’t find it. So we use a a thick band to secure it! Overall we really like it and use it all the time! The only thing is we have to charge it once or twice a week. But without it we probably would have lost our dogs!
I see they sell the bands and right now Amazon has these on sale for $30. I'm tempted to grab a spare.
Hey, so I have one too, and I read the instructions, so if you place the wire the correct way and push it, you will hear a click now your wire will not come off it is secured and will charge your tracker.
I just got one had the same problem with loosing wifi randomly. It seems to have stopped after the 1st week. It also comes with insurance for the trackers. Think I pay an extra dollar. They ship you a new one. If your tracker breaks.
Your right the charging cord only goes one way but it will snap on. I have one just like it.
Thank you Andrew
Thank you for watching
Very accurate review. We have had the service for about 3-4 years.
Service was pretty good first year
The tracker locking up gets worst as time goes on. Rests don't last long.
We can barely get it to hook up and tech supports now takes a week to get back with you.
I upgraded to the large dog model, so far zero issues and battery life is excellent.
Thanks for the video, i bought the GPS dog4 and the Glow-in-the-Dark sleeve and the set of 3 clips and the Clip Charger & USB-C Cable.
Great, thorough, well-researched and well-tested review. Very appreciative. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it
Hi, Andrew! As always this is an honest and thorough review. Have fun with Ruger!! He is a treasure.
He sure is
When you put it on the charger, try lining it up on the bottom and hinging it up towards the top. It should snap in like that. Other than occasionally not reporting gps and the sound finder not working any more I've been relatively happy with mine.
I've tried that, there's so much memory in my cable it tiwsts it off of the device. Overall I'm mostly satisfied.
Sometimes mine doesn’t connect and say there out of fence until their already out of virtual fence and they are fast but overall I like it!
I currently have a Fi 2. My dog has outgrown his collar by about an inch. A new replacement collar is about $50. I don’t like that it has to be on a special collar. I’m going to give this Tracker a try
I didn't like that either.
I understand the charger thing but that makes it more waterproof
Hi Andrew great review as always. Good product to have for your pets to keep track of them. You make any review interesting. 🌞🇨🇦
Thank you
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
Good job I am glad I got after your review
Thank you for the review Andrew
Thank you for watching
Good info. I've been reading up on this for my pup. Thanks.
Your welcome
The charger needs to click in place to stay put! I had the same issue as you until my SO showed me
Man that is a nice GPS Tracker. I see the good & the bad on it. I am going to share this video with my son cuz his Lab is getting big. I am really Falling in love with his lab. He is so good & Lazy right now. The lab like to sleep with my grandsons Noah all the time. When Noah see the dog his eyes get really big but he is not scared of him so that good. Good video buddy thanks you for sharing it.
Those puppies love to nap!
Excellent review. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks! Our bull terrier needs this! We live out in the country in rough terrain. I'm more worried about a bobcat tryna drag her off than a car hitting her. And I'd worry for that bobcat. Her bite is tremendous.
But yes, she can high focus ramble... completely ignore her "call and response" training. I'd like a reliable tracker.
This collar seems to tick the boxes.
Snap my bully is the same😂
Great review. I really appreciate it. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
Great review as usual. Ruger is a lucky puppy. Hello from Honolulu. Watch your videos every chance I get. They are very detailed & also entertaining.
Very nice! Send me some of that scenery and tropical weather.
Thank you for the review. This was very helpful!!
Glad you enjoyed it
That tracker will come in really handy for finding Ruger.
Good review. Unfortunately I don’t think Live can work in power saving mode because the cell and gps transceiver is powered down for efficiency, so there’s no way to activate Live. In power saving mode it only seems to ping the servers every 12 hours. I think the logic is if it sees the wifi you shouldn’t need to use live, because your pet is in the safe zone any way. I think it’s just one of the tradeoffs driven by price, size, and battery life.
I’ve had the same issue with the network dropping out and requiring a reboot a couple times a month, my roommate’s gf got one and it hasn’t happened to hers though.
Your correct and I HATE that about these units. I should be able to force live mode anytime I want to.
We have been looking at these for our Jack Russells. I took to RUclips for a review and found a KCL video I missed previously lol
What wifi extender do you recommend and do you have an affiliate link for the extender
I don't currently have an extender installed, but I am about to install the Orbi units. Expensive, but I've heard great things about them. Ubiquity makes excellent products too.
