At the end of the day, despite all the fancy technology packed inside it, the Fi Smart Dog Collar still does all the basic things you expect from a collar. For the most part, I have really like my Fi2 once you can accept its not going to pinpoint the exact location, but will it point you in the right direction and let you know its out of WI-FI range? Fi claims that for a dog at home, that seldom goes out and never gets lost, the battery can last as long as three months. Like other trackers, if you activate Lost Dog mode and your dog is out of service, they won't show up. Used to be good, fairly quick updates when my dogs left safe zone, location accurate on both iPhone & Android. The ability to monitor their step count to ensure they get sufficient exercise every day is a big bonus, and it gets me out the door too. When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. LTE-M signal reaches about 30% farther than 3G/4G/5G/LTE networks." Please note: Unlike some standalone trackers that attach to your dog's existing collar with velcro strips, the Fi is securely fastened to the collar with metal clips, so you won't have to worry about it falling off. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. It isn't perfect with some of the other stuff it says it does but in my opinion it's not a deal-breaker. Fi is aware of this issue and says its working to resolve this with future app updates. Sign up for our newsletter to get honest reviews on top products & services delivered weekly to your inbox. There are leaderboards for overall rank, breed rank, your state, and your city. The Fi Smart Dog Collar essentially is a GPS tracking collar meant to quickly locate your dog in case they get lost. Did you end up going with another collar? It's also waterproof tested for 30 minutes at 1.5 meters deep. Its like your belt: A strap of fabric thats as much for show as it serves a practical purpose. My original Fi collar had a faulty D-ring that began to bend. This company is a scam, Im not surprised about the taking of money and not following through with orders. In an open field, GPS tracking is accurate within 7 feet. Elevate Your Etiquette: Dogs in Elevators, How to Stop Your Dog From Chewing Furniture. I keep reading about how it's on back order. To view the location on a map, just tap the Live card. Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. The Fi collar is available in 4 different sizes and it's meant for dogs heavier than 10 pounds. Here you can also view hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly graphs of their sleep. The second-generation Fi Smart Dog Collar builds upon its excellent predecessor, offering improved location tracking, faster escape alerts, and a new sleep-monitoring feature, all for a lower price. Has anyone received their series 3 yet? There's no web-based interface, so don't expect to check in on your pup's activity via desktop. I love my dog, but is all this data really necessary? How to Stop a Dog From Running Out the Door, Why Does My Dog Have So Much Energy? 10 million pet dogs are shed each year in the USA, and also only 15 percent of those without ID tags or integrated circuits ever before make it home. I do know it burns through the battery quicker though. At least as long as your paying a subscription you dont have to worry about the hardware issues , or at least thats what they are saying now. Not great. Troubleshooting. A thin stripe in the middle functions as a light bar thats controlled by the app. At best, the Whistle can operate up to 20 days without a charge. My one small gripe about the profile-creation process is that the app doesn't differentiate between birthday and adoption date, though it says to input the latter if you don't know the former. The box also includes a charger block, a mini USB cable, and a base station (similar to the size of the tracker, and which doubles as a charger). How is it compared to the 2? Introducing Fi, the worlds first LTE smart dog collar. You can click on a dog's profile to see all their photos and follow them. Setting up the Fi starts with creating profiles for your dog and any owners and dog walkers (each designated human must download the app and pair it to your dog's collar). Again, I see this as a nice-to-have not a need-to-have feature. If I want, I can always check the app to see that hes where hes supposed to be. It is absolute garbage when it comes to tracking, Ill give it a 8/10 for holding dog tags though. Activities are reported chronologically throughout the day, with a map showing the activitys location including the full route taken on a walk, similar to exercise apps such as RunKeeper or MapMyRun. Nonetheless, the collar additionally has Wi-Fi and also Bluetooth modern technology. Thought of upgrading to series 3, but my friend's dog has one and the material construction is inferior plastic & jingles whenever he moves. GPS is a global positioning system determined by a network of satellites that orbit the earth. Fi Collar Series 1 Smart Dog Collar Review 2023. Instead of waiting for a good Samaritans help, you can get a head start locating your dog yourself, no waiting or posting flyers necessary. I work from my home, and did it long before pandemics made it cool. We are constantly exposed to wifi stuff and it makes us unhealthy (you can research out there but dont use google because they will censor the info about