Rising up, my dad and mom at all times let our miniature poodle, Duffy, run via the streets of our small city. Duffy traveled right here, there, in all places, and my household would repeatedly get calls from the neighbors when he strayed previous town limits.
Sometimes, after such adventures, Duffy would come house with a brand new “toy” or notably putrid odor, and I’d surprise, “The place have you ever been?” I might have actually used a GPS collar to trace his adventures.
I do know what you’re considering. Sure, letting your canine roam free isn’t protected—even for those who dwell in a rural space. Please, please, please be a accountable canine proprietor and maintain your pup from wandering round your group. That being stated, there are nonetheless many advantages to buying a GPS collar in your pet.
Our staff has examined and reviewed probably the most well-liked pet trackers in the marketplace, the Tractive GPS and well being tracker. We break down the important thing options, professionals, cons, subscription plans, and extra.
Tractive Overview
Product Identify: Tractive
Product Description: Tractive is a GPS and well being tracker for canine.
Abstract
Tractive GPS trackers for canine mix implausible location accuracy with further wellness monitoring options at an affordable worth. LIVE monitoring updates your pet’s location each 2 to three seconds so you’ll be able to see precisely the place their heading. You can too arrange digital fences to obtain a textual content alert when your pup leaves a particular space. Bonus options embody sleep and exercise insights (e.g., in case your pet is much less energetic than traditional).
Professionals
- Makes use of GPS, GLONASS, and Galileo natigation methods to find out canine’s location
- LTE, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi connectivity
- Geofencing characteristic to create digital perimeter
- Two sizes accessible
- Light-weight
- 100% waterproof
- Two-year guarantee
- High quality cellular app
Cons
- Requires month-to-month subscription
- Premium subscription required for worldwide protection, location historical past, household sharing, and GPS knowledge export
- Could also be much less correct indoors because of GPS interference
10 Key Options
- Stay monitoring: Tractive’s real-time monitoring enables you to monitor your canine’s actions by way of your cellular app.
- Radar mode: Faucet the app’s Radar button, and lights and sounds will information you to your pet’s location.
- Digital fence: Set as much as 5 geofences to obtain alerts when your canine enters or exits a selected space.
- Location historical past and territory monitoring: Tractive’s premium subscription features a 1-year location historical past to see your canine’s earlier routes.
- Wellness and exercise monitoring: Tractive’s well being monitoring contains sleep and exercise stage insights to offer your canine an total wellness rating. You’ll be able to see how your pup performs in comparison with others by checking the Tractive leaderboard.
- Well being alerts: Obtain e-mail notifications of adjustments to your canine’s sleep and exercise minutes.
- GPS knowledge export: With Tractive’s premium subscription, you’ll be able to share a monitoring hyperlink with neighbors, pet sitters, and associates who don’t have a Tractive account.
- Household sharing: Tractive’s premium subscription permits a number of customers to view your pet’s monitoring knowledge after they create a free account.
- Waterproof: Tractive calls its tracker “100% journey and waterproof.” It may be protected for half-hour in as much as 1 meter of water.
- Limitless vary with premium plan.
How Does The Tractive GPS Tracker Work?
The tracker makes use of a mixture of satellite tv for pc navigation and Bluetooth to find and monitor your furry pal.
GPS and different satellite tv for pc navigation decide your canine’s location after they’re farther from house. The tracker connects to LTE by way of the built-in SIM card to search out your canine’s location inside a limiteless vary. This implies you’ll be able to see the place your pet spends their time, even once you’re out of state, on a trip, or work journey.
The tracker additionally permits for Bluetooth communication. It shifts into Bluetooth mode once you’re nearer in proximity to your pup to assist pinpoint their actual location utilizing lights and sound. In Bluetooth mode, you’ll be able to even “ring” your canine’s collar to steer your self to your wandering pup. This characteristic is a good instrument to discover a hidden pet.
Tractive additionally affords a power-saving mode when related to trusted Wi-Fi networks. On this mode, sure options—like dwell monitoring—are paused to increase battery life.
Tractive Fashions For Canines
Tractive sells two fashions for canine. Select between the smaller DOG 4 or the DOG XL / Journey, which options an prolonged battery life and protecting cowl.
DOG 4
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The Tractive DOG 4 comes with a rubber fastener, a clip charger, and a USB-C cable. Tractive affords three coloration choices: brown, darkish blue, and white.
The system is slim and light-weight, permitting for normal put on. It’s appropriate for puppies and canine as small as 9 kilos.
Tech Specs
- Weight: 1.2 oz
- Dimensions: 2.8 x 1.1 x 0.7 in
- Appropriate for canine weighing 8.8 lbs and above
- As much as 10 days with out charging
- IPX7 waterproof
Pricing
- Value
$49.99
DOG XL / Journey
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Tractive created the DOG XL / Journey for pets above 50 kilos. This tracker comes with a rubber clip mount and charging cable. You'll be able to select between the usual for on a regular basis use or the journey addition, which contains a robust fiberglass casing.
This mannequin is heavier however affords prolonged battery life—as much as one month with out charging.
