Fi Smart Collar and Activity Tracker Review | Dog Gear Review The Fi itself is a solid, waterproof (IP68) tracker about the size of a match box, with a housing of brushed steel and black plastic, and a light bar between the two areas. Locally, he ranks number two, but only has about half the number of steps as our area's current leaderboard champion, a German Shorthaired Pointer named Herschel. If you have a rectangular shaped home, this means you'll need to overshoot your limits to cover all the safe area. But for some owners, the peace of mind that comes from knowing you can find your pet if they run off, might be worth also knowing a little too much about their sleep habits. Fi offers a range of compatible accessory bands(Opens in a new window), sold separately. By on Nov 19, 2020 Report. I bought the Fi 2 and then the $99 one-year plan, totaling, what, ~$200? The collar's best feature, however, is battery life. I am pretty disappointed that with all the wifi stuff out there like phones and 5g that we continued to think it is healthy to share that with our pets. Fi does not. So I went with the month by month option until Im confident the product is worth it. I easily found Saber strolling with my neighbor about two blocks away from home. In comparison, when we tested the Series 1 with a more sedentary, indoor dog, the collar still had 18% battery life after one month of use. The Fi app has five tabs on the bottom: Live, Discover, Rank, Activity/Sleep, and Profile. Troubleshooting: I'm having trouble with LIVE Tracking. If you have notifications enabled, the app will send you one when your pup has reached its daily step goal. Your pricing is just bad. The developer provided this information and may update it over time. Finally, in the Profile tab, you can view and edit your pup's public Fi profile and access other settings. Also, you can keep a check on your dog when you're away. When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. GPS tracking is free for the first 30 days; after that, GPS service plans start at $99 for one year with minor discounts on multi-year plans. Again, I see this as a nice-to-have not a need-to-have feature. The tracker is connected to an app on your phone, which lets you know your dog's location even from far away. You can set up multiple dog profiles, but that assumes you have multiple Fi Collars; you can't switch one Fi Collar easily from one pet to another. Escape detection is said to be another area of improvement with the Series 2 Fi Smart Collar. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. chew-proof, water-proof, and generally dog-proof. The Fi application will allow you understand when your dog's collar is short on battery as well as requires to be billed. Fi Collar Series 2 I run several special projects including the Readers' Choice and Business Choice surveys, and yearly coverage of the Fastest ISPs and Best Gaming ISPs. The Fi also uses your phone's Bluetooth connection as a safe zone, so if your dog is in Bluetooth range of the phone, it's considered safe. If I buy a Fi 3, Im paying ~$190 for both the collar and the subscription together. After a 30-day trial, Fi's subscription is $99 annually. Once I see hes gone and its time for me to initiate a search, I can use the app to enter Lost Dog Mode. That boosts location reports giving me an updated spot every minute and fires up a red blinking light on his collar, making him easier to spot in the dark (though, dogs with fur as long as mine might not see much benefit from that). The woven polyester collar is high quality, rated to 100 pounds plus pull strength, and the only collar most dogs need, with brushed metal buckles and D-ring. Stephanie Colman has been a contributor to Whole Dog Journal since January 2010, with multiple articles recognized by the. Fi doesn't have the precision location tracking of a GPS bike computer or $300 to $600 pet tracker. Like most dog trackers, the initial outlay of money$149isn't all there is to it, as you need a GPS Plan for location tracking and data storage. 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. 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. Tap the Edit Wi-Fi icon (looks like a pencil & paper) 5. It even activates an LED flashing light on the dog collar itself. Fi Collar has to do better! Finally, if I have the Series 2 and like itagain why would I pay double what I'm paying now? 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? Sign up for Lab Report to get the latest reviews and top product advice delivered right to your inbox. Both my partner and I are registered as owners of our dog, so if we take him for a walk we wont be setting off alarm bells. However, the recent app update doesn't allow you to see steps from previous days - you can only see the current day's steps. It weighs 1.3 ounces on its own and only works with Fi canvas collars. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Learn more. A collar is useless until someone finds your best friend, checks their collar, and then gives you a call. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. Why Is My Dog's Location Incorrect in the Live Card? Troubleshooting - Fi Help Center - Fi Smart Dog Collar In Lost Dog Mode, the collar will attempt to locate it once per minute using GPS/LTE, and the LED on the tracker will pulse red to make your dog easier to spot at night (though you can turn off the light if the battery starts getting low). There's no web-based interface, so don't expect to check in on your pup's activity via desktop. Losing my dog is one of my biggest fears. Collar dont work, company is shite. How is it compared to the 2? Setup in the app starts with creating a profile of your dog and attaching the base station to your home Wi-Fi. PCMag supports Group Black and its mission to increase greater diversity in media voices and media ownerships. The tracker's best feature is its stunning battery life. When they wander, I know where to find them. Fi Series 2 is our new standard, so when you order a Fi - youre getting the newest module with the latest capabilities. Ryan Wilchelns / Input It starts by setting up the collar's "home". When it is within range, the collar connects to the base. Then an hour later I get a notification she is out without an owner?! I can give an honest review of the fi 2. One frustrating issue is the frequency with