Whistle GPS Dog Tracker with Health & Fitness Monitor - Waterproof Pet GPS Collar for Dogs, Safe Place Alerts, Night Light - Perfect for Hiking, Running & Outdoor Adventures

This thing really is fantastic. Save yourself the worry over every possible issue and just buy it. There is a monthly data plan required but it is absolutely worth it. This product just seems better all around than the only other strong competitor I checked out called the Findster Duo that did not require an extra data plan. Frankly I consider the data plan on the same lines of an HBO subscription, as tracking this cat really ends up being a pretty entertaining situation. AND every night I get to make myself snortlaugh by turning on the app and singing "Trackin' that a$s, trackin' that cat as$!" It's a good time.The tag is kind of large but it really is fine on a kitty. My cat is not bothered in the slightest! (see picture) She is about 12 lbs or so but I have a much smaller, petite kitty who is also fine with the tag. Just tell them you need them to help you through the eazy-pass toll lane and make yourself laugh. The tag has a plastic clip to attach to the collar and I use a regular safety-release cat collar which works perfectly. (no need to feel like you have to get the special Whistle collar) Some reviews complain about the clip, but it is sturdy enough and I just take off the whole collar when I get her in for the night/put it on again before she goes out the next day to avoid having to mess with the clip. The clip part stays on the collar and is kind of the base of the tag, and you twist off the top of the tag to remove from the clip to expose the port for when you need to charge the battery.Speaking of the battery, it seems to hold up pretty well- at least for our usage. (I worried a lot before that she would disappear and the battery would die before I could find her but if you are keeping tabs there would be plenty of time before that could happen- as long as you stay on top of battery charge) My cat doesn't really care about going out during the day and lounges at home. While at home and in the wifi range- it isn't using up battery power. I put the collar on her in the evening and she sort of hangs around the yard awhile and then starts to roam. The battery mostly doesn't come into play for us until after she leaves the "safe zone" and/or wifi. I then set it to actively track her with updates every 3 minutes while she is out. you can change this Track mode from 3 min to 30 min intervals, I believe. Active tracking (you actually push the track button for this- you do not have to "actively track" and can just update the gps every now and then to spot check location) shuts itself off once the cat comes back into the safe/wifi zone.For us, active tracking is maybe 2-3 hours a night total now but that is just because I am super interested in where she goes and we recently moved to this address so everything is new. I foresee a pattern or routine emerging where she just kind of does the same cat things and I will active track less and less. When she comes home, I just take the whole collar off and pop the removable tracker part on the charger if needed. I at least make sure to do it when the app tells me the battery is below 60% which takes 3-4 days with our usage to get to that level.To circle back to the issue of would the battery last if the cat disappeared? well, probably. depending on the situation. The battery is supposed to last like 10-12 hours with constant use. But if you aren't Active tracking that whole time, you can conserve/prolong that battery considerably by just doing a spot-check track every so often to keep a general idea of location and saving the active track till you are actually trying to grab them.As far as accuracy- it seems pretty darn good. Every now and again, something freaks out in the GPS and in one second it will show her suddenly three streets over from where she was, but then immediately having returned to the starting point. It freaked me out, but it was a couple seconds and corrected itself. If you are actively tracking, especially in the shorter 3 minute intervals, the app will show a map of the area, with little data pinpoints showing her movements which is very cool. (and funny if they are just staying in one area, but stopping to sniff stuff every few feet or so) There can be a lag to get the first update when you turn the tracking on, but otherwise I haven't noticed any significant lag otherwise. I love it when I know she is about to walk in the cat door to the house before she sees us and we give her a super enthusiastic greeting to welcome her back. PARTY!I'll wrap this up for now, but I'll add some screenshots of the app interface and other little tidbits later if I remember to come back to this.UDPATE: So, we've had the WhistleGoExplore for about 4 months now, and it has been having connectivity issues. I thought it was the AT&T network near us, but it turns out it isn't. We adopted a second dog, and ordered another WhistleGoExplore. This one works so much better. We walk the dogs together, and the newer device tracks well but the original one doesn’t track much at all. We took a 4-hour road trip yesterday, and the new WhistleGoExplore tracked everything, while the WhistleGoExplore for our other dog didn't track a single location point on our drive and subsequent stops. One dog was tracked all day, while the other barely registered leaving the house. I called customer service, and they gave me the run-around. They say they see the issue, but think it is just the network. Clearly that isn't the case, as the dogs both have the Whistle Collars and the same devices and are walked together, but only 1 is tracking location accurately and consistently. They have refused to replace the defective device. Bad customer service. Inconsistent devices. If I could do it all over again, I would either try a competitor (Fi) or wait until Whistle develops a better/more consistent product, or improves