Best Dog Tracking Tags (Jan 2023 Update)

I switched from Whistle to Tractive for my cat, Knuckles. BEST CHOICE EVER. I find it much, much more accurate than Whistle and the features are awesome! I live on the Columbia River in St. Helens, Oregon. We are remote and surrounded by forest and water. Knuckles (aka “The OG”) likes to walk the “hood” like a mafia Don. We’ve had a couple visits to the emergency vet lately 😒. The Whistle was just too limited in what it can do, so I bought Tractive (much cheaper and I liked the features advertised). WOW!!!! So earlier tonight I was notified he’d left his virtual fence, so I used live tracking. Holy smokes! It’s outstanding! I watched him dart all over the damn place and I’m like “COME on ya idiot cat”. I started activating the sound feature and watched him react…..😂😂🤣, then the light feature. He got annoyed and started for home, so I used the AR feature and met him about 500 yards up my road. I’m so impressed I can’t even find words. The only thing I’m having trouble with is showing time and speed in the map settings. I use this on my iPad but will try again using the website. FABULOUS DEVICE!Tracey Hill

I have a dog who loves to escape from the garden. Having spent much of lockdown fencing the garden she still manages to find ways out. If she can't burrow under she goes over. No sooner have I blocked one escape route she has found another. Now with the tracker I receive alerts as soon as she leaves the safety of the garden and I can retrieve her quickly. The peace of mind is well worth the cost. There are other features which are interesting but we don't really use such as how much time she spends asleep per day or how much exercise she takes. The rubber clips which attach the tracker to her collar are rather fragile, but customer support have sent me 3 replacements free of charge. We do get some false alerts that the dog has escaped, but having set the virtual boundary close to the house this is probably bound to happen and I'd rather have this than to miss an escape. Battery life is about 3 days which is more than adequate. The tracker is a little bulky for a small dog (miniature Dachshund) but she's used to it. Overall I am very satisfied with the device and would recommend it for anyone with a Houdini pet.Andrew G.

I hesitated to buy this for a while, since it was a lot of money for me with the subscription cost too. I did a lot of research and finally took the plunge. I had some concerns about my dog running away, getting out or being swiped, but buying this product instantly stopped those concerns. This is so much more than just a tracker. It blew me away. It’s like a FitBit for dogs as well. It keeps track of how active my dog is, tracks her energy output, sets goals for her and even tracks her sleep/rest times. It inspired me to get her out for longer, so she’s healthier for it. I love the live tracking feature. I find it works really well and it’s so easy to locate her, so the peace of mind it gives is next level. I know some have complained about the service in remote areas, but any GPS requires high signal areas. You need to consider how any GPS products would work if you’re in a remote location, although I’ve done a lot of research on this product and heard quite a few people in remote areas had no issue. I love the battery saving feature where you can mark a “safe zone” for the product to go into power saving mode in. You can click a button to check that the product is still working and online while in the “safe zone”, which is helpful. It charges ridiculously quickly and a single charge can last days if your dog spends time in the “safe zone”. The corresponding app works incredibly well too. It’s not glitched once in months of use and works quickly and smoothly. This product was worth every cent. It’s so well designed and thought out, it’s such a smart little product. It’s slimline, succinct and stylish. I feel so much better when she has it on. I’ve gotten so many friends onto this product and everyone loves it. It’s absolutely worth it.bellsssss