When you put it on the charger push it hard so it will snap over the line. The line holds it down.
My line is rounded over and almost flat with the tracker, it's always been that way. No way for anything to click or grab.
This is a great video and he makes a great point about the Wi-Fi except I have what I feel is a better suggestion than the range extender that he mentions.
Spend some more money on a more permanent and stable setup. Ubiquiti makes amazing outdoor-rated reliable equipment.
The second thing is I would look into an indoor/outdoor mesh system instead of a bunch of range extenders.
If you want reasons why there are plenty of videos already out there that explain it.
I myself went the cheaper route and went with Google Wi-Fi Pro. I built a custom plastic birdhouse. It's actually for one of the Google Wi-Fi points. It's on a small tower on the roof of my house and covers my entire years with Wi-Fi.
Much cheaper solution but I did have to get creative.
FYI it makes a big difference if you insulate the roof of your birdhouse. Summer heat can get a little too hot and the insulation keeps a little bit of heat in in the winter time. I've had - 40 wind chills 4 days with no issues and it's been 110 outside for days with no issues. That's Fahrenheit of course 😉😅
Great detailed review brother...best one I could find. I am considering a GPS unit for my Beagle who I am training to go off-leash. If you know Beagles you know they follow their nose and once on a scent it's hard to get them to come back. I just want this for those times we go for a walk not to use full time since I have a very secure yard....for the most part. It would be attached to her harness not her collar. The charging setup is a bit concerning. Not sure why they went that route versus a standard USB-C port? The random disconnects is concerning too, but based on how I plan to use it...not so much. The one thing I did not get from this review is how it shows the location of the device relative to where the phone is and I have seen no other reviews that show that either. I might just pick one up and test it using a monthly plan since it's not overly expensive for the peace of mind. Thanks again....well done.
If location is turned on your phone, the app shows you and the dog when in live mode. Makes it very easy to see where to travel to intercept the dog.
@@TKCL Okay cool thanks for reply. I only plan to use it when I take her out for walks so the battery life and size, which is somewhat large IMO for full time use anyway, do not really matter to me all that much. So I think I will give it a try. Thanks again brother !!
thanks for the great review. I bought one on a recommendation from a friend and am waiting for it to come in the mail. I was wondering if I made a good choice and I think I did after your review.
Mine worked really well, but the battery life was a little disappointing. I bought the larger version for big dogs now that mine is grown. It lasts forever, but it is BIG! I still highly recommend these.
I did get the big adventure one.
Great work u did here
Thank you
Have a black lab. I love the bright light on his collar. Without the light he is invisible at night. With light on I can see him quite easily - even far away. I don't call him unless he is crossing boundaries. Last winter the light was invaluable.
I wish this one had a really bright light, it's a must have.
Nice review. Thanks
Thank you for watching
You mentioned when you first got Ruger about the collar and passing and I saw the caller and thought nothing of it. It's good to hear your feedback and follow up. You have such good review of all products. Good or bad shortcomings or not? Keep it up. Andrew
Thank you Joe!
Great review! We also have a Ruger who we rescued. Unfortunately, he is NOT friendly with any other animal & I’m constantly worried if he were to get loose someone would hurt him because he is so aggressive towards animals. He’s great with people though🤷♀️
Anyways, my question is are you able to set the parameters to a small area? We live in a subdivision & don’t have a lot of land.
Thank you so much for this very detailed review!
I just checked and the smallest circle it will make is 150ft. Hope that helps.
Good review.
Thank you for the honest review. I read a few that I am sure were sponsored by Fi because they disclosed way less info about the tractive and at the end they had a Fi affiliate link. Thanks for helping me with my decision to get the tractive! I live on 80 acres and Remi likes to chase anything that moves! I wish they had a version that would shock as well
There is a company that makes a invisible fence collar. You set a virtual GPS fence and put the collar on the dog. It's supposed to warn as they get close and I do believe shock if they cross the boundary. I'm considering it myself.
The charger is not just magnetic. It has a little tab that locks it in place. Just need to put a little pressure on it
I've tried and tried, it will not snap on. The tab portion on the device is rounded over, no where for the charger to click to. Does not look correct.
Mind “clicks” into place as well. Gotta let the charge connect from the bottom and snap it up if that makes sense.