the health effects on people). The only disadvantage is when you're setting it up, you need to utilize a circle-shape to establish the safe-zone. The application keeps an eye on your canine's day-to-day, regular, and month-to-month actions, even permitting you to establish step objectives and also complete versus various other puppies in the location. We turned that off, finding it unnecessary and, frankly, a little bit stressful, but viewing your dogs steps in relation to other dogs of the same breed can add context to that data. The thing is they offer 2 year cell plans, but expect you to buy a new FI2 after a year? Like its predecessor, the Series 2 can last up to three months on a charge, but that's only if your dog stays at home all the time, or with you on walks when you have your phone, and never gets lost. Not helpful if the dog were actually lost. Seems on FB like they're treating this like a kickstarter. Fi also tracks your dog's daily, weekly, and monthly exercise. Select your Safe Place 4. Once I received an alert that Saber had left a safe zone I activated the Fis lost dog mode, triggering GPS-based location updates every 60 seconds. https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/fi-smart-dog-collar. Thankfully in the month that my dog has worn the Fi Smart Dog Collar, we havent had any real escapes, but after that much testing, I feel pretty good about the outcome if we did. Fi uses its proprietary algorithms to achieve this incredible battery life. For a little under 3 months, I've been testing the Fi . It delivered significantly speedier escape alerts in testing than the previous model, giving paranoid pet parents like me greater peace of mind. One frustrating issue is the frequency with which Fi registers car rides as walks. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time. That small reassurance feels like a decent step down from having a camera in my home to watch the dog 24/7 (something Im very okay not having), but is definitely a safety blanket Im happy to have. Thus, we werent able to get our hands on a Series 2 in time for this review. My dog spends a lot of time outside hunting lizards and sunbathing in the backyard, and I often take him on walks around my neighborhood without my phone. Even more, it shows how long they were in a location and whether they were moving or resting. The update is at best 60 SECONDS! I'm waiting to upgrade after I read reviews from real people, since the subscription is almost double per year. I did not get an alert that she was away from home until an hour later. It features a buckle, size adjuster, and D-ring for connecting tags and a leash. Also shows my dog leaving the house in the middle of the night when he's sleeping in his kennel. Overall, I think the Whistle is much better. As your dog roams around, the collar will dynamically jump from one connection to another to optimize signal strength and save battery. Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Reviews team. In winter, our goal is 10,000 steps. The collar costs $149 and tracks steps, sleep, and location. If you utilize an activity screen to track your very own physical fitness degree, you'll love the Fi collar activity tracking function. As such it is always important for the collar to be able to access the . Peace of mind knowing that if my dog ran off and was lost for days even, as soon as he got cell coverage, my phone would put a pin on a map right where he is. I've seen a lot of those complaints on this subreddit, I just haven't experienced them myself. It uses a base station for charging and creating a safe zone in . In reality, according to his vet, he was around 1.5 years old when I adopted him, which makes him about 3.5 years old now. If your dog goes missing, you can activate Lost Dog Mode in a few taps (tap the Live card, then select the red Lost button in the top right corner). The Fascinating World of Dog Coloring and Coat Textures. Early on, Fi's engineers decided to focus on ensuring a long battery life for the collar. 5. No thanks . Sue had been home at least 24 hours! With around 290,000 steps at the time of this writing, Bradley ranks within the top 49% of Fi dogs overall, but is nowhere near the top of the pack: The current number one Fi dog, a Pembroke Welsh Corgi named Kuz Kuz, has more than four million steps! Out of cell range, the collar still tracks your dog's steps, but occasionally mileage is lost if Google Maps doesn't register the full distance. From not taking a charge to having to reset the base every time I charge, its becoming more and more of a burden. It lacks a lot of what the Whistle 3 offers in this area, like distance traveled and calories burned, and offers no easy way to share the info it collects. I can give an honest review of the fi 2. Did somebody on your sales team get confused? The power consumption of this operation depends entirely on the amount of time that the antenna needs to stay on in order to collect enough data to be confident that its location is accurate. I would actually like to upgrade to the Series 3 because I've put this collar through a lot but actually have had a positive experience with it. Based on battery life alone, this claim feels solid since no GPS tracker can overcome a prematurely dead battery. Collar dont work, company is shite. Yes!! In an upcoming release, you'll be allowed to specify a light color to appear