I’ve tried a lot of other tracking devices, including those generic ones you can purchase anywhere. This device attests to the saying, you get what you pay for. The Cube tracker is the perfect mix of hardware and software. First the hardware, super well built, responsive button, compact and solid—I am not afraid to strap it onto anything. Then the software—the app is so easy to use. I cannot go wrong with anything I click. Setting up the device is easy. Pairing was a breeze and the app can recognize the device within a couple of minutes. One thing, the app requested for me to turn on my location all the time. I have some hesitation with allowing the my phone’s location all the time to perfectly use the app. I don’t know if I am just mistaking it—but I am thinking, it should be the location of the Cube all the time, not my phone. So I need to understand why I need to have my location accessed to read where the Cube is. Anyway, back to the app, I just click the Cube in the app and I see it’s location. It tracks where it is and it also tracks where it has been—the exact path. So that’s great. I can see where the tracker has been day-by-day. The map it provides is not too shabby either—there are notable POIs in the map, like restaurants, community centers, post offices, etc. There are pretty cool features on it too—like sharing the location with others, getting alerts in reference to my location, even fencing areas so it can save battery or it can let you know whether the cube has reached a certain location I set up. Speaking of saving battery, I have been using it for a week, attached to another car, without using the save battery feature of the Cube, and I still have 68%. I started on a full charge and after a week of use, I still have 68% battery—which is so cool. And another cool feature is, the Cube has a button that you can program—press it a certain number of times and it can notify someone of a custom message, like where I am or if I need help. It is a really useful device. There is a data subscription though, which is expected because it has to communicate with you wherever it is. But it is a perfect companion with the kids (especially with the dangers out there), or our other cars, etc. I super recommend!DarR

What I like the most about this GPS tracker is its convenience to be placed anywhere. Its small, solid, long lasting Battery (specs states from 10-60 days depending on the configuration), can be discretely placed in the car or any other place you want it. You can carry with you, in case you are in a country where you don’t feel safe, you can put in your bag while you are traveling in case you are not feeling confident with the airline baggage service, so the GPS coverage is worldwide, or you can attach it to your pet while you are walking and have peace of mind if he got lost. But basically if your car is stolen, this is the device you want to locate it. It is very accurate, and because it has its own battery, it doesn’t mater if the thieves disconnect the Battery of the vehicle, whenever is hidden the Tracker it it will continue providing the location. You can hardwire in the car with the USB-micro USB cable that comes with the device, and then look for the way to hide it in the car, so it will not run off battery. The setup is pretty simple, just follow the instructions, first you install the Cube Tracker app, this can be found either Apple Store or Google Play. Create an account. It is going to ask you the payment method. $16.50 is reasonable, I am paying the same amount for the Kahu lojack GPS tracker service, I have installed in my car, and doesn’t have the advantage that this Cube tracker offers, where I can use it anywhere. Besides, the monthly data plan doesn’t have a fee for cancelling or restart the service, which is very convenient. Then, you have to give it permission locations all the time, press and hold until it beeps the button to pair it via Bluetooth with the app, and finally add the serial number of the device and that is all. One cool thing I noticed is that the app comes with the option to make it ring, in case you are looking for it. The app offers some other options, like create a virtual fence, so if the vehicle left the boundaries you have set up, the app will alert you, SOS Button so you can send a prerecorded text message along with your location to your family and friends. I think this is a very convenient, Multipurpose and affordable device that will give you peace of mind.gonzaloejimenez

I’ve been looking for a more versatile tracker and this one fits the bill. The fact that this uses a combination of GPS, cellular, wifi, AND bluetooth for tracking, makes this tracker extremely versatile with how you can use it as well as its accuracy. // Versatility I can use this for tracking my vehicle(s), pets, bikes, and even myself (more details on that in the Sharing section). It’s small enough where I can easily hide it in my vehicle and there are built in holes on each side of the Cube so I can attach it to a dog collar easily. It’s not quite small enough to hide it inside most bicycle frames but it can easily fit inside a little saddle bag. // Sharing Location with Friends and Family You can share the location of the tracker with your friends and family so this is where you can track yourself and share the location with your chosen contacts so this could be useful where let’s say you were going backpacking or traveling alone, you can have this on you so your loved ones know where you are. // Location History I really like the fact that it not only shows its current location in the app but also the location history so you can see where this tracker has been. Super cool. // Virtual Fence Another feature I really love is the virtual fence feature where it can alert you if the tracker goes outside of a defined zone. // Audible Tones This tracker can also make pretty loud beeps/ringtones for tracking it down when you get within a closer proximity of about 20-25 feet and the ringtones are fairly unique so I think for most people you should be able to hear it even from a distance. // Battery Life Battery life will vary based on how you use it when it comes to tracking intervals, strength of cell signals, and a host of other factors. Real-world usage for me was about 2 weeks which may pale in comparison to bluetooth-only trackers but I think that’s probably to be expected since this leverages many more methods of tracking/communication. What’s also nice is that they have a setting where you can set up a “Safe Zone” based on a location where if it senses that its in this zone, like lets say your house, it can go into a power saving mode where its not using a cell signal to save on battery life. // Subscription Being that this tracker uses cellular in addition to GPS, wifi and bluetooth, this device has a subscription associated with it starting at $16.50/month which isn’t necessarily a drop in the bucket but I think of it as something like insurance for anything of high value. For the use case of keeping track of a pet I think that’s well worth it. Also, at just $29 for the tracker itself, that’s actually not a bad monthly price to pay considering the device itself it rather inexpensive.gwtbike