their customer service. I wholeheartedly warn you against buying this product. I'm returning the one we just got and trying to get out of my subscription for the first one we bought.ORIGINAL REVIEWI purchased the Whistle Go Explore for the sole purpose of being able to track my dog should he get out of the house. The pet health features are fine, but that is not why I purchased it. I'm sure if at some point the device alerts me that my dog is licking or scratching more than usual, it will be helpful, but my intent of purchasing the product and my review will focus on the GPS location feature.I did a lot of research before purchasing the Whistle Go Explore, and I was a little torn between the Whistle and some of the competitor devices. I've had the Whistle Go Explore for about 3 weeks, and it seems to be working well, and I'm happy with my purchase. Overall, I would recommend the product. There is more detail for the cons listed below than for the pros, but that is just because I want you to be aware of what you're getting. Here is what I like and don't like about the Whistle Go Explore. . . .Pros - - seems to be one of the best on the market for quickly identifying that you're dog is no longer in the safe zone - the device and collar (I purchased the Twist and Go collar) seem to be heavy-duty and well-made - the device seems to be pretty accurate. When I track my dog outside the house, it has been pretty accurate. - the battery life has been good. I got over 2 weeks with the initial charge, and the app alerts you when the battery gets low. - the device is relatively small and unobtrusive - the device is waterproof, as described. My dog has been swimming twice and the device continues to work. - Although I don't care about the Health tracker, it has been motivating to hit the "goal" exercise level every dayCons - - Location tracking is Real Time, but ONLY after the system realizes that your dog is out of the safe zone. You can't force the device to go into tracking mode until after the system has pinged your dog's Whistle outside the safe zone (which defaults to every 6 minutes). When going on walks, the system doesn't generally realize my dog has left the house until I'm 2 blocks away. So, that same thing applies if he were to get out and go wandering. Lets say your dog gets out of the house and you're trying to track him/her. The system won't let you track him/her until the system hits the 6-minute check-in and realizes that your dog has left the safe zone. So, if you realize the dog is gone before the system does, you can't track the dog until the system catches-up. There should be a way to force the system into tracking mode. I had an issue once (pre-Whistle) where my dog was under the deck, and I couldn't find him. In similar situations, it would have been nice to be able to force tracking so I was sure he was in the safe zone, and not that he wandered but the system hadn't recognized it yet. I did just speak with a customer rep, and she showed me how to reduce the interval from 6 minutes to 3 minutes. That is better, but it still won't allow me to force tracking mode and it uses more battery life. - The safe zone is larger than I would like. Even though I set a narrow safe zone, my dog's Whistle connects to my home network at the end of my block (2 houses away) to let me know that he is home. I'd rather the perceived safe zone not encompass my whole block.- There seems to be no set policy on cancelling the subscription service. I wanted to buy the 3-year plan because it is cheaper on a monthly basis, but Whistle would not commit to providing a prorated refunded for months not utilized should my dog or the device die. That seems ridiculous. I asked several times, and was told that it is decided on a case-by-case basis. So, if your device stops working at 2 years . . . . you're out of warranty, the device doesn't work, but you're still on the hook for the last year of service. I know this is morbid, but the same thing applies should your dog die before the subscription completes. Talk about salt in a wound. Super bad customer service here.- For some reason, the devices are cheaper on Walmart.com and Amazon.com, than they are on the Whistle website. Seems silly, and logical to just buy through Amazon. The reason that this is an issue, though, is the 90-day refund guarantee. Whistle says that if you're not satisfied with the device, you can return it within 90-days for a full refund. However, your unused subscription will only be refunded to you if you purchase the Whistle through their website. There is no guarantee of a subscription refund if you buy through Amazon or Walmart. And Whistle will not price match Walmart or Amazon (which is super weird since its all their product).- I bought the Twist and Go collar offered that is compatible with the device. I like the collar, and I recommend it. The kit comes with a Hook and Loop attachment for wider collars and a snap attachment for narrower collars. The Snap attachment looks OK, but I would not use the Hook and Loop attachment. It uses velcro, and the velcro isn't long enough to securely hold the attachment in place on a wider collar (See Attached Pics).