11 Tips for Choosing the Best GPS Dog Tracking Collar

GPS enabled dog collar is a good idea keeping your pet Safe and Healthy, You can find many sites to that offer GPS enabled dog collar. But you should know which ones are the Best? Some trackers can be best suited for the people who are looking to diagnose or monitor the health of a pet. Some may have just a basic need to track and locate.
This article can be helpful to know the basic features of dog tracking collar and select the best suited GPS collar for your dog,

The basic feature of the tracker is to provide real precision and safe location tracking to anti-loss. Henceforth the first thing that you need to check, is the min and max positioning range. The normal default positioning mode for dog GPS enabled collar tracker is in order GPS: 4-16 meters (Outdoor), WI-FI: Within 10-60 meters (Indoor WIFI signal) and LBS Within 50-1000 meters.

Even some of the modern trackers claims min range of track positioning, within one meter radius from current location of dog. Any tracker positioning range more than ~12 meters radius should be considered as outdated and more than 15 meters is definitely not worth.

And in addition to checking the positioning range, you can also check for the Historical route query. The normal duration to keep a historical route record is approx 3 months, but some of the modern trackers provide the Historical route query for past 6 months.

Generally Dog collar GPS Positioning supports GSM 2G network, but in some areas 2G connectivity is very weak they had upgraded to modern networks. So before purchasing the dog collar, you must check the 2G connectivity status in your area and also the connectivity options provided by GPS vendor.

The tracker must be supported to the GPS mode and work by the GSM 2G NETWORK, but nowadays most of the trackers are supporting multiple positioning Modes: GPS/LBS/WIFI Positioning Modes. That requires Nano SIM card and GSM network, which can support one of the network nodes: GSM 850, 900, 1800 and 1900MHZ.

Also, you need to pay a 2G SIM card's calling and data fee (That's the monthly charge), and it also needs GPRS traffic package of min. 30MB/month. Though there are some vendors are available, who doesn't charge the monthly bill.

*Note: Now in the market many 3G/4G sim cards are not compatible with 2G network(GSM 850,900,1800,1900MHZ),so if you buy the sim card,please ask for 2G or 3G/4G that can support 2G network.

The most important feature that you must check is battery life, normally battery charging time is 1:30 to 3:00 hrs and lasting duration is 2 to 7 days. But the modern trackers, using NB IoT can have long, lasting up to a year, also some vendors have introduced solar charging NB IoT SIM that may last up to 8 to 10 years.

Nowadays, most of the GPS trackers are using normal SIMs and you can set the standard as minimum battery lasting duration of 3 days and normal battery charging time is 2 hours, the normal long standby time is approx 7 days that can reach up to 15 days.

Normally GPS devices work well in temperature range of -20 degrees to 45 degrees. But some devices are exception that support max warm temperature up to 35 to 40 degrees. If you are staying in tropical weather, then you must check the supported temperature range, before making a choice to purchase the dog collar.

It's almost impossible to keep your dog away from water also it's not a good idea, in that case dog collar must have waterproof GPS device. Normally the vendor's specification for waterproof capacity is "Waterproof Level: IP67", Do you know, what does that mean?

Actually the IEC standard for IP67 is, interpreted as Ingress Protection Marking. That rates the degree of protection provided against intrusion, dust, water by mechanical casings and electrical enclosures.

IP67 stands for - guarantees protection of device in water up to a meter deep for half an hour.
And IP68 means - protection of device in water up to 1.5 meter deep for half an hour.

The GPS tracker monitoring app allows to set an alert or notification when your pet crosses the defined Geo-fence area. Like you can set the alert criteria, when your dog move outside the range (10-500 meters) then setting can be automatic alarm that can be get text, app or email notifications when your pet leaves their safe place, before they get too far away. But you must need WI-Fi network to set up safe places.

This is a common feature in almost all of the GPS tracker, but the monitor application can vary and have limited computer or mobile support, like may for some vendor mobile app is supported for android only and for some it may be limited to Apple devices only. You must check the software platform's limitations before to purchase a GPS enabled dog collar.

You need to pay a 2G SIM card's calling and data fee that should be the GPRS traffic, with a rate of "*"MB/month traffic package. The rate varies widely that's depends to service providers cost to the manufacturer. You can notice in many advertisements "NO MONTHLY FEE" that mean, the tracker's service-terminal, not include the fee of calling and data. You must need to study a comparative service charge for GPS enabled collar.

The remote features like, Remote turn-on LED light, turn-on sound can be useful to train the dog or when your dog is not in your reach and you need to guide him with the commands which you had taught him. But This feature is not available in many GPS enabled dog collar.

The exchange policy doesn't mean, the allowance to return the purchased item.
For GPS tracker Exchange means, to replace the previous existing collar with a new collar. This is a required feature because, normally we purchase the collar for puppy but after a few months that need to replace with a bigger one.

The collar must be comfortable normally the collar made from rubber-like, non-porous neoprene that’s durable enough and comfortable for the dog. Also the dog owner should add a few centimeters to the length to adjust for growing pups.
So the comfortable dog collar should be durable, but comfortable with options for adjustment and while purchasing the GPS enabled collar, you must check the quality of the collar also.