Worth the money. We wanted the alpha 200 but couldn’t wait any longer for it to be in stock. I bought this for my puppy who is deaf and needed a way to train her since we take her everywhere we go. The functions work great. I’m still learning too. But for the price and what I needed it for was well worth the moneyNicole

I have German Shorthaired Pointers. I use this for hunting, camping, and horseback riding. My dogs run pretty big. I love and rely on this tracker. I only gave it 4 stars because it doesn't have the range that's advertised. 2-3 miles max, on flat terrain. When Garmin first came out with the Astro 15 years ago, I thought it was pretty expensive and hesitated to buy it. Then I lost a dog for 3 days, missing 2 days of work and hiking 20+ miles and lost 7lbs in one day. Then it didn't seem so expensive. The price hasn't gone up for the Astro after all this time. And the Alpha has been extremely reliable after 1 year of 24/7 use. (My dogs are escape artists)tina

I had the Astro 220 and traded up to the Alpha 100. Purchase 2 T5 for field trials and 5 TT15. It is great to know where your dogs are running at all times. Training pups has gotten so much easier. You know if they slip away from the pack or are having trouble finding their way back in. I highly recommend the Alpha and Outdoor Dog Supply. You can trade in your old gear and move to a better Technology. GreggGregg M

I have tried many different brands of GPS trackers and they were about as useful an umbrella in a tornado. I couldn't understand why it would be so difficult to make a quality GPS tag when for over 5 years that I am personally aware plantronics has had an app that helps you find your voyager series headset by making it sound out and by GPS map. It would drop a pin if the battery was about to die and their headset could fit in the palm of your hand. Finally after reading many reviews I bought 2 of these and everyone was right. As long as you keep your Bluetooth active the app will not only help you find what its attached to. It will tell you if its near or far like techie Marco polo and if the battery in it was almost dead. Bonus feature if you lose your phone you double tap device and your phone will play. My only negative comment is it is a pain to stop your phone from playing and flashing especially if its locked it would be really awesome if they added a widget icon you could tap on your screen to indicate phone found. Yes it's more expensive but if you added up totals of the crap ones you actually save moneyniteraven13

1. app is glitchy, tends to fail/have issues before you even get started. 2. I tested this to simulate finding a lost cat. Took the cube outside after it was paired, put it down, walked 10 feet away, triggered the alarm and it beeped, all good. Walked another 5 feet away, device became "lost" while I'm staring directly at it from 15 feet away. Wow. Pretty solid failure. FYI, my phone is paired to my car, headphones, and bluetooth speaker 7 days a week without issue. I'm returning this 100%. – James, Sacramento Calif, Cat Dad of 3 : )Sacramento Cat Dad of 3

