First look: Fi Ultra Starlink pet tracker

Fi Ultra is the first Starlink-enabled pet locator you tin buy. It expands connected GPS and LTE trackers, adding automatic failover to T-Mobile’s T-Satellite-branded direct-to-cell service erstwhile venturing into cellular dormant zones. That lets owners pat into SpaceX’s constellation of low Earth orbit Starlink satellites to way their pets anyplace successful the US. But it comes pinch a fewer tradeoffs based connected our early testing, including comparatively mediocre artillery life for a pet tracker.

Built to fresh “adventure dogs of immoderate size,” according to the company, the Fi Ultra is designed to beryllium compatible pinch the canine collar aliases harness you already use. It costs $199 for the instrumentality (plus a $20 activation fee) and requires an $189 yearly subscription. Along pinch LTE cellular connectivity, it features always-on, dual-band GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi for added precision.

There’s a 513 mAh artillery slated to past 2 days successful this wide 75mm × 40mm × 25mm tracker, which weighs 68g. Its IP68 and IP66K ratings protect against particulate and h2o ingress, including saltwater. It besides packs successful a mini vibration centrifugal and speaker successful support of Fi’s caller shock-free Callback training system.

To trial the Fi Ultra, I drove astir an hr distant to adjacent the Francis Marion National Forest successful South Carolina, wherever the LTE drops off, and the alligators climb retired of the rivers. It was easy to connect the locator to my canine Gus’ collar, acknowledgment to a spring-mounted clasp. But “dogs of immoderate size” feels for illustration a stretch. It looked large connected Gus, an 80-pound wirehaired pointing griffon, and it’s easy wider than a Chihuahua’s neck, though artifact breeds aren’t known for adventurous hikes.

The Fi Ultra connects to the Fi app, which shows a unrecorded position of Gus’ location. I simulated a lost-dog emergency by hitting Lost Mode, which ramps up each the radios to effort to way him successful existent clip (instead of checking successful periodically).

When connected to the Starlink-based T-Satellite web (indicated by a outer icon successful the app), the representation updated astir each 2 to 3 minutes, showing wherever he was comparative to me. While slow, this is astir the aforesaid update interval arsenic erstwhile I tested it connected 1 barroom of LTE successful my neighborhood.

Three minutes is simply a agelong time, and by the adjacent update, Gus could beryllium anyplace (if he’d really been connected the lamb). But it’s amended than nothing, which is the replacement successful LTE-dead zones.

During my 30-minute unrecorded search convention connected to Starlink satellites, location were a mates of times it sewage stuck “reconnecting” and didn’t update location for almost 5 minutes.

According to Fi, the locator prioritizes terrestrial compartment towers. But erstwhile utilizing T-Satellite, it has to alteration satellites often while still trying to get a terrestrial awesome — because moreover 1 barroom of LTE mostly wins complete outer for relationship stability. Fi says this sometimes results successful reconnection lags arsenic the locator moves successful and retired of coverage.

All those radios are reliable connected a tracker’s battery, and I hardly sewage the promised 2 days connected a complaint during my week of testing. I had to complaint it regular if I went for a agelong walk, aliases each different time erstwhile we were little active. During the 30-minute unrecorded search convention alone, it dropped almost 20 percent.

While it charged successful nether 2 hours via USB-C, the short artillery life makes this much of an costly locator for occasional usage than an mundane one. Fi’s different trackers, the Fi Mini and Fi 3 Plus collar, tin last respective weeks connected a azygous complaint and connection much features, including health, sleep, and behaviour tracking. They are besides included pinch a paid membership.

The institution said the artillery life is owed to the “added powerfulness costs of supporting outer connectivity connected apical of cellular, positive much predominant high-accuracy location updates.” The instrumentality relies much connected GPS for always-on tracking, dissimilar Fi’s non-Satellite-enabled trackers.

However, the Fi Ultra tin beryllium added to an existing subscription for a level interest of $299, which is simply a amended woody semipermanent than buying it standalone. You tin clip it onto an existing Fi collar, and the 2 devices will activity together successful the app, giving you assurance that you’re covered erstwhile hiking successful areas pinch nary compartment service, while besides getting the benefits of Fi’s modular canine tracker.

I utilized to unrecorded successful agrarian Idaho, wherever my canine Stanley regularly vanished down valleys chasing deer, truthful I understand the entreaty of a locator that useful beyond cellular coverage. If you regularly hike aliases campy successful distant areas, Fi Ultra could beryllium worthwhile arsenic an costly shape of insurance. The T-Satellite fallback useful and offers existent bid of mind. Just beryllium prepared to complaint it acold much often than a accepted GPS tracker.

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge