It’s now been a few years of using the Findster Duo pet tracker, and it’s time to share a couple of tips for making the most of it. They are: permanently attach the Findster to a collar; and start the app early in your walk.

Recap

There have been no huge changes since I first posted about Findster:

• It’s still two units: one attaches to your dog and sends location information to a second unit that you carry with you; and
• I still use Findster primarily as a back up in case the dog vanishes after some woodland creature.

Lesson 1: Permanent attachment

What has changed is the way Findster connects to the collar. The first lesson I want to share is about this. I suggest you permanently connect the Findster to a collar.

The original Findster attached with velcro, which worked fine as long as you took the time to get it tight and secure. I didn’t, and we lost that one somewhere down a rabbit warren.

The replacement came with a base plate that the Findster can slot into. You’d attach this base plate to the collar using a loop of material. It fastened with a pin (or stud) mechanism, as shown in their support video.

That seemed to be pretty solid, but we lost that one in some undergrowth. We searched for a good 15 minutes where FIndster directed us, but we couldn’t spot it. The third unit had changed to a kind of screw mechanism for attaching the base plate. That became loose very quickly, and I never trusted it.

What we’ve done is to buy a thin collar that would slide onto the base plate. It’s pretty tight and took some work with a needle to push it through, but now we have a dedicated Findster collar. When we go out, we clip that collar on. I’m much more confident that this is not going to fall off.

Lesson 2: Start the app early

The Findster app comes with all sorts of features that I don’t use: leaderboard, reminders, sharing, paw counts, fences, subscription-based optional care package. All I use is the map and radar. I only care about where my dog is it she goes out of sight.

If I’m in the middle of no-where, with limited mobile signal strength, it seems to take a while for the app to start. I’m not sure what it’s doing, but it takes long enough for me to kill it and restart it. This is a frustrating way to start a dog walk.

Instead, start the application early when you have a good connection, or you have time to let it do whatever-it-is-doing.

Summary

After almost 2.5 years, we’re still enjoying having Findster as part of our walks. The battery is good, the improved waterproofing (to nearly 1 metre) is great to have.

We’ve found a good way to secure the unit to the dog, and learned that it’s best to start the app when you’re in an area of good reception.

If you’re thinking of buying one, and you’ve found these posts useful, you can get 10% off using code M1JWL at https://getfindster.com.