- Lastly, this wasn't an issue for me, but you should know that the package comes with a microUSB charger cable, but no power adapter. You may be fine with that if you have USB outlets or a bunch of power adapter boxes around your house from other electronics and phones.If you have issues or questions for Whistle, I recommend calling them instead of using the Chat feature. I've had very bad luck actually being able to connect to a live person via Chat on the Whistle web site.So, overall, I like the Whistle Go Explore, and I recommend it. There are some draw-backs, though. Whistle could easily rectify these, and hopefully they will in the future. Their customer service isn't great, but the product seems to be solid.There are some things I really like about this device and I personally was really hoping that it was the answer for us but in the end, there was some major shortcomings that had me return it.When setting up the application, you will be required to select your pets "Safe Area". This is essentially useless since in reality the "Safe Area" for your pet is really your "Wi-Fi Perimeter". My Wi-Fi perimeter extends well beyond my property line which is a serious issue since I don't want my dog in my neighbors yards 2 to 3 properties down the road...especially since one of them does not like Dogs. I talked to support a couple of times about and they just said that this is how the device is programmed. Example: My daughter took the dog out for a walk yesterday in our Acreage subdivision. Testing this out, I finally got notified that he had left the property 0.5km down the road and 15 min later. Not good.If this device is waterproof...Great. However, the charging port on the device is fully exposed. No cover or rubber cover at all. I honestly can't see how long this would last?The battery cannot be replaced. Once the battery starts to fade, time to buy a new Whistle. The marketing pics show up to 20 days of battery life. You will not get anywhere near 20 Days with this device.The collar attachments could have been engineered better and with more longevity in mind.I am actually am sad to return it. The application was very cool and I really liked the fact that I could attach a device to my existing collar.An alternative to this is the Tractive LTE GPS Dog Tracker. I have now tested both. The Tractive device tracks way better and the safe zone for your pet is actually an accurate safe zone....not your wifi perimeter like the Whistle Go Explore. The only con with the Tractive is that the safe zone's minimum size may or may not be too big for some folks. For us, it all worked out and this is the better device in my mind if your primary goal is tracking. As well, it is less than half the price! For the Tractive, you can get a one month subscription to try it out first.Ce truc a changé notre vie! Nous l’utilisons pour suivre notre chat qui adore chasser dans le boisé qui entoure notre quartier. Nous habitons une ville au nord de Quebec (Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval), ou le signal cellulaire n’est pas optimal mais (2barres/4) mais ça fonctionne parfaitement! Donc oui, ça fonctionne au Québec puisque la SIM intégrée utilise le réseau Rogers. Seul bémol, en mode suivi, la batterie ne tient pas toute une journée (12hres). Il faut apprendre à bien jauger le taux de misé-à-jour de la position et utiliser le mode suivi seulement lorsqu’on veut aller chercher notre animal. Sinon je ne m’en passerais plus, même si c’est aux environs de 100$ d’abonnement pour une année. On aime tellement nos animaux! Après la deuxième fugue de + de 2 jours, j’me suis dit que notre santé mentale en valait le prix! L’inquiétude qu’on avait et la crainte de ne jamais la retrouver sans savoir ce qui lui était arrivée... une consultation de psy c’est plus de 100$, donc... Go !Worked fine for a few months, then stopped keeping a charge. Would show full and within an hour off the charger would be 0%. There was no slow degradation, this was sudden. First time it suddenly died was on a camping trip which is probably the worst possible time it could have, lost all trust. Support is a chat bot. When I went to cancel my subscription through the app I was FINALLY given an actual email address. The email bounced back with 'Address not found.' Incredibly disappointing, no trust whatsoever in this company.I bought this to be able to track my wandering cat, but after trying for days to sync the thing, I contacted the company and as told the device does not work in Australia, or anywhere except for the USA and Canada. This was not mentioned anywhere in the ad, or in the instructions. I will be returning it.My original review is below, here is my current review: We bought the Whistle Go for our wandering cat just over a year ago. It worked decently before we moved. We at least discovered the weirdos who had been luring our cat with treats and harbouring him for hours at a time. A few months ago, however, we moved and consequently got a new internet provider, the only one available in our new area, but a totally average normal residential internet service. We tried to update our new "safe place" on the Whistle app but could not. I emailed Whistle and Customer Support said our device may not be compatible with our new internet service. They gave me a loooonnnnnnggggg list of internet requirements, none of which I could confirm, so I got to spend half an hour on the phone with our internet provider going through the list. Result: our $200 Whistle device is no longer compatible with our new internet service and is useless. Whistle was at least decent enough to refund our annual subscription fee, which we were 1.5 months into and had not used because we couldn't (that earned the one star). They recommended I contact Amazon for a refund for the device itself which is clearly not happening, the return window closed 3 months after I bought it. So now my opinion of Whistle is that they basically suck.Original 4 star review: Our cat started to stay out for hours at a time, which was unlike him. We called him and drove around the neighborhood searching for him...ages later he would show up, smelling of perfume!!! We discovered, with the help of Whistle, that he was being kept at a house up the street. Long story short, that’s not happening anymore. The Whistle was great, although it’s a bit bulky for a cat collar and because we’re in Canada the signal is sporadic. We weren’t always able to track our cat in real time, there were lags. Customer service said that because of where we are the Whistle doesn’t always work well and we might want to return it and cancel our year subscription. So why sell it if they know it doesn’t work well here? Ultimately it did show is where our cat was. I would give it more stars if it worked better in coastal BC.