on the collar for when you want to locate a pet in the dark. In the woods or a city with tall buildings, Fi is less accurate. Does He Have. I run several special projects including the Readers' Choice and Business Choice surveys, and yearly coverage of the Fastest ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs. My neighbor took our dog in ah Ike with his dogs today. Hardly worth it when the Series 2 is paid for and the service plan is cheaper. Fi Series 2 is our new standard, so when you order a Fi - youre getting the newest module with the latest capabilities. I still can't believe they did that because that 100% eliminated any chance of tracking him if he ran off before you "started-a-walk" or if he ran off without you knowing (jumping a backyard fence). They offered me a $43 credit to upgrade but I can't justify almost $200 for the second year. Welcome back! Prior to purchase, we recommend first checking to ensure there is LTE-M coverage around your home or in any other area where your dog may spend time. Click here to get 15% OFF The Fi GPS Pet Tracker. As our review of the Whistle Go Explore and Fitbark GPS activity/tracking collars ( "Helping You Keep Track," WDJ December 2020) went to press, we spotted an online ad for the Fi Smart Dog Collar (pronounced "Fie" as in "WiFi") and decided to review it, too. I understand a lot of people like it but it's not important to me and it's not why I buy these tracker collars. Its not terribly hard to wade through the less-meaningful numbers and silly social aspects, just let the system do its thing, and trust that if something is wrong, Ill get a notification. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn PCMag, PCMag.com and PC Magazine are among the federally registered trademarks of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. But it's community-focused and user-friendly with excellent battery life. Ill post a 2 vs 3 review once the 3 shows up. I also know both dogs' exercise history, including monthly steps and miles, and the days they didn't make their steps. Fi Series 2 comes with a 400% improvement in antenna signal sensitivity, for more reliable network connection. Hopefully, it helps prevent your dog from running off in the first place, but if they ever do escape, itll make it more likely whoever finds them can bring them safely home. Or snuck out of a gate accidentally left open just to check out the neighborhood, sending us (usually after dark) on a mission to find him. Other trackers rates are 15 to 3 seconds. The Fi collar is a high-tech gadget " built for dogs and made for pet parents ," as the manufacturer claims. The collar literally saved my dogs life when he had his foot caught in a bear trap over a mile from home. The Series 2 can now withstand 300 lbs of pull force and directly connects to any Wifi Network - which saves energy and extends battery life. The Fi collar was sleeker, had better battery life, and gave me the one thing that I had to have. In their view, battery life was a major pain point for similar devices, and it would offer a meaningful improvement over existing items on the market. Must be a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi Network However, my renewal would also be $190 even though I already own the collar. Therefore, it is important that your base is set up in an area where the base can "see" the Fi Collar, see: Where Should I Set Up My Fi Base? and will often rebound on hard surfaces, meaning indoor positionings are much more difficult to report. It goes for $99 per year, $186 for two years, or $248 for three years. TLDR: The Series 2 does what it HAS to do which is drop a pin where your dog is if he runs off or gets stolen. Fi was released in spring 2019, and the company continues to upgrade both its hardware and software. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The reason the Fi Collar needs to use a cellular network is because when your dog is lost, and out of reach of any Wi-Fi or owner's cell phone, it will use GPS to compute its location, and then use the LTE-M network to send that location to Fi systems (and your Fi App). In addition to allowing you to easily see the location of your dog (and notifying you), their steps, and sleep habits, the Fi app also includes various social aspects like ranking their steps in your local area or across their breed, and allowing owners to post photos. Fi (pronounced "fie" as in Wi-Fi, or Fido) is a new company with an eponymous product that's all about tracking your dog's activity and location. The Fi Smart Dog Collar almost seems like an example of over data-fication of fixing, or more accurately adding on to, whats not broken. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. Keep an eye on your inbox! It comes in four colors and sizes. Fi says to test Lost Dog mode(Opens in a new window) so you're familiar with how the feature works if you ever need to use it. This allows for use cases where a receiver can go to sleep for a period of time, and come back alive on the network (and only then use its battery) when it needs to. For a recent 0.4-mile walk around the neighborhood, for instance, it said Bradley took 3,136 steps. