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Tabcat (RF) or GPS ?
As winner of the Sunday Times best GPS (dog) device a few years back we’re pretty familiar with GPS technology but here’s a quick few pointers why we believe GPS is NOT the right technology for cats:
- 1. Too large – Obvious one to start off with but larger GPS tags are uncomfortable. Many state they can be used on cats but they’ve been designed for larger dogs not cats.
- 2. Too heavy – Weight of anything around your cats neck should be kept to an absolute minimal. When you compare the Tabcat Tag at 6 grams / 0.21 ounces compared with GPS tags you can immediately see GPS tags are just too heavy.
- 3. GPS Battery power hungry – The idea of being able to see exactly where your cat is on your phone is ideal. The trouble is in practice it doesn’t quite work like this. GPS is inherently power hungry so when trying to locate, you need frequent location updates (say every 10 seconds). Due to the limited size of the battery it’s easy for the battery to run out before locating. If GPS tags are actively used they’ll need to be charged up at least twice a week.
- 4. Accuracy – GPS needs a sim card like you have in your phone to transmit its location. If there’s poor reception on that network, in that area GPS won’t report. Location also typically varies from about 8 metre to significantly more. As GPS works best outdoors often there can be a loss of signal when they’re indoors – not ideal if they’ve got stuck in someone else’s house / garage / shed. Lastly with some of the hiding places we’ve seen cats get into a greater level of accuracy is needed to pin point their location.
- 5. Monthly subscriptions – You’ll tend to find they’ll be a monthly subscription to cover ongoing tracking costs. Compare the total costs over a 3 or 5 year period and you could be surprised
- 6. How far does your cat really wander ? – Cats tend to be pretty territorial and whilst there’s the exception most stay pretty local to where they live as demonstrated in the BBC Horizon documentary. This can easily be covered by walking the area with your Tabcat and once in range specifically guide you to their exact location.
To sum it up - We understand the benefits for GPS, it’s a great technology and one we’ve sold but the specific requirements a cat needs – small, light, accurate and a reasonable battery life is just not available today with GPS technology. It’s why we offer a 30 day money back guaranteed so you can test / compare Tabcat at home for yourself.
