I hope this is the right sub for this.

We're getting our 2nd husky next weekend and we're dabbling with a GPS collar. We never had one with our last husky. We just make sure there was never a chance to escape. But with our new husky, we will be hiring a neighborhood kid to come let him out a few times during the day. Does anyone have experience with the GPS collars on the market? Some notable ones I've heard of are the Fi Series 2, Cube, and FitBark.

Can someone share your thoughts on the GPS collars or Collar add-ons and what you like or dislike about them?

If you do a search for GPS on the forum you'll see where they've been discussed in grand detail - but not lately.  (( I'll do the Search for you, just click on that link. ))

Two caveats:

• Almost all of them require cell service for the collar which means for a lot of us they just won't work.  For example, Whistle, one of the most commonly used trackers requires AT&T LTE service.
  
• They'll help you find your dog when they get loose, that's true.  They don't do anything to keep your dog out of traffic - it's not a device you can depend on to protect your dog.
  

It gets discussed on the south fork facebook page alot. Tourists dont understand no cell service. Some people have had luck with satellite based tracking collars but they are very very expensive, service is expensive and as one local discovered they dont work in thick brush or if the dog goes under an overhang or in the locals case falls in a mine shaft.

Just depends on your goal, for me that would be a useless expense.

Better than gps, to me, is invisible fence (we use petsafe YardMax system, a diy brand. That way, of the teenager(or anyone) leaves a door/gate open, the dog stays within bounds. Caveat: training to the fence, and proofing, are imperative. Dog has to know what to do when they hear the warning beep. We've been using this about 6 years now. No dead dogs on the road for us!

My mom had hoa covenants that didnt allow anything but invisible worked for every dog but the beagle my sister found. Drawbacks were it did not protect my dogs from people and pets being allowed in my yard by careless owners and it became a huge problem with one specific man that owned 4 standard poodles. Another drawback was lila learned where it would beep and would lay there until the battery ran out. Aside from that it was great. We even had it in the house to keep the dogs out of the dining room and formal living room and half the upstairs.

I would consider it now except for if i spend any money on the fence it will be setting posts. My fence is more about keeping other things out then keeping mine in and i worry about the mountain lion. Spider is ridiculously territorial and we have established the boundaries so i dont worry as much about her taking off. Mine are mostly past the bolting phase of their lives.

Well, curiosity got the better of me:

Fi 2 looks like they've gone a long way on improvements, supposedly much better battery life but it still requires a AT&T LTE-M cell connection.  $149 + 99 per year data plan.

Cube GPS uses the Verizon Network while the other Cube products use Bluetooth with a range of about 200ft (shoot, Avalanche can get 200ft before I can blink!)  $99.95 + 198 per year data plan.

Fitbark GPS uses the Verizon Network.  $99.95 + 94.5 data plan (reduction for multiyear dat plans)

The one I like - and would work out here - is the Garmin Alpha 100 but at $800 it's a bit rich for my blood!