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SpyTracker Nano GPS tracker review

REVIEW – Wanting to track or find physical items by attaching some sort of small device is as old as suspicion. It’s taken until the advent of small wifi and cellular transmitters to make it happen at a price point that normal people can really consider. I’ve been testing out the Nano from SpyTracker, a wireless tracker which would have made for good science fiction just a few years ago.

What is it?

A closed box roughly 3″ x 1.5″ x 1″. There is a smooth face with three LEDs labeled for GPS, PWR, and CEL. On one of the long sides there is a waterproof covered charging port (miniUSB cable included) and on one of the smallest sides there is a power button, also weatherproof. Next to the power port is a SIM card port covered with a piece of plastic and secured by two very small Phillips screws. There’s also a weatherproof SOS button on the face with the LEDs.

What’s in the box?

  • GPS unit itself
  • USB-A to miniUSB cable
  • wall charger

Design and features

The Spytrack Nano is a solid little black box that broadcasts its position every ten seconds. The service is available worldwide and, while it’s not cheap, it’s better than most phone plans. You can view the location of the Nano from within the website, or with a mobile app. This is where all the setup happens.

There’s an SOS button the user can trigger to alert you, or you can determine a geographical area you want it to stay in, and get an alert when it leaves. You can see velocity, position, and travel routes in real-time or as history. If you have serious gear (think video gear for a location crew, or scientific gear that you have to ship to a location for a project), you’re able to see exactly where it is while it’s being shipped. With a ten-day standby time, any but the longest travel times will be covered.


This device is dead simple. While it’s not the “James-Bond, hide-it-in-your-shoe-heel-size,” it’s still able to tell you where it is reliably every ten seconds from anywhere on the globe. Sure, there are creepy ways to use this technology, but there are also very legit ways that this could enhance your life. Say you’ve got a route manager servicing stores with whatever product you’re selling. Someone calls and says, “Hey, when is the guy gonna be here today?” You pull out your phone, check the location of the truck, and see it’s on the way to your caller. Or 20 miles away in traffic. Without bothering your driver, you can give your customer a heads up so they can plan.


Or, in my case, I have an aging mother who still cherishes her independence. She lives near one of my sisters, but if she was in town, you can bet this would be in her bag, and at 63 grams, she’d never notice it. But she’d be happy to know her son was looking out for her. Sure, I could track her iPhone, or get her an Apple Watch to wear, but this is much cheaper, has longer battery life, and even offers her an SOS button if she just wants me to check on her. (Better believe that would be worn out!) The screenshot below will show your location, and that of the tracker, and allow you to plot an intercept course. My phone thought I was across the street in the neighbor’s yard, but the tracker knew right where it was. Different service, different towers, different triangulation.

 

Setup

When the unit arrived, it was already activated and a login assigned. I was able to resign it to a different account with no issues. Loading the app and logging in worked without a hitch. You can purchase additional service time in the app when your plan expires. Prices currently range from £10/device for a month to £85/device for a year, purchased in advance.

Performance

The app behaved itself like a pro throughout my testing period. I was able to see historical routes by date and time, watch the progress in real-time or speeded up, and find my way to the device from my smartphone.

What I like

  • Light and tough
  • No real operational tasks
  • SOS button

What I’d change

  • Price for service is a bit high, but it is global and unlimited

Final thoughts

At some point in your life, there’s going to be something you want to track: a parent, child, vehicle, or shipment. This unit provides that service in a fairly inexpensive package, and you can just toss it in a drawer and reactivate it (top-up) when you want to use it. There is no setup, other than to pair it to the app, which takes all of a minute.

Price: £59.99 (US$72.82 as I write this)
Where to buy: Rewire Security
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Rewire Security.

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SpyTracker Nano GPS tracker review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on August 12, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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Tail it global range GPS trackers review

REVIEW – We all have “stuff” that we like to keep track of, from our backpacks full of expensive computer gear, to our luggage and even our pets. We’ve reviewed a variety of tracker devices here on The Gadgeteer over the years, but most of those tracking fobs are only useful when they are within Bluetooth range of your phone. What if you want to keep track of something that is a few miles away or even across the country. That’s where a GPS tracking device like the Tail-it Tracker comes in handy. Let’s take a look.

What is it?

Tail-it trackers are credit card and smaller sized tracking devices that have a built-in GPS and cellular SIM card that allow them to be used anywhere, not just within range of your phone.

What’s in the box?

The image above contains the contents of the Tail it+ and Tail it Pet packages.