It should be noted that I use my whistle most in a city setting but the idea behind the purchase was to add a little insurance when we travel with our dog to suburban and rural areas or if they are out of the house with a dog walker. -I have my whistle set to pull location data every six minutes during walks. However, when he is on a walk and I open the app to see where he is, the only information shown is the first point that the device recognized he was outside the designated “safe zone” which could have been 40+ minutes ago. When I hit the “update location” button to manually push the data it takes several minutes to update. I know that the data is pulling every six minutes because once my dog is back from his walk and within the safe zone I can see their exact route. This information should be easily visible when opening the app. -The device reminds you constantly to sync the app with bluetooth so that it can better track you and know who is with the dog. The issue is that it only recognizes and pairs with Bluetooth 45% of the time while outside (yes, I did the math). -After daylight saving time goes into effect it temporarily erases data from the day from 11-1159pm. You literally can’t access data for the day between those hours. -They have all these badges you can earn and I’ve had a perfect month but never got the badge for a perfect month, same with double their goal, etc. -It send my dogs "weekly wellness update" email in the middle of the week which is just strange since the week ends on Sunday in the app. -The device has simply recognized an hour walk as “low activity” and awarded no minutes to activity goal. -If you ever reach out for support, customer service will start on your request by randomly guessing what your problem is and then you will be transferred to a different person until you are forced to give up. They have also told me several time that the device doesn’t work well in “high rises” despite the fact that I don’t live in one. -Safe Places only work well if you have WiFi and they will always tell you the radius is too small when setting a new place (even with larger homes). The whistle will also just randomly “teleport” your dog to those locations even if they’re 20+ miles away which throws the map all out of whack. -I have hit “update location” which can take up to 5 minutes and drained 4% of the device battery to show me that my dog was in the middle of a safe place but still never recognized the safe zone. -Notifications are spotty. Sometimes it will take 10 minutes to tell me my dog has left the safe place, other times it won’t tell me at all. -My device broke quite badly and wouldn’t clip on to the attachment any longer, luckily customer service was nice enough to agree to send me a replacement device, attachment and a charger. When the package arrived a week later there was just the device and nothing else and I had to go back and forth to get the attachment. I always said that I only need the tracker to “work once” in case my dog ever gets out of my sight but this company has consistently eroded my trust in the product to the point that I am going through to the end of my subscription then getting another product.Zach G.

I've had this tracker for about 11 months. The clip design needs to be redone to be something stronger. The clip is plastic with four prongs. Recently one of the prongs broke off while my dog was wearing the tracker and it fell off (she must have ran into something while playing) but I didn't realize right away that the tracker was no longer on her. If she had gotten loose and a similar thing had happened it would have been impossible to find her. I can still reattach the tracker to the collar, but with only three prongs holding it I don't trust it. The "1 year warranty" says it only covers technical issues and not physical damage to the tracker or losing the tracker. So, I'm looking for new solutions. To Whistle: Even if hit is a rare occurrence, please redesign that attachment out of a strong material, it can't cost that much more but would really ensure that the tracker does not come detached from the collar.Greg

I love my Whistle devices. I bought my first one after finding my labrador who liked to escape and got lost for 32 days. She was lost in a suburban area and wouldn't go up to strangers and survived by herself in a greenbelt area only a few miles from my home. After I found her I immediately bought the original Whistle and it worked great. She had a lot of separation anxiety after that and would jump the fence if she got scared while I was at work but the Whistle let me know immediately and I was able to drive right to her. The peace of mind to be able to find your lost dog instantly is worth every penny, especially if you have ever driven around desperately trying to find them and worrying about them. She passed away this year at 15 years of age and we recently got a new puppy. I immediately got a Whistle Go for her and it is fantastic. The light function is very smart in case she gets lost at night and the tracking and battery life are even better than the original. The health (scratching, etc) monitoring is neat but my main interest is GPS tracking. It does not give false alerts and the setup of "safe zones" is easy and accurate. I recommend the whistle to all my friends. The new puppy is a mix and looks like she will be about 30 pounds max and the Whistle Go looks a bit large for her size so I contacted Whistle to see if I could return it and get a Whistle Switch and they were easy to work with. I am looking forward to receiving my Whistle Switch and trying it out on her. Based on my experience with the company, I have no doubt it will work great and I will be just as happy with it.Mark E.

