Why the Pawfit 2?
I’m a fan of trackers for pets (cats and dogs…. perhaps not good on a hamster!). Off-lead walking is fun and essential but we have all had the odd ‘oh no, where has he gone’ moment when we can’t see them. Even brilliantly behaved dogs with perfect recall can grab a tantalising scent and run out of view. And as for dogs with a high prey drive – if you have one you won’t need me to elaborate!
Or sometimes when a cat doesn’t saunter back at the shout of food or vanishes for a day or two we all have that chilly feeling of fear.
However, I’m not a fan of putting large and cumbersome items on collars or harnesses. I wouldn’t want to go about my business with a tin of beans attached to my neck (we’re talking to scale – I’m not suggesting trackers are tins of beans) so why would a pet? And so, for the last few months my (long suffering) IT geek partner has been tasked with finding a reliable yet unobtrusive tracker which wouldn’t impact on run, play or explore time.
Eventually we chose PAWFIT 2.
Good points:
- Small and very light. Possibly annoying for kittens or toy, miniature or young puppies (wouldn’t they all be?) but I would have no hesitation in using on adult dogs or larger cats
- Not too badly priced (around £55 for the unit/£3-£4 monthly subscription cost for the data. This seems low in comparison to a lot of other GPS tracker costs)
- Phone app (I use the iPhone) is very easy to use
- Alarm signal is loud
- Has a built in (sealed, you can’t switch) sim so no restrictions on distance from unit to app
- Gives you seven days worth of data so you can review dog walks or see where your cat has been
- You can share the details (via QR code) with family/friends/clients/dog walkers. They can use the app and tracker with no need for them to also have to pay any monthly costs. Great if someone else also walks your dog, or you have a family all interested in viewing the information
- A ‘safe zone’ around your home (or other areas) can be set and a notification received if this is breached – superb for wandering cats
- Waterproof
- As well as the alarm signal, you can also record various voice alerts. These can be activated from the app
Bad points:
- Flashing green light is rather pathetic, would not draw attention or be visible more than a couple of meters away
- Recorded voice alert is crackly and sounds poor
- You can only update details (name, contact details, recoded alerts…etc) and sync to the unit 30 times per month (‘due to data limitations’ according to the suppliers). In theory you probably wouldn’t want to keep changing details but if you’re a dog walker or someone who likes to fiddle with new gadgets trying different things it can be a little restrictive
- Initial sign up to the app is fiddly – you have to enter an emailed code and only get 60 seconds to do so (my super speedy geek struggled and it took a few quick screen switching attempts to manage it)
- You have to manually turn it on. You cannot do so via the app
- Whilst you can set multiple ‘safe zones’, you cannot set a safe zone around you (eg if you wish to be notified when your dog has gone more than 100 metres away from you)
(Obviously if you have a phone plan which doesn’t include a lot of data you would need to factor in your own data costs as the app is constantly updating)
I do feel the Pawfit 2 is a good sized and reliable tracker. Easy to attach and use, and the built in GPS updates quickly. There are a few negatives and we will, of course, send our feedback thoughts to Pawfit in the hope they take note of customer comments. We will also update this page with extra comments when we’ve trialled it further.
PS I am not affiliated in any way with Pawfit or Latsen Technology Ltd. I purchased the tracker at full price for my own use (hard to know if reviews are independent these days!)
PPS feel free to read Fee’s Pets other pet related blogs, should you feel inclined! BITS, BOBS AND BLOG