  • Tail it+ or Tail it Pet tracker module
  • Pre-installed SIM card
  • Screwdriver
  • USB charging cable
  • Tail it Pet also comes with a silicone case that can be attached to the pet’s collar

Design and features

There are five styles of the Tail it devices but we were sent the Tail it+ and the Tail it Pet. There’s the Tail it+ shown above on the left which is a black soft-touch plastic credit card sized device.

It that has a USB-C charging port on one side and a small oval button that doubles as a status LED on top.

Note that the Tail it+ can charge wirelessly too. Just place it on a Qi charging pad and you’re good to go.

Then there’s the Tail it Pet which is a much smaller device that charges with a proprietary magnetic USB charger and also an oval power switch/LED status light on top.

Tracking using the Tail it app



To use the Tail it devices, you have to activate the SIM cards and then install the Tail it app on your mobile device. The app’s interface is a basic dashboard where you can see the tracker’s battery status and last seen details. Clicking each device will then allow you to call, share, or delete the device.

The Call feature is confusing. It’s really meant for the GPS watch version of the Tail it Kids which gives the parent a method of calling the watch in an emergency situation. But for the Tail it+ and Tail it Pet, tapping Call just makes your smartphone call what looks like an international number which then results in a busy signal.

The Sharing feature will let the people you give permission to also be able to see where the tracker is at any given time.


The app will also allow you to turn the LED light on the tracker and turn a sound alert on which causes it to make a high pitched beep.

Both of these features can help you locate the tracker when you’re in close range.




Tail it devices use GPS and WiFi to determine the tracker’s location. GPS accuracy is within 5m or 16.4 ft and WiFi accuracy is within 50m or 164 ft. The fallback method that is used when GPS and WiFi is not available is LBS and it’s only accurate within 2km (6561.68 ft) which won’t help that much if you’re trying to find a lost item or pet.

The Multi-LBS system collects data from more than 3 GSM base stations and calculates accurate placement by analyzing, direction and ephemeris from satellites.

The app provides a map or satellite view of the Tail it device and gives you the option to turn on live tracking for emergency situations. Note that live tracking will cause the device’s battery to drain quickly because it updates the location every 5 seconds.

During my time testing the Tail it trackers, I would have to say that if I needed to locate a lost item, I would not want to rely on the Tail it app to help me find the item because the accuracy of the location even when using GPS was been pretty bad 80% the time and really bad a the rest of the time. It would also take the app a few minutes to update locations and many times it would say the update failed.

Even if the accuracy was good, it would still mean that the item could be within a range of 16 ft in the best of situations. I guess as long as the item you’re trying to find is pretty large, you’d be fine, but most of the time I used it, it didn’t show the tracker remotely close to where it really was.


Just as an example, in the images above you can see the purple circles which are the locations that the Tail it app says the trackers are located and the red dots are where they are really located. I guess that accuracy would be fine if you were trying to find a dog or a cat, but for a backpack or something smaller, not so much.

Battery life

The Tail it+ has a standby time of 8 weeks per full charge and the Tail it Pet has a standby battery life of 2 weeks on a full charge.

What I like

  • Can track globally
  • Simple to use

What needs to be improved

  • The app does not provide any geo-fencing features to alert you when the tracker has gone out of a pre-defined zone
  • Location feature provides inconsistent location results
  • Can’t get a history of movement
  • Won’t work in remote locations where there isn’t cell coverage or WiFi

Final thoughts

The best thing about the Tail it tracking devices is that they can be used globally but the worst thing about the Tail it tracking devices is that the location accuracy isn’t… well… accurate and it takes entirely too long to update locations through the app if they even work. If they can improve the accuracy and update speed, these trackers could be very useful but as is, I can’t recommend them.

Price: $99.00 for either version. This does not include the monthly subscription which is $4.99 per device if paid for 1yr in advance or $5.99 for a month at a time
Where to buy: Tail it
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Tail it.

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Tail it global range GPS trackers review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 13, 2019 at 12:00 pm.

