I Tested Smart Cat Collars for Months. Here’s What I’d Buy

However, note that all tested models rely on GPS for location tracking. This means that if the satellite signal is spotty—a common issue in rural areas and other settings—you may not know your cat’s precise location. Some Reddit and Amazon reviewers complain that Tractive’s location tracking is less accurate in areas with dense vegetation.

In setting up each tracker’s connected app, you can designate specific mapped areas as safe or danger zones, and the app will notify you when the pet enters or exits these zones. Basil is an indoor cat, but with all three trackers, my apartment was too small to create a virtual fence around the perimeter, so I had to expand it to an area outside my apartment. That means if Basil got out but stayed nearby, I wouldn’t get an alert.

In the Tractive app, after you create a profile, you’ll get personalized daily activity goals for your cat based on statistics from other cats of similar age and weight. The app assigned Basil 120 to 230 minutes of daily activity and later reported that he was consistently more active than 70 percent of similar cats. I felt at peace knowing I’m keeping him on the move in my small apartment.

At the end of each day and week, the app provides activity averages and daily calorie estimates, calculated using factors like pet type, weight, and size, and compared with activity output.

Tractive’s sleep-tracking feature monitors sleep duration, breaking it down into categories of night sleep, day sleep, and calm. Because it tracks sleep length and cycle phases based on movement patterns and time of day, the data is more general than precise. In general, I found the information in Tractive’s app more useful and easier to analyze than in Fi.

Best Battery Life, Charging, and Size

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WIRED

• Long battery life
• Convenient USB-C charge
• Small, compact size
• Multiple easy collar attachments included

TIRED

• Location works best if you’re near your phone
• Lag time on alerts for being outside of safe zones
• Sometimes sends false alerts for pets leaving a safe zone
• App needs to be open on your phone in order to work properly
• Doesn’t have historical location heat maps

Testing these trackers made me realize the importance of basic features like battery life and ease of removing the tracker from the collar for charging. This is where the Fi Mini shines. (Read my full review here.)

Fi app via Molly Higgins

Fi Mini takes about two hours to reach a full charge, which lasted about two weeks in my testing. Fi claims four weeks, but two weeks is much longer than the Tractive, which conked out at around five days on a full charge. While I didn’t test this, Fi claims its tracker can hold a six- to eight-week charge with the Fi Base add-on.

In addition to extending battery life by functioning as a connection source when your pet is at home, the Base also supposedly helps with location accuracy thanks to its Wi-Fi connection. One bonus for Fi users with an Apple Watch: You can add the Fi app to your watch to monitor your pet’s location and activity and enter “Lost Mode” without a phone, which is especially helpful if your cat has escaped while you’re away from your phone.