Tractive GPS 3G Pet Tracker - Review 2022

Some pet trackers focus on activity, others on location, and some do both. Republic of austria-based Tractive has offered the activity-tracking Motion for some time, while its $69.99 GPS 3G Pet Tracker is relatively new to the U.s.a.. Unlike the fitness-focused Motion, it's geared specifically toward location. You can track information technology using your phone or via the spider web, and it works on dogs, cats, or basically any other creature over nine pounds. But the lack of activeness tracking makes it less bonny to owners concerned nigh their pet's health, and its location tracking isn't every bit potent every bit our Editors' Choice, the Whistle 3, which tracks both location and activity.

Pricing

Activity-but trackers similar the Tractive Motility have a 1-fourth dimension cost. But location trackers require you to pay for GPS service that typically incurs monthly or yearly fees. With Tractive, you have a choice of either basic or premium service in the US. Basic includes only tracking with 24 hours of positioning info; it costs $6.99 per month or $119.99 upfront for two years (that's $v a calendar month). Premium service includes GPS tracker sharing, the power to utilise the tracker in unlike countries (upwardly to 80), unlimited positioning history and exports, and more. It costs $nine.99 a month, $124.99 for two years (that equals $v.21 per month), or $74.99 for one year (that'southward $6.25 a calendar month). The two-yr premium plan is the best deal past far.

The cheapest price you can get for a two-year menstruation with Tractive'southward premium plan and the device itself is $194.98. That compares favorably with our top-rated tracker, the Whistle 3, which costs $246.75 for two years, or the Link AKC, which is $345.80. Nonetheless, the similarly equipped Nuzzle tracker has a one-time fee of $189.99 for life, making it the nearly economical choice. And keep in heed all of those competitors include activity tracking.

Tractive'due south The states-based GPS positioning is provided past AT&T and T-Mobile, depending on where you are. There'southward no Bluetooth, even for setup, nor is in that location Wi-Fi. If you lot have poor service from the carriers in your expanse, yous accept fourteen days to return the tracker for a full refund.

Tractive GPS 3G - Contents

Design and Features

Inside the box forth with the device is a transmission, two plastic clips to attach it to a collar, a clamp-on USB charging cablevision, and a multi-land charger block to plug into the wall. The Tractive device itself is a shiny, black, rounded rectangle measuring 1.61 by 2.01 by 0.59 inches (HWD) and weighing 1.23 ounces. It's not likewise obtrusive on a collar. It has a logo printed on it, with a push push to turn the device on and off, plus a tiny LED used to signal various settings (red for low battery, white flashes while in alive tracking, greenish for when cellular and/or GPS networks are available, and more).

On the back is a sticker with a QR code for activation, and four petty metal contacts. You have to clamp the charger onto those contacts just right to charge the device, which is cumbersome. On the plus side, the fully sealed design earns an IPX7 rating, making it fully waterproof for upwardly to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes.

The clips for the Tractive are arguably the to the lowest degree robust attachments I've seen on any domestic dog tracker, just elementary plastic arches that clip into recesses at each end. The ease of detachment by pulling up on the tabbed stop makes it await like a trip through the underbrush by an adventurous pup will leave the tracker in the grit. Unlike other devices like the FitBark, Paby, and Whistle three—all of which use a rugged elastic band for neckband zipper—you don't have the pick to even retrofit a ring on the Tractive.

Tractive GPS 3G - Gretta

Should you lose the two included plastic clips, Tractive will sell you lot another set of two for $10. It as well offers a $1 per calendar month replacement program in instance your pup loses the tracker in the wood.

App and Operation

Tractive GPS 3G - Safe Zone To get started, gear up up a profile for yourself in the Tractive GPS app available for Android, iOS, and (surprise) Windows Telephone. In that location is besides a web-based interface available. The spider web version offers all the bones services like creating a rubber zone or turning the tracker LED lite on remotely, simply some features (like the AR tracking) are just on mobile.