Also, u can buy replacements for the rubber holder. 😊
Great job
I use Fi and it's amazing!! Don't get Fit Bark it sucks!!! We had so many issues even after trying to work with them for a year! I might have to share a video and do a screen recording on how it works with Bruce he is my Service dog and he is a Lab German Shephard mix. One Feature I like with Fi is that you can adjust how large of area is the home area with in the app that Bruce is suppose to be with in its really cool in that aspect..
Mine has that same adjustability. I almost bought the fi until I seen that it only works with one cell carrier. That's a big problem for me out here in the country with spotty cell service.
@@TKCL well we spent a year fighting with fit bark because we would test Bruce by sending him on a walk with the trainer forcing lost dog mode.. Well it would never work out.. However att lte-m network which is what the device uses seems to work great so far everywhere we have taken him.. One thing with fi I like is I can force lost dog mode with out him leaving the network or wifi.
Yeah that's a bummer for mine, having to physically turn off my wifi if he's in that range.
Our FI stopped working after a week. Spent a month with email support with no reply from them. The plans are ridiculously expensive and to have to pay to talk on the phone with this type of company. We moved to Halo, who has terrible customer support after a error in delivery. We fought with them for two weeks and finally just asked for a refund. We are excited to receive the tractive and hope the interface is as good as FI, which we loved but couldn't keep a broken device.
Hey the charger cord snaps in, just push it down. Kinda on top of cord the bigger end.
Mine will not, the edge on the device itself is rounded over and not sticking up. Nothing to catch on, looks like a defect.
@@TKCL mine is rounded too just slightly push it down
Hello! Thank you for the great informative video! It's been a year since posted... but I'm considering purchase, and I wonder if live mode now works on WIFI? I haven't been able to find much info on it...
I now own the larger dog tracker and it still doesn't work for "live" over wifi. I wish it did, but I still enjoy the unit and company.
Awesome review! I have 1 question, If you set the no go zone outside of your wifi range, and the collar is set to every 3-5 mins, Does that mean it wont realize the dog is in the no go zone until it hits that 3-5 min mark? (cuz itll be on gps at that time)
I'm not sure to be honest, because my Wi-Fi has a huge range and covers my entire home zone.
The charger clips on. There is a little lip that secures it and it's shown in the instructions
Mine doesn't, I've tried it 20 times. My little clip is rounded off and it won't catch. Came that way and appears to be a defect.
I bought this tracker and the way that it clips onto the collar needs to be redesigned can be ripped off very easily and then it needs to have sound location so you can find it whenever it does get ripped off I've spent all day trying to find this thing and it keeps telling me it's somewhere along the side of my house but I can't find it something to think about
Ha, Ruger, my dog's name is Remington. 👌
I belong to a community page on Facebook. They are constantly posting lost dog posts . I am going paste this link on the posts. You need to put this kind of stuff in your Amazon store page.
Yes I do, thanks!
Thank you for the detailed review. Will this tracker work for when I want to check on my dogs while I'm on vacation in another state? Someone will be caring for our dogs, but I'd like a backup for piece of mind and know where our dogs are by checking the ap.
Sadly if the dogs are in the wifi range you can't track or use the main functions. It will just let you know they are in the safe zone you set. It will notify you if they leave your zone and you can live track them where they go, for example if your care taker takes them on a walk.
Hi Andrew, thanks for the review. I am new to any of these trackers so my question is, when you walk your dog, guess it will drain the battery more? Also, if when I go on vacay and take my dog to a dog sitter, can I add the dog sitter's wifi network to the app? Thanks.
Leaving the zone does drain the battery quicker. You can change the wifi safety zones as long as your sitter will allow you to access the guest network of their wifi. I bought their larger xl version for dogs. The battery life is amazing on that unit.
@TKCL OK great thanks so much.
So the virtual fence only notifies you that your dog got out of your zone, it doesn’t stop the dog from leaving your area like buzzing the collar or a light zap that would make the dog think twice and turn around? Im thinking about getting one for each of our Dachshunds. They’re so fast that by the time we’d get the notification they could be 5 acres away on their way to who knows where.
That's correct, you need a wireless fence collar for that.
Can you tell me what wifi extender you use? Thanks!
Are you planning to get Roger the XL when he gets bigger? Or will you stick with the regular one?
