Dog Tech: The May Smartcollar Update

It's time to check in with our favorite up and coming smartcollar products! Technological development is a rocky road filled with bumps and setbacks, and it's a rare product that gets released on time. How a company handles those setbacks says a lot about the people behind the product. The world of pet wearables is always growing, it's exciting to see what might be on the horizon!

Whistle 2 - currently using

Our Whistle 2 tracker has been in use for 4 months now, and at this point it needs to be rebooted and freshly paired with the base nearly every time I charge it. The tracker often stops working when we are away from home, and the only way to make it start working again is to go home and mess around with the base station. Tech support is happy to explain how to reset everything, but fails to recognize that the constant need to do so presents a problem.

I did have occasion to use it to track Zip once, and it did indeed help me find her. On previous occasions, it was either unable to get a location, or I found her during the 10 minutes it took to get her location.

Whistle 3 - released!

Whistle 3 shipped out in February as expected! This new version of the tracker is smaller, lighter, and sends notifications faster. The company is doing a nice job of keeping on top of the PR machine, they have responded to every negative review on Amazon. The biggest downside to Whistle 3 is that it somehow isn't compatible with all WiFi routers, and the company recommends users with this issue just buy a new router. Wtf, Whistle?

Link AKC - released!

Link AKC was released in March, and it's not bad. It's just very new, and I don't think they beta tested it enough. The tracking is superior to Whistle. I really liked the idea of temperature alerts, but it kept alerting when my dog was in comfortable temperatures and definitely not laying on the device. I also really wanted the virtual leash feature, but again got many false notifications. I ended up returning this one because the single day of battery life was worrisome, and the tracker was beginning to show some wear and tear after only a couple of days.

Nuzzle - wtf?

I originally ordered three Nuzzle collars, hoping to use them for my dogs and maybe even the sheep at work. Unfortunately I had to cancel due to seriously shady behavior on the part of the company. They abruptly stopped communicating, censored everything remotely negative about their product, and blocked a bunch of users who pointed out that taking everyone's money without sending them a product for months is technically illegal. They finally started shipping this week, which is great news for the people that ordered back in 2015. Unfortunately, it looks like the features you get don't exactly match the features advertised. Temperature monitoring may or may not work, battery life is measured in hours not days, and tracking and boundary alerts are highly inaccurate. They've had well over a year to beta test this thing, but it appears they spent all the money on marketing instead.

Pod 3 - May/June 2017

Pod 3's release has been pushing from March to May or June of this year. I really want one, but Nuzzle has completely destroyed my trust in tech companies offering preorders. On the plus side, they're selling Pod 3 as a preorder right now, not as a finished and prepared product that just kinda won't be shipped for a few months.

Kyon - June 2017

Kyon has pushed their release date back to June of 2017. They've added more color options. With 30 days of battery life, and temperature monitoring, the only thing scaring me about this one is the $250 pricetag. This is another company that is being honest with their customers and selling their product as a preorder.

Scollar - August 2017

Scollar is still on track for release later this summer. This is more of a daily reminder collar for pets that stay at home, but it's still cool. 

Wuf - Fall of 2017?

Wuf has pushed their tentative release date back to fall of 2017. It's ok though, their website even has a disclaimer warning preorder people that the release schedule could change as Wuf is a product still in development. Nuzzle was not sold to me or anyone else as a preorder, despite being at roughly the same level of development.

Findster Duo - July 2017

This is one that I just learned about, a GPS tracker that includes a piece for the pet guardian to wear. Findster doesn't need monthly fee because the guardian piece communicates with both your phone at the pet piece. You can buy extra guardian and pet pieces for all the places, people, and pets in your life. I'm very excited about this one, but not enough to preorder it. Thanks again, Nuzzle.

Buddy - officially dead

The Buddy smartcollar's IndieGoGo page is now handing out refunds like candy. The project is officially dead, and the collar will not be released. Like most smartcollar crowdfunding campaigns, the backers were told they were funding the production phase of a working product instead of the development of a hypothetical collar that existed only in the campaigners' dreams. This has been the story of pretty much every pet wearable crowdfunding campaign to date, which means basically everyone who claims to have invented a smartcollar is lying about something. Buddy, DogTelligent, and Nuzzle have left me quite cynical indeed.

Dog Tech: Link AKC is Not for Us

We've been using Link AKC for less than a week, but I've already determined that it's not the right product for us. This groundbreaking smartcollar is supposed to be able to track your dog, help you find them if they get lost, let you know how active they are, and even alert you if they are getting too hot or cold. Unfortunately, like all new technology, it has quite a few bugs.

A Rocky Start

The company has chosen to make Link AKC an entirely app-based product. This means the collar only works as long as the app works. I ran into a software bug two screens into setting up my account, and this prevented me from using my Link AKC smart collar for the first week I had it. Eventually this was resolved, not through a software update, but through a customer service manager taking my credit card information over the phone and handing it off to the engineering team so they could create an account for me on the back end. 