The setup procedure requires little more scanning the QR code on the back of the tracker (on the web you enter a text lawmaking). Then create a contour for your pet with all the usual info, including breed (as mixed or pure, simply you tin can only selection i breed type). The mobile app also has an info-gathering quiz that asks you questions virtually your dog, seemingly without terminate, just it just feels like market inquiry.

Ane account can runway multiple Tractive units. One of the better features here is that you can share info on each unit with others and then they can also track your pet. That person will have to download the app and set their own Tractive account, but then everyone can have access to the same information without sharing an account. That'due south useful for sending to a canis familiaris sitter, for instance.

Tractive GPS 3G - Alerts Different other domestic dog GPS trackers that employ either a base of operations station or your home Wi-Fi router to create a safety zone—the area in which your domestic dog is considered at habitation and safety—with Tractive you lot create the safe zone in the app and let the GPS satellites and local towers keep track if your pet gets out.

Almost trackers provide just a round prophylactic zone; Tractive provides circles and rectangles. That's nice, but information technology pales in comparison with the Whistle 3, which allows customized geofences to adapt any four-cornered quadrilateral m. Annoyingly, I couldn't consistently set a shaped safe zone on the web interface that would also prove in the mobile apps—I set a rectangle on the web and a circumvolve on the app, and neither overrode the other. The granular size control over a condom zone that other devices/apps provide is also missing—with a 164-human foot minimum radius, the zones are quite big if you lot take a pocket-size thousand.

Tractive GPS 3G - Inaccurate Alerts when a pet goes out of the safety zone only come up as push notifications on a smartphone—there are no SMS or email options. Premium subscribers can also run across the altitude of the device from sea level, a miles-per-hour rating to run into how fast it was moving at the last reported position, and a compass for the management the device is relative to you. The compass is also used for augmented reality (AR) tracking—click the globe icon marked 3D and the camera displays an overlay of the altitude to your pet in relation to your position.

Once your pet is out of the safety zone, you tin can start active tracking with a click of the Live button. That checks its position every few seconds. It also eats up battery quickly, and so information technology turns off automatically after fifteen minutes (in that location's a inaugural timer bar to permit you know when this will happen). That gets abrasive to restart if your pet is on the escape, but it's all nearly bombardment trade-offs; Tractive says the unit of measurement would be dead in eight hours if information technology was in live tracking mode at all times. Otherwise battery life is quite skilful. I plant the Tractive lasted most five days without much active tracking. The more you get out home, the faster the battery dies, naturally.

Tractive GPS 3G - Live Tracking When you take a report on a pet's activity for the terminal 24 hours, you tin can consign it to a GPX or KML file. Those are XML formats for storing coordinates and geographic information. They could be used in a plan like Google Earth, which is squeamish for gear heads, but it's far from equally user-friendly as storing upwards Adventures like you tin in the app for the Link AKC.

I experienced some lag in testing. The initial notification from the Tractive took 2 minutes to reach me later on a perimeter breach, which is okay only not great. I also experienced some lag in activating the Tractive'south built-in low-cal. In my stopwatch tests, the best turnaround time was 11 seconds, which feels similar an eternity when your canis familiaris is off in the night.

This underscores how much faster and more accurate devices like the Whistle 3 are, especially when indoors, considering they also utilise Bluetooth and Wi-Fi to aid with location-based services. That'due south non an choice with the Tractive GPS 3G. This is all a known problem that Tractive acknowledges—weather, magnetic fields (like those from electrical transformers), walls, even windows can wreak havoc on GPS signals. Keep that in mind depending on where you live.

Conclusions

The Tractive GPS 3G does the job it must when pets are outside and being actively tracked, and its battery life is close to rivaling that of the Whistle three. But information technology doesn't beat out out the competition on features, response time to commands from the app is lacking, and I'm not a fan of the proprietary plastic clip. Information technology'due south a footling less expensive than some of our preferred trackers, but doesn't leave us feeling quite as prophylactic. For that reason, the Whistle iii remains our Editors' Pick.