Cat GPS trackers

[Melman Giraffe]

Anyone got a GPS collar for their cat? We recently moved and one of our 3 cats has gone missing so we are considering GPS for the other 2,

Any advice would be welcome

This is the tracker we are looking at

https://tractive.com/en/pd/gps-tracker-cat?gclid=C...

Ta

[singlecoil]

We don't have a cat at the moment but if we did and it was the wandering kind then although the subscription fees are more than I would want to pay I would still do it. Apart from anything else it would be good to know what risks the cat was taking and whether there was anything I could do about that.

[S100HP]

I've got one of those, well the dog version as my dog has been known to do a runner. What do you want to know?

[Melman Giraffe]

S100HP said:

I've got one of those, well the dog version as my dog has been known to do a runner. What do you want to know?

I think my main question is how accurate and up to what distance. I presume being GPS distance isn't a problem.

[S100HP]

Melman Giraffe said:

S100HP said:

I've got one of those, well the dog version as my dog has been known to do a runner. What do you want to know?

I think my main question is how accurate and up to what distance. I presume being GPS distance isn't a problem.

Nope, distance isn't an issue as it uses GPS. Signal however can be a challenge.

Basically the unit sits in standby mode whilst on, pinging every now and then to "check in", assuming it has signal. This gives you a rough idea when the tracker is. You can then activate "Live Tracking" using the app, which takes a few moments to lock onto the tracker. It then feeds back real time positioning, so if the tracker is moving you can follow it.

This should give you a clue how it looks. The two dots on the straight line are it checking in. I then had to activate live tracking and you can see the real time positioning in a heat map style.



Whilst the unit uses GPS, the mapping is restricted by mobile data, so it doesn't work if your phone doesn't. My biggest frustration is the time it takes to lock on sometimes. This is more of a challenge with a fast moving dog than it will be with a cat I assume. Battery life of the unit is good. I only use it when walking rather than it being on 24/7, but I think they last 5 days or so on all the time. No idea if cat one is the same. Let me know if any more questions.

[Drogo]

Do the gaps in the red bits mean loss of signal?

Looks good otherwise, I'm now looking into these for our sometimes wayward Cairn.

[Melman Giraffe]

S100HP said:

Melman Giraffe said:

S100HP said:

I've got one of those, well the dog version as my dog has been known to do a runner. What do you want to know?

I think my main question is how accurate and up to what distance. I presume being GPS distance isn't a problem.

Nope, distance isn't an issue as it uses GPS. Signal however can be a challenge.

Basically the unit sits in standby mode whilst on, pinging every now and then to "check in", assuming it has signal. This gives you a rough idea when the tracker is. You can then activate "Live Tracking" using the app, which takes a few moments to lock onto the tracker. It then feeds back real time positioning, so if the tracker is moving you can follow it.

This should give you a clue how it looks. The two dots on the straight line are it checking in. I then had to activate live tracking and you can see the real time positioning in a heat map style.



Whilst the unit uses GPS, the mapping is restricted by mobile data, so it doesn't work if your phone doesn't. My biggest frustration is the time it takes to lock on sometimes. This is more of a challenge with a fast moving dog than it will be with a cat I assume. Battery life of the unit is good. I only use it when walking rather than it being on 24/7, but I think they last 5 days or so on all the time. No idea if cat one is the same. Let me know if any more questions.

Thanks for the information it definitely looks like a viable option with very little outlay. i will let you know how i get on

MG

[ctdctd]

I have one of these for the dog as well.

As S100HP says, mobile signal is key to it working.

If the tracker is in standby (normal) mode and you switch it via your phone to live tracking, the tracker must have a mobile signal for it to work.

If the cat is having a kip under a car or in someone's tin shed it may well not respond.

My dog wears it for a couple of walks where she is liable to get distracted. One walk has a great signal so the tracker works, the other has gaps where the tracker does not report back to the phone at all for a while.

There is another brand that uses radio instead of mobile and boasts up to 3 miles range. No experience of it, but it may be worth a look?

https://getfindster.com/

Edited by ctdctd on Monday 10th June 18:24