Tractive Smart Dog Tracker | 2025 Edition | Real-time GPS Tracking | Escape & Health Alerts | Vitals Monitoring | Market Leader (Mint)

An innovative gps tracker. It performs the basic tracking duties admirably and at least as well as the competition with very good accuracy mostly within 3m of true position. (our previous make would often switch from gps to trilateration of mobile signals or wifi networks and give false readings that were miles out. We are now abandoning it for Tractive). It has many ways to optimise power saving whenever possible resulting in not having to charge it daily, and neither do you need to manually switch it off to save battery with the possibility of it being OFF just when its needed. For instance it varies its gps locating and reporting rate depending on movement of the tracker (ie pet dog). Slowing down when the dog is inactive. You can also define a power saving zone by means of nominating your house wifi zone (or office etc) which quickly puts the tracker into power saving mode until it moves out of the coverage zone. Plus if your phone is close by it uses Bluetooth LowEnergy rather than cellular for communication. Cellular communication uses modern 4G LTE and can fallback to 2G GSM if coverage lacking. As soon as your dog moves more actively the locating and reporting rate auto increases. If you've lost your dog simply tap the Live option on the app for position updates every couple of seconds. Fast and accurate map view of your dogs location, but uses up the tracker battery so will auto turn LiveMode off every 5min (customisable) after prompts to see if you want to continue. Like others it has safe zones you can set and be notified on your phone if the dog (tracker) leaves the zone. Even better these are drawn on the map as polygons so I can accurately map my garden as a safe zone, and set multiple other zones if needed (workplace?). Most trackers only implement circular safe zones so nowhere near as accurate or useful as these polygons where I accurately map the fences around my garden with straight lines on the map. Has remote activation of both a flashing light (useful at night) plus a NOT particularly loud beeper (about as loud as an Apple AitTag). Presumably to help location when very close to. However our dog soon learned that if he ran back when the beeping on his collar went off he got a reward (treat and hug). So now most useful and especially at night as alternatives to a whistle or shout. It also helps with fitness tracking by giving time and distance of walks and playback of past records of tracking on the map also with time and distance displayed. There are more fitness features but I have not explored these yet. Finally I did find a minor display switch problem with the maps on my iPhone but after explaining and reporting it (with screen capture video) online, once it was escalated to the development team it was fixed at the next minor app release just a few days later. A rather long review but I am impressed with its capabilities and in no way connected nor provided with product by the company.

This is a brilliant device and can recommend it without reservation as long as GPS reception in the working area is good. Easy to set up, the app is easy to use, the mapping is amazingly accurate and the live tracking is unbelievably impressive in terms of where the dog is at any time. It secures easily to a standard collar and does not seem to bother the dog at all. Yes, the cost of the GPS is quite high but in terms of the peace of mind it gives it is surely worth it. It is amazing how many miles my Flatcoated Retriever can travel out of visual contact….this reveals it all.

Got this after searching for what seemed forever for a tracker - got this one based on market share. First impressions are that it's light and clips onto the harness well and doesn't appear it will come off easily. Signed up for a 2 year subscription as it worked out relatively cheap. The app is good and informative and I like that you can use different styles of map. The power save function at home is great, and keeps the battery at a good level. Have had it for around 5 months and I've noticed that the "waking up" once leaving the safe zone at home takes some time. I often get a push notification that the dog has left the safe zone around 30 minutes after she has. Live tracking works well most of the time, but maybe 10-200% of the time it takes forever to connect and sometimes times out without connecting at all, even right next to a phone mast! It's almost like it's stuck in a deep sleep mode, which would also explain the delayed push notifications. But when it's online, which is it more than not, it works really well, we track walks accurately. This is my first tracker so cannot compare to others, but this one seems to work well and does what I need it to do. When tracking my dog on Live, it can say that they are 10m in the opposite direction, which worries me if she did run off - it would say she is to the left of me, when in fact she is to the right, so the 'close up' accuracy seems to be a little off, but in these circumstances it will (hopefully) take you the right right radius!

I ordered this for my 9kg Pugzu, after struggling to setup a more basic one, but feeling it was about time to get a dog tracker, considering we're on holiday 200+ miles away next week and I would hate for him to run off and us regret not getting a tracker. I'm also a volunteer for searching for lost dogs with drones and on foot and we're always telling people to get a tracker. The size is good and is fine on my dogs narrow collar. You can get bigger ones for bigger collared dogs. It's simple to use; one button and the app. You can even turn the LED lights on via the app or make it play music. Tracking seems good. It works well, despite the poor hone signal by me. The app works well and is easy to understand. I wa disappointed by the fact that you have to pay for ALL the pans in advance, even the basic one. I. The end, I opted for the 2 year basic plan for £108, but will probably upgrade to premium shortly for £12 for the 2 years. This enables sharing with family and friends and records 365 days of recordings, rather than just today and yesterday. I love the Strava integration. I'll use this regularly and it could replace me using my Smart watch, or at least track alongside. Apart from the plan issue, it's really good and definitely recommended. My to: stick it on PayPal pay in 4. £27/month for 4 months is much more manageable if you're on a budget.