Do not buy! Does not work and no clear instructions on how to use. App is in Chinese and a pro version that you have to pay for. Also you have to purchase a monthly plan with a SIM cardAlondra

NEED to have good cell phone signal and WIFI for this to work. AND if you return the product as I did….you will still be billed $12.99 a month "suscription" to Liink my pet…..even though you cancel it!!! NOT HAPPYDonna

I bought the Link My Pet GPS Tracker for my dog Beau and I can track him from miles away!! He got out and I was able to find him using the Light feature which shines bright and using the tone to listen to the Link.ab100999

Love this device, gps is great! I’m not too worried about my dog getting away since he’s so attached but it still makes me feel good that I have it just in case. What I really love is the vibrate feature, I use this as a recall when he’s at the dog park. He caught on super quick and now I couldn’t imagine having a dog without this.Vantis Institute Hair and Scar

This tracking device works remarkably well especially considering the relatively low cost and no recurring fees. the phone app works very well and, with one exception, With the real-time map feature, I have been able to locate both the pet and lost collars. In the one exception, the collar became detached in a thicket that was impossible to get through (for a human). Very pleased.Mack Lundy

Easy to set up and provides great peace of mind when running outdoors with the dog given the redundant systems to locate. The GUI could be improved a little; daily and weekly data easily but previous days unavailable for comparison. Dan O'Rourke

I have hunted 6 times now with the device. Has only lost contact one time in very deep brush for about 10 seconds. Otherwise this has been spot on. Already saved my dog once when he was caught on a branch from his vest. Well worth the price. Battery life actually seems better than reported. I’ve only had to charge it one time for six different hunts. Each lasting about 3 to 4 hours. Hopefully it lasts for years and years!Ryan7

I'm very glad I purchased this. I bought it to put on my daughter's camera case, because we are constantly misplacing it between households. Now I can just check the app to see if it is at my home, his, or the babysitter's. No running around for an hour looking only to not find it. I'll be purchasing more for their other items that travel back and forth.RachelAinNC

This is a great tag tracker. Its a fantastic device that saves me a ton of time searching. Between the kids and the hubby things are constantly getting lost. My cat keeps wandering off but at night I want to make sure he's close by the house, so this is attached to his neck. So far it does have a good device range and has worked fairly well.Dlyn79_

I have a few AirTags and I love the concept but this is better than that. It’s on my wallet that I always take in and out of my diaper bag and to and from stores. It gets lost all sorts of places. This one I can hear really well and track a little better in real time over the other brand. For the price it’s simply unbeatable. Will be ordering more, need a multi pack.Hannieeee

It's really great! I've used it for my keys and also for my wallet when i purchased an Ekster Wallet. I will now send it back to India for my cat so she can roam around outside without my being concerned on where she is. Would love to see Chipolo bring up accessories for different use cases. Like pet bands etc.Raunak

I have two sons and a husband that are constantly losing wallets, phones, AirPods, and more! I purchased this 4 pack and gifted one to each of them (and kept one “just in case” haha) They are so easy to use, and the fact that there isn’t a subscription for use makes this the absolute best! Not only does it help them to be more organized but it saves me the frustration of helping them find their stuff!Mae

Bought as a Christmas stocking filler for our student offspring. Never quite sure how such presents will go down, but they both said it was going to be really useful and immeadiately set about downloading the app, then explaining to their Nan what the device did. So, at the point of writing, the devices have only been in use for 24hrs, but look to be a winner..

I’ve been looking for something like this for a long time. If I could give this product 10 stars I would. First the shipping was very fast. It actually came early. Very very user friendly. Secondly once I received the product. It was sooooooo easy to set up. Didn’t take no time. With the benefits from this device and the price…this is a steal..I would recommend everyone to get this quick before it sells out.Kareem

This tag helped us find my daughter’s dog soo quickly. Coco ran off at the dog park and was nowhere in site. She was found near the road and was almost hit by a car. The sweetest family found her, and scanned her QR code. We were contacted and met up with the family shortly. My daughter was so happy she couldn’t stop crying.Anonymous

I've had the FI collar for about 8 months now, and it has been a downward spiral for the last month now. Initially it started off great, it was reliable, and it delivered on its promises. However, now, it is unreliable, inconsistent, and not worth the cost.

