Best Tracking Dog Collar (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

Had difficulty getting the remote and collar to connect to the app. Not even 24 hours after owning the collar, the remote completely died even after a full charge. When the remote worked, it was pointless. Only 1 button that toned, vibrate, and shocked. Had to use the app to switch what the button did. E-fence feature was a joke. If you closed the app, your e-fence disappeared. App had to be constantly running.Ryan64

This collar worked great, until it didn’t. I purchased the collar and used it 3 times before it completely stopped working while hunting cause me to lose track of a dog for hours. Luckily I found the dog but had less luck getting help and a replacement. Customer service said this is happening with this collar so they are out of stock and will call me back with options. 3 days, multiple calls to them and no call back. I’m in the middle of hunting season and out of luck. Save your money and get a garmin.Mattyg2282

While it was a good idea to reduce the price by putting the Pathfinder2 app on the user's smartphone, in practice, it proved to not be very user-friendly. Here are the issues I have with this unit: 1. I wear shooting gloves and each time I want to look at the app, I have to take my glove off to enter the PIN to unlock my phone. 2. The one-button handheld is proving to be not very useful since I end up going to the app on my phone 99% of the time. 3. Having to reconnect the 3 pieces each time is annoying. 4. the app isn't very user-friendly. Had a heck of a time trying to change the names of the collars in the app from dog_1 to my dog's name was difficult. After testing the unit for a week, I decided to sent it back.clor

Wish you could give more options.Like colors,adding brass plate,etc.Other than that it's a great deal.Works like it's a new one.ekmorr-75

I bought this approximately two months ago and have not been particularly pleased with it. I find the buttons and the display unwieldly and very small making them difficult to see. The instruction manual that comes with the product does not explain the use of each of the features, meaning you have to try and navigate through Garmin's whole system to try and find a more helpful manual. Within a month the antennae fell off of the handheld device somewhere on a hike, to never be found again. When I contacted Garmin, I was told that the antennas don't fall off. Given that mine is missing, it seemed an odd thing to claim. They then told me I could purchase another one from their website – which as far as I can tell, you can't. The handheld device is by far the biggest issue though – it is not rechargable (how is that even possible?!?!?) and sucks up batteries like there's no tomorrow. In two months I have spent $40 on batteries. Regular batteries are basically pointless and lithium ones only last for about three weeks of use (2 hours a day x 3 days a week). If I had any idea that this was going to cost me SO MUCH extra money in addition to the already expensive price tag, I would definitely have purchased a different system. While the system has many neat features and does exactly what it is supposed to do (find my dog), I overall am highly dissatisfied with this purchase.Jen11

I read in a couple of notes about the battery life; yes it can be using a lot of batteries, but I switched rechargeable batteries and now this issue is in the past. The only issue I really have is that the whole handheld unit feels like 1990! At this price point you would expect a bigger detailed display, that shows you crisp images, but that is a no-go! Does it do the job in locating your dog, absolutely! Can even track it on my Tactix watch!4PAWSHFX

I have had this since January of 2018, best purchase IMO, is it perfect? No, does it work really really well? Yes it does. Is it sometimes slow to lock onto your phone? Yes, easy fix as I turn the collar and receiver on prior to getting ready or when we get into the car, that way everything is good to go when its time to go. The longest it has taken to acquire and lock on to my phone had been around 5 minutes. I use this several (3-4) times and week and haven't had any issues with the collar prongs bothering my dogs neck or causing issues. IMO it is an excellent value for the cost and its peace of mind knowing I know where my dog is at all times.Alexis

So far I have not used this to train my pup. My pup is to young (only 4 months). I have down load the App to my I Phone & have set it up for use. So far everything has been straight forward & easy to set up. The website for the product contains a lot of information on how to use this product for training & for Trouble Shooting if needed. So far I am very Please with this product & the companies website. The product appears to be well built, at a great price with good company support in place.med5667-1

This collar has tracked my husky as she ran off leash while out on hikes. It shows on our phones where she is, when she stops running, when she barks and what path she takes. It is neat to be able to watch the paths she takes when chasing the deer in the woods. It has tracked her over half a mile away. My only comment – which has more to do with my dog than the collar – is that the shocks don’t seem to phase her. I think her fur may be too thick.Dallas

I live in NH which is hilly and use to run a Astro 430. I would consistently get 1-3 miles. I recently bought the Alpha 200i and a tt15 mini and have been unable to get beyond 600 yards without a lost communication signal (?).ElmerFudd

This thing is absolutely crap! Screen quality is terrible! Can't even see trails or ponds on it. Hopefully sportsmans will let me exchange it for a montanaRocky

Seems to be a really good gps to track hounds. Very user friendly. I would recommend this unit for others that need to track there dogsEric

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

The integrated attachment for the Whistle is solid, streamlined and makes you confident the Whistle will not fall off. Worth the price if you use Whistle everyday for your pets.Jay S.

