Choose a GPS tracker for your pet and get a discount in the manufacturer’s shop. Want to hear about our experience first? Below, we explain why we chose Tractive for our cats after Luna went missing.
The tracker requires a separately paid subscription to work. The 40% discount applies to the device, not the subscription.
Referral link: you get a discount, and once the device is purchased and shipped, we get two extra months of subscription.
We did not start with GPS. We chose Motorola’s Moto Tag — a small Bluetooth tag, the equivalent of Apple’s popular AirTag, which lets you check its location through nearby phones with Bluetooth and mobile data enabled. No subscription and a long battery life of up to 2 years were major advantages for us. We attached it to Luna’s collar and assumed it would make her easier to find if needed.
When she disappeared, we checked the app. Her last recorded location was from before she had left home. Checking again and again gave us no new leads.
We walked and cycled around the neighbourhood with our phones in hand, hoping to detect the tag’s signal. We called for her and searched places where she might be hiding. Days went by, and we still did not know where she was.
Looking for help and wandering from garden to garden, Luna eventually came across people who helped her. They gave her food and water, but she looked so unwell that they immediately took her to a vet. Only there, at the veterinary clinic, with more phones nearby, did the tag’s location finally update in the app.
After 9 days, her dot appeared on the map again. Although it was night, we immediately got in the car and drove there. We found her in a terrible state. She was severely starved, dehydrated and weighed just 2.6 kg. Her BCS (Body Condition Score) was 2/9. She was given an IV drip and medication straight away, and thankfully her condition began to improve day by day.
We had a tracker. But during the search, we lacked the most important thing: up-to-date information about where Luna was.
Moto Tag is a small Bluetooth tracker that works with Android phones and Google’s network; its equivalent in the Apple ecosystem is AirTag. While looking for Luna, we realised the drawbacks of these tags: they need specific conditions to work. Above all, they need a high density of phones that can relay the tag’s location — something extremely hard to find where we live, in a neighbourhood of detached houses.
| What to know | Bluetooth tag, e.g. Moto Tag or AirTag | GPS with cellular connectivity, e.g. Tractive |
|---|---|---|
| Where does the location in the app come from? | It can be relayed when the tag detects a compatible phone participating in the network. | The device determines its position using GPS and sends it over the mobile network. |
| What matters away from home? | Compatible devices nearby. In a remote area, updates may not appear. | GPS reception conditions and coverage of a supported mobile network. |
| How does tracking work? | Updates depend on the tag being detected. The last location may already be out of date. | You can start LIVE tracking. How up to date the location is still depends on connectivity conditions. |
| What is the trade-off? | Long battery life and usually no subscription, but reliance on a network of other devices. | A separate subscription and regular charging in exchange for the device’s own connectivity. |
While searching for Luna, we needed new clues, but the app kept showing an old location. So we started looking for a solution that would not need a passer-by with the right phone to transmit its location.
Previously, we had wanted to avoid paying a subscription. After finding Luna, however, we started looking for solutions that simply worked. We chose Tractive because of its excellent online reviews and clear leading position among GPS collars.
The app lets us not only follow the history of our cats’ walks, but even monitor health indicators such as sleep, activity, breathing rate and heart rate. It also has battery-saving features, so the prospect of charging the device once a week was not something we found unacceptable. It also offers LIVE mode, which lets us check our pet’s location on demand at any time, regardless of the settings.
We wanted to be able to open the app and see which direction to head in to start searching — exactly what we had been missing during the nine days Luna was gone.
Besides our cats, we share our home with Maili — a female golden retriever. Woodland walks with a dog are a different everyday experience from cats’ wanderings, but the need remains similar: knowing where to look for your pet if it disappears from view.
If you are looking for a GPS tracker for your dog, it is easy to relate our story to your own walks. A dog may follow an interesting scent or wander off in unfamiliar surroundings. Hunters and other owners of hunting dogs know this concern too: if a dog takes off after wildlife, knowing its location can help with the search. In such situations, specific features come in handy:
The tracker requires a separately paid subscription to work. The 40% discount applies to the device, not the subscription.
We compare the battery life of CAT 6 Mini trackers with low-power mode off and on. We start with the battery charged to 100% and record readings at the same time every day: battery level, distance travelled and approximate time spent in the home Wi-Fi zone.
It is worth distinguishing between two things: the home Wi-Fi network and power-saving mode. When the pet is within the home Wi-Fi zone, energy consumption is at its lowest because the GPS and GSM modules hardly need to work. Only when the pet leaves this zone does the collar connect to the network. At that point, whether power-saving mode is enabled makes a huge difference — the savings mainly come from location information being sent less often.
We observed a clear pattern: the more the animal walks, the faster the battery drains. The collar then sends location information more often than when the cat stays in one place.
| Cat | Low-power mode: off | Low-power mode: on |
|---|---|---|
|
Luna Mostly in the home zone |
8 days | 10 days |
|
Gustaw Lots of time far from home |
4 days | 8 days |
We primarily compare the same cat across two tests. Activity, coverage and temperature may differ, so the difference in battery life is not a pure measurement of the effect of a single setting. CAT 6 Mini results should not be directly applied to models for dogs.
