UKH

I'm looking to buy a tracker for my dog as I spend quite a bit of time in large forests and want him to be as free as possible (he's well trained and doesn't bother other people or dogs) whilst I climb.

Does anyone have any experience with Trackers? I've been looking online and found a couple of very expensive items (£600+) which look very good but something I can't justify. The remainder all seem to be around the £40-£120 and sorting the wheat from the chaffe is proving difficult.

Essentially I want accurate info on my dogs position up to 5km (3 miles) with at least a 15 second update to mobile app. Is there any advantage in using a subscription service? The Pod 3 looks a good bet at £119. It uses GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular technologies and claims the range is unlimited.

Any advice, opinion appreciated.

Thanks

Just to clarify - you let your dog roam freely around around a forest while you climb up a crag ? 

Not a dig by the way a genuine question. 

I'll be interested to see the answers on here as I was just pondering this myself as my dog starts to get a bit more adventurous on the fells!

What do you do with the dog at the bottom of the crag? I'm currently stuck in the conundrum of:

Tie her up and she whines.

Leave her loose and she finds her way to the top and gives me a heart attack. 

I'm a boulderer, so it's not as though I can't drop what I'm doing quickly. I want my dog to be able to be a dog and enjoy his instincts somewhat. I'm very fortunate that he minds his own business, which tends to be hunting unsuccessfully and always comes back to check in often enough. However he is used to roaming several hundred acres not several thousand (or at least have that possibility) hence the tracker. It feels like a bigger step so I want to ensure I can give him these opportunities safely. I'm exploring possibilities at present to ensure we can both get the most out of trips.

To give you an idea of what can be bought, I recently got one of these for £15.69:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B071H7SNLJ/

I stuck in a GiffGaff SIM, sent it the setup commands, and it talks very happily to my Traccar server. It communicates via GPRS, and is using bugger all data, at 5 minute update rates.

It's not waterproof, and has no collar mount, but I have seen such things for not much more. Check that devices really do have GPS; there are a lot of cheap trackers out there with GPS in the name, or on the device, but they are only GSM, giving details of the base station.

I can use the Traccar Manager app to track devices on my smartphone.

Traccar is free and open source. The server runs on a small windows PC, or you could just use the demo server.

Anyone know of one of these devices that doesn’t require mobile coverage?

If there's no mobile signal the GPS will be unable to send the location info. It will track but can't relay the position back anywhere. A mate is a paraglider and has an Inreach unit that sends sms via satellite, but its ( to me) very expensive.

You can get radio versions, but you'll have limited range. Is that what you're after or just a 'dumb' unit you can download later?

There do appear to be a few, although I understand use of Google Maps is now making this unnecessary.

Here's a link to an article featuring the top 13 devices from 2016.

https://www.thepawtracker.com/blogs/the-pet-tracker-blog-by-the-paw-tracker...

Not sure why you scored a dislike :0)

That looks interesting. Do you have an idea on the range?

It's essentially a mobile phone, so it needs network coverage to report position. So range is really more about that coverage. Large, forested areas may have coverage black spots. Dense, wet forest will will affect both GSM and GPS.

So basically your going to need mobile coverage in order to track him so you can just ring him and tell him to come back when you want him!!!!

Thanks

Thanks. I’m looking for something that gets the GPS position and sends it via VHF/UHF to a receiving unit. Garmin does something for hunting dogs, but it’s about $500. There’s something in the link the Fishmate sent and a kickstarter that I found, but not a lot else. 

Of course not letting her off the lead costs zero. 

You'll maybe find she quickly gets used to this and get happier with the situation - all 3 of the 'crag dogs' we've had over the years have done so, provided a certain amount of 'doggy time' is factored into the day.

It's always embarrassing when they out climb you!

Amazon have this type of thing at £169.99, however the reviews (all 5 star) may well come from paid reviewers. A lot of money to take a punt on IMHO.

Edit. Maybe try Captain Paranoias £16 option and see how it goes?

In the future we will be all sprawling at home in front of the TV which is showing a map with the current location of the dog. The PlayStation controllers we are clutching will send audio tones to the dog’s tracking collar for left, right, straight on like sheepdog whistles. There will be strava courses for the dogs, dog celebrities, and then a huge industry of breeding for good strava dogs will appear,  while the humans are moving less and less. But the doggy gets a treat when it comes home having beaten the time for its owner’s friend’s dog that it has never met.

Good post. I often wonder about this sort of thing but haven't been arsed to do anything about it, so thanks. This would also track my van in the event of it being nicked which would be cheaper than a normal car tracker too. I will watch this space with interest.

There are dozens of these things to choose from. I had a look on Banggood last night, and there are some more pet-specific devices (claiming to be IP66 protected), for about £30-35, but the main difficulty with these things is compatability with a tracking service. Traccar does support a lot of devices, if you can identify the protocol.

https://www.traccar.org/devices/

Here are some Banggood hits:

https://m.banggood.com/TK200-Mini-Car-GPS-Tracker-Waterproof-Pet-GPS-Locato...

https://m.banggood.com/Z8-Mini-Pet-ABS-GPS-Function-Black-Plastic-Collar-Lo...

https://m.banggood.com/IP67-D-Waterproof-Smart-MiNi-Pet-GPS-AGPS-Tracking-L...

https://m.banggood.com/RF-V40-3G-Waterproof-Pet-GPS-Tracker-Locator-Real-Ti...

https://m.banggood.com/TKSTAR-TK905-Waterproof-GPS-GSM-GPRS-Tracker-Locator...

https://m.banggood.com/Mini-Waterproof-IP66-GPSLBSWifi-Tracker-Locator-SOS-...

https://m.banggood.com/Mini-GPS-Tracker-Pet-Collar-Real-Time-Locator-Kid-Ca...

Or, for those wanting to track their car:

https://m.banggood.com/GPS-GSM-GPRS-Tracker-Motorcycle-Vehicle-Tracking-Dev...

Note that none of these are recommendations; I've not seen or used any of them.

Even the Amazon one I linked above has to be considered questionable, as, although it's taken directly from a link in my Amazon order confirmation, it's actually from another vendor, such is the way Amazon works.

I use a very cheap tracking system when allowing my dog to roam crag bottoms freely. I listen for the sound of irate climbers trying to salvage what little remains of their sandwiches. Leads me to him every time.