This is a very nice heavy strong collar. Love the twist and go feature. Had to remove the little plastic tag to make it small enough for my WFT to use. Wish they could make it tapered for smaller dogs. Use the same twist and go technology and metal. Just taper down the collar and use a plastic clip instead of metal for putting on/off. Lessening the weight. My girl is big enough so was able to make it work.Maria A.

THE FIRST SEE-ME GREEN REFLECTIVE DOG COLLAR BUCKLE WOULD NOT RELEASE THE GO-GPS. I HAD TO TAKE THE COLLAR OFF MY DOG AND JUGGLE THE GPS AND USE A PEN TO PUSH THE RELEASE LATCH. SO…. THE LATCH STOPPED WORKING.Rhonda B.

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.

I live in NH which is hilly and use to run a Astro 430. I would consistently get 1-3 miles. I recently bought the Alpha 200i and a tt15 mini and have been unable to get beyond 600 yards without a lost communication signal (?).ElmerFudd

This thing is absolutely crap! Screen quality is terrible! Can't even see trails or ponds on it. Hopefully sportsmans will let me exchange it for a montanaRocky

Seems to be a really good gps to track hounds. Very user friendly. I would recommend this unit for others that need to track there dogsEric

I have used the collar several times and it does the job for me. The distance indicated on the receiver can be off as much as forty yards at times but the closer I move to my dog the more accurate the distance.Pointer0919

It is not user friendly. The icons for the dog and your location are too small and the contrast on the screen makes it hard to see the little icons in sunny conditions. The collar that came in the box is not bright green as it shows on the box. It is a medium green, harder to see on the dog than the bright green I thought I was getting. Although it states it is for use for all types if dogs, the booklet and DVD are all geared for a bird dog.Anonomous reviewer

the only thing that would make it better was to have the option for the beeper/locator feature to be able to hear when your dog is on point.littledov

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

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

I had the older version and loved it. Newr version is even better. O ly had to use the shock once. Use the buzz or vibrate and our dogs mind immediately. We have big dogs, 2 English Mastiffs and 2 Rotties. Rate these A++.mainemalehere

Garmin is known for great value and they don't fall short with the PT10 add-on collar for the PRO70, PRO550 or the SportPRO I have the Pro550 and I use all three functions, the tone, the vibrate and the stimulus while training and my dogs respond to each one in the manner I want. The ability to switch between the modes and to adjust the strength of stimulus when using it is extremely valuable. Trust the Garmin name and you won't be sorry.starr***

I purchased this collar to go with the Garmin Pro 550. The system is of the highest quality, used by professional dog trainers who only want the best. Easy to pair with my existing transmitter and works exactly as intended. The only negative point I can make is the lack of colors. I have three hunting dogs, and my transmitter will work simultaneously with three collars. My transmitter has a color coded toggle in Red, Black and Blue to chose the dog that needs some encouragement. My transmitter came with a black collar, therefore, I just needed to buy a red and blue collar and all would be well in the world. Cabela's only sells this collar in Red! Great! One down, one to go. That is when I discovered that Cabela's only sells a "Red" additional collar when Garmin offers about ten different colors. Since Cabela's does not offer the Blue collar, I am forced to purchase the blue collar somewhere else. Come on Cabela's, didn't your guys notice the Red, Black and Blue color scheme on the Garmin's you sell? That is my only gripe on an outstanding collar!!AugustaDonster

At first I was a little bit skeptical when I heard the idea of a TT15 Mini Collar, but I like the idea of the lighter smaller size. As I collared up my dogs Saturday morning, I liked the fit on my two smaller beagles. I let the dogs loose and they jumped a deer and the chase was on! Listening to the dogs run I watched them make a few tight loops on the Alpha, then break straight and go out of hearing range. Watching the dogs on the Garmin Alpha screen, they were 2.5 miles in no time, and I only lost 1 bar of GPS signal making me very happy with the tracking on the new Mini collars. While letting the dogs run for a few hours and keeping a tight eye on the Garmin Alpha to see how they were running and the performance of my new toys…a.k.a Mini TT15 and Mini T5 collars. My overall opinion of the new Garmin TT15 and T5 Mini collars is these are top-notch collars! They tracked a consistent 2 3/4 to 3 1/4 miles with my handheld hooked up to my roof top antenna all day. I was very happy with these new Garmin Mini Collars – Robby DavisRobby D

everything is top notch on these collars . the only thing is the collar sleep mode the handheld has to communicate with the collar to wake it back up . if u leave the dog and come back and the dog has moved out of range u cannot turn the collar back on u will have to ride around in the blind to u get communication . sleep mode is good if u collar your dogs up put them in the truck then wake them up before u turn them a loose saves the battery life.PETE LUCY J