At the outset I was quite impressed with this device. I was a bit surprised at the additional licence of £160+ for two years. I honestly did not expect that and was a bit shocked to be honest. All went well until yesterday when our Sprocker managed to loose this device from her collar. It was then that we saw the weaknesses beginning to shine through. We did not notice the tracker was missing until we got home. The tracker was showing it was still on the walk that we had just completed. As it was getting late we decided to go back at first light to look for it. We got to the area the tracker was still transmitting from and spent two hours searching without any success despite us standing directly on top of it according to the display. We tried the “ radar” which failed to operate as we were out of Bluetooth range. On getting home I contacted customer support who provided us with a full refund for the tracker and the additional holder which detached. Top marks for Amazon. However, the real sting in the tail came when trying to obtain a refund on this licence I referred to earlier. Navigating the Tractive website was not easy. On going through the fine detail it stated that you could not get a refund for the licence out with 30 days of registering despite it being valid for 2 years. The net result is that we are down £160 through shady dealings. Not impressed by the integrity of the device and also that of the company Tractive as well. They should be made to highlight the licence fee costs and the 30 day refund clause. You have been warned.

The actual tracker is inexpensive considering the technology built in. To get functionality a subscription is required. Nonetheless, with a two year subscription, I think it works out at really good value, especially with the peace of mind it brings. In use, the tracker finds GPS and G4 networks quickly and the location indicated on the map in the app is very accurate and in virtually real time. The LIVE feature is especially useful. The app is intuitive but does seem to eat up data if left on continuously. The battery life is more than adequate and the unit can be charged with a USB-c connector. The app has additional features including health monitoring by measuring pulse and breathing rates. Very pleased with my purchase.

I bought my tractive dog tracker over a year ago following three hours of panic after I lost my Jack Russel Terrier in a forest in the Lake District. Fortunately, through kind people and Facebook, we were re-united later that evening but I realised I needed a reliable solution. My dog needs to run free and I like giving her that freedom. I chose Tractive after looking through reviews and Youtube videos and I do not have any regrets. The App on my phone, the device itself, battery life, reliability and general design are incredibly good. The App, in standard mode tracks just the mobile phone on which it is installed, but when your dog sets off into the undergrowth, switching to Live mode connects to the tracker and within 10 seconds, tracks both the mobile phone and the tracker so you can tell if you are walking in the correct direction to relocate your dog. For winter months and dark nights, I use the light on the tracker which has dual purpose - it helps you see where your dog is - and warns off wildlife such as badgers which could otherwise be dangerous to small dogs. I have used the tracker regularly in large forests and dark locations and would not feel comfortable letting my dog go loose without it in these types of places. My dog has a half decent recall - unless there is something worth chasing nearby. The charge on the device will work for quite a few hours in standard mode, even with the light on, and I switch between standard and live as required (as my dog comes and goes). I haven't used live exclusively from 100% battery to see how long it would last because I don't want to run the battery down needlessly but I think it may be up to twice as fast on battery usage. Either way, unless you are on a walk that will last for maybe 6 hours or more, a full charge is plenty with standard mode and light on, and fleeting usage in live mode is easily enough. I cannot recommend this product enough. It is waterproof, robust, reliable, fast charging, the light funtion is great and it even has a sound for easy location in dense undergrowth (Although I haven't really used this feature). If there is one (very minor) improvement that could be made it would be the size. As my dog is very small, I could not fit this on her collar as it would be too large but I purchased a harness and fitted the tracker there. It has been there ever since and I charge the tracker while attached to the harness between walks. It is not a problem to me - but was my first thought after I bought it. If you have a small dog, you will need a harness or other dog wear on which to fit it for comfort. For large dogs, I do not think this need even be considered as it would attach to a large collar very easily. If you are considering a tracker, my suggestion is to try Tractive first. You will not be dissapointed.

**Decent Tracker with a Few Frustrations** The Tractive GPS Dog Tracker has been fairly useful, but my experience with it has been mixed. On the plus side, the real-time tracking works reasonably well—when my dog decided to explore the neighbourhood solo, I could see exactly where he was. The escape alerts were timely and reassuring, and the activity monitoring gave me insight into his daily habits, which was a nice bonus. However, there were some notable downsides. The subscription model was a bit frustrating, as you’re essentially locked into ongoing costs that quickly add up. Also, the bark monitoring feature was patchy at best—sometimes it picked up nothing, other times it alerted unnecessarily. Battery life was also shorter than expected, needing frequent charges, especially after longer walks or when tracking actively. Overall, it's okay if you're after basic location tracking, but given the subscription costs and inconsistent features, I'd hesitate to fully recommend it without reservations.