Chinese
- iPet Mini (3990 rubles)
- TK Star (4950 rubles)
- MonkeyG Deest (3528 rubles)
- X-Pet 1 (6900 rubles)
On each site, we took advantage of the “quick order” – indicated the mobile number and waited for the call.
Order X-Pet 1 did not work at all: after ordering, so no one called back to us.
Stores with iPet and MonkeyG Deest called back almost immediately and suggested the next day to arrange delivery.
On a site where it was possible to buy TK Star, we were called back and informed that the model chosen by us “came all defective” and offered to choose something different or wait for a new delivery.
Total, of the four candidates, only two remained. We will test them. Let’s go!
Unpacking
After the trackers arrived, we hastened to unpack them. So, meet: iPet Mini.
As you can see, the device itself comes complete, a clothes clip and instruction in English and Chinese (Russian is not).
Discovering the MonkeyG Deest:
It looks a bit simpler. Some screwdrivers, screws in a bag (you need to unscrew the groove for a sim card), a clothes clip and a pair of tweezers for a sim card. Pleasant bonus – the collar is included. In the photo there is no instruction (alas, we lost it, while everything was unpacked and fotkali). Unfortunately, the loss of instructions will still come to us. We will talk about this later.
If you talk about Mishiko, here’s what the user will find when buying the tracker:
The very tracker, collar, wireless charging, two instructions: a short and full (on the first drawn dachshund) and an adapter for third-party collars.
Let’s move on to the launch and GPS tests.
Charging trackers
For charging and iPet, and MonkeyG Deest, these are the following clothespins:
One of the four “denticles” in such a charge at MonkeyG immediately “stuck”, but charging continued in this mode. When the clothespin is closed, the tracker is still hanging in the groove, and it’s easy not to notice if it jumps off. I had to check several times, as if the clothespin had risen to the right place, and whether there was charging.
We, of course, will not be able to boast of our own charge. After a walk put Mishiko on it you can even without removing the device from the collar. Walked, took off Mishiko from the dog, and laid on the charge:
Checking GPS
The first and fundamentally important thing in any GPS-tracker is how it transmits data. Some devices use bluetooth, but in this case they can either create a p2p network (then you need to have a huge number of connected devices that would help locate the location), or in principle limited to a radius of several tens of meters. Such a scheme makes the presence of GPS simply meaningless.
“Working” GPS-trackers use a cellular network for transmission, and here you need a SIM card. Mishiko uses a built-in SIM chip, which “out of the box” works on a contract with T-Mobile (in Russia – roaming partner became MTS). In other cases, you will have to buy and activate Simka, paying monthly payments to the operator. In the tariff Mishiko for 11900 rubles to pay for cellular data is not needed in principle. That is, no ruble, and never.
In the case of an ordinary sim card and other trackers, you will have to pay at least 300-400 rubles a month, or at least 3-4 thousand a year. Plus, individual contracts of cellular operators and even operators in general, like Tele2 in Moscow (due to the lack of a 2G network) are not supported.
There are also pitfalls: Simka bought in the salon can autographically subscribe to some SMS horoscopes, and burn extra 5-10 rubles every day. In the case of the SIM chip, this scenario is excluded.
So, enough lyrical digression, we’ll try to insert sims into our trackers and test GPS.
The first is on the line – MonkeyG Deest. The SIM card slot is hidