Halo GPS Dog Fence...yeah or nay?

[Bugle 'Em In]

Since there is some good advise and feedback from experienced dog guys on here, what do you think of the Halo GPS dog fence?

I have a bit of room for my future dog to run (about 4 acres total) and wondering if this would be something worth getting. Spending other people's money is always easy, so my question is....does Halo work as advertised or buyer beware?

 

[sccritterkiller]

Subbed...interested in feedback myself...need something for the wife's dog. Like I told her won't stop hawks, owls, and eagles....yes she has a lap dog.

 

[seeth07]

We have looked at this numerous times and have yet to pull the trigger. Maybe someone here will convince us finally?

 

[coleslaw]

I thought about it, but you have to subscribe. I did a PetSafe underground fence instead. Fenced in my entire 10 acres.
Save yourself some $ and buy the underground wire from a propane supplier or natural gas company. They use 14ga as their tracer wire. Cheaper and lasts alot longer than the crappy 18ga that comes with the underground fence kits. Plus you can buy in bulk. 3000ft for my 10 acres and was lucky enough to be able to borrow a ditch witch from my electrician neighbor.

 

[coleslaw]

Also got the underground fence on ebay pre-owned for like half the price. Another tip if you go that route.

 

[sccritterkiller]

I thought about it, but you have to subscribe. I did a PetSafe underground fence instead. Fenced in my entire 10 acres.
Save yourself some $ and buy the underground wire from a propane supplier or natural gas company. They use 14ga as their tracer wire. Cheaper and lasts alot longer than the crappy 18ga that comes with the underground fence kits. Plus you can buy in bulk. 3000ft for my 10 acres and was lucky enough to be able to borrow a ditch witch from my electrician neighbor.

I did underground on 4 acres 14 yrs ago for our big dog, cancer got him and we had put down last Nov...it was a PIA...luckily after about 2 years as long as he had the collar on he was fine wouldn't stray outside the wire, even though the fence didn't work.
We know have 3 different properties we spend time at...dont wanna put in 3 difference fences.
5/10 bucks a month seems cheap in comparison to 3 different UG fences.

 

[Labman]

Since there is some good advise and feedback from experienced dog guys on here, what do you think of the Halo GPS dog fence?

I have a bit of room for my future dog to run (about 4 acres total) and wondering if this would be something worth getting. Spending other people's money is always easy, so my question is....does Halo work as advertised or buyer beware?

There is an entire FB page dedicated to customers who have nothing but problems with Halo. The theory sounds amazing, but the reality is it is total garbage. Here are the major issues:
1. Consistency. If you looked up the most important aspect of dog training that one word would rise to the top. Halo (or any other GPS/wireless fence for that matter) is anything but consistent. Take your phone sometime and track your path down a 2-3’ wide trail with OnX. Turn around after a mile or so and stay on the same trail. Zoom in to see the discrepancy. When I did this my OnX trails at times were 80’ apart even though I probably walked in my own footsteps on the return trip. This is the same technology any GPS fence uses. A few feet of variance is probably enough to spook a dog, 80’ is insane. It should be illegal really.
2. Battery life. Measured in hours. That is a joke right? No. Initially their collars had a 4hr battery life. I think it has “improved” to 8. Still worthless. Also, as with anything rechargeable the battery will need to be replaced eventually…but they don’t offer that, so it is an entire new collar at some point.
3. Size. It looks like you are strapping a life jacket made to look like a collar around their neck.
4. Warranty. Essentially there is none. I think it is 30 days. Don’t blink, because it will be gone before you know it. If an underground pet containment system doesn’t offer a lifetime warranty on their hardware you need to keep looking.
5. Training and support. Good luck.
6. Operating costs. A subscription based model may be great residual income for a business, but it comes at the expense of the consumer. I’ve had a professionally installed fence in my life for the last 12 years and have put new batteries in my dog’s collars every 2-3 years at $20 a crack and have never had a wire break for any reason.

For pet containment there is nothing that compares to a professionally installed underground system. Everyone in America is always trying to save money, I get it. But when I look at the time people invest into doing these projects on their own, with cheap, low quality products, and witness the results they achieve, they always come up short. Spend an extra X hours doing what you do to earn a living and pay a professional. It will be time and money well spent.

 

[Bugle 'Em In]

Thank you @Labman for your detailed info.
Unfortunately, I'm not on social media, so I would've missed all of this. Your points all seem valid and I think will be saving a few people from possibly throwing good money towards a product that might not live up to it's expectations. Thanks again for your input, it is GREATLY appreciated.