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Never Lose Your Wallet Again With Ekster Parliament Smart Wallet

With the advancement of technology, more and more things are also becoming “smarter.” Simply add an electronic sensor, and the thing will instantly become a “smart” device, to be sold at a much higher price. There has certainly been no lack of smart things, and your wallet is one of them. Ekster Parliament call itself a smart wallet simply because of an addition of a tracking device that can track where it is. And yes, the tracking device is removable, so it can instantly transform back to its old “dumb” self. Ekster Tracking Card The thing that makes it “smart” is its tracking card… Read more

Trackimo 3G Guardian GPS Tracker review

REVIEW – As GPS technology advances, the devices utilizing this technology continue to shrink in size and as that happens their functionality and usefulness increases. These newer devices are incredibly versatile and adept at keeping track of our loved ones and loved objects. Small GPS units can show you the real-time location of your pets, elderly family members, kids, vehicles, luggage, drones, and pretty much any item big enough to carry the weight of the device. The Trackimo 3G Guardian GPS Tracker is one of the smallest GPS trackers on the market that also utilizes 3G cellular technology. At $198.90, the Trackimo is competitively priced and includes a free year of its cellular tracking service.

What is it?

The Trackimo 3G Guardian GPS Tracker is a personal GPS unit that provides precise location tracking via the Trackimo app or website. The Trackimo is particularly useful because it utilizes WiFi, GPS, and 3G GSM Cellular technology to acquire very accurate and consistent positioning data. The downside to this increased functionality is that after the one year complimentary cellular location service subscription expires, Trackimo charges for access. But, at only $60 for a full year ($5 per month), the service is quite a bargain for everything the Trackimo provides.

The Trackimo arrives in a plain branded white box with everything you’ll need to get up and running, except, oddly enough, a USB power block.

What’s in the box?

  • 1 Trackimo 3G Guardian GPS Tracker
  • 1 Lanyard
  • 1 Carrying pouch
  • 1 Micro USB to USB A charging cable
  • 1 Trackimo Quick Start Guide

Hardware specs

  • GSM Platform: MTK6276
  • GPS Platform: MTK3337
  • Bands: GSM GSM 850/ GSM900/ DCS1800/ PCS1900 WCDMA850/900/1900/2100
  • Sim Card: Included in unit
  • App Interface: iOS and Android
  • Dimensions: 47 mm (1.85 in) x 41 mm (1.61 in) x 17 mm (.67 in)
  • Weight: 30 grams (1.06 ounces)
  • Active battery life: 48-72 hours
  • Stand-by time: > 144 hours
  • Battery Type: Rechargeable Li-ion 520mAh
  • Functioning temperatures: -20°C (-4°F) / 60°C (140°F)
  • Attachment Options: Included lanyard and soft case
  • Power Consumption: Acquisition 24 mv /  Track 17mv
  • GPS Antenna: Ids-passive antenna
  • Channels: 22 tracking / 66 acquisition
  • Accuracy: < 5 meters open sky
  • Acquisition mode: Hot start < 2 seconds / Cold start < 24 seconds
  • Hosted Storage: On board capacity for 1000 tracking points

Design and features

The Trackimo 3G Guardian is very well-designed, featuring a black plastic housing with a diamond shaped pattern. The unit’s three diamond buttons sit unobtrusively on the face just below three green, red, and blue status indicator LEDs.

One side of the Trackimo features two small slots for the speaker, the other side has a hard reset port, a Micro USB charging port, and the main power button.

The left and right buttons on the face of the Trackimo are assignable to send custom alerts to contacts you’ve chosen beforehand.

The SOS button is used to send an alert and your precise location to other contacts you predetermine in the case of an emergency.

The Trackimo needs to be charged before its first use and this is done via an included Micro USB to USB A cable. I was a bit disappointed to find that the Trackimo doesn’t ship with a USB power block. For a price close to $200, a power block should definitely be included.

Once connected to a power source, the device needs to be charged for 12 hours before using. When charging, the red light blinks and when full, the red light will remain on while it is connected to power. One great bonus of the Trackimo is that it works while being charged, so it’s easy to set it up in a configuration, like in a vehicle, where it has constant power.

Two small holes located at the top of the Trackimo unit are for attaching an included lanyard.

The thin end of the lanyard loops around itself and secures to the unit.

With the lanyard, the Trackimo can be worn around the neck by someone you need to keep track of like a child or elderly person.

For another carrying option, the Trackimo also ships with a small soft case.

The Trackimo fits snugly into the small case and it secures with a velcro flap.

There’s both a small metal loop and an elastic belt loop on the back of the soft case for attaching the Trackimo to a person, item, or pet.

Setup

After unpacking and charging the Trackimo, you’re required to set up a Trackimo account and link it to your device. Registration of the unit is done via the Trackimo website or the Trackimo app, which is available for both IoS and Android devices.

Once you set up a Trackimo account, you can link it to your device using the device’s unique ID number, found on the back on the unit.

