Tabcat V2 Cat & Kitten Tracker - More Accurate Than GPS - No Monthly Fee or Subscription - Includes 2 Homing Tags - Up to 500ft Range - Small & Lightweight Tags Perfect to Find Indoor & Outdoor Cats

This is by far the coolest thing I've bought in a very long time. It works extremely well. Unlike bluetooth or gps, which use your phone and an app, this is just a simple beacon and detector. Unlike bluetooth or GPS, this gives you *directional* hotter/colder locating. The one disadvantage is the range, but that's really not a big deal (for me) because just a little walking around will usually get you a signal. Some people have mentioned that it takes a little getting used to to follow the signal. As an electrical engineer, I was kind of expecting this, so it didn't surprise me. It basically comes down to understanding the physics of radio signals, and how different objects affect them. Metal objects, like cars, will block the signal. So if your cat is on the other side of a car, for example, the detector will "hear" the signal more strongly if you point it to the sides of the car which might make you think your cat is off in that direction. Soon as you walk around the car, it will start to point you to your cat on the other side. The signal is also subject to reflecting off of objects, like cars, steel buildings, or even some walls. It can even be *refracted* by some objects depending on its material. Remember, radio signals are basically light (actually, they ARE light, just at a lower frequency that you can't see). As such, they pass through some objects, bounce off of others, and even refract through others. Think of it like trying to locate a sound in your house. Sometimes it can be tricky with the sound bouncing off of walls and such, but you'll always find it. It's kind of like that. For example it may point you at your house making you think your cat is inside, but if you turn around 180 degrees, you may find that it was picking up the signal from behind you, reflecting off of your house. This will be obvious because the source will be stronger than the reflection. All that to say, if there are houses, cars, tool sheds, etc.. especially metal, they will block and bounce the signal around, but keep moving around and you'll quickly hone in on your cat.Another awesome thing about this tracker is that it has taught me a lot about my cats' habits. 2 things I've learned: 1) cats are instinctive hiders. I've found a lot of my cats' favorite hiding spots that I never would've known about before. 2) cats rarely, if ever, wander far (if they're fixed). When they don't come when you call, you may think they've wandered too far to hear you. That's almost never true. Cats are jerks and have no problem ignoring you, and chances are they are just hiding because that's just what they do. Hiding is a very strong instinct for them, especially if they got spooked by something. This tracker will prove to you that 95% of the time, they didn't leave; they're just hiding. Because they're cats.Anyway, this tracker is awesome. Not only does it give me peace of mind because I can always find them, it also gives peace of mind because it has taught me about their habits. To that extent, I don't worry so much anymore because I have a much better understanding of "what they're doing out there". I understand a part of their lives that I didn't before. Now when they don't come home for dinner when I call them, I don't think "oh no, has the time finally come? Are they gone?" (because that's usually how it happens. They just, disappear). Now I think, "she's probably under the shed ignoring me." Cats are jerks, but we love them anyway for some reason. The tabcat is worth every penny. Oh and the trackers are tiny and don't bother my cats at all.

My dog is a scent hound and loves to hunt! I take her out in the field about 4 times per day. It is easier to navigate around trees and bushes if I let her go off-leash. Now that the grass is 3' tall, it can be scary to let her off leash even though she stays fairly close by. I tested both transmitters with the Tabcat before using it on my dog. What I found was that I could set the transmitters down and go 300' down my driveway and then 600' down the road and still locate both transmitters. (If you tilt the receiver to match the angle of the transmitter, the range can be extended.) This was with the new, included batteries. Since the transmitters never turn off, I bought 30 spare batteries for the transmitters on Amazon for less than $7. While the silicone for the cases stands up to the environment, it may not be ideal. I think a more slippery plastic or a woven case might be better. I used two tie wraps to connect the silicone jackets to my dogs harnesses and I hope the silicone does not tear. I am hoping to find a better case for keeping the transmitters attached to my dog. Happy after 1 day of use!Update: Still very happy after 3 days of use. I no longer panic when my dog makes like a velociraptor in the tall grass!

I have a cat that wanders. I try and keep him in at night but if the weather is good he goes on walkabout. He can get back into the garage through a cat door but as we live in a rural area I'd just rather he be indoors with us for his own safety. If you've done your due diligence on cat trackers, you know there are 3 types. The Apple Airtags are cheap and show up on your phone, but they use Bluetooth and have a very short range. If you live out in the sticks like me, they are almost useless since there won't be a large network of iPhones to pick up the signal and share it to your phone. Then there are the GPS trackers. They'll give you a precise location of your cat right on your screen. The trouble is...they're expensive with a monthly fee (they use a cell phone network to track the transmitter so it's like getting your cat a mobile phone account), they're relatively heavy on you cat's neck, and the battery needs recharging like every day or so. Which brings us to the third type, a beacon tracker which is what the TabCat is. No monthly subscription, light weight, and the batteries last a reasonable length of time. The trouble is the range, which I have found is about 500ft. The cat collar tag is a miniature beacon. It is always listening but only transmits when it hears an interrogation signal from the handheld unit which you are holding. (If the tag was transmitting all the time the little hearing aid batteries in it would be dead in a matter of days, since transmitting requires far more power than receiving.) So, when you go looking for kitty you turn on your handheld unit, which is about the size of a credit card. It sends out an interrogation signal. If the cat's tag is in range it will respond with pings that your handheld unit picks up. The handheld unit has a highly directional antenna inside it. Swing it around and a series of eight LEDs light up based on how strong the received signal is from the tag. When you aim it for the strongest signal, that is the direction towards the cat. It's a lot like those police movies from the 1960s where they are tracking a car with a direction finding radio. Unless you cat is very close by, you are going to be hiking around a lot. Twice now I've ended up nearly half a mile from my house looking for the cat. And found him. It's a bit of a skill. I ended up walking for half an hour in various directions until I finally got a weak hit. Then a lot of moving left and right and seeing how the direction changed. Eventually I got close enough for a strong signal, whistled a couple of times and up popped Sherman, no doubt wondering, "What are YOU doing here?"Since I'm a bit of a radio geek I can live with the efforts involved. I did contact the TabCat folks and they told me it is using 2.45GHz microwave frequency. Which explains how they can get such an accurate directional antenna in the small handheld unit, since this is a very short wavelength. I did try an experiment by mounting the handheld unit at the focal point of a small microwave antenna dish of 14" diameter. It did increase the range a bit but it is pretty impractical tromping through the woods carrying a dish antenna. So far the battery life has been decent; I'm still on the original tab and handheld batteries. You can buy a dozen or more replacement batteries on Amazon for just a few dollars; these are fairly common button batteries. The instruction book tells you the type. A minor annoyance is that the handheld unit times out after about a minute so you have to press the keys again to restart it. But I know they have to do this because of the limited battery capacity. If you left it on constantly transmitting it would probably blow through the battery in short time. The tag you attach to your cat is very light weight. My cat has worn a breakaway cat collar for years so adding the tag to it didn't bother him a bit.All in all, if you worry about your cat's location, this unit does indeed work. But it will require some effort on your part too, chasing him down. Some people get the mistaken impression this is going to somehow show up on your phone's screen with an X marks the spot. It doesn't. It has nothing to do with your phone. You will be searching for the strongest signal on the handheld unit and it will involve a degree of exercise. But...better than having to walk a dog multiple times a day, right?