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Is there anything scarier than the idea of losing your cat? The Tractive cat GPS tracker could help to eliminate that fear once and for all.
Whether you’ve got an outdoor cat, or a feline friend who might occasionally sneak past your legs when you open the front door, it’s easy for kitties to get lost. In fact, the American Humane Association thinks there are millions of cats and dogs lost throughout the US alone at any given time. A crazy, but scary, cat fact is that also believe a third of all pets will get lost at some point during their lives.
Even if your feline friend isn’t “missing”, it can be worrying to see them wander off each morning or evening, not knowing where they’re spending their time. Your cat could be going anywhere, including spending their time in dangerous environments potentially being being exposed to dangerous materials, foods and substances.
Fortunately, there are tools available to help put your mind at rest. The Tractive GPS cat tracker is a tracking system for dogs and cats, designed to help you find your animal wherever they might roam.
Today’s review of the Tractive GPS cat tracker should give you everything you need to decide whether this could be a worthwhile investment for you.
Our Choice for the Best Tracking System for your Cat
Made to suit both cats and dogs, the Tractive GPS cat tracker is a convenient lightweight and waterproof tracking device, developed by the Tractive team. This product, made in Australia, features cutting edge technology for real-time tracking.
Unlike other clunky and complicated tools from the past, the Tractive GPS cat tracker can slip onto your dog’s collar without them noticing a difference.
Once you’ve added the tracker to your pet’s collar, you can connect it with your smartphone, and track your feline friend, wherever they are. Features include:
The Tractive GPS cat tracker could be the ultimate way for cat owners to maintain peace of mind when it comes to caring for their feline friends. The LIVE tracking and historical location feature mean you can check where your cat is, and where they’ve been at any given time. The tracking technology comes with a faux leather, high-durability collar, so you don’t have to worry about purchasing a good collar on top of your new device.
As mentioned above, the Tractive GPS cat tracker is very lightweight. The rounded block of plastic and metal sits at around 30 grams, so it shouldn’t cause any discomfort to your kitty. The device also measures around 1.6 x 2 inches, with a depth of 0.6 inches.
Attaching your new device to your cat’s collar is quick and simple, with a set of handy clips included. This means you can attach your tracker to just about any collar if you don’t want to use the included leather option. Let’s take a closer look at the most important features.
The Tractive GPS cat tracker is strong enough to continue delivering excellent results for your kitty at all times. After all, this device needs to work wherever your cat goes – even if they’re travelling in the rain. The system is durable and resistant to impact, so it’s unlikely your furry friend will break it.
The Tractive GPS cat tracker is also waterproof to a rating of IPX7. This means the product is resistant to rain and splashes, but it can also withstand an immersion of up to 3 feet for as long as 30 minutes.
Cats can roam far and wide during their adventures in the great outdoors. If your kitty goes missing, you might spend more than a day looking for them. With that in mind, Tractive have designed their GPS tracker to last for up to 5 days with normal use. The battery does drain faster depending on the kind of tracking you’re doing, however.
The Tractive GPS cat tracker will usually only last for around 8 hours in total if you’re using LIVE mode non-step. In most cases, this will hopefully be enough to help you find your kitty if they go missing. Remember, you can check the battery status of your device at any time by visiting the app on your smartphone. This service will also allow you to check the functionality of the tracker.
Our Choice for the Best Tracking System for your Cat
Perhaps the most important feature of the Tractive device is its GPS tracking functionality. This capability ensures you can find your feline friend wherever they go, using satellite tracking similar to tools like Google maps. The built-in GPS antenna in the collar will connect to satellites wherever your kitty is, which means you can easily pinpoint their location. The service works in more than 150 countries around the world.
In terms of accuracy, the Tractive GPS cat tracker is about the same as any kind of GPS device. You’ll usually get a decent level of accuracy, with a little discrepancy in exact location. However, your cat should usually be within 7.5 meters from its point on your Tractive app.
Notably, the Tractive solution works like a lot of trackers in being more accurate when more satellites are available to connect to. If you live in an area without a great GPS signal, you may struggle to enjoy the full benefits of this tool.
The Tractive cat GPS tracker comes equipped with a range of features to make finding your pet easier. For instance, there’s an LED light built-in, making it easier to find your furry pal in the dark. The light can also help you to see whether the communication network is suffering when you’re looking at the collar in-person. If you press the power button for a second, the light will blink twice to let you know whether the GPS and network are currently available.
U.S.A. only
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If the light is red for both flashes, this indicates the GPS and network are both unavailable for the time being. If the first flash is red, this means the network is unavailable. If the second flash is red, this indicates a problem with the GPS. When both lights are green, everything is working as normal.
Aside from the LED app, the Tractive GPS cat tracker also comes with a handy buzzer and speaker built into the collar device itself. From within the Tractive app for tracking your pet, you can remotely activate the buzzer functionality. Upon activation, the device will usually emit a buzzer sound, which should help you to find the device if you lose it.
Unfortunately, the buzzer functionality will not be available for users in the US. The company has had to remove this capability for US users based on issues with legal restrictions.