We did not use LIVE mode at all during either test.
| Test day |
Luna Mostly in the garden at home |
Gustaw Most of the time away from home |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery |
Distance [km]Distance shown by the app since the previous reading, not the total since the start of the test. |
Battery |
Distance [km]Distance shown by the app since the previous reading, not the total since the start of the test. |
|
| Start | 100% | 0 | 100% | 0 |
| 1 | 85% | 2.6 | 56% | 8.8 |
| 2 | 75% | 2 | 36% | 4.9 |
| 3 | 70% | 0.3 | 14% | 6.2 |
| 4 | 59% | 0.8 | 0% | 4.6 |
| 5 | 49% | 0.9 | — | — |
| 6 | 37% | 2 | — | — |
| 7 | 22% | 2.5 | — | — |
| 8 | 9% | 1.6 | — | — |
Start means fully charged, and 1 means the first full day. For readings taken partway through a day, we also show hours. A dash means there is no reading for that cat at that point, including after its test has ended.
CAT 6 Mini
We ended the test with 9% battery remaining. With similar energy consumption, this reserve could have lasted about another 19 h. This is an estimate — we did not test it until the battery was completely flat.
CAT 6 Mini
This is the distance shown by the app, not an exact measurement of every step the cat takes. With low-power mode enabled, the recorded route may be less detailed. Missing readings are marked with a dash.
| Test day |
Luna Mostly in the garden at home |
Gustaw Most of the time away from home |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery |
Distance [km]Distance shown by the app since the previous reading, not the total since the start of the test. |
Battery |
Distance [km]Distance shown by the app since the previous reading, not the total since the start of the test. |
|
| Start | 100% | 0 | 100% | 0 |
| 1 | 91% | 2.6 | 80% | 2.8 |
| 2 | 80% | 2 | 72% | 6.5 |
| 3 | 67% | 0.3 | 55% | 5.1 |
| 4 | 59% | 0.8 | 43% | 3.8 |
| 5 | 47% | 0.9 | 34% | 2.9 |
| 6 | 37% | 2 | 22% | 3.9 |
| 7 | 28% | 2.5 | 11% | 3.5 |
| 8 | 17% | 1.6 | 0% | 3.6 |
| 9 | 8% | 1.4 | — | — |
| 10 | 0% | 1.2 | — | — |
Start means fully charged, and 1 means the first full day. For readings taken partway through a day, we also show hours. A dash means there is no reading for that cat at that point, including after its test has ended.
CAT 6 Mini
CAT 6 Mini
This is the distance shown by the app, not an exact measurement of every step the cat takes. With low-power mode enabled, the recorded route may be less detailed. Missing readings are marked with a dash.
The tracker requires a separately paid subscription to work. The 40% discount applies to the device, not the subscription.
Every day, we check where our cats are and where they go when they disappear from view. Photos and location history show how different Luna’s and Gustaw’s habits are.
A cat who tends to stay close
Luna’s favourite spot is the sofa on the terrace. She spends most of her time in the home zone and, because of her age, is not very active, so her battery drains very slowly. Her quiet daily routine is a good example of why two cats with identical trackers may need charging at different intervals.
A cat who likes to venture further
Gustaw likes to roam. He enjoys exploring the neighbourhood, though he stays within 200 metres of home. For him, we check not only his current location but also his roaming history. More time away from home also means more frequent charging.
Buying the device alone is not enough. You also need an active subscription. Check current prices and billing periods directly with the manufacturer.
Network coverage and GPS reception matter. In buildings, basements or areas with a weak signal, the location may be unavailable, delayed or less accurate.
A device with a flat battery will not send a new location. It is worth checking the battery, especially before a longer outing or trip.
Check the manufacturer’s recommendations on your pet’s size, collar and attachment. For cats, pay particular attention to the safety-release mechanism. No collar can guarantee complete safety.
We bought trackers for both our cats and pay for their subscriptions. We created this site to share our experiences and, through the referral programme, also reduce the cost of using the devices.
If our story or observations helped you make a decision, you can use our link. You get a discount on the device, and once it has been purchased and shipped, Tractive extends our subscription by two months. Thank you for every referral.
You will go directly to the Tractive shop. Choose a tracker for a cat or dog.
The 40% device discount is applied automatically. It cannot be combined with other special offers.
Check the available plans and payment terms with the manufacturer. Tractive handles the purchase, payment and delivery.
The tracker requires a separately paid subscription to work. The 40% discount applies to the device, not the subscription.
Referral programme terms on the Tractive websiteNo. The discount through our link applies to the tracker purchase. The subscription is paid for separately and is required to use the device. You can find current plans and prices on the manufacturer’s website.
You do not need to copy a code. Go to Tractive through our link and check that the discount appears in your basket before paying. The discount cannot be combined with other special offers.
Once the device has been purchased and shipped, Tractive gives us two extra months of subscription through its referral programme. This helps us reduce the cost of running our cats’ trackers. Simply clicking does not give us this benefit.
No. You order and pay in the Tractive shop. We describe our experiences and share a referral link. Check the manufacturer’s website for purchase, subscription, delivery and return terms.
This cannot be guaranteed. The tracker needs suitable GPS reception and cellular connectivity to transmit its current location. Pay attention to the time of the last update in the app.
They can help if a suitable device detects them and the location reaches the network. During our search for Luna, Moto Tag did not give us an up-to-date location until she was at the clinic. That is why we chose a different solution based on GPS and its own GSM connectivity.