Performance

After your Trackimo account is activated and linked to your device, the fun begins. The Trackimo app gives you a ton of options, from naming your device (mine is named “Tracky”) to setting up a Geofence which alerts you whenever your device moves out of an area you designate.

The app is very well thought out, the features are clearly labelled and easily accessible. Along with setting up options and alerts, you can also see the location of your device at any time via Google Maps right in the app.

The functionality of the app is mirrored on the Trackimo website. All of the options of the app are available via the website and there are some expanded options as well.

I’ve been using the Trackimo for a few weeks now to keep tabs on my beloved FJ Cruiser as sort of a low cost Lo-Jack system. Every time I’ve signed into the Trackimo app or website I’ve been given an accurate location of my truck. I keep my Trackimo charged constantly while I’m driving and the battery life has been impressive, but I did have to experiment a bit with the update intervals. The shorter the update interval, the shorter the battery life. The Trackimo saves battery alerts along with location data and other alert histories.

The Trackimo has worked consistently and without fail since I’ve registered the unit. I like this device so much, I plan on paying for the location service after my complimentary year is up.

What I like

  • Very easy setup
  • Consistently acquires accurate location
  • Full-featured well-designed companion app and website

What needs to be improved

  • Requires paid subscription after one year complimentary access
  • Battery life dependent on update interval
  • Doesn’t include a USB power block

Final thoughts

The Trackimo 3G Guardian GPS Tracker is an effective, well-built, and reasonably priced GPS tracker with a ton of different uses. The only real drawback of the unit is that the cellular location service is only free for one year. But, without that service, which is quite affordable, the unit loses its main advantages over other GPS trackers in its class. In my opinion, the Trackimo is a great option to use for keeping track of anything and everything you’re concerned about losing.

Price: $198.90
Where to buy: Trackimo or Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Trackimo.

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Trackimo 3G Guardian GPS Tracker review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 3, 2019 at 9:00 am.

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Mishiko Dog GPS & Fitness Tracker review

REVIEW – A few years ago I went to take our Yorkshire Terrier outside one last time before going to bed.  I was tired and feeling a bit lazy, so I didn’t bother putting a leash on her.  Normally our dog isn’t a runaway kind of dog, but that night there was a deer in the front yard.  Like a flash our dog went after it—yes, our little dog has a Napolean complex—and the deer took off.  She circled our house once and then bolted for the woods with our Yorkie in hot pursuit.  In less than 15 seconds from the time I had opened the front door, our dog was gone.  This story does have a happy ending.  After searching through the forest for 30 minutes, our daughter stumbled upon our dog and brought her home.  We were lucky that night, but maybe it’s better not to reply upon luck.  If you have a dog with a proclivity for running away or chasing the wildlife, Mishiko has a tracker that can help you find your missing canine companion.

What is it?

Mishiko Dog GPS & Fitness Tracker is a gadget designed for two purposes.  One, it can help you find your dog when she runs away; two, it can track your dog’s activity levels to make sure she’s getting enough exercise.

What’s in the box?

  • The tracker on a collar
  • A universal fastener
  • The charging station with USB cable
  • A quick start guide and a user manual with 2 pages of instructions in English

Hardware specs

Mishiko says that their tracker is designed for medium and large dogs and for good reason.  At 2 inches wide and 0.75 inches tall, the puck-shaped device is not exactly small.  When attached to the collar, it overwhelms our little Terrier but is perfect for our neighbor’s Golden Retriever.

The tracker is powered by a rechargeable battery.  The Mishiko website says that it takes about 3 hours to charge and should last for a day or two.  The battery can only be replaced by Mishiko service center specialists.

As its name implies, the Mishiko tracker has a GPS receiver that can collect geolocation and time information from both GPS and GLONASS satellites.  When used together, a GPS receiver can fix its position anywhere in the world to within 6 feet.  The Mishiko website, however, says their device, when conditions are good, is at best accurate up to 13 feet and at worst 164 feet.  One limitation for any GPS device is that it requires an unobstructed line of sight to the satellites.  If your dog is in a mountainous area or downtown among tall buildings, then the conditions could be poor and the GPS receiver might not work very well; in fact, the Mishiko website says that it could be off by as much as 3200 feet.  Just as a point of reference, a football field is only 360 feet long, if you include the end zones.

The tracker also contains a cellular device that communicates using 2G and 3G networks.  If you’re out in the boonies where there’s no cell phone coverage, then it won’t be able to transmit its location back to you.  This built-in cellular capability is what the Mishiko device uses to automatically check for and download software updates whenever it is charging.

