Last Updated on July 17, 2024 by Kieran Beckles
Are you considering an investment in a Fi Dog Collar to keep your dog safe, but you want to learn more about the upfront cost and the subscription price before you purchase the smart dog collar?
We never considered using a smart dog collar for most of our time in the UK because Copper and Skye are usually always on leash and we lived in homes that had a small garden with a secure fence around the boundary.
If you’ve been following Life With Klee Kai for some time, you’ll know that we moved back to California in 2023 following a five-year stint in the UK.
We quickly settled in a morning routine where I’d take Copper and Skye for a walk in our quiet neighborhood, and it was enjoyable and relaxing because we didn’t run into off leash dogs or encounter outdoor cat to trigger their prey drive.
One morning, we encountered a coyote and Copper managed to slip out of his collar. He chased the coyote up a hill out of my line of vision. In that moment, I thought I’d lost my Alaskan Klee Kai to a coyote pack.
By some miracle, he emerged five minutes later unscathed, with the coyote still stalking him.
Once I managed to get him in my arms, I went home and started to research the best gps dog collar that had features like lost dog mode, gps tracking, a long battery life and provided more security than a regular dog collar.
I ended up purchasing a Fi Smart Dog Collar for Copper and Skye – and it’s been over three months and we loving using the latest offering in the Fi Series.
In this article, I’m going to discuss the Fi GPS Dog Collar, how much it costs up front, how their subscription plan works and whether I believe the Fi Smart Dog Collar is worth the price.
Cut To The Chase: We recommend the Fi Series 3 Collar based upon our experience and you can get $20 off your Fi collar when you click here.
Fi Dog Collar Cost
If you’re looking to invest in a Fi Collar, you’ll have to consider the upfront cost.
We’re talking about a smart gps dog collar that has a lot of features you won’t find with a regular dog collar or even some basic gps trackers that you can attach to your dog’s collar.
Well, Fi Dog Collar works a little differently than your average GPS collar. You not only have to cough up an initial amount for your Fi Collar, but if you want to enjoy the full range of features, Fi users will need to pay for a plan to get the location tracking.
As far as I can tell, you can’t actually buy a Fi Dog Collar without paying for a Fi subscription (something that has changed based upon a PC Mag article I found from 2019 that suggests you could previously buy the Fi Series without a membership and just track your dog’s activity.
So with that in mind, I’m going to take a look at the different Fi Subscription plans.
How Much Is Fi Dog Collar Per Month?
There have been a few Fi Series but the latest model available to users, whether you’re pet parents or dog walkers, is the Fi Dog Collar Series 3. So we’ll be breaking the down the price for this Fi Collar.
To start, you’ll need to pick your Fi Collar color – yellow, blue, grey and pink. This has no bearing on the price of your dog’s Fi Collar.
Next, you’ll need to use Fi’s sizing chart to get the correct size collar for your pet. If you do get the collar size wrong, Fi will be on hand to help you.
Fi offer five dog collar sizes to cater to dogs of all sizes – there’s X Small (9.5″ – 11″), Small (10.5″ – 13″), Medium (12.5″ – 16.5″), Large (15.5″ – 22″) and Extra Large Collar (20″ – 31″).
Once you’ve selected the right size Fi Collar, you’ll need to pick your Fi Series 3 membership.
If you prefer to stick to a monthly plan, you can opt for their monthly membership. You’ll be charged $19 a month, which works out $4.40 a week. In this scenario, you’ll be billed monthly for your Fi Series 3 but gives you the flexibility to cancel.
You will need to pay a one-time activation fee of $20.
It’s important to note that Fi require a six-month minimum commitment even if you’re paying monthly. Fi write that if you use a monthly plan, you won’t be able to cancel the plan until the six month period is complete.
How Much Is Fi Dog Collar Per Year?
If you’d prefer to prepay and save a little money on your Fi Series 3, Fi offer a number of different prepay plans.
You can pay six months upfront for Fi Collar. This works out at $3.90 a week or $102 every six months. So if you try six months and decide to stick with your Fi Series 3 for another six months, that’ll work out at $202 per year.
The next option that Fi Dogs offer is an annual subscription plan. When you sign up for a 12-month prepaid membership, your Fi Collar Series plan will cost $3.70 a week or $192 annually. You can see that’s a $10 saving on the 6 month-plan over 12 months.
If you want to get the most bang for your buck when signing up to receive a Fi Collar and using the Fi app to enjoy the full range of features, you should go for the two-year plan. By prepaying for 2 years, you save 25% – that works out at $3.20 a week or billed every biannually as $336. When you consider the yearly price, that’s $168 a month.
There are a couple more things to note with the different prepaid Fi Series packages.
You’ll need to pay $20 one time activation fee for the Fi Series 3 collar.
You get one month free with the six-month Fi Collar plan, two months free for the yearly Fi Series membership and three months free with the biannual Fi Series GP Collar plan.
What’s Included In Your Fi Dog Tracker Membership?
To give you a quick breakdown of what’s included in your membership if you haven’t read our Fi Collar Series 3 pros and cons, you get your Series 3 kit, unlimited cellular network service (unlimited AT&T LTE-M connectivity), unlimited warranty replacements on active memberships, unlimited software updates and live chat seven days a week.
Once you’ve downloaded the app, you’ll live tracking, including instant live tracking on GPS in lost dog mode. You can set activity goals for your dog or multiple dogs and see how many steps and how far they’ve walked daily, weekly and monthly.