Yeah, I never got to check out the account creation process. I also learned that the entire device is one software bug away from total failure. Even once we got everything working, the number of error messages and false alerts was really disheartening.

"A Smartphone for Your Dog"

One of my wonderful readers described Link AKC as being "like a smartphone for your dog", and I cannot think of a better way to put it. Using this device feels exactly like buying a smartphone and then strapping it to my dog's collar. Think about that for a second.

Yeah. It's a cool idea. Having a GPS/Bluetooth/WiFi tracker on my dog should give me some piece of mind, but instead it just fills me with concern. Is the smartphone still attached to her collar? Did we break it yet? What if it gets caught on something out there? It's a huge chunky thing that sticks way out from her neck, and she does a lot of squirming under fences and shoving her head down squirrel holes. It also keeps sending me false notifications, which is alarming. I got two notifications that Sisci Godzilla was getting too hot, both when she was with me, cool and comfortable, and definitely not laying on the tracker or trapping heat in any way. I also got notifications that she was away when she had been sitting on my lap for an hour.

The battery life is reminiscent of a smartphone. You're supposed to take the device off your dog every night to charge it, and just hope your dog doesn't get lost at night. They recommend you charge it right beside your smartphone, which is cute, but I'd rather have this safety device on my dog 24/7.

For Civilized Dogs

I don't think the makers of Link AKC were thinking about me and my dogs when they designed their product. This thing has no business being on a dog that runs through thick underbrush and jumps into a stock tank or pond to cool off. It's great for urban and suburban families that have civilized adventures, but it was clearly not made for rugged working dogs, rough terrain, or long days outdoors.

While I'm sure the software will get better with time, I am absolutely certain we are going to break the hardware in short order. After two days the spring latches that keep the tracker on the collar mount are already moving noticeably less smoothly. I had grand plans to compare the tracking ability and accuracy of various smartcollars, but I can't justify keeping this one when we're just going to destroy it. I am using Link AKC's 30-day money-back guarantee, and continuing to look for a GPS tracker with long-lasting interchangeable batteries, durable hardware, and a low profile.

Dog Tech: Link AKC First Impressions

It took an entire week, but my Link AKC smart collar is finally working...ish. Probably. Really, the issue isn't so much the collar hardware as the smartphone app. It's buggy as hell, and when the app doesn't work the collar doesn't work. So far the only dog GPS tracker I have personal experience with is the Whistle 2. Whistle has browser-based option that allows users to log on from regular computers. This means that a bug in the app won't render to collar useless.

Bugs, Bugs, and More Bugs

The first software bug I ran into was the inability to set up a subscription plan, the app took me to a blank screen and nothing else ever loaded. The workaround for this was to talk to a support manager after several days of phone tag, give them my credit card number and all of my personal information over the phone, and have them set up my account from the back end.

This brings me to the second software bug, the inability to log in via email. First I tried logging in through Facebook, and when I hit that blank screen I tried logging in through email instead. The app said there was already an account with that email address, but not with any password I ever set up. Attempts to reset the password just got me the error message "Password reset failed". 

This is awesome, because my weirdass backdoor account set up by the support team was supposedly done with my email address. The app opened to the collar pairing screen after they did that, so I actually still have no idea what my account password is, or anything else about it.

Upon finally pairing my collar, I tried setting up a profile for Sisci Godzilla. So far I have been unable to upload a picture to her profile, I get a weird error message that I should probably copy down and send along to the support team. "There was an error communicating with the Link AKC server: Object version mismatch Dogld 878". (I'm sure they're tired of hearing from me by now.)

Battery Life

Link AKC must be removed from the collar and placed on the base station to charge. The company recommends you charge it every night, just in case you need to use the GPS tracking feature. This means no tracking, temperature alerts, or anything else at night. I'm surprised at this decision by the development team, it seems like all the other smartcollar companies are touting the battery ife of their products. Our Whistle 2 lasts about five days between charging, it's kind of weird for Link AKC to not be intended to last more than a day.

I had originally planned to use this GPS tracker for Zip, because she likes to range further than I'm comfortable with when exploring. However, due to my concerns about the reliability of the product, I'm leaving the Whistle 2 tracker on Zip for now. It may not have as many features or options, but right now I trust it a whole lot more than Link AKC.

Dog Tech: LinkAKC Doesn't Work

My LinkAKC smartcollar finally arrived on Friday! It's so beautiful, with such unique package design. Too bad I'm going to have to send it back. See, this is a smart collar that works with a smartphone app, and the app doesn't work, making Link AKC a $150 plain leather collar with a big awkward hunk of plastic.