Tech Specs
- Weight: 3.2 oz
- Dimensions: 3.5 x 2.0 x 0.9 in
- For canine above 50 lbs
- As much as 1 month with out charging
- IPX7 waterproof
- Journey version options bite-proof fiberglass casing
Pricing
Tractive Subscription Plans
Tractive’s built-in SIM card requires a month-to-month subscription plan. The SIM card lets the collar connect with a mobile community, so you'll be able to obtain notifications of your pet’s whereabouts in your telephone.
Tractive additionally affords the Tractive Care plan, which protects customers towards loss, harm, and theft. The plan begins at $2 per 30 days for a yr.
Tractive GPS Canine Tracker Critiques
We share our critiques of the Tractive GPS Canine tracker, together with private experiences from our doggy testers, Barley, Lily, and Georgie.
Getting Began
Picture by Sadie Cornelius for Canine Journal, © Cowl Story Media, Inc. 2024.
Establishing the Tractive system is straightforward; the app guides you thru a lot of the course of. You can too view Tractive’s quick-start guides by mannequin on Tractive’s web site.
Begin by charging the system, which takes no less than two hours. The LED gentle on the tracker will flip crimson whereas the battery is charging. The crimson gentle will flip off as soon as the battery absolutely costs.
As soon as the system finishes charging, press the ability button for 3 seconds to activate the tracker. Then, obtain the Tractive GPS app in your smartphone by way of Apple’s App Retailer or the Google Play Retailer. Comply with the directions within the Tractive app to activate your tracker.
For the tracker to begin working, you’ll want an energetic subscription plan. You'll be able to enter the pay as you go activation code for those who bought a plan when shopping for the tracker. In any other case, you should buy a plan throughout system set-up.
When you’ve activated your account, you'll be able to fine-tune your pet’s profile to incorporate their identify, breed, delivery date, peak, weight, and gender. You can too arrange digital fences to obtain notifications when your pup leaves or enters a selected geographic space.
Is The Tractive GPS Canine Tracker Good?
Tractive is a worldwide chief within the pet monitoring market, and our staff agrees. We selected Tractive as our finest GPS canine collar and our price selection for the finest sensible canine collar and canine exercise monitor.
Remember the fact that the Tractive GPS tracker could not work for everybody. The Tractive collar received’t work correctly if you're in a distant location with a poor mobile connection. A radio frequency tracker or another GPS tracker that doesn’t depend on a cell connection could be a greater possibility.
Our Private Expertise With Tractive
Picture by Sadie Cornelius for Canine Journal, © Cowl Story Media, Inc. 2024.
Our canine has been utilizing Tractive for years, and we adore it! The tracker suits on his harness and lasts for a number of weeks with out a recharge. I get notified (on my Apple watch) when he leaves his “Protected Zone” when on walks after which returns again house. That method, I do know if/when my husband is strolling him and I’m not house. We don’t use the heatmap or stats that always, however I ought to actually make the most of that knowledge extra to remain motivated on walks. I’m extra involved about monitoring his location by way of GPS.
– Sadie Cornelius, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Mum or dad & Artistic And Content material Advertising and marketing For Canine Journal
Our canine like to hike with us, and Tractive is nice at telling us the place and what number of minutes our canine have been energetic as soon as we related to a cell sign or WiFi. It even reveals their whereabouts visually on an in depth map. If our canine received misplaced in a populated space that was effectively served by cell service, this product could be an amazing assist! Nevertheless, the GPS wouldn’t connect with the app after we didn’t have a cell sign throughout our mountain hikes, so the instrument would show unhelpful in the event that they received misplaced throughout our off-the-grid adventures. And, whereas it tracks the minutes of exercise, the info is much less detailed than with conventional exercise trackers.
– Michelle Schenker, Rescue Canine Mum or dad, Licensed Insurance coverage Skilled & Canine Journal Author
Continuously Requested Questions
Listed here are some questions our staff incessantly will get requested concerning the Tractive GPS tracker for canine. Don’t see yours? Ask us within the feedback.
How Far Away Does Tractive Work?
The tracker’s vary is limitless so long as there's an accessible mobile community. Tractive units presently work in 150+ international locations.
Does Tractive Work With out A Subscription?
The Tractive has a built-in SIM card that makes use of cellular networks to ship you your pet’s location info. You should pay a subscription to make use of this service. Tractive’s Bluetooth options may go with out a subscription, however you received’t be capable to entry your canine’s GPS location.
How Do You Cancel A Tractive Subscription?
Tractive affords a money-back assure inside 30 days of buying your subscription. To cancel your subscription, go to my.tractive.com and log in to your account. From there, choose Trackers & Subscription Plans. Decide your tracker, choose Subscription Plan, after which click on Cancel Subscription Plan.
Gear For Touring With Your Canine
Do you journey along with your doggo? A monitoring system like Tractive ensures you already know the place your canine is always. We now have loads of different suggestions for pet journey gear, together with transportable water bottles and crates. Ensure that to additionally take a look at our ideas for flying and vacationing along with your pup.
Why Belief Canine Journal?
Tara is a part of the Canine Journal staff, which has over a decade of expertise researching, testing, and writing about something and the whole lot dog-related. Most of our staff members are lifelong canine homeowners and may present private insights on every subject we cowl. For this text, Tara spent 2+ hours researching Tractive monitoring units and used private suggestions from different members of the Canine Journal staff.