Pod 3 - GPS Pet Tracker and Activity Monitor

I ordered this item despite the mixed reviews and with high hopes. I really wanted the product to work as I have a cat that escapes the house every so often. Product arrived and first disappointment was that it had to be charged for several hours before it could be used. Minor detail, but still annoying. Finally got the battery charged and I tried to connect but GPS would not connect. I did download the app and got a message via the app that I would need to go outside and try 10-14 times as initial connection could be tricky. So, first of all it is a pain to go stand outside and take the battery on and off 14 times and it is not a short process as you have to put the battery on and wait for the blue light to stop flashing or turn green (which means it has connected) - if the blue light just goes out you have to remove the battery and then reconnect that battery and try again. I repeated this process multiply times to include driving to different areas to see if it would work, all with no success. I also tried on multiple days - extremely frustrating. I also received a message via the app saying they were having issues with connections and to delete the app and reinstall and that would resolve the issue - nope still no connection. I could not find a phone number to call on the website but finally found something that said if there was an issue to send a note via the app - so that is what I did - it took 2 days to get a reply back to my first message and evidently they only half read my message because they told me to do what I have already tried multiple times. It took three days to get a reply back to my second message which said provide proof of purchase and they could send me a new one as the one I receive must be defective. By that point I had already returned the POD for a return as I was beyond frustrated with both the pod and the customer service.

I really like the design of this and its description, but we could not get it to work so hard to evaluate the product. For the lifetime subscription to the tracking service, I had to call the company because the directions on the website and in the box were not applicable. The website was very difficult to use, but that may be due to the difficulty getting the device to activate and to get the subscription to activate. We called the manufacturer, no easy feat to find their phone number, so write this down: (619) 831-6494. They are located in Australia, so you may have trouble timing your phone call. The people at the company were very nice to work with and did respond to email and even checked back to see if I'd gotten it to work. They said you must be in an area that receives 2G or 3G cell service, but it wouldn't activate no matter where I tried it. I believe the battery life is too short, which is why they provide two batteries. However, mine was drained after only one day or so. That might not give you the time you need to find a lost pet. But, this problem may also be due to my having tried to activate it so many times, maybe that wore out the batteries. I've bought another and will give it another chance as I think I would like this product if I could get it to work. You can buy directly from the company and they provide free shipping. https://www.podtrackers.com/products/pod-3/

I was unable to get the Pod 3 to connect to my wifi. (OTOH, Whistle 3 did so immediately.) Both batteries took >8hr to charge (2 was suggested in the packaging) and ran down in <4-5hr. (Some of this was due to the repeated attempts to pair with my internet service.) The Pod 3 failed to give me location accuracy using the remaining three (GPS, cell service, bluetooth) whatsoever. I did contact customer service about the wifi issue. [The website contact dialog suggested someone would be back to me in about 30 min and I would receive a response both on the website and via email. A phone notification came across after midnight (which vanished) and nothing came via email or on the site that I could find.]Just too many red flags for me.

Started out great, especially with the lifetime 3G subscritption included. Sadly, it has rapidly degraded. Each of the two batteries last less than one day, so I have to swap them out every morning. Worse yet, the app is getting worse too. It initially showed the battery level, but now it does not show that at all, even when the battery has just been fully charged. Today the app could not even locate the pet tracker while we were with our dog in the dog park in Mountain View, CA (roughly the center of Silicon Valley).

I really wanted to love this product.Free life time gps tracking. It’s small and comes with 2 batteries. It was a perfect fit.But I could not get it to work. It would not sync with my phone. I was unable to update the app because it would not sync with my phone. After many stressful, frustrating hours I decided to send it back. Very Disappointing.

I have to say that I am very disappointed. I was really impressed with this product at first. I even recommended this to several friends and colleagues. Since then I have emailed twice, once on July 20th and again on July 24th about battery issues. I really believed its best to give a seller a chance to take care of an issue before writing a review. Unfortunately I've yet to hear back. I have a GPS tracker that is easy to use, setup and frankly for the most part a great product except for battery life. I have one battery that lasts about an hour and another one that lasts about day. My settings are correct for the longest life possible. When I first set up the tracker the batteries would last right at 4 days just like it said in the brochure. Not any more. I welcome the seller to contact me to make this right and I'll be happy to update review. A customer that has had a problem or issue resolved is more likely to share and either promote or detract a seller than a customer that never had an issue/problem.