Review Summary

What Is the Wagz Freedom Smart Dog Collar? How Does It Work?

The Wagz Freedom Smart Dog Collar is a GPS-invisible fence for your canine. You attach a small GPS device to your dog’s collar and designate where you want your dog to be allowed (or not allowed) on the mobile app. This process is all accomplished very quickly on their app. Simply put, you draw the boundary with your finger and designate “keep out” spots similarly.

Then, the device detects when the dog gets too close to the boundary. Unlike other invisible fences, there is no electricity involved. Instead, the collar can correct your pet in several ways: ultrasonic frequencies, vibrations, and audible tones. You can adjust the corrections through the app with a press of a button.

You can also give corrections or stop them manually. Therefore, you could potentially use the collar for other training purposes. (For instance, you could teach your dog to “come” to you when the collar vibrates.)

This collar also allows you to track walks and keep track of your pet’s health. For instance, it’ll let you know how much your pet has moved and how long they’ve traveled. You can even see a GPS track where your pet went during a certain time span. If your pet gets lost, you can use the GPS locator to find them.

Therefore, while this is primarily an invisible fence device, it does use the GPS signal to provide other data.

Most customers (including me) love that you don’t have to install wires or dig up the yard. The setup was straightforward and didn’t involve complicated installations or purchasing yards of wire.

Wagz Freedom Smart Dog Collar – A Quick Look

Wagz Pricing

When considering the Wagz Freedom Smart Dog Collar, there are several prices you need to consider. Firstly, there is the device itself. Wagz works on practically every collar (I tried it successfully on several), so you won’t have to purchase a new collar. The device itself costs $200 at the time of this publication. This is a one-time purchase.

You will need a monthly subscription for the GPS to work, however. This subscription is $10 a month. You can get the subscription for cheaper by paying annually.

There are several other devices, too. For instance, you can purchase a bundle of training flags and an extra-large battery. These items aren’t necessary but can increase the system’s price if you purchase them.

What to Expect from Wagz

The Wagz system comes packaged neatly in a box. The GPS device isn’t charged when it arrives at your home, so you’ll need to charge it before you continue. According to the instructions, this takes about 2 hours, though I found that my battery charged up a bit faster than that.

Of course, you’ll also find the charger within the box. This charger comes in multiple pieces, which was a bit confusing initially. There are charging directions in the box but only in pictures. It took me a little bit to figure out how to connect the battery, charging port, and cord. However, once I figured it out, the process was pretty straightforward.

Next, you’ll have to set up the device. You’ll need an account on the Wagz website and the app on your phone. Once your account is set up, you’ll have to add the device. This task is accomplished by typing in a small code on the bottom of the GPS tracker. There is also a QR code, but I couldn’t get this to work. Luckily, the code was pretty short and easy to type in.

The rest of the process is done on the app. It guides you through adding your pet, assigning the device to your dog, and setting up the geofence. It also explains how the GPS indicators work, which lets you know how well the device is currently connected.

Wagz does have a setup guide on its website with plenty of pictures. Therefore, the process is easy to follow, even if it does have many steps.

Wagz Freedom Smart Dog Collar Contents

I received the starter kit, which I highly recommend for anyone using Wagz. Therefore, I received quite a few extra items besides just the GPS tracker. Here’s what I got:

Accuracy

This device relies completely on GPS accuracy. It’s how it determines where your pet is. Sadly, this is where I ran into the biggest problems with the device. As far as I could tell, it wasn’t accurate.

The app displays three different GPS “accuracies.” The lowest level is no signal at all. The middle level is accurate enough for location services but not for the invisible fence. No corrections are given if the device is currently only receiving this level of connectivity. At the top level, the device works as advertised.

I appreciate that the device doesn’t give corrections when it is inaccurate and can tell when it isn’t well connected. However, I found that the device hung much around the middling range. In other words, it was connected enough to tell me where my dog was but not connected enough to work as an invisible fence.

I tried a lot to get the device to connect as it was supposed to. However, it didn’t stay in the green for more than a couple of hours. (And GPS signals typically work great in my area.)

Battery Life

I didn’t have any issues with the battery, however. After I charged it, it stayed charged throughout the whole testing period. Therefore, users shouldn’t have a problem leaving this device on their pets all day.

With that said, I was using the upgraded battery. Therefore, the standard battery likely won’t last as long. In any case, I would recommend charging the battery every night, especially if you’re relying on the invisible fence alone.

App

The best part of the Wagz experience was the app. It functions very well and is easy to use. The interface was user-friendly, and I had no problem navigating it. You can easily add new geofences with your finger using the app. These fences automatically work with the animals you set them to. In this way, I found it much easier to use than the traditional invisible fence.

This app is available on both Android and iPhones. I found that the GPS on the app worked just fine (perhaps because it relies on your phone’s connection). It could find my position so that I could add geofences in only a few seconds.

Health Tracking

This device also tracks the health of your dog. You can see how many steps your dog has taken and several other metrics from the homepage. You can also click on each dog to see a more in-depth view of how your dog is doing.

Of course, I’m not entirely sure how well this tracker worked. It seemed to work perfectly fine, but I wasn’t following my dog and counting his steps to ensure.

Is Wagz Good Value?

Sadly, I didn’t find Wagz worth the price. You’re paying a couple of hundred dollars for the collar and then a monthly GPS tracking fee. However, the GPS didn’t work well in my experience. Plus, when it did work, I found that it could be off by as many as 15 feet. Therefore, I couldn’t trust it with my dog.

Other collars on the market may work a bit better. However, Wagz does still have some perks, like added health tracking. I wouldn’t purchase it to use it primarily for the invisible fence, though.

FAQ

How Does Wagz Work?

Wagz allows you to drop pins on a particular area, creating an invisible fence for your dog. Then, the smart collar recognizes these boundaries using GPS positioning. If the tracker notices that it is outside of the boundary, it delivers corrections. If your pet stays outside of the boundary, you are alerted.

What Cell Service Does Wagz Use?

The Wagz collar utilizes a “nationwide cellular provider” for cellular service, allowing the collar to use GPS positioning. However, the company doesn’t specify which provider it uses.

Our Experience with Wagz

I was very excited to use the Wagz smart collar. I do not have a fence, but I do have a very active husky. Usually, all his exercise is done on a long leash. I was excited to let him run free and play without worrying about the leash clotheslining the children!

I found the setup very easy and straightforward. The company provides a startup guide, and I followed it step-by-step. This process did take some time, but none of the steps were confusing. However, I ran into issues once I was told to connect the tracker to cellular service. For most of my testing time, the signal remained at the “weak” level.

Sadly, this meant the fence wouldn’t work much of the time. I trained my dog to respect the boundary anyway, manually giving corrections when he strayed past it. However, I couldn’t trust the fence to give these corrections automatically, as the signal would fade in and out.

For this reason, I cannot trust my dog unsupervised with this collar on—even though he is well-trained on the boundary now. The signal isn’t accurate enough.

In Conclusion

The Wagz system offers the promise of freedom for your dog. However, I found the GPS tracking signal very weak and unreliable. I wouldn’t let my dog free without supervision with this collar on, as I’d be worried about the signal dropping out at any moment.

However, the setup process was straightforward, and the app was easy to use. It would be the perfect invisible fence system if the company fixed the tracking issues.

• Related read: SpotOn Fence Review: An Expert’s Breakdown