Not only do you get to use the Fi device to monitor your dog’s location, see your dog’s steps and enjoy activity tracking, but you can also see how much time your dog spends sleeping thanks to their sleep tracking. You can also see how your dog’s activity compares to other Fi dogs.
If you have multiple dogs, you can add them to the Fi app. You can also add as many other Fi users to your Fi account if every family member wants to have access to your Fi Series subscription. You can also add a dog walker or dog walkers to the Fi app.
Is Fi Dog Collar Worth It?
Do we recommend the Fi Series 3 dog collar? Well, we previously used Tractive in the UK but we didn’t like how we had to attach the tracker to Copper and Skye’s dog collar.
It was an eyesore and my Alaskan Klee Kai didn’t appear to like wearing the clunky GPS unit.
After Copper escaped and followed the coyote, leading me to contemplate having a lost dog, there was no doubt in my mind that we needed to invest in a new smart GPS collar.
Not only did I have that awful experience, but we live on a property that has a half acre of land, with lots of wildlife going through our yard. While there’s more space for my Klee Kai to explore, it’s also a bigger headache keeping tabs on them.
Having researched the best options, we decided to invest our money in a Fi Collar for Copper. Once we tested the Fi Collar and the Fi app over a few weeks, we bought a second Fi Collar for Skye.
We decided to sign Copper (and his yellow Fi collar) to a 12-month membership at $192 plus the activation fee.
After we tested out the Fi Collar, we decided to commit to a biannual plan when we invested in Skye’s Fi Collar. We paid $336 (although we made a 15% saving due to a sale) for her GPS tracking collar.
I love that the Fi device attached to the collar thanks to the integrated design, which Copper and Skye appear to find more comfortable. The Fi unit is stylish compared to most dog trackers. Now if either dog escapes our property, we can use location tracking to find them.
The Fi GPS dog collar has a long battery life (we charged every couple of weeks) and comes with a handy Fi base to make recharging the GPS collar hassle-free and pretty quick. They recommend keeping your Fi base plugged.
Having reviewed many an activity tracker, Fi makes the whole process seamless. It’s my favorite collar, which is why we’ve invested our money in a longer subscription upfront because of the success using their activity tracker and service.
Where To Buy The Fi Smart Collar?
If you’ve decided the Fi Collar is the right smart dog collar for you, you can only get the Fi Series 3 direct on the Fi website. You can start your journey with Fi Collar by clicking here or hitting the button below.
We reached out to Fi to see if we could get a discount for our community. We managed to secure a $20 discount to secure a saving on your purchase.
To avail of our exclusive discount, you need to click this link or hit the button below before you enter the coupon code “KLEEKAI20”.
Anything Else To Consider?
Here are some questions you might have about the Fi Series 3 dog collar.
Can you use Fi dog collar without subscription?
You will need a membership to enable Fi Series 3 dog collars. Unlike the Series 2, Fi have made a membership a requirements. With the previous model (Fi Series 2 collar), you could use them without a subscription plan and enjoy basic features. This is one way how the Fi Series 3 differs from the previous model.
What network does Fi dog collar use?
If you’re wondering what network the Fi dog collar uses, it’s AT&T’s LTE-M cellular network. Basically the Fi collar will act like its own cellular device with its own cellular service.
Is Fi a monthly subscription?
Like we touched upon in this article, the Fi Series 3 GPS dog collar can be paid for monthly (on the monthly plan), or semi-annually, annually or biannual.
How long does Fi collar battery last?
In my experience with Fi collar battery life, the Fi collar tends to last 6-8 weeks. For the purposes of answering this question on battery life, I went back through my emails to see how many times I got a notification that Skye’s GPS collar was down to 5% over the past six months.
I’ve received three emails since September about Skye’s diminishing battery life, which equates to a charge every couple of months. On their website, Fi write that a single charge can yield a battery life of up to three months. My experience suggests the average battery life is two months.
Is Fi a shock collar?
Fi is not a shock collar sitting on your dog’s neck – there’s no static force, tone, vibration, beep or any type of shock function with the Fi smart dog collar. Fi have created their device to have a lost dog mode, show your dog’s location, provide peace of mind whether you live in urban or remote areas.
So you don’t have to worry about a static force (a static force usually activates when your dog barks or strays from a safe zone).
Fi Dog Collar – Wrapping Up
We’ve reached the end of our feature taking a look at the price of the Fi Series 3 device.
If you’re looking for a dog collar that offers GPS tracking using cellular service, has an integrated GPS unit that doesn’t bother your dog, allows you to create a safe zone or safe zones, has a lost dog mode and longer battery life than most smart collars, the Fi Series 3 is a good choice.
When I had a scary encounter with a coyote that resulted in Copper’s disappearance (albeit momentarily), I decided to invest in a Fi dog collar and we haven’t looked back since.
I’ve got pretty tiny dogs when you consider most dogs and I liked that the Fi tracker sat on my pup’s neck and didn’t appear to both either of my Alaskan Klee Kai.
While I like tracking each dog’s steps and general activity tracking as well as sleep stracking, its the lost dog mode that really appealed to me (and the reliability of the lost dog mode if my dog escapes).
The Fi smart dog collar is worth the investment, the integrated design appealed to me and I have peace of mind using the live tracking to see my dog’s location and know I’ve got the lost dog mode if required.
Kieran runs Life With Klee Kai on social media and other online platforms alongside his wife Yasmin. With over 10 years of experience as a journalist and a passionate dog owner, Kieran loves to combine his passion for pets and writing to share useful insights and product reviews to help other dog owners.