tractiveGPS Dog Tracker, Market leader, Worldwide real-time location tracking, Escape Alerts, Monitor Activity & Get Health Alerts, Dark blueGreenCircle Certified: Certified Energy Savings

This little box is absolutely fantastic. I first bought it about 6 months ago roughly. I was looking for a gps and fitness tracker for my dog as I was considering hiring a dog walker a few times a week so she could have some dog friends, and I wanted to see how far she went and also to have the little extra security of being able to find her if she got away from the dog walker.This was an inexpensive purchase in comparison to a lot of the others I found online. There is a subscription service you must pay to enable tracking, but do keep in mind all gps trackers will require this and at ~€70 per year I found it more than reasonable.The tracking is very accurate. The device can play a high pitch whistley kind of sound you can activate with the app so you can hear where your dog is, and has a small light you can turn on with the app so if they got out at night you at least have a bit of light on them in case of cars etc. The device itself is waterproof, mine have been soaked in rain and mud countless times and zero issues. The charging is very quick and holds charge for a good while. My less active dog has hers recharged weekly while the pup needs every 3 days or so. Super easy to charge with a magnet cable so you don’t have to take it on and off the collar. Super quick and easy.The activity tracking is pretty good too and is counted in minutes per day of activity and provides you average minutes your dog should do for their breed and age. Very interesting to see as my older dog averages 100-150 minutes per day and my pup averages 400-500 per day of running around the place!The only thing I find a bit iffy with it is the elastic blue attachment piece on the back. I don’t trust it. For my older dog it’s perfectly fine and has never come off, but the pup has knocked a corner loose every now and again and I don’t want it falling off in case she eats it so I have put two zip ties around the whole thing and her collar so it won’t fall off. Zero issues since then. If the back does break or fall off and get lost they do sell replacements on their website though so don’t worry!I made a review video online and Tractive actually reached out afterwards offering me a free device for when I get a second dog, but I had actually already purchased a second one for my new pup by the time I saw it so too late but I did appreciate the offer anyway!One time I accidentally upgraded or changed my plan in the app and within two minutes of messaging support it was undone and fixed.In a nutshell I am more than happy with this product and will continue to use them every day for the peace of mind I get knowing where my dogs are at all times. 10/10 would recommend!

For someone, like us, welcoming a rehomed adult dog this Tractive is an essential aid which gives huge reassurance to the pet's owners and ensures safety for the dog. We live in a rural location, and at the beginning the dog was able to wander far and wide making his way through hedges and fields and crossing minor roads. Not only did the Tractive enable us to see where he was, but we were also able to find him and bring him home. It has been reliable and we have been able to get an adequate signal when needed. I have not yet found it wanting in design or performance. I recommend it highly.

This tracker seems to be one of the better, if not the best available. However, it does have some caveats which are not too clear from the documentation and I think it helps to understand how the technology in the tracker works to avoid frustration, which I'll attempt to explain:The tracker uses GPS for positioning information and cellular connectivity to send said positioning data to the Tractive platform to be viewed in the phone app. Both of these technologies have a high power requirement which can drain a battery quickly. The only ways to keep the battery from draining too quickly are: a bigger battery, disable the GPS and/or cellular connection, or use the GPS and/or cellular connection sparingly. If you simply design the device with a larger battery it will become too bulky for smaller animals so Tractive have tried to strike a balance between all of the methods I mentioned.Battery savingThe most aggressive battery saving mode the tracker has is called Power Saving Zone. Essentially, if you are at home and the tracker can detect your home wifi network then it goes into a 'deep sleep' mode. This conserves the battery really well. I see around a 1% loss every 8 hours when my dog is at home.When you leave the Power Saving Zone the tracker works in its 'normal mode' which appears to only send positioning updates every 3 minutes or so. This is pretty good on the battery and I see around a 5% loss over 30 minutes but is not particularly accurate especially if your dog can run fast.Live modeIf you need to track your dog very accurately you activate 'Live mode' from the app. This forces the tracker to send updates every 2-3 seconds which under good conditions will be accurate to a few metres. The downside is that Live mode drains the battery quite quickly. In order to stop it completely draining the battery Live mode will only be active for 5 minutes (default, can be changed to 15, 30 or 60 minutes). On average I lose almost 1% battery per minute in Live mode.These modes are how Tractive have managed to keep the size and weigh of the tracker down. I believe there are larger models available which claim to have much longer battery life and are intended for larger dogs. The only difference between these different models is, I'd imagine, the size of the battery.RadarIf you are within Bluetooth range of your pet you can use the Radar function to accurately pinpoint them. In an open area you might get 50 metres or so range but this will dramatically decrease inside buildings, under sheds, cars etc. This feature uses virtually no battery at all.Privacy/data protectionTractive is a company based in Austria and being part of the EU are bound by reasonably strict data protection laws such as GDPR. They have a properly written out privacy policy which clearly states that they never sell your data to third parties but do store your data with third parties (Google Firebase etc) to provide the service. All standard stuff. There are plenty of Chinese trackers available with dubious or non-existent privacy policies. Remember that these devices know where you live, where your regular walks are, and if you give them all of the optional info, what potentially expensive rare breed you have.My opinionThe Power Saving Zone is a good idea and works great while I am at home. But if you have a large garden where your pet likes to hide and the tracker can still detect your home wifi then you are limited to Radar mode only.Don't expect perfect tracking while you go on your daily walks unless you put it into Live mode every time. See my screenshot for an example of the level of detail on tracking in normal mode.The radar doesn't seem to work quite how I would expect. Basically, you have these rings that fill up the closer you get to the tracker but I never seem to be able to get more than two rings even with my phone touching the tracker (there are 4 rings in total).The light is useless and the sound option may be useful if you can train your pet to recall when they hear it.The clip design along with the charger could be much better. It has a detachable rubber clip which goes around the collar and fastens to each side of the tracker. I would much prefer the collar to be able to thread through the body of the tracker. That said, the tracker has not fallen off yet. The charging cradle means that the tracker must be detached from the collar to charge. I think it would be much easier to remove the collar from the pet and connect the charger instead of having to also remove the tracker.I have it on a roughly 9kg dog and he doesn't mind it at all, but I think it would be intrusive on a dog a kg or two less.There is a 'Virtual fence' mode which sends an alert to your phone if your dog leaves a specified area. I have not used this feature.The app has a social media/Strava style leader board thing which is on by default. It doesn't seem to share too much information but be aware that other users of the app can see some info about you.I wont comment on the subscription plans as I think they are largely personal preference. Be aware that when you set up the app you will be presented with 3 options but there are more options within each.There is a Home Assistant integration available which works really well. Now I can automatically control heating/cooling if I have to leave my dog alone.

This is very reliable,accurate and the live function is great for tracking your dog. The weekly report is a useful tool for tracking activity. Simple to use. Lightweight with a sleek design.