To fully appreciate all the features the Tractive GPS cat tracker can offer, you’ll need the app built into the service. This app is how you find where your pet is at any moment. Your app will also feature information about your cat’s activity, and the functionality of the device. The smartphone app works on both iOS and Android phones, although you will need to make sure your firmware is updated to the latest version first.
Overall, the app is relatively easy to use – similar to many of the smartphone apps available on the market today for GPS tracking. You can use the app to enable “LIVE” tracking, which means you’ll see an update on your pet’s real-time location every couple of seconds. The LIVE functionality ensures you can see your pet’s location immediately, often at a very accurate level. However, the function does drain battery life pretty quickly.
The app also has a location history service. This means you can get a pretty great overview into where your cat spends its time when not at home with you. If you have an outdoor pet, the location history can make it easier to determine when your cat is visiting other houses, or even dangerous locations.
The map function is probably the most important feature of the Tractive cat GPS tracker. This map is completely interactive, and it’s great for seeing where your cat is moving at any given time. You can even connect multiple Tractive GPS devices to your app at once, so you can see where different pets are at any moment. The app will allow you to add a picture to your cat’s profile, so it’s easier to distinguish one animal from another.
When you’re inside of the Tractive map, you’ll be able to switch between various views, including a hybrid map, a regular map, and a satellite image map. The satellite version means you can actually see the streets around your cat. This could make it much easier to determine where your feline friends are then you’re searching for a lost kitty.
Virtual fencing is an impressive feature within the Tractive GPS cat tracker. It works by allowing pet owners to set up a “safe zone” for their animal, such as their home street or garden. If you’re happy to allow your cat to venture outside into your back garden, but you don’t want them to go much further than that, the virtual fencing function can help.
You can place your safe zone wherever you choose, and the Tractive app will automatically inform you whenever your cat ventures outside of it.
Every Tractive GPS cat tracker user will see where their pet is in real-time, and check location history for more insights into their travels. However, there’s also additional functionality available if you’re willing to sign up to a premium subscription plan. (We’ll look at the plans in a moment).
The premium plan comes with features like:
Our Choice for the Best Tracking System for your Cat
Another great feature we noticed when testing the Tractive GPS cat tracker, was the ability to share information about your pet’s location with friends and family. The Tractive GPS coverage, which works in over 150 countries, allows you to share the real-time location of your pet with people in your social circle.
The people you want to share your information with will need to have their own Tractive GPS account to use the function. It would have been ideal if you could have shared this information on social media too. You can also limit how long you share the information for. It’s possible to place a 24-hour restriction on sharing.
More than just a tool for finding missing or adventurous cats, the Tractive GPS cat tracker can also give you an interesting insight into your cat’s health. The Activity Monitoring function shows you how your feline friend spends their day, from the moments they spend napping, to the times they spend running around, or hunting.
The activity tracking system allows you to set activity goals for your kitty and unlock achievements based on what your cat accomplishes over time. There are competitions for local cats in your area, which is a fun added extra. You will need to purchase a subscription plan which includes activity tracking, however.
The price of your GPS cat tracking device from Tractive depends on a few factors.
For instance, you’ll first need to account for the price of the tracker itself. There are different versions, including options with fancy collars and crystal embellishments. The prices can range from around $70 to $100, depending on your design choice. You’ll also need to account for the costs of the subscription packages. The subscription plans are how you ensure you can access GPS and other services offered by your tracker collar system.
There’s a Basic service plan starting at around $5.99 per month, which gives you GPS tracking for 2–60-minute intervals, and unlimited LIVE tracking. The premium version of the package is available on an annual basis rather than as a monthly fee. This subscription option comes with GPS and LIVE tracking, as well as worldwide coverage, location history, and the ability to export location history.
You can also attach multiple accounts to your app and get access to Premium customer service, which may be ideal if you’re worried about your pet.
For anyone looking for peace of mind when looking after their furry friend, the Tractive GPS tracker could be an excellent investment. This powerful tracking tool ensures you can keep a closer eye on your pet, wherever they end up. Whether you’re worried about where your cat is spending its time, or you’re looking for a missing feline, the Tractive system can help.
Here are some of the pros and cons to consider:
Overall, though the Tractive cat GPS tracker may seem a little expensive at first – we believe it’s an excellent investment for most cat and dog owners. The Tractive tracker is a powerful, reliable, and durable GPS tracker with excellent coverage. Multiple map views, and access to a range of ways to help you find your pet gives you perfect peace of mind.
The LIVE tracking mode is excellent, with extra-fast updates, and you can easily share your pet’s location with other people. There’s also an excellent activity tracking solution included if you want to keep an eye on your pet’s health.
Our Choice for the Best Tracking System for your Cat
We love how lightweight and simple this tracker is, as well as how intelligent it can be when it comes to finding out information about your cat and their location. If you’re worried about your kitty going missing, we’d definitely recommend looking into something like the Tractive GPS cat tracker.
And whilst we are on this topic, make sure you aways get your cat microchipped.
Just. In. Case.
U.S.A only
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