Tracking Dog Collars

[Slowpoke Slim]

All kinds of nut cases out there.Just had a fellow tell me this one;his club advertised a clay pigeon shoot and some "person" wrote the paper stating that "clay pigeons" were an endangered species and the shoot should be canceled.

Well they're not really endangered when I'm the one shooting at them.

 

[txdon]

There are some new tracking collars coming out in late November 2017.

I'v been looking at these two:

Pod 3 | The customizable GPS tracker to locate anything on the planet
Findster Duo+: the first GPS pet tracker without monthly fees!

The pod can comes with two batteries so one can always be charging and what I'm really interested in is the Pod's extended battery but they don't have it in production at this time. The tracking is by phone 3G gps and monthly fee of $5.
The Findster Duo has no monthly fee and range is 2-3 miles.

The Pod is compared to the Whistle3 here:
Pod 3 vs Whistle 3 | Pod Trackers

I emailed the Pod about battery life and here is their response:

"You can create a safe zone and the Pod will start to auto-locate at the Safe Zone Refresh Rate of your choice. The Pod allows you to receive an alert on your phone or computer when your pet leaves your set zones. The Refresh Rate may range anywhere from every 2 minutes up to every 2 hours. The reason for this is to save battery, as it will drain more rapidly the more frequently it refreshes your pet’s location.

The Pod 3 comes with 2 interchangeable and rechargeable batteries so your pet won't be left unprotected.
The Pod's battery life may vary depending on 2G/3G reception in your area and usage. The following is an indication of expected battery life:

Live Location & Activity only: 3-4 days (Auto locate every 3 hours)
Safe Zone on and Alerts: 1 – 2 days (Auto locate at refresh rate of your choosing)
Adventure recording on: 6-8 hours (GPS locate recorded every 10 seconds)"


If I go with the Findster Duo I would have to get the second one for $40 more so one would always be charging.

I emailed the Findster Duo about range and received this reply:

The connection range and GPS accuracy depend on the surrounding environment. Check out these use cases and what to expect of Findster Duo+'s performance.
Since you must always keep the Guardian and your smartphone with you (you can attach the Guardian to a keychain or simply carry it in your pocket), "Findster Duo+'s range" refers to the distance between the Guardian and the Pet modules. Please note that the following information also concerns Findster Duo+'s positional accuracy and update frequency, and therefore influences the features which depend on GPS: GPS fences, radar and share.
Here's how the system communicates and the distances you should keep between the devices:
Smartphone Guardian: communication via Bluetooth, within 5/10 yards (5/10 meters).
Guardian Pet: communication via MAZE technology, with a range up to 3 miles (4.8 kilometers). However, please note that the surrounding environment can influence the range - take a look at the most common use cases below.
No internet or cell coverage are needed to perform tracking.


Use cases

Here is some important information about how Findster Duo+ works and what you should expect on different use cases:

Open outdoor areas
Like beaches, national parks or urban squares:
The modules will hold their connection with ease - in line of sight, we have a record of 5 miles (8 kilometers).
The GPS accuracy will be great.

Very dense areas
Like impenetrable forests or very crowded urban environments, with a high amount of obstacles:
The connection between the modules won't be the best, which can result in a few drops (they'll keep trying to reconnect with each other automatically, if this happens - you can also restart the Guardian module, forcing it to reconnect with the Pet(s). You'll still be able to track your pet(s), but the obtainable range may decrease.
The GPS accuracy may be affected, so your Pet(s) can appear slightly out of position.
However, if you're using Findster Duo+ in a forest or hill that's not very dense, you'll be able to track your pet(s) without issue.


It looks like the Findster Duo can be turned off and the battery last for 5 days, the question is how close do you have to be to turn the unit on?

 

[Jim Nelson]

txdon,

We have been using Whistle brand for 3-4 years. They are a good company to work with. We have a Jack Russel that formally as a pup, was an off the leash guy. But he had a hard fall and the vet said to he him inactive for a month. When the time was up, he became very independent!. He would come in when HE wanted to.

So we got the Whistle tracker. It's very good. We always know where he is. It doesn't bring him in, but at least we know where to look. We are at the end of a 1 mile private road so normally roaming is fine. But as night falls, he is Coyote bait for sure. Our trick to get him in is to head to the mail box, 1 mile up the road. He loves to watch for squires from the dash. Then we drive in to the garage and close the door.

The apps works good 99% of the time. I don't think you get 5 days of active tracking but We have a routine where we charge it in the evening when we set up the coffee machine before bed.

Our neighbor has a pair of Labs and the female is a runner so he has GPS collars on both. He is using the Whistle brand and says they work pretty well.One of the dogs lost theirs once and he never did find it, fortunately the dogs stay together so he was able to track them with one collar.He told me they have come out with a new version 4 which is supposed to be the best yet but it only works with AT&T which is real poor in our area so he had to stay with the version 3.

 

[Soldier415]

I use the whistle 3 trackers for both my dogs. Work great and can be had on amazon for under $100 each

 

[RNeumann]

Our neighbor has a pair of Labs and the female is a runner so he has GPS collars on both. He is using the Whistle brand and says they work pretty well.One of the dogs lost theirs once and he never did find it, fortunately the dogs stay together so he was able to track them with one collar.He told me they have come out with a new version 4 which is supposed to be the best yet but it only works with AT&T which is real poor in our area so he had to stay with the version 3.

Uhh unless I missed something this is exactly why this product doesn’t work. If you couldn’t find the collar how are you supposed to find the dog? Some sarcasm here but then again that’s not exactly a glowing review....

 

[Paddy]

Rneumann,

I lost a tracker too, it has a pretty big dot where the dog is. In the thick woods, they can be hard to see. They have a blinking light you can see in the dark if the battery is still charged or facing up.

The holding strap is much better than the first version

 

[txdon]

I really want one that I can turn off when I go on vacation and turn on when I return if the dog wandered off. I contacted the Pod and the said it has no/off it just turns on when the battery is installed.

I have an email out to Findster duo to see if there’s can be turned on remotely.

 

[aczlan]

What you need is one that checks once an hour for a radio beacon and turns on tracking if it doesn't see it.

Aaron Z

 

[txdon]

What you need is one that checks once an hour for a radio beacon and turns on tracking if it doesn't see it.

Aaron Z

Exactly

 

[txdon]

It looks like the pod with the extended battery would work best for my circumstance. Now I just have to wait till they start producing the extended battery.