 

[Labman]

Thank you @Labman for your detailed info.
Unfortunately, I'm not on social media, so I would've missed all of this. Your points all seem valid and I think will be saving a few people from possibly throwing good money towards a product that might not live up to its expectations. Thanks again for your input, it is GREATLY appreciated.

Not a problem. I’m passionate about the subject since it’s what I do now.

 

[Labman]

In case anyone thought I was embellishing my description:

 

[brandnewrock8]

Made an account just to reply, @Labman is spot on. I got a Halo for our lab because the thought of running buried wire on 10 acres of woods sounds terrible. The accuracy of these things is downright dangerous. My lot is not all that narrow, but it is oblong, I had two separate occasions where the collar was shocking/providing static feedback to my dog when she was IN MY HOME! This is over 100 feet from where the "boundary" was set in any direction. After the second time I was able to call and get a full refund thankfully. Trouble is now that I am back to looking at other options all I see is advertisements for Halo . It's a neat concept, but GPS is just not accurate enough to make it practical my experience.

 

[tillicant]

Not familiar with the Halo system or what GPS system they run off of.
We utilize a couple of different GPS systems and can get within 5/100 for accuracy, but even that system goes awol when under a canopy, close to buildings.....
If it's true GPS they must advertise some limitations.

 

[OleRedbeard]

I tried it with high hopes. My land is woods and fields and after getting everything set up I spent the next 2 weeks having constant issues with it and pretty much looking for both my dogs on several different occasions. I ended sending it back before the very short warranty was up and was glad. I then bought air tags for their collars so at least I sometimes have an idea of where they are and have been burying wire around about a 5 acre section of our property just to give them some space to run around.

 

[Labman]

If it's true GPS they must advertise some limitations.

They don’t though. All they talk about is how “great” it is. Their return rate from what I’ve heard is hard to even comprehend.

 

[tim629]

after our gsp decided to leave the horse pasture and stand in the road last week the wife said we need a dog fence before he can go back out unsupervised. we have a good relationship with the local dogwatch invisible fence company and they are coming out next week to give us a quote, but I keep popping back to the SpotOn GSP fence, they do address some of the concerns of GPS variances so have you build a buffer (20' i think) into the fence and also have you remove it before you go in the house, for me the 22 hour time would be no big deal since we wouldn't use it except when we are outside too otherwise the dogs are in the house with the fenced in yard access.

i'm going to see what the quote is for about 4.5 acres to fence in then make a decision on the spoton, 90 day money back and so far i've heard good reviews but i also know how it takes a minute or two for my garmin tracking collars to pick up gps when we go outside so that part is a disadvantage to me

 

[David658]

Underground fence has worked well for us. Dogs pretty quickly learn the limits. The Halo system seems to be too early in the application of the technology - with the UG fence, you control the perimeter and as long as the power is on you are good. I also don't like yet another subscription.

David
NM

 

[stillkickin]

Thanks everyone, I am in the same situation and was looking at halo as I use several different properties and resetting the borders made sense.

Looks like I’m back to the drawing board

 

[Elkoholic]

6yrs ago I purchased a GPS invisible fence unit (not underground wire). It was simple and worked flawlessly for me, I could expand the boundaries out to 20acre perimeter. All you have is a base unit mounted outside somewhere, the collar, and set up is dropping pins on a map for your boundary. Pricey but I highly recommend it. And if you sell and move simple to take with you.

 

[howl]

A dog any kind of gritty will take the zap to get what it wants on anything other than a hotwire at the bottom of a physical fence they can't jump.

I keep mine in an above ground kennel and let it out for exercise daily. Only way to go for me.

 

[Labman]

A dog any kind of gritty will take the zap to get what it wants on anything other than a hotwire at the bottom of a physical fence they can't jump.

I hear that all the time, but it just isn’t true. It usually it comes from someone who doesn’t want to spend the money on a professionally installed fence with guaranteed containment.

There are essentially two variables in the containment equation. A quality product, and quality training. Both are equally important. Folks who do this on their own typically have no idea what they are doing and they use cheap/garbage products, then are mystified at the poor outcome.

The problem is after their experience with what they thought would work these people then lump all products into the same cart and think if X didn’t work nothing will (and about 99% of the folks have tried a DIY type fence which isn’t comparable). Thats the same mind set as thinking an 80 Ford LTD will be as good on Montana roads during the winter as a 2024 Denali 4x4 with winter tires. Both are vehicles, but the similarities pretty much stop at both having a steering wheel and 4 tires.

I’ve got 2k dogs contained and have never had to give someone a refund because I couldn’t contain their dog. Wolf hybrids, Anatolian Shepard, Great Pyrenees, the list goes on. Lots of tricks still in the toolbox I haven’t even had to break out…