If you want a product to rely on to keep track of your dogs, this is not the one for you. Here's a list of the issues that's developed in the last month with it that have gone with no resolution:

-Battery is advertised as lasting between 1 to 3 months; reality is, it lasts about 2 weeks at best, though now it's losing about 15-20% per DAY.

-Collar can't keep consistent connection to base or home wifi. When my dog is sitting at home, the collar constantly and randomly disconnects from both wifi and base station and sends me a false alert that he has left the house.

-It doesn't actually alert me when my dog leaves the network and goes on a walk. I've taken my dog out on a walk, then checked my app to see if it kept track, only to see it notes he left the home network and when he came back, no track of where he went in between.

-Took my dog on a day out at a dog park, FI collar didn't register we were there at all. Just noted the time I left the house and came back. No GPS info or connection to phone to indicate where we went or were, despite being out and about for a few hours.

-Battery life is increasingly diminished. Charged it to full 3 day ago, battery currently at 64%. Dog's been home mostly, minus short daily walks.

-Collar doesn't detect or connect to collar base. I'm sitting at home within range and the collar is connected to my phone via bluetooth, rather than at to collar base.

-Due to all these issues, went for the tried and true "restart" attempt. I deactivated the collar but when I went to reactivate it, it failed to do so. So now the collar is just a normal collar with zero tracking ability.

-Have had multiple back and forth with customer service, but all they do is ask me to do certain things so they can see what the diagnostic says, but nothing concrete or noticeable changes are being made.

Never has such a product gone from a high beginning to a burning, crashing end. Due to initial credit, I've been trying to get things fixed with customer service for the past few weeks to no avail. I really wanted this to work as the battery life is really attractive, but now it has become too unreliable and untrustworthy to depend on.

So friggen' disappointing.tommy ahn

I've had my collar for 9 months. Love it.

Really like the activity & sleep tracking. Provides good insight into my dogs habits! tracking is good for the most part.

Areas for improvements: battery life and range. I have 5 acres total, with 2.5 my dog can roam freely. Initally after purchasing the collar, my dog would go out of wifi/base range every couple hours, which put it in GPS mode and drained battery very fast.

I ended up buying 3 more base stations and spreading them out around my property,which solved the issue. Now the collar gets about 2 months charge.

The base stations are $40 a piece, so if you have a large house or property and don't want to spend more to keep collar from dying every couple days, this might not be the right solution for you.

Subscription model: You can add multiple collars/dogs to one account, however if you want to track a new dog Fi makes you pay for a second subscription. It would be nice if one subscription would cover all collars on one account.Z W

I’ve had the collar a little over 1.5 years. It has worked okay at best.
When my dog has been lost/gotten out, the app usually takes longer to update than one minute that they claim it will, not has it been incredibly accurate.
When I take her for walks, I get a notification about 10 minutes after we have left the house telling me that she’s left the house. That’s not very helpful, a dog having a 10 minute window before a notification is sent.
The past few weeks her collar/the module has been offline or searching for network. In the meantime, the home base has lost connection to the collar and the network, meaning that the location tracker has not been working, it doesn’t even register that it’s at home. The step counter has not been active either.
When notifying the tech support of these new issues I was pushed to just buy a new module/collar (since I’m past the 1 year warranty) instead of being helped to possibly troubleshoot any issues.
I joined their Facebook group to see if I can find assistance or help from someone else who has gone through the same issue to see if it can be resolved, but in order for you to join the group you have to say that you won’t post anything negative about the collar or try to discourage anyone else from buying it. Shady business, my friends.
And a waste.Caitlin Halbert