The questions are ordered from the ones that decide whether the collar will find the dog at all, to the ones that decide whether you will still be happy with it in a year.
1. Where does it get the location from and how does it send it to you?
The one question that separates a tracker from a keyring tag. A device with a satellite receiver and its own SIM card works out its location itself and sends it over the mobile network — from the woods, from a field, from a cottage. A device without a SIM card relies on strangers' phones nearby, and where nobody walks, it stays silent.
Ask: Does it have its own SIM card? In which countries does it work without a surcharge? What does it show where there is no mobile signal?
A good answer: its own SIM, a specific list of countries — and an honest “without signal the location does not arrive, you will see the last known one”.
2. What exactly does the power-saving mode do?
Most collars save battery at home: they recognise the home network and stop reporting the location. Sensible. The question is what else gets switched off along with it. The worst-case scenario of the whole category looks like this: the collar falls off in the garden or two houses down, the app claims “at home” — and the light, the sound and live tracking cannot be switched on, because the device is “saving”. Exactly the opposite of the situation you bought it for.
Ask: Can I light it up, ring it and switch on live tracking from the power-saving mode? How long does it take for the collar to “wake up” when I switch the zone off?
A good answer: every command from the app goes through in every mode — and a change to the zone applies at the next connection, not several hours later.
3. How often does it report the location — and what does “up to” mean?
Outdoors, the collar reports the location at an interval. That decides how fresh the dot on the map is and how long the battery lasts. Live tracking shortens it to seconds when you are really searching for the dog. With every number, notice the words “up to”: “up to every two seconds” and “up to thirty days” as a rule do not happen at the same time.
Ask: What is the default interval outdoors? What is it in live tracking, and how long can it run without a break? Can the interval be set?
A good answer: specific minutes outdoors, specific seconds live — and for both, what it does to the battery.
4. How long does the battery last — and under what conditions?
Battery life is quoted from two days to a month and everyone is telling the truth — each about a different dog. A number without a condition is not a figure. A dog who is in the yard all day outside the home network drains the collar several times faster than a dog who is on a walk for two hours a day and at home for the rest of it.
Ask: At how many hours outdoors a day does that number hold? At what reporting interval? How long does charging take, and do I have to take the collar off for it? Can the battery be replaced after a few years?
A good answer: battery life with a usage profile — “this many days at this many hours outdoors a day” — not “up to”.
5. How long does the light stay on and how far can the sound be heard?
The light and the sound are the two features you will use most often: every evening on a walk, and the moment the dog is standing in the bushes three metres from you and you cannot see them. With the light, what matters is whether it stays on for the whole walk or switches itself off after a few minutes — and whether it can be seen from the side, not only from under the neck. With the sound, the only thing that can be checked is the loudness in decibels. Without a number, “you can hear it” means you can hear it from half a metre.
Ask: How long does the light stay on before it switches itself off? Can I switch it on without my phone? What is the loudness of the sound in dB and at what distance? Can it be adjusted?
A good answer: a light that stays on until you switch it off; a button on the collar; a number in dB at one metre.
6. What happens when the mount cracks?
The cheapest part of the whole collar is also its most common failure. The rubber or plastic holder that keeps the device on the strap cracks — and when it cracks on a walk, you lose the whole device, not a ten-euro part. The other half of the problem: who will replace it for you and whether they will even accept it.
Ask: Is a spare mount in the box? How much does another one cost? Is a cracked mount covered by the warranty or by the cover — or does it count as “wear”? Does the device stay on the strap when the mount fails?
A good answer: a spare in the box, another for the price of the part, the mount covered by name.
7. What does the warranty cover, what does the cover cover — and what do you have to prove?
The statutory warranty covers defects in the product. That always applies and is free. Loss and damage by the dog are not covered by anyone by law: some manufacturers cover them for a surcharge, others in the price, others not at all. And in a claim, a detail decides that nobody talks about before the purchase — how you prove the failure.
Ask: Is cover for loss and damage in the price, or a surcharge? How much does a replacement cost and who pays the shipping? How many replacements a year? What is excluded — the battery, the mount, “wear”? Is a photo enough for a claim, or does it take a video?
A good answer: cover in the price with the conditions listed up front, a fee including shipping, a photo is enough.
8. What is in the subscription, what is a surcharge — and how much is actually charged?
Most GPS collars have a subscription because a SIM card runs inside them; why, is in a separate article. The differences are in what is in it and how it is paid. The two most common surprises after buying: features split into tiers, so that history or sharing costs extra — and a “monthly” price that is in fact a payment for a year or two ahead, charged at once.
Ask: Is there one plan, or tiers? What is in the basic one? How much is charged at once and for what period? Does it renew by itself and how do I cancel it?
A good answer: one plan, the total amount next to the monthly conversion before you pay, and a clear renewal rule.
9. What happens when the subscription ends — or the manufacturer does?
A collar without a subscription is usually a collar without a location: there is nobody to pay for the SIM card. The question is what is left — the data, the history, the contact for the finder — and what happens when the company folds or someone else buys it. It is an objection everyone raises and few answer.
Ask: What works without a subscription? Can I get my data out, and in what format? Where is the data stored and who has access to it? For how long does the manufacturer promise updates?
A good answer: data export at any time, storage in the European Union, a specific number of years of updates.
10. What does the collar listen to — and what does it do to the dog?
A device on a dog's neck is in the kitchen, in the bedroom and in the car. If it has a microphone, you have to trust it not to listen. And if it has “training” features — a pulse, a vibration, a sound to punish with — it is not a tracker but something else, something that in part of Europe may not even be used.
Ask: Does it have a microphone? Does it record sound? Does it have any feature that punishes or corrects the dog?
A good answer: no, no and no — and not as a setting, but as a component that is not there.
11. Does the collar fit your dog?
The weight and dimensions of the device are a different burden for a ten-kilo dog than for a thirty-kilo one. And water resistance is more than one letter with a number: “IP67” means immersion, not a jet of water from a hose — that is a different digit.
Ask: From what weight of dog is the collar meant? How much does it weigh including the mount? How wide a strap does it go onto? Will it survive swimming and a shower from the hose? Will it survive being chewed by another dog?
A good answer: a specific limit in kilograms, the weight including the mount, two figures for water.
12. In what language are the app, the manual, support and claims?
An app in your language is common today. Less common is for the manual, the e-mails, the notifications, support and the person you handle a claim with to be in it too. Those are exactly what you need when something does not work — and that is when the translator on your phone is the last thing you want to open.
Ask: Are the app, its store listing, the manual, the notifications, support and claims in my language? Where is a claim handled — at home, or do I send the device abroad?
A good answer: a list, not a promise. And a claim handled at home.
The questions on one screen
The same thing in short, to photograph or copy into your notes:
- Does it have its own SIM? In which countries does it work?
- Can I light it up, ring it and track live from the power-saving mode?
- What interval outdoors, what interval live, how long can it run live?
- How many days of battery — at how many hours outdoors a day?
- How long does the light stay on? How many dB does the sound have at a metre?
- Is a spare mount in the box? Is it covered?
- Is cover for loss and damage in the price? Is a photo enough?
- One plan, or tiers? How much is charged at once?
- What is left when the subscription ends? Can I get my data out?
- Does it have a microphone? Does it punish the dog?
- From how many kilograms? How much does it weigh? Immersion and a hose?
- Are claims in my language too?
How hikes answers them
The same questions, our answers — with the condition under which each number holds.
- Location: from satellites, over its own SIM card. It works everywhere with mobile coverage, trips around the European Union included. Without signal you see the last known location.
- Power-saving mode: the light, the sound and live tracking go through in every mode — even when the dog is at home and the collar is saving battery.
- Interval: outdoors every 5 minutes; in live tracking every 5–10 seconds, without a break for at least 2 hours.
- Battery: 14 days at roughly 2 hours outdoors a day with a report every 5 minutes and the rest of the day at home. For a dog who is outdoors all day, 5 days.
- Light and sound: the light stays on until you switch it off — with the button on the collar or from your phone — and in the dark it can be seen from 30–50 m. Sound 85 dB(A) at one metre, measured through the assembled case.
- Mount: 500 cycles of taking off and putting on; a spare is in the box, we send another when it cracks. Covered by name.
- Cover: loss and damage are covered in the subscription price — a replacement for a one-off fee including shipping, once per paid year. We do not cover the battery, cosmetic wear or intent. Proof of the failure is a photo.
- Subscription: one plan, everything in it. The prices and the amounts charged at once are in the article Why there is a subscription.
- Data: in the European Union; you export it at any time and send it to anyone you like.
- Microphone: the collar does not have one. It has no training features — deliberately.
- For which dog: from 8 kg; up to 40 g including the mount; strap 15–25 mm; IP67 and IPX6 — immersion to 1 m for 30 minutes and a pressurised jet of water.
- Language: website, packaging, manual, app, notifications, support and warranty claims in English — and in Slovak, Czech, Hungarian, Romanian and Portuguese on those editions.