Let’s find you the best wireless dog fence to give your dog the freedom of off-leash play, and to give you some peace of mind.
I’m only covering completely wireless systems. I purchased them all and tested them like crazy to learn about:
- Their boundary feedback logic
- How easy they are to use
- How reliably they hold the boundary
- All sorts of things
I probably took it a bit too far to know the best GPS wireless dog fence when I decided to take a shower wearing the PetSafe Guardian to test if it’s really waterproof!
After all the tests I have done, I think the SpotOn Fence is the most impressive option, but there are some situations where it’s not the best fit.
I’ll leave links below that will get you the best price for each wireless dog fence discussed here.
CLICK HERE: Get my BEST DEAL on the PetSafe Wireless (applied at checkout) →
And let’s dive right in to what SpotOn does better than the other wireless dog fences.
Boundary Feedback
SpotOn’s boundary feedback is the most reliable and fair to dogs of all the systems I’ve used. It gives distinct alert, warning, and correction tones so your dog can understand when they’re approaching the boundary and return back to safety.
The PetSafe Guardian is also pretty good at this, although there’s only one warning zone before the corrections start. And there’s also a time-dependent function, so if your dog lingers in the warning zone too long the Guardian will switch over to correction.
The Halo Collar 3 wants to be good at this, and sometimes it is. But, all too often it will skip one of the feedback zones and jump right to correction or it will progress through the feedback zones even when I’m standing still.
And the PetSafe wireless is not really fair to dogs. It gives them a warning before the correction, but even if they turn back it’s still going to give them that correction.
Ease of Use
The SpotOn Fence is the easiest to use. Everything is contained within the collar and you control it with a smartphone app. You set up fences by holding the collar and walking the boundary, it’ll drop fence posts for you as you walk. You can add GPS-based home and keep-out zones to further customize your fences as needed.
The Halo Collar is a close runner up, the biggest difference being that you have to drop fence posts manually. And you’re capped at 20 fence posts, whereas SpotOn is virtually unlimited. Halo also addresses safe zones and keep-out zones with bluetooth Beacons which can only be circular, and more importantly my tests prove that they don’t work very well.
The PetSafe Guardian is a bit less sophisticated. You can only draw fences manually on the app—which you can also do with SpotOn and Halo if you prefer. Plus, the Guardian has a base station rather than being fully contained within the collar like SpotOn and Halo, and it also doesn’t offer live tracking.
Although pretty easy to use, the PetSafe wireless is old school. It has a base station and you can only set circular boundaries. You can make them bigger or smaller by spinning a dial, but there’s no smartphone app, you don’t get live tracking, and if your power goes out as far as the collar is concerned your dog has left the fence and they’ll get a correction.
GPS Accuracy
SpotOn was the first GPS dog fence and to this day it has the best GPS technology. This is a simple fact from a component standpoint—it’s the only one that uses a dual-feed active GPS antenna. SpotOn has also been developing their AI the longest, and the proof is in the pudding. All GPS devices are subject to drift over the course of the day, and this can be more prominent in difficult situations like forested areas, but even when it’s really challenged it still provides reliable boundary feedback zones. You may just need to provide more of a buffer for hazards in scenarios where drift is high.
The Halo Collar 3 has closed the gap quite a bit by including an active GPS antenna and some AI signal processing, but there’s still room for improvement as I mentioned earlier.
The PetSafe Guardian makes no mention of an active GPS antenna of any kind, nor any AI signal processing. It is the only wireless dog fence discussed here that doesn’t use GPS. It does hold the boundary lines with minimal drift, but obviously there’s a big tradeoff in its capabilities overall.
So, where does SpotOn fall short?
Battery Life
Well, the first place is in battery life. You’re really only going to get a day of use on a charge with the SpotOn collar, although it only takes an hour or two for a full recharge. The Halo Collar is quite similar here.
The PetSafe Guardian has a nice leg up. You get about 72 hours of use off of a full charge and the battery is removable, so you can have another one charged and ready to go.
The PetSafe wireless can go for months on a single battery. They’re disposable and proprietary though, so make sure you have backups on hand. There’s also the PetSafe Stay and Play which is a bit of an upgraded version that has long-lasting and rechargeable collar batteries.
Yard Size
With SpotOn, Halo, and the PetSafe Guardian the fence sizes are virtually unlimited on the high end. SpotOn recommends a minimum fence size of a half an acre. While it performs better than the other GPS fences in small quarters, I think a half an acre is a good rule of thumb once you account for GPS drift.
Halo claims you can make fences as small as 250 square feet, but they simply don’t perform well with small fences at all in my experience. I’d say a half an acre’s still a good rule of thumb here.
And the PetSafe Guardian needs a minimum of ¾ of an acre, so perhaps a little more buffer.
The PetSafe wireless is probably the best bet for yards much smaller than a half an acre, as the boundaries can be quite small. Granted they can only be circular and no bigger than a half an acre, but that’s just the nature of the beast.
Price
Then, of course, there’s price. SpotOn is the most expensive wireless dog fence on this list, and while a cellular subscription is not required, it’s definitely nice to have.
The Halo Collar is a bit cheaper than SpotOn, and it’s the only collar on this list that flat out requires a cellular subscription to use it.
The PetSafe Guardian is a touch cheaper than Halo and the PetSafe Wireless is absolutely the cheapest of them all. Neither of the PetSafe fences even have the option for a subscription.
Now if you have multiple dogs, both SpotOn and Halo offer a bit of a discount when you buy multiple collars, but you’re paying close to full price for each dog.
The PetSafe Guardian’s base station can support up to 5 collars and each add-on collar’s only about $350. Similarly, the PetSafe Stay and Play can support unlimited collars, with each additional costing about $150.
Final Verdict
OK, to sum it all up here I put together a comparison table for you to find the best wireless dog fence for your needs.
Just to rattle it off here, if you have a small yard then the PetSafe wireless is really going to be your best bet—or the PetSafe Stay and Play which is really similar, perhaps a little nicer.
The PetSafe Guardian is a reliable wireless fence, albeit with some limitations. If you have a bigger yard, you need a bit extra battery life, and you don’t want to pay top dollar, then I think it’s a reasonable choice.
The Halo Collar has made a big splash and it has some things going for it, especially with the updates on the Halo Collar 3, but I just don’t like how unreliable it can be. Sometimes it works just fine, but this is your dog’s safety. It really should work every time.
And if you want the best performing wireless dog fence, one that’s easy to use and you can count on time after time, then go with the SpotOn GPS Dog Fence.
Remember to click the links below to get the best price on your favorite wireless dog fence.
CLICK HERE: Get my BEST DEAL on the PetSafe Wireless (applied at checkout) →
