Ironically, when Selena managed to shed her new GPS medallion yesterday… I couldn’t find it.
Why have a GPS medallion if you can’t track it? Here’s the thing. When it’s in Bluetooth range, it syncs to my phone. I get alerts when either dog is out of range. And when they come back within range. And when synced, I can make the medallion sing. I discovered the loss only an hour after she shed it. And the last time it synced was somewhere around or near the house.
Problem is, we went for a walk right around the time it was lost. I walked our route 3 times yesterday, alternately looking at my phone and looking at the ground waiting for it to sync. Nothing.
But the battery lasts forever on these things, so we gave it another go today. Halfway home I’m looking at my phone and I realize, it synced 35 minutes ago! My keys synced 31 minutes ago so it has to be somewhere in the house or yard!
So I’m walking around the house watching my phone when sure enough, there it is! Sing for me, my little pretty!
Silence. Then it’s lost again. Repeat five or six times in different areas of the house, then bam! I can hear it! 🎶 🎶 🎶
Out in the yard, buried in the grass, quite near last week’s failed DIY. Found! Yay!
Still, sobering lesson on the usefulness of this app. Lost in my own damn yard. It has worked well when I lost my keys and remembering where I parked the car, but the dogs… not so much.
Yep, sounds pretty worthless, and very frustrating. I just got Lucy microchipped for $10 at the city shelter today. They did that on purpose just before the 4th of July. They even had ice cream, but I passed. 🙂
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Microchips are definitely worth it. If Selena ever did go on walkabout again, I may not be able to track her but her microchip will help others find me.
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Yikes! Good to know.
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great that you found it back… I always wanted a gps tracker too, but I’m not sure if it really is the real mc coy…
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It’s supposed to work under the theory of community. The more people in your area with the same app, the better it works. When you declare an item list, it will ping the app of anyone nearby thus revealing the location, like a dog on the move! But the app is still so new, there aren’t enough people. And I’m almost certainly the only one in my area. So “group search” is a nice theory but difficult in practice
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…and I bet I would be the only one in france LOL
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Well this particular company is based in France so you might actually have a jump on me there! Wistiki is the name
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Mmm, rather frustrating but at least you did find it in the end!
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That’s my thinking. At least with the dogs, I get an alert when they go out of Bluetooth range, so it acts as an early alarm system. But if they do escape, they’ll move out of range to quickly to track effectively. Keys and car and other stationary objects are easier to track when misplaced
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