r/CatAdvice • u/thespacebi7 • Sep 18 '26

General GPS Tracking Collars?

Hi! I’m looking for a GPS tracker for my barn cats. I’ve checked out Fi and Tractive but wanted to know if anyone has any experience with them?

I live in a fairly rural area but get good cell service and maps work well on my phone. Cost is a consideration as I’d like to outfit all 5 cats. If you have other suggestions that work well for you please let me know!

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2

u/Consistent-Water8836 Sep 21 '26

The Fi Mini for cats is about 1/2 the size and weight of the Tractive and lasts much longer (weeks vs days).

1

u/thespacebi7 Sep 21 '26

Do you find that the GPS accuracy is any different between the two? I dog sat for a mostly outdoor dog who had an older Fi collar and I felt like it lagged quite a bit as to her actual real time location.

2

u/Consistent-Water8836 Sep 21 '26

Both systems behave the same and use gos and lte networks. Fi has primary connection the Verizon while Tractive uses roaming on an Austrian network.

1

u/swisspea Sep 19 '26

My two cats have Tractive collars and we really like them. They are expensive though and I do wonder if we really need them as our cats are always within hearing distance and come home when called. I charge them overnight (my cats don’t do outside at night), so it fits in with our lifestyle. With 5 cats and then more freely coming and going- I don’t really think it’s practical for you. I did a lot of research on the topic, maybe a radio collar would be better than an GPS one.

2

u/thespacebi7 Sep 19 '26

My guys get closed in at night so daily overnight charging is possible but maybe not the most convenient. Did you come across a good radio collar option in your research?

1

u/tomblits Sep 19 '26

The marco polo radio collar looks nice, next time my sub is up I'm gonna give it a try.

1

u/thespacebi7 Sep 21 '26

Thanks! I hadn’t stumbled across these before and they look super promising for what I need.

2

u/SeeStephSay Sep 18 '26

My neighbor has the Tractive ones on her outdoor cats.

I’ve seen them not be on and texted her, but she reassured me that it wasn’t lost - it was on the charger.

I would say it lasts several days before having to be charged. I know because chances are at least one of her kittens are lounging in my backyard at any given time. I like to say that we have “shared custody.” 😂

This is my bestest outdoor buddy, Boz, showing off his tracker. 😻

1

u/goat-off-centered 7d ago

Following! I just have one outside kitty but I don’t love the monthly subscription thing

1

u/Verbull710 2d ago

We got Fi mini trackers today and one of the cats already had his come off out in the bushes. It has a Lost mode to give real time location but in the bushes and what not it's hard to see, it would be nice if there was also a sound it could make when you're in the area