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Under those circumstances, we'd expect similar if not better results from the Series 2. Search. According to the company, a Fi collar should last hundreds of charges and at least five years. The profile creation only allows you to pick one breed, rather than multiple breeds for a mix, but there are some interesting mixes already included (like Labrabull). If I have the Series 2 and hate it, why the hell would I attempt an upgrade for that much of a price jump. I would only use it if I was on a walk without a leash and then very minimal. When it is within range, the collar connects to the base. The design is a basic collar with three connection points: the clasp, as well as the two points that connect to the. What follows is our review of a Series1 collar, along with reports of Series2 improvements from consumers in a Fi users group on Facebook, as well as from Fi. We welcome your feedback. The tracker's best feature is its stunning battery life. Good luck. If you feel the same, the second-generation Fi Smart Dog Collar can help quell your anxiety. All the Fi collar reviews outline the prominent features that make it stand out among the crowd. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. As highly as we wish we might maintain our pet dogs with us 24/7, daily life has a routine of hindering. The reason the Fi Collar needs to use a cellular network is because when your dog is lost, and out of reach of any Wi-Fi or owners cell phone, it will use GPS to compute its location, and then use the LTE-M network to send that location to Fi systems (and your Fi App).As such it is always important for the collar to be able to access the network whenever it needs to. Argh! Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Typically that alert will also come with an address but if I click into the app, I can see exactly where he is thanks to the GPS and cellular antenna inside the collar, which updates the collars location every five minutes. Like its predecessor, the Series 2 has an IP68 water/dust rating, which means it's dust resistant and can withstand complete submersion in up to almost five feet of water for about 30 minutes. If your dog does leave while putting on the Fi collar, what takes place? I looked in the app; it had her at her doggy daycare from the previous day. Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox. Be sure to have a back-up collar with ID tags on hand when charging the Fi Smart Collar since the all-in-one device must be removed, leaving the dog without a collar. If you're looking for a GPS and fitness tracker that doesn't require a base station and can be connected to any collar, the similarly priced Whistle Go Explore Health and Location Tracker ($130 retail and $9.99/month for the subscription) is a great alternative, but it lacks the battery life you'll get with the Fi. Thanks so much! The location tracking relies on the $99 annual subscription if you want to track your dog outside of range from your home's Wi-Fi network. These Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections also help preserve battery life, since GPS/LTE uses a lot of power. Nevertheless, very energetic pet dogs that take place regular walks or journeys outside the residence might need their collar billed every three weeks to 2 months. The collar can withstand 300 pounds of static pull force, three times that of the original model, making it a better option for strong leash pullers like my dog Bradley. I agree on Fi, and I have had a worse experience with Whistle. When I reached out to the company, it confirmed that there had been an issue with production specs and sent a new collar with a D-ring that has held up well. How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files, How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac, Read Our Tractive GPS 3G Pet Tracker Review, The Best Pet Trackers and GPS Dog Collars for 2023, Easy Access: How to Control Your Apple Watch From Your iPhone, Switch Up Your Smartwatch: How to Change and Tweak Apple Watch Faces, Razer Zephyr Wearable Air Purifier Preview. That saidGood God Fi. The Fi comes with a small charging base, which the company says to set up near where your dog spends most of its time. Ive emailed the company about this and they were so unhelpful. Seems like a money grab to me. Fi is probably the best-known pet tech right now on the market. You can quickly and easily test your Fi Base coverage. A subscription gives you access to the full capabilities of your dog's Fi collar - allowing for remote access to your dog's location and activity. On walks and hikes in locations where we had good tracking with the series 2 the tracking is anywhere from bad to non existent. Keep an eye on your inbox! But! Would be nice if I got my order, it's been almost a month since I ordered it. The tracker is connected to an app on your phone, which lets you know your dog's location even from far away. Series 2 leverages these new Wifi signals to strengthen our escape detection engine, using all network signals to quickly detect and notify owners of an escape. The signals of the LTE-M network reach about 30% farther than 3G, 4G, 5G, and LTE networks. The Fi Smart Dog Collar is I agree the GPS tracking is vital for me, so I'll be looking at other brands if I don't renew with fi. Fi says you need to recharge it every three months if the dog is always home, every two months if you go on walks, and every three weeks if your dog is quite active. Theyre truly terrible, from their vague descriptions to shady pricing to horrendous customer service.