SpotOn GPS Dog Fence Review 2024: An Expert Guide

Review Summary

What Is a SpotOn GPS Dog Fence? How Does It Work?

Many dogs love the great outdoors, but some canines use any opportunity to run off, causing worry and stress for their owners. People may want to avoid tethering their dogs, and building a fence around their property can cost thousands. For people in this situation, SpotOn GPS Dog Fence may be the solution to keeping your dog from wandering too far.

SpotOn GPS Dog Fence creates a virtual fence to help keep your dog where you want it. Using their True LocationTM technology, SpotOn allows dog owners to set up multiple fences without needing wires, with sizes ranging from ½ an acre to over 1,000 acres. These fences can be set up by simply drawing them in the app or walking the parameters of the property you want to be fenced while holding the collar and your smartphone.

If your dog gets within 10–15 feet of the wireless fence you set up, the collar will send out a high-pitched alert signal. If the dog ignores the first signal, the collar will emit a stronger warning sound the closer it gets to the boundaries. Once the dog has reached the boundary, the collar will vibrate, but this feature can be turned off. SpotOn also allows you to include optional static correction if the dog reaches the boundary. The static correction can be adjusted from 0 to 30 in terms of strength.

SpotOn also has an optional location tracker that you can use with a cell phone subscription if you want to keep an eye on your pooch and know its location, updating every six seconds.

If you have a dog who loves to escape and roam around in places where it shouldn’t, the SpotOn GPS DogFence collar is a wise investment.

SpotOn GPS Fence—A Quick Look

SpotOn Pricing

The price of the SpotOn collar might be jarring to some. At $1,295, it is a bit steep. And this price does not include the optional monthly tracker you can use on your phone. However, it would help if you considered the convenience of SpotOn:

1. There are no wires you need to set up. The fences are set up on your phone; plus, you can adjust the fence on your phone as well.
2. You can create fences that cover well over 1,000 acres.
3. You can create multiple fences, allowing you to change your dog’s boundaries directly on your phone.

All these perks make the price for the collar well worth it.

You can also subscribe to an optional cellular service that allows you to track your dog. You can pay $9.95 monthly for a cellular plan or $5.95 monthly for a yearly plan. You can still use the collar as a wireless fence without paying extra for the tracking. Again, this is optional.

What to Expect from SpotOn GPS Dog Fence Collar

When you are ready to order a SpotOn collar for your canine wanderer, you go to their website www.spotonfence.com and click the “Shop” button. Once you are relocated to that page, you then select the collar size: Small (10”–14”), Medium (12”–18”), or Large (16”–26”). Then, you can choose your cellular carrier to enable the optional tracking option. At the time this Spoton dog collar review was written¹, SpotOn only used AT&T or Verizon. With AT&T, you can use the tracking feature in the USA and Canada. However, Verizon only works in the USA.

Once you have made those choices, you add the collar to your cart and go on to the payment part of the purchase. When I ordered mine, the collar came within a few business days.

SpotOn Contents

You will also need to download the SpotOn app on your smartphone to register the collar and set up the fence. Once the app is downloaded, you will be asked for the collar’s serial number (found on the inside of the collar) and fill out information about yourself and the dog. You can also invite other people to the app. This way, your family members and friends can keep an eye out for the dog and get notifications about their whereabouts if they escape.

Size and Durability of the Collar

I ordered the medium-sized collar for my dog, who is around 55 pounds. When I first saw the collar in the box, I was worried that it would feel heavy and bulky around my dog’s neck. However, once I held it in my hands, I realized that it was not that heavy. And I reminded myself that no wireless collar with GPS would be slim and compact. We adjusted the length of the collar and put it on him. He did not seem to mind at all!

General Set-up of the Fence

Once we knew the collar was charged, my husband and I set up the boundaries in the SpotOn app. At first, it was a bit hard to connect the collar to the Bluetooth on my phone. I am not super tech-savvy but it took us a good 10–15 minutes to know if the collar was connected to my phone’s Bluetooth. However, once we got that sorted, setting up the fence was easy. SpotOn allows you to navigate around boundaries to create a solid fence. Once the fence was created and saved in the SpotOn app, we were good to go!

We were also pleased that SpotOn has a “Forest Mode” feature. Since we live in a wooded area, we did not want the GPS to be weakened in any way by trees.

Great Tracking Feature

Whenever Manic would escape, I never knew where he was. We live in a rural area with farms and woods and the houses are spread out. Our neighbors would inform us if Manic was near their house because he would trigger their motion-sensor security cameras. However, most of the time when he would escape, I could never see where he was.

SpotOn’s tracking feature was another major selling point for me. A wireless fence would be fantastic, but I wondered if Manic’s desire to run amok would be stronger than the collar itself. At least if he did escape, I would be able to track him on the app. SpotOn also designed the tracking feature to issue an immediate alert if the dog went past the boundaries.

Short Battery-Life

One thing that I wish could be improved is the overall battery life, which lasts for around 22 hours. While most dogs are not going to be outside for 22 hours, this is something to think about if you go camping and you want to create a fence for your dog in the great outdoors. You better have a way to charge this collar if you want to use it for more than one day.

Putting the collar on charge each night became a routine I needed to follow. One evening, I forgot to put it on charge. Manic used that opportunity to escape. And because the collar had no battery, we were not able to track him. He came back in about two hours with his beautiful SpotOn collar slightly scratched and covered with mud. He had dug under the fence and army-crawled through the mud to freedom. I learned my lesson: always put the collar on charge at the end of the day.

Is SpotOn Good Value?

For me, I can say without a doubt that SpotOn is indeed a good value! Yes, it is expensive, but nothing beats having peace of mind knowing that my escape-artist canine has some boundaries he cannot jump over or climb under. Whenever my dog would escape, my greatest fear was that he would never come back. Or I find him…and it is too late to help him. With SpotOn GPS Dog Fence, I can relax when I let my naughty boy outside.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The collar says it is good for 1/2 an acre to over 1,000 acres. Why does the collar not work in a small area?

The collar is not designed for a small area because when you set up the boundary, the collar will start issuing warnings when the dog gets within 10–15 feet of that boundary. Setting this collar up on a small plot of land will really restrict the dog’s movements.

My collar beeps when I let my dog inside! What is going on?

Check to see if the collar is set to Forest Mode. If you have this selected, indoor detection is disabled, meaning the collar will start issuing warnings—even if the dog is not outside the boundaries you set.

As soon as you let the dog in the house, remove the collar. Otherwise, the collar will continue to issue warning sounds. Or you can simply turn off Forest Mode.

Do I have to use the tracking feature?

Nope! If you do not want to pay for the cellular subscription that allows you to track the dog, you do not have to. The collar will just work as a wireless fence.

Our Experience With SpotOn GPS Dog Fence

I have a mixed-breed male dog who I named Manic. And he most definitely lives up to his name! While he is incredibly cuddly, he is fiercely independent and stubborn to match. Despite our efforts to try and train him to understand recall commands, Manic doesn’t listen. But we love him just the same.

Manic moved to the USA from a small island in Thailand, where he pretty much went where he pleased but always came back home. When we brought him to the states, our property was loosely fenced-in over 2 acres of wooded land. We thought that he would have plenty of space to explore and run around to be happy.

We were wrong.

It took Manic about two days to find a loose area in the fence and escape. Thankfully, I managed to track him down and bring him back home. However, in the next three days, he escaped again. My husband and I tried to patch up the rickety wire fence to prevent him from escaping again. But nothing seemed to work. He caught him climbing up a stone wall like a seasoned mountaineer and disappearing into the woods. He would flatten his 55-pound body and slither like a snake under the fence any chance he got. Sometimes, he would come back to the main gate after 45 minutes, tired, thirsty, and filthy—but very pleased with himself. But sometimes, he would not return for hours. He escaped over two dozen times.

And then came hunting season.

We live in a rural part of Maryland where a large plot of land next to ours is used for hunting. I was terrified at the idea of Manic escaping and accidently getting shot. I was also worried that if Manic saw a deer or fox, he would chase it to the main road. Manic is also stubborn enough to try to fight with a fox or raccoon.

Since there were too many dangerous situations Manic could get himself in and replacing the fence over two acres of property would cost close to $20,000, we decided to give SpotOn a try. Despite Manic being stubborn as a mule, he is a bit sensitive. We figured that the SpotOn collar would do the trick with the two audio warning sounds if Manic got too close to the boundaries. My husband walked our entire property close to the broken fences and rock walls. Setting it up was easy and after we knew the collar was fully charged, we tried it out.

First, we went down towards the small pond at the far end of the property—Manic’s favorite place to find escape holes. When he got within about 10–15 feet of the boundary, he stopped in his tracks and tilted his head to the side. We could hear the collar giving the first warning sound. We called him to us and when the beeping stopped, we praised him. Manic tried walking around the pond again, which set off the warning sound again. This time, Manic picked up his pace around the pond to try to get away from the beeping. When he returned to us, we praised him again. After a few tries, Manic stopped going to the far side of the pond. He actually learned quite quickly to avoid getting too close to the fence. He did not enjoy hearing those alert sounds!

Since SpotOn’s alert and warning sounds worked so effectively on Manic that we never got a warning that he was outside his boundaries. That was fine with me! So, would the tracking feature even be useful? Absolutely. We live on a wooded plot of land with slopes and a pond. During the spring and summer, we cannot see Manic clearly even while on the property. I want to be able to know where he is if he is not responding to me calling for him.

So, I tested out the tracking. I knew he was already on the property. But where exactly? I went into the app, clicked the “Track” button and within a few seconds, SpotOn had pinned Manic’s exact location, and told me he was 53 feet away. Wow!

Conclusion

Overall, I am very pleased with the SpotOn GPS Dog Fence collar. Manic can go outside and stay within a certain area. My dog is wild at heart, and he would never enjoy being an indoor dog. With SpotOn, I know that he can be free but stay safe at the same time. I can relax knowing that my dog will not get lost or hurt when he goes out exploring this big world.

 

• See Also: Fi Collar Series 3 Dog Product Review 2024: Pros, Cons & Final Verdict