Fi GPS Pet Tracker Review
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The Fi GPS Pet Tracker is a collar that functions both as a GPS pet tracker and an activity monitor, similar to those that humans use. It relies on GPS, WiFi, and cellular technology to constantly and accurately track the location of your dog through the Fi app.
The Fi app will notify you via your phone if your dog has escaped or wandered into unsafe areas. This collar is considered the next generation in not only knowing where your dog is at all times, but also ensuring his health.
- Long Battery Life
- Nice sturdy design
- Easy to use app
- App needs mobile data
- Requires monthly service plan
- Long Battery Life
- Nice sturdy design
- Easy to use app
- App needs mobile data
- Requires monthly service plan
About Fi
Fi GPS Pet Tracker was started in 2017 by Johnathan Bensamoun and Loren Kirkby and quickly raised 10 million dollars from investors. Thier goal was to build the best-looking dog collar capable of accurately tracking your dog for weeks between charges. The company is currently headquartered in Brooklyn.
Co-Owner Jonathan found out that his dog walker was taking shortcuts, so he decided to track his dog Thor’s walks. He also wanted to let his dog run freely and play in the backyard without worrying that he could escape. There was no product that was elegant, worked properly and that did not have to be recharged weekly so he spent over 18 months on product development, and Fi was born.
Fi created technology to alert owners of escaped dogs and help locate them hours before they are picked up by a shelter or animal control, or even worse. It is the world’s first LTE-M dog collar and can instantly track your dog’s location no matter where they are in the United States.
The Fi Collar
The Fi dog collar comes in two colors, yellow and gray, with a variety of sizes to fit dogs big and small. It is a clean, durable, design that is advertised as water proof, and dog proof. The buckle feels like a sturdy, solid metal but can be a little hard to snap on completely.
Click here to get 15% OFF The Fi GPS Pet Tracker
Among other things, this collar functions as a pedometer with the ability to track your dog’s steps via the Fi mobile app, just like the human version, Fitbit. The Fi charging base does need to be plugged in, and connected to WiFi at all times, for the collar to work correctly.
The Fi dog collar has an LED flashing light function that can be activated through the Fi app. This is great in low light situations or at night when walking your dog. It does feature different LED light modes like; blue for being fully charged, flashing blue for charging, flashing red for lost dog mode and flashing green for firmware updates.
The Fi collar is currently for use on low-power AT&T LTE-M cellular networks in the United States only.
The Fi App
The Fi comes with an easy to use mobile app that is available on ios and Android and is required to use the tracker. The app lets you know where your dog is 24/7 with a satellite map view. It also allows you to see how many steps your dog takes every day, as well as compare it with previous days or other dogs. This means you can keep your dog active and healthy with a daily, weekly, or monthly step goal, even if you are not always around.
The Fi app also allows you to create safe zones and receive notifications when your dog exits those areas. Once your dog is on the move and out of the safe zone, a red dot will pop up on your map. You can set up as many safe zones as you need, anywhere you want, which makes travelling with your dog much easier.
Another nice feature of the Fi tracker app is the “lost” mode that you can switch to live location tracking to immediately track down your dog. There is also a collar light switch that can be turned on to help assist in finding your dog in low light situations. If you are in the “lost” mode the light will automatically turn on a flash red and the app will immediately notify the company’s 24/7 lost dog helpline.
The app also allows you to set up a profile for your dog that basically asks for weight, age, breed and name. You can add a picture as well that will show up on the map with the location of your dog.
There is another feature called “Owners” that allows you to invite others into the app. This means they can install the app and use it, which is great for family members or dog walkers who maybe around your dog when you aren’t. Each “owner” can have their own profile too.
I did test out the app at home while my husband walked our dog. I activated the “lost” mode which showed my dog was still at home. I would say it took about 2 to 3 minutes before the map showed my dogs location at the end of the block.
The Fi Battery Life
The Fi tracker has a pretty impressive battery life and claims you can use it up to 3 months without recharging. Depending on your dogs use and distance you may need to charge it sooner. The Fi battery communicates with the cellular network every couple minutes and the app will actually tell you how much battery life you have left.
The Fi charging base does need to be plugged in at all times, and connected to wi-fi, which reduces strain on the battery.
During the 3 weeks I tested the Fi collar, I did not charge it once and still showed over 50% battery life left.
The Fi Cost
The Fi GPS Pet Tracker costs $149 with a 30-day trial period during which you can return it for a full refund. The collar also comes with a full 1-year warranty and includes:
- Fi module
- Fi collar band in gray or yellow
- Fi base
- USB charging cable
- Fi USB power adapter
- App and collar instructions
Once you own a Fi collar, you can choose a subscription plan through their Fi app. The plans you can choose from are:
- 1 year for $99
- 2 years for $186
- 3 years for $248
Pros:
- Long Battery Life
- Nice sturdy design
- Easy to use app
- Keeps track of steps
Cons:
- App needs mobile data
- Requires monthly service plan
- Location functions can be slow
Conclusion
I like the peace of mind the Fi GPS Pet Tracker gives me. I always know where my dog, Sampson is, when he is on the move or if he needs to get more exercise that day. My dog is low energy and never takes off but this would be a great gadget for some one whose dog tends to roam.
However, this gadget does not come cheap and requires a subscription to get the full benefits. Also, because it is on the AT&T cellular network, it may not work in locations far from an AT&T tower making far away excursions with the Fi collar unreliable.
Click here to get 15% OFF The Fi GPS Pet Tracker
Rafe Cullop
Fi bricked my dogs collar with a failed firmware update and won't replace it and want to charge me for an upgraded device. I refused and requested a refund for remaining service that had already been payed. Also support sucks when issue started I requested support and in the course of a little over a month got one email that I promptly replied to and didn't get a response tell two weeks later when I sent 2 new support requests. Just to hear support can't help must but new device.