The Hype

LINK AKC is a smart collar with an unprecedented amount of hype behind it. I preordered mine back in December, and since then I have received AKC's smartcollar newsletter every other day. Yes, every two days I get an email packed with awesome stuff about how great this collar is. Over the last three months I have received 44 different promotional emails about the product I had already ordered and committed to buying. I didn't mind though, because I am a giant nerd and couldn't wait to get it.

The Arrival

The packaging for the collar was wonderful. Very easy to open, but secure with proper protection for the electronics. No horrible plastic to cut through, and the whole thing seems pretty eco-friendly as well.

The collar is a very nice stitched leather piece that is a bit stiff like all new leather. It feels a bit big on Godzilla, but looks great on Zip. The actual tracker and its holder also seem bulky on Godzilla's neck.

The Setup

Putting the tracker onto the bracket and the bracket onto the collar was super easy and straightforward. I downloaded the Quick Start Guide to my phone, which instructed me to assemble the collar an then download the Link AKC app.

This is where things ground to a screeching halt. I should have been mere minutes away from creating an account, selecting and purchasing a service plan, and pairing the collar with my phone via Bluetooth. Upon opening, the app prompts the user to either sign in with Facebook, or create an account with an email address. I tried Facebook first, and after loading for a full five minutes, the app finally prompted me to choose a user picture. 

After selecting a picture of me and my dogs, it was time to activate the collar. The next screen prompted me to activate a service plan, with three possible options. I chose one, and was taken to a blank screen. Nothing ever loaded. Went back and tried again, same thing. Went back and selected a different service plan, same blank screen.

Being fairly tech savvy, I first tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app. No luck. Rebooting my phone had no effect either. Next I tried creating an account with an email address. The app informed me that I already had an account with that address. Login with my password failed, so I tried to reset the password. The password reset also failed. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling again, just in case. At this point I had been trying to get the Link AKC app to work for well over an hour.

Tech Support

 Saturday morning I called Link AKC tech support and spent 20 minutes on hold waiting to talk to someone that couldn't help me. They didn't know why it wasn't working, said it was a known issue, and that they would pass my information along to the engineers. There is no timeline for when this could be fixed, and in the meantime my smartcollar is just an expensive paperweight. Unlike Whistle, Link AKC does not have an online version you can access via computer. The collar will only work with the smartphone app, and the app doesn't work so the collar doesn't work. It is literally useless.

My LinkAKC collar is currently packed back into its lovely intuitive packaging awaiting its return to the company. They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, and I have no way of knowing if it will become functional before that time is up. This smart collar is a huge disappointment. Companies need to be careful how much customer enthusiasm they drum up, as it easily changes to customer rage when the product fails to meet expectations. Link AKC has failed to meet my expectations in every possible way.

Shopping for a GPS Tracker

For a variety of reasons, I would like to purchase GPS trackers for Zip and Sisci Godzilla. We spend a lot of time outdoors, hiking and working, and once in awhile the girls go out of sight. Godzilla is very good about checking in with me every so often, but Zip tends to run far and wide before it occurs to her to come and find me. In addition to leashes, beacon lights, and reliable recalls, it would be nice to have some technology to help me locate my dogs should they ever not come when I call them.

Pet vs. Hunting Dog Tracking

It turns out there are two basic types of dog tracking devices out there: those for everyday tracking of pets and those for closely tracking hunting dogs. Hunting dog tracking devices are intended to be worn for several hours during a hunting trip. They are made for larger dogs, and can be rather bulky. Designed for use in remote areas, they use radio and GPS tracking technology. Many hunting dog telemetry collars are also electronic training collars, though tracking-only collars are also available. The battery on these tends to last about a day, and the range is about five miles. Telemetry systems for hunting dogs can be a pretty big investment, starting at $300 for an inexpensive one-dog setup, or $460 for a two-dog setup. Multi-dog systems that can pinpoint your dog's location and tell you whether they are running, walking, or standing cost well over $1000.

Pet trackers are relatively inexpensive, designed to be worn all day everyday, just in case pets get lost. These pet wearables usually have enough battery life to last for several days, and are largely modeled after human wearables, with smartphone apps and activity goals. There are a whole lot of them, and they use everything from GPS tracking, to cellular phone networks, to Bluetooth to locate your pet. This is an emerging market, and there are quite a few products in development right now, as well as a few that have been available for a few years already. These feel like they would be a better fit for my situation, and they're significantly cheaper than the hunting dog systems, but I'm having trouble deciding on one.

Whistle

Once upon a time there was Tagg, a GPS tracking system for your dog that used cellular netorks and GPS tracking to find your lost dog. The system worked with your phone, and sent you alerts if your dog went outside a predetermined area. Then Whistle, maker of pet activity trackers, purchased Tagg and everything went to hell. Though Tagg/Whistle has been around longer than anything else on the market, there still seem to be some major kinks that need to be worked out. 