The device is rated IP67, which means that it can be immersed in water up to 3 feet deep for up to 30 minutes.  In other words, it should be just fine if your dog jumps into the pool or the lake while wearing the tracker.

Installation and setup

The Mishiko Dog Tracker comes in a beautifully stylish little white box.

The top slides up and off, revealing a blue interior that highlights the tracker already attacked to a collar.  My tracker and collar were both white; they are also available in black.

The battery in the tracker does not come pre-charged, so the first thing to do is to set up the wireless charging station.  It comes with a USB cable for charging, which I plugged into my Anker USB charger.

As advertised, it took about 3 hours to charge.  The tracker has a built-in white light that goes all the way around its circumference.  When charging begins, only a small part of this ring is lit; when finished, the entire ring is lit.  As a side note, when fully charged this light is surprisingly bright; one night I woke up, saw the light from my bedroom, and thought I had left a lamp on.  It’s a bit much for around the house—we started calling our dog “Lightbulb” whenever she had the tracker on—but I suppose if your dog ran away at night, it could be very helpful for finding her.

The next step is to download the Mishiko app.  The quick start guide conveniently includes a couple of QR codes, one for Apple’s store and one for Google’s.  As I have an iPhone, I simply took a picture of the correct code, and it took me to the App Store for downloading.  So easy!

Once the app is downloaded, the registration process begins.  First, I created an account.  This requires an email for the username and a password of your choice.  Second, I entered some information about our dog, its breed, age, weight, height, gender, etc. and took her picture.  Although I am only tracking one dog, if you buy multiple trackers, you can track them all in the app with the same account.  Third, I entered the serial number and password associated with the device, which uniquely identifies it.  This info is helpfully found in the quick start guide, the user manual, and on the tracker itself.  Mishiko made sure that you won’t lose this info, without which the tracker isn’t of much use.  Registration was quick and painless!

Once the tracker finished charging, it was time to attach it to the dog.  If you want, you can use the collar that comes with the device.  It’s made of nylon and has plastic clips that are functional.  The collar is quite long (27 inches), and for anything smaller than a Saint Bernard you’ll probably want to trim off some of the excess.  Keep in mind that if you want to use Mishiko’s collar, you’ll need to take off every night or two in order to charge it.  On the other hand, if your dog already has a collar that you like, you can use the universal fastener to clip on the tracker.  I’m glad Mishiko added this little feature, because it makes it easy to take the device on and off.

Design and features

The Mishiko tracker has two main features:  keeping track of your dog and keeping her healthy.

Tracking your dog

If you have a dog that likes to run away, or if you have a new dog that you’re unsure about, the Mishiko tracker can be used to help you keep track of your dog’s location.

The first feature that the tracker offers is a geofence.  You find your house on the map and drop a geofence upon it.  The default shape is a square, but you can manipulate the four corners to make any four-sided shape that you want.

Whenever your dog leaves the geofence, the Mishiko app sends a notification warning you that your pet has breached the geofence.  The default size of the square is about 500 by 500 feet.  On our street, this square is large enough to cover not only our yard but five additional yards in both directions; in other words, it’s a huge geofence.  Shortly after setting up a default-sized geofence, I got an alert.  Our Yorkie had already run away!

Then I looked down and saw that she was sleeping on her bed right next to me.  Unfortunately, this was not the only false alarm that I got.  Every day I get a few more alerts, and every time the dog is right where she belongs.  This feature is a bit like the boy who cried wolf; it has happened so often that I simply ignore it.

To make matters worse, it’s just as error prone the other way around.  In other words, when I intentionally took the dog on a walk outside of the geofence, sometimes I got an alert, but other times I did not.  There seems to be about a 50-50 chance that the app will tell me that my dog has run away.  Sadly, I think the geofence feature is simply too unreliable to be of any use, which is too bad, because it’s a great idea.

The second feature that the tracker offers is the ability to find your dog once she runs away.  Since our dog doesn’t really run away—we couldn’t find a deer to help us out—we had to “help” her run away.  My wife put the dog in the car and drove off without telling me where in the neighborhood she was going.  I waited several minutes for the geofence alert to warn me, but sadly it never did.  Finally, I just turned the app on and looked at the map; indeed, my dog was no longer near our house.  I hopped into my car and set out to find her.  The good news is that this functioned exactly as intended.  Although the app doesn’t give directions like Google Maps—turn left on Main St—it perfectly overlaid both my position and the dog’s position on the map.  All I had to do was keep my icon moving towards my dog’s icon, and eventually, I found her.  Given Mishiko’s statements about how inaccurate the GPS might be, I was a bit concerned that the app would get me only sorta close to my dog but not really close.  I’m happy to report that this wasn’t the case; it was accurate to within a few feet.

