Fi Series 3 Smart Dog Collar – GPS Dog Tracker and Activity & Fitness Monitor [Free 1 Year Membership] (Gray, Large)

My husband and I rescued our dog Charlie 4 months ago. He’d been badly treated as a puppy and so sadly was still very anxious and skittish. We have been training him and he’s got better but at the start any sudden sounds or noises would trigger him, and he would immediately try to bolt.We live in the suburbs, but have a good sized property. Our yard is fenced all the way round, and all the dogs we’ve ever had have always loved it as they can roam off leash. That is except for Charlie…..who just tries to escape.A couple of close calls later, we realized that no doors could be left open, and someone would always need to keep an eye on him when he’s outside. I was still so worried that I looked into what we could use to track him so that I could have more peace of mind.We wanted to make sure that we got this decision right. So, we tested 3 of the best ones against each other: Tractive, Whistle, and Fi. I don’t typically leave reviews, but my husband said we should as it may help save another dog one day!We tested them over the course of 2 weeks, and focused on the following areas:1. Location Tracking Accuracy2. Escape Alerts (when your dog gets out)3. Devices (size, weight, and comfort)4. App (ease of use and other features)1. Location Tracking AccuracyWe really wanted a tracker that we could trust, so this was very important to us. We had to make sure that if Charlie was to get out unexpectedly, we would know exactly where he was to go get him. To test this, we did several walks with each of them where me or my husband would take Charlie on a walk away from the property and I would watch it on my phone to see where they were going. Some of these walks were around our neighborhood, and some were on hiking trails that were a bit more rural.Overall, there was some variation in the tracking, with the biggest difference being that the Fi and the Tractive are the only two that offer live location tracking, Whistle does not. Another thing we did learn about all of them though is that they will only be able to work in real time with cell service. We talked to support about this and it turns out that’s how they send the GPS location back to your phone.We thought this was important, and so focused on testing hikes that had spotty coverage to see which tracker would respond best. Fi was the only one that would give updates throughout the walk, even if they were intermittent. It seems that it repeatedly tries to ping the location back to your phone, whereas the others were only able to send some reports later on once we were fully in a cell service area.2. Escape AlertsThis was a quick one. I had my husband leave with Charlie and without his phone and I timed how long before I got a notification that he had left. We were trying to recreate a potential ‘escape situation’. This was the order we got our notifications:1. Fi – 1 minute 29 seconds2. Tractive – 3 minutes 47 seconds3. Whistle – 4 minutes 13 seconds3. DevicesThis is getting very long as I type it so I’m attaching some pictures of them alongside each other instead!The Tractive is the only one that attaches to your own collar and you don’t need to swap your collar out for, but the Fi is by far the smallest and lightest of the group. Whistle’s surprised us as we didn’t expect it to go so far back into the dog’s neck.4. AppWe actually hadn’t thought about including this section when we first started testing, but after using them all for a few weeks we wanted to include it as they each have some cool features.All these companies did a good job with set up. They all took under 10 minutes to get up and running and were straightforward processes. Running through each of them in more detail below:Fi – tracks their location, activity, health and sleep. This is the only one to track sleep which was really cool to see. It’s also the only one with a built in LED light which was a great add for our nightime walks. It also had the longest battery life of all of them and was the only one that we didn’t need to charge over the 2 week period.Tractive – tracks their location and activity. Mainly focused on location but has a couple of neat activity features. Battery didn’t last very long.Whistle – tracks their location, activity and health. Definitely the most focused on health, and tracks things like scratching and licking. Didn’t find these that accurate though.Hope this helps some other dog moms. After the testing we decided to keep our Fi and return the others and are still very happy with our decision.

High quality collar with an app that provides alot of information, to include exercise and sleep. Very Accurate GPS and tracking. All in a slim collar device that fits well.