Pros: Uses 3G cellular networks and GPS to locate pets. I get decent cellular signal at work, so this would be useful there.

Cons: The app is quite bloated. It is filled with activity tracking, social media connections, and pictures that detract from the basic locating functionality. It's not terribly accurate. It sends false notifications that your pet has left when they're safe, or fails to report when they actually leave their safe zone. It's slow, only updating every three minutes when actively tracking your lost pet. It also won't let you activate tracking when you know you pet is missing, instead you must wait until the system reads that your pet has left to begin tracking them. The battery life is only decent when near the home base station, which means having my dogs at work with me all day would rapidly drain it on a daily basis. There seem to be a lot of complaints about customer service.

Pod

I got to play with a Pod tracker at SuperZoo, and I was incredibly impressed with how light and compact it was. Like the Whistle, it allows you to set up a predetermined safe zone, and will alert you if your pet leaves that zone. However, it has some improvements over Whistle's current system.

Pros: Uses Wifi as well as cellular and GPS tracking, for more accurate indoor locations. Allows the user to set how often the location updates, and the safe zone can just be turned off to save battery life.  Is not dependent upon a base station to define safe zone, can be set anywhere. Comes with two removable batteries, so one can always be charged and ready to go. Much smaller than the Whistle tracker, small enough to out on cats and large birds and tiny dogs. The company offers a 50% upgrade to their newest product. Their customer service seems to be really good.

Cons: The Pod tracker only uses 2G cellular networks. In case you hadn't heard, the remaining vestiges of the AT&T 2G network is going down next month. T-Mobile is keeping at least some of their 2G up until 2020, but coverage is certainly not going to get any better. Pod is supposedly going to come out with a 3G version in February...maybe. At SuperZoo they were claiming it would be out before AT&T killed the majority of the 2G network. The current Pod tracker probably wouldn't be able to track my dogs while we are at work, or on hiking trips. Or possibly at all.

Tractive

Tractive is another GPS+cellular pet tracker. It seems to be a bit more compact than the Whistle, but doesn't offer as many customized options as the Pod.

Pros: Does not seem to need a base station. Allows customized safe zone and alerts if pet leaves that zone.

Cons: Appears to be basically a foreign knockoff of the Whistle, with a lighter but less user-friendly interface and worse customer service. Uses only 2G cellular networks, with no plans to update to something that isn't rapidly becoming obsolete. The annual fee for the device appears to be equal to the purchase price.

Nuzzle

The Nuzzle collar is brand new and just started shipping in the last month or two. Unfortunately, this means there aren't yet product reviews out there about the actual battery life, or other ups and downs.

Pros: Uses 3G cellular networks, GPS, and also Bluetooth. Comes with two batteries. Comes with a custom collar, but can be attached to any collar. Offers temperature monitoring.
Cons: Uses a base station, so may be intended for dogs that spend most of their time at home, like the Whistle.

AKC Link

AKC's Link collar is another brand new product that hasn't been widely reviewed yet. Unfortunately, their website is pretty short on information, so I have no idea if it uses 3G cellular networks, or experiences shorter battery life away from its base station. It sounds pretty awesome, but it's hard to tell what actual user experiences are like.

Pros: Specifically can be used to set mobile safe zones for off-leash activity or visiting friends. Temperature monitoring. Supposedly uses an algorithm to determine what counts as intense activity for your dog, versus moderate activity. 

Cons: No idea if it uses 3G or not. 

PetTronix RoamEO SeekR

This one looks like a significantly more simple product than any of the ones above. The RoamEO is not an activity monitor, it's not a smartcollar, it just tracks your pet. This one just uses GPS, so it should work both in town and way out in the backcountry.

Pros: Has customized safe zone that can be any shape, not just a circle. Safe zone can be mobile for off-leash activity. 

Cons: Has 3-5 mile range for active tracking, not sure if it also does remote monitoring.

Coming Soon...

There are some neat-looking smartcollars and pet tracking devices that may be coming out soon, but are not actually shipping yet. The Kyon smartcollar appears to be marketed toward urban dog owners, as its GPS location technology will tell you what floor of a building your pet is on. The Kyon collar is expected to ship in January 2017. Squeaker's Buddy smartcollar looks pretty amazing, with custom LED light colors and patterns for nighttime safety, as well as the usual suite of smartcollar features. However, it is being developed via Indiegogo campaign, and the updates have been few and far between. Apparently it was fully-funded over a year ago, four months ago they were shooting for a release date of December 2016, and they have not updated in the last four months. It also going to be crazy expensive, $250 for campaign backers and $450 for the general public if it ever comes to market. Wuf is yet another smartcollar with integrated phone app, that may or may not ship in spring of 2017.