I bought the xl many months ago and love it. Ruger is full grown now. I got tired of charging the small one every few days, I can literally go a couple weeks without charging the XL. Keep in mind it is large and bulky, but I love the extra battery capacity.
Going to try, I had 3 fi collars in 1 year. They keep falling off and breaking apart. I had the whistle collar and that keeps falling off. Hopefully this works
Other than a few minor gripes mentioned, mine has been working very well on a very active dog.
Just got mine yesterday. Today he chased my mom as she left my driver way which was a good test for the collar. It wasn’t connected to my WiFi and it wouldn’t connect to the gps when I tried to go live. Did you ever figure out what caused the issue? Pretty disappointed it didn’t work on the second day considering I just paid $250 for the tracker and subscription.
I am now running the bigger dog tracker with a huge battery but had plenty of experience with the smaller model as well. It's not going to notify you that a dog has left the safety zone until you setup a wifi home zone. I've never tried the collar without this zone so I can't say why it didn't work without it. My new collar has worked very well, always notifying me within 1-5 minutes after my dog leaves the home zone and allows me to click on the live tracking function.
@@TKCL yeah I got the XL one.
It's been great
Thanks for the video. I currently have the Fi and it only updates my labs location every 15min. My pup can cover a great distance in that time. What is the refresh rate on the tractive?
Lowest it will go is 5 minutes in NON live mode. Once you activate live mode to start live tracking, it refreshes every 2-3 seconds. Very fast!
Is it like so accurate that you can see when he’s moving like our phone does on the gps map?
Yes in live mode.
I have cat one on inside the house is all she has been, and the the holder broke...it just a thin rubber thing that holds it. What is the fix for that?
They sell them on Amazon and their website. I am going to change mine out yearly.
Does this work hiking deep in the forests of BC with no cell service present?
Not sure to be honest, you'd need to ask the company if it works in your country.
Andrew, Another great honest review very interesting Thank You for the video.
Thank you for watching
Does the WIFI option work if you don’t activate the GPS subscription active?
I am not sure, I activated from day one.
@@TKCL thanks for replying! I ordered on yesterday in their 40% off Prime Days, so I’ll soon find out. I plan to activate it for a year anyways, too! Thanks for this video! It was really helpful in deciding to purchase.
Great video. Ruger is one lucky boy.
At the rate he's growing, you're gonna spend quite a lot on new, bigger collars:)))
No kidding
Hello I just bought this and it’s coming in the mail in a couple days.
My phone that i will be using to connect to the tracker is an old phone that does NOT have a SIM card. The phone does NOT have a phone number, which means it cannot receive calls or text messages. But the phone has access to WiFi internet connection.
My question is, will that phone be able to receive location from the Cat Tracker?
I understand that the tracker itself has a built in sim card, but I don't know if a Phone with No Sim card will connect and work with the tracker.
A response would be SO helpful and i will be very grateful!
thank you and have a nice day.
It should work using the app and wifi. However you won't be able to physically track your cat with the phone once you leave the range of your wifi.
@@TKCL thanks so much!
How accurate is gps while out of zone? Is it like our phone gps accurate, you can see the dog moving and stopped?
I have FI GPS collar but takes awhile to update even on lost dog mode.
It's quite fast with only a few second lag. It's gets you very close to your animal and you can see them moving.
its over Nick
If my cat roams at our house and I'm in another city could I still track from gps?
Absolutely, after the cat leaves your home wifi area. You can see it on the app from anywhere.
@@TKCL thank you for the prompt response.
What type of WiFi repeater do you have?
It's actually a cellular router with wifi built in. I have had good luck with ASUS wifi routers off of Amazon.
It gave you a monthly pay option? It’s making me pay for the full year/2 years/or 5 years.
It was a long time ago when I paid, it definitely gave me different options. I paid for a year service and setup auto renew.
Have you thought about or researches an air tag from Apple? I’ve people use those for pets
Andrew uses an android phone so apple AirTag won’t work for him. Plus out in the country where there not many people around the AirTag won’t help. The AirTag requires people to be around since it relies on other iPhones to be nearby to to send its data back to the network. It don’t have a built in gps it all works by bouncing its own signal off others iPhone.
That's exactly right, air tags have a huge flaw of requiring other apple users to be around to help with location. That would never work here.
@@TKCL it might be some what a flaw but in locations like where I’m at works great. That is one reason the battery life of them last a year. They only use Bluetooth LE. But like in your case it a no go.