which Fi registers car rides as walks. I wish it was faster, but I tested against a Whistle 3, and the Fi generally came in first (though only by a few seconds). The system inspires real confidence in our ability to give him a little bit more off-leash freedom, knowing well have an easier time finding him if he gets adventurous. The Series 2 Fi Smart Dog Collar features a new GPS antenna for superior location tracking in remote areas, an improved LTE antenna for faster escape alerts, reinforced hardware for strong leash pullers, and a new sleep-tracking feature. It doesn't matter what carrier you use on your smartphone for the Fi mobile app. This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. I've used Fi with my dogs, Maple and Cedar, for the past nine months. Hardly ever happens. At best, the Whistle can operate up to 20 days without a charge. Please note: The Fi collar is a wise canine collar that tracks your pet's location as well as activity 24 hr a day, with modern technology that allows you to get online updates right from your smartphone. When my battery life seemed too short, or my dogs were showing up in the woods behind my house even while not at home, Fi's customer service was exceptional and helped me troubleshoot. I was able to track them down within minutes. When we first got the collars, Cedar managed to peel the metal nameplate off his Fi. Input 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. The rest of the article below refers to the old collar style. It uses a base station for charging and creating a safe zone in your home, and will send an alert to your phone if your dog travels outside of it. Overall, the Fi is sleeker than the boxy Whistle and FitBark trackers. Once the collar is out of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth range (such as when your dog is outside playing in the backyard, or with you on a walk when you don't have your phone), it uses GPS to acquire a location, and LTE-M, a low-power wide-area cellular network, to send the location to the app. I don't know Bradley's actual birthday because he was a stray, but I adopted him on September 24, 2019, so I entered that date when setting up his account. The graphs even differentiate sleep at night and naps during the day. As I write this, I am visualizing strength and a return to health for Buster, a dog who just turned three years old, and Belvoir Media Group, LLC. Much more on battery life later. Finally, the Series 3 pricing model is atrocious. It uses the LTE-M network to provide 24/7 GPS location tracking. I agree on Fi, and I have had a worse experience with Whistle. Your subscription has been confirmed. If your pet runs away the backyard or makes it off the leash, you can track exactly where he is in actual time via the GPS locator. You can pinch-zoom in or out to increase or decrease a zone's area. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering lab-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. Here you can also toggle graphs showing your dog's activity per hour, day, week, and month. Its also designed with an armored aluminum face plate and reinforced internal metal armor to help protect against gnashing teeth during bitey-face play. If your dog is wandering alone, the Fi connects to the LTE-M network. Both have comparable annual costs of $99 for full services, but the big clincher is the cost of the device. I've seen a lot of those complaints on this subreddit, I just haven't experienced them myself. I knew where to find him before he made it to a busy road where he could have easily gotten hit. It also adds Wi-Fi support, which helps save battery life when your dog is outside the limited Bluetooth range of your phone or the Fi charging base, making it a better option for dogs who travel often and/or live in large houses. I think its safe to say that the Fi Smart Dog Collars primary purpose is to make those frantic searches a little less frantic, but also does a good job of letting you know you need to start searching at all. Fi manufactures a selection of dog collars, which can do a couple of things. This is one of one of the most beneficial functions of the Fi collar in my viewpoint. 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. Fi smart dog collar makes it possible to remotely track your dog around the clock using the GPS and LTE-M cellular networks. The straps come in a variety of colors, the whole thing is water and dustproof, the standard clasp is durable metal, and it obviously has the typical loop for attaching tags and a leash. Fi Dog Collar Review: a Reliable GPS Tracker for Dogs - Insider On pure LTE/3G/4G networks it unfortunately isnt really possible to only connect to the network when needed. 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. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. The Discover tab is basically Instagram for dogs. GPS signals also do not travel through structures (walls, buildings, trees, etc.) As your dog roams around, the collar will dynamically jump from one connection to another to optimize signal strength and save battery. In an open field, GPS tracking is accurate within 7 feet. It features a buckle, size adjuster, and D-ring for connecting tags and a leash. It then walks you through the Wi-Fi setup process so you can connect the charging base to your home network. Fi dog collar and WIFI : r/FiDogCollar - reddit Reader Survey: What do YOU want to see in WDJ? 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. Our expert industry analysis and practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more from technology. Input may receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article. To view your pet's task, simply click on feed' on the Fi application. In Rank, it shows how your pooch stacks up against other Fi dogs, based on the past 28 days of activity. Now on his profile, it says Bradley is one year old, because the app is using his adoption date as his birthday. Pair the collar with the charging base you plug in at home. The goal of the Safe Zone is for Fi to notify you as soon as your dog exits the area without you. Click it and the collar starts connecting to the LTE-M towers every minute so you're getting much quicker updates. If you have your pet's Instagram account linked with the Fi app, you'll have the option to automatically upload the photo there as well.