After finding the dog in our neighborhood, my wife drove off again and took the dog out of our neighborhood.  I waited a bit and then tried to find her.  Even though she was a few miles away, the app had no problem leading me right to her, to the dog, and (conveniently) to a Starbucks.  This is really good to know:  If your dog runs away, the Mishiko tracker can take you right to her.

Keeping your dog healthy

The Mishiko tracker can be helpful if your dog runs away, but it’s also useful even if she never leaves your neighborhood.  It can track the health of your dog, ensure that she’s getting enough exercise, and give you some hints about diet.  It’s kind of like a Fitbit for dogs.

When I began using the app, one of the first things I did was run an assessment.  It’s a week-long evaluation of your dog and how much exercise she’s getting.  When finished, the app gives a diagnosis.  For my dog, the diagnosis was “Your dog has a normal body condition.”  Based on this diagnosis, the app helps you to keep your dog healthy in two ways.  It’s worth noting that the manual says the app works best for dogs that are one year or older, so if you have a puppy, it might be a bit off.

The first way the app keeps your dog healthy is by making sure that she gets enough exercise.  The tracker and the app measure how much exercise your dog has already had each day and how much more she needs to get (or stay) healthy.  You can press the “Start a walk” button, and it will track your path, the number of steps taken, the distance walked, and the total time of your walk.

In fact, this app keeps track of a lot of statistics about your dog, which you can find on the Statistics page.  It’s quite fabulous, except for one detail:  Its measurements are sometimes wildly inaccurate.  If you look at this next screenshot, you’ll see that it says that our dog walked 7.1 miles yesterday.  The problem?  Our dog never left the house that day, except when she had to “go” outside.  We didn’t take her for a walk that day; we didn’t even play fetch with her.  (We were pretty bad owners that day, weren’t we?)  Did she walk 7.1 miles?  Not a chance.  It’s unlikely she even walked half a mile.  There are lot of days when the statistics showed wonky values like this.

The second way the app keeps your dog healthy is by recommending good dog food to eat.  Some dog food is healthier than others, so if you enter the type of food that your dog is eating now, it can recommend better food.  Unfortunately, this part of the app looks like it’s not quite done.  It only recognizes a very limited set of manufacturers.  We use Hill’s Science Diet, a very popular brand and one recommended by our vet, yet the app didn’t recognize it and recommended that we switch.  Given the links to buying food from within the app, it feels more like a way for Mishiko to make a little extra money than it does a source of great recommendations.  On the other hand, there is some useful information here.  For example, it teaches you how to gradually change from an old dog food to a new one, something that is especially helpful for dogs with sensitive stomachs.

Overall the app looks nice; the interface is simple and intuitive.  There are, however, a few wrinkles that still need to be ironed out.  If you look back at the screenshot for the Statistics page above, you’ll see that “yesterday” is listed twice; every day is listed twice.  If you look at the monthly view below, you’ll see that it says February at the top, even though it’s actually March (and even says March on the bottom).  These aren’t critical bugs, but they seem like mistakes that should have already been caught by their software testing process.

What I like

  • Rechargeable battery and wireless charger
  • Uses GPS and cellular service, giving a broad range tracking
  • Rated IP67 for water protection
  • Great ability to find a runaway dog

What needs to be improved

  • False alarms for the geofence
  • Inaccurate calculation of our dog’s level of exercise
  • Small bugs in the software

Final thoughts

The Mishiko Pet Dog GPS Tracker leaves me conflicted.  On the one hand, I think the primary value of this device is to find your dog when she runs away, and it does this very well.  On the other hand, there are several things that just aren’t working right.  This gadget has a lot of potential, but for most people, I recommend waiting a bit to see Mishiko can fix the problems.  If, however, your dog likes to run away, and you’re concerned about losing her, then it’s probably worth buying.

Price:  The basic option is £49.99 (~$67) plus £4.49 (~$6) per month after the first month.  Other options are also available.
Where to buy:  Amazon UK
Source: The sample for this review was provided by Mishiko.

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Mishiko Dog GPS & Fitness Tracker review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on March 27, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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