True, but that pretty much requires city use with a guarantee of a lot of people around.
Can two dogs (with two separate devices) be tracked simultaneously with the app?
I don't know about two trackers at the same time, but I do see options to add multiple trackers.
We need to get one to put on Chris.... 🧀🪤.... All this cheese is getting expensive 🤣
Lol
Is the app tell you the battery % low or high
Yes it does
Thank you
Finally a review from somebody off the countryside! I purchased 2 while watching the video for my small hunting dogs. They chase game for miles so this will be a big help for me. And also for making sure they don't go after the neighbors chicken and get their butts kicked by the livestock guardian dogs in this area. I hope these devices will give me some peace. Thanks for the review!
Glad you enjoyed it
Do you have to have two subscriptions for two collars? Or just one subscription?
I believe that will require two subscriptions.
I can’t find it explained if work gps for real without any cell towers. I’m in mountains and woods. No cell service and WiFi only covers 3 acres. My cat leaves and goes in the mountains. Every since she was bit by timber rattler 2 weeks ago (yes, got her to the vet within 2 hours for anti venom, she’s like nothing ever happened now.) but I worry when she’s gone so long. I couldn’t find her today and now she came home with one paw twice as bit as other. Crazy cat. Sooooooo, will it track in the woods?
I can't say for sure, but it's my understanding it uses the cell towers for better accuracy. So I'm assuming it would work with GPS only.
it requires cell towers to work, it does NOT have a gps only mode
does the collar notify you immediately if your dog leaves the zone you've designated as the invisible fence? or does it wait to notify you until the 3-5 min refresh?
It waits until the refresh, I wish it was instant. But that's what also keeps battery life so good.
@@TKCL that's what i figured, thank you! i've been looking at the tractive, the fi, and the whistle go explore and it seems like that's the case for all of them unfortunately. i live by a busy road and my dog has learned how to dig under the fence so i was hoping there was one that gave instant notifications
Thanks for a great video. I think I’m a fan , Dan
Thank you for watching
Have you had anymore random drops?
No I have not, it's been working quite well. Other than the aggravating charging cable not clicking into place.
What about going vacation like to a beach house?
If the beach house has wifi you can setup a perimeter there. Otherwise the collar will still work, but always be in live mode. You'll need to charge a lot more often or turn live mode off and have no perimeter.
@@TKCL yes, there is Wi-Fi at the beach house. So I can have two homes set up?
No, you'll need to change the wifi connection and add a new peremiter at the beach house. Remove your home perimeter so it doesn't think the dog has left it. It's honestly a 2 minute job and easy to do.
@@TKCL thank you so much for all the information.
If the geofence is accurate
I find it very close
So, if your dog is lost outside Wi-Fi range for more than a day…you’re SOL?
Pretty much, these are small and only have but so much battery capacity. These are indented to notify you as soon as you pet is on the loose and provide you with accurate location data. In theory there is no reason you shouldn't be able to get your pet long before the battery dies. That's assuming you are not on vacation or some other reason far away from your pets.
Place the bottom of the charging connector in place and pivot the top of the connector firmly in place and you will notice that it sorta snaps over a small little tit that holds the connector firmly attached.
I've tried that many times, mine is so rounded off I can't make it snap.
If my dog wont wear a rainbow tracker will you cancel my dogs subscription?
I don't work for this company.
The tractive looks hard and very uncomfortable, inflexible and restrictive. I would prefer an inserted tracker underneath the dog’s or cat’s skin which I feel would be much more comfortable for our furry friends!!! 🐈⬛🐾🦮
I completely disagree!
Amazon offers a 2 pack, can I hook both devises up to 1 suscription? That way I can always have 1 charging and 1 on the dog.
Also...what router do you use that gives you such a great radius?
I don't know if you can add two to one subscription, you would need to ask the manufacturer. My router is a cellular router, probably not something you would be interested in.
Oh he'll NO!!!
thats bigger than my Chihuahua's head lol
If you have to charge it every single day, you better not have your dog gone missing for 2 days. 😂
That's the point of having a GPS isn't it? So you can immediately go get your dog and know it's exact location. Who's going to let their dog roam around for two days while wearing a GPS and they can see exactly where to go get it? 🤷
Do you know if it works well when there isn’t good cell service? Sometimes we ride horses in areas that aren’t great service