Fi Series 3+ Review
Now With AI To Help Watch Your Dog
Since the very first day that we brought our dogs home from Korea in 2020, they’ve had a Fi collar on with them. The agency we adopted the girls from, DoVE Project, had partnered with the smart dog collar company and supplied every dog parent with a tracking device. At the time, this was extremely reassuring as meat trade dogs are historically a bit more difficult to readjust to calmer surroundings then what they were situated in back in their homeland. We learned and went through all the precautionary tales of runaway dogs and Fi was a product that genuinely seemed to assist people in a trying time. Since then, our girls have worn literally every major iteration of the smart collar with the Fi Series 3+ acting as our latest collar for my Jindo Serena.
Retail Price: $19/Month
Disclaimer: Fi sent us a unit free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.
Serena sleeping with her Series 3+ collar
What’S Different
If you go back and read Lida’s review of the Fi Series 3 collar back in 2023, you’ll understand the big jump in physical design between that collar and the Series 2 collar. I’m not going to rehash over it, but all you need to know is that the Series 3+ looks and feels identical to the Series 3 in shape and design. In some ways, this feels like one of those Apple S iterations that isn’t truly a generational evolution, but is still marginally improved over the product it's replacing.
So what’s still great about the Series 3+? In my opinion, the sleek design is still one of the best dog trackers on the market today. In this case, I’m on board with the age old saying of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The current flagship Fi collar doesn’t need a design overhaul because they got it right with the Series 3. The once thick and bulky two-tone tracker is now in the body of a rather thin black steel frame. It's easy on the eyes and doesn’t stand out much which is a good thing.
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The collar wirelessly charging on its home base
With a low-profile build that has a slight curvature to trace along the neck of the dog, I assume it's more comfortable for the animal wearing it. While my girl communicates with me in many ways, she unfortunately can’t answer my inquiry of whether this was more comfortable than the original design of the bigger Series 2 or Series 1 she previously had. But just looking at how it sits on her scrunched neck while sleeping makes me believe that it's a less intrusive accessory than before.
The stainless steel is industrial grade and a huge step up from the plastic face of the Series 2. It’s significantly more durable and doesn’t scuff up from the daily grind of dog life. It really does look great even after months of doggy abuse. The tracker is also IP68 rated for waterproofing which is another important factor in dog life as going out in the rain or jumping into water is a major part in an active dog’s life.
Other features that carry over to the Series 3+ from the Series 3 are the LED light strip that can be somewhat useful during night walks. You can pick from a handful of colors and the light does illuminate the area around the dog’s neck. The same proprietary collar mounting system continues with this successor. I’ve stated in previous reviews how I much prefer a basic attachment method to open up a whole range of collar compatibility. Fi’s broken through this mold with their Mini product that is attachable to any collar or harness. It’s unfortunate that the Series 3+ is still limited by the partner choices Fi chooses for their collar styles.
A new Form
Fi also now sells a Mini tracker that clips onto any collar or harness.
The tracker also charges on a puck wirelessly. While the puck itself needs to be plugged in through a USB-C cable, the Series 3+ itself magnetically falls into place to charge. As we do have the Series 3 and the Series 3+ simultaneously worn by our two dogs, I can say that the battery life is roughly the same. From the data I’ve gathered, the current Fi collar discharges at about 5-7% slower than the previous model. To me it’s a negligible improvement that I still charge at the same time as when the Series 3 gets critically low since it follows shortly after. Don’t get me wrong, it does technically last longer than the Series 3, but at least with my girls, they both wear out the battery in roughly the same time. Fi advertises a 3-month battery life off the puck, but I’d comfortably say you can push out at least 2+ months with heavy use. There are a lot of factors that determine battery drain as the collar tracks 24/7 and uses GPS to route maps.
Alerts and Tracking
Speaking of GPS use, the Series 3+ utilizes AT&T’s cellular coverage to handle lost mode live tracking, escape alerts, and walk history. If this is your first collar tracker and you don’t know it does, think of this collar as a smart watch or fitness tracker but for your dog. By wearing it, the collar will automatically know where your dog is at or has gone to by mapping the entire route from when they left their home. This is done by allowing the charging base to be mapped as the home station that Fi interprets as the anchor point for the dog’s safe zone. I have always appreciated the minimalist approach to Fi’s app. Setting things up and locating information is a breeze.
While I fortunately have not experienced a lost dog scenario, my girls do go out on walks with their dog walker frequently. Ever since the first iteration of the Fi collar, I can’t leave home without making sure the collars are on my dogs. The reliability has been excellent from my experience with Fi. There might be a few minutes in between an action and it reporting to you on your phone as a notification, but I’ve always been notified of when my dogs leave the house and when they return to the house. You can even add other people to be responsible for your dog so when they are out with them Fi doesn’t tell you that your dog is out and about without an owner. In all honesty, I have noticed no difference in tracking capabilities between my girls' two collars. They go to the same places at the same time and I’ve always received notifications for both together.
New Health Features
So if this current iteration is essentially the same as the Series 3 it replaced, it does unlock a certain set of new capabilities that give owners a little more insight towards their pet. Using a form of AI, Fi monitors behaviors such as scratching, licking, barking, drinking, and eating. Of those behavior monitoring features, the two I’ve seemed to evaluate more than the others are licking and scratching. Seeing as Fi wants to make their system and app incorporate health-related– by giving users the ability to download tracking reports to share with their vets– how often your dog licks and scratches surprisingly is helpful to know.
As a dog owner, you for sure know when your dog is eating because you’re likely the one feeding them. You’ll know how many meals they’ve had in a day. Drinking water is also a somewhat easy to track offline as you can just see if the bowl of water you set for your dog is empty by the end of a day. But no matter how much time in a day you spend with your animal, they’ll scratch and lick countless of times that you’ll miss. This makes it helpful for me– especially with aging dogs that go outside a lot– to know if they are scratching or licking at higher rates than normal. These features are only exclusive to the Series 3+ and are blocked off on the app for prior models of Fi collars.
As with previous Fi products, this product must be used along with a Fi membership. This subscription-based model is required for around the clock cellular data from AT&T. You aren’t technically paying for the item as the collar, the Fi tracker, and the charging base are simply included in the membership fee. Instead all you’re selecting to purchase is the duration of your membership agreement. 6 Months will cost $99 annually, a one year subscription is $189, and a 2 year plan is $339 biennially. You could also pay month to month for $19 a month. These perpetual charges do add up over the duration of your dog’s life so that’s something to consider before committing to the Fi collar life.
final thoughts
For my family, we’re long past our honeymoon phase of adoption and haven’t spoken to the rescue in years. No one is forcing us to stay committed to the Fi collar, yet we’ve chosen to continue trusting this company with the safety of our girls. Fi collars have not disappointed me yet and so far the Series 3+ is more of the same benefits I’ve come to rely on in my daily life with my dogs.
It’s simple to use and handles the heavy lifting you want to see from a dog tracker. I don’t personally know if AI contributes much if any to this product, but since they discontinue previous models when they produce new iterations, there’s no choice other than the Series 3+ and its updated capabilities. There are a lot of GPS dog collars on the market nowadays, but Fi continues to carve out a solid product for a no-nonsense offering for urban communities.
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Alex
With nearly a decade under his belt running his video production team, and countless hours traveling the country to report on pop culture events during his tenure as a contributor for AXS Examiner, Alex has relied on a lot of gadgets over the years. That still hasn’t satiated his need to get his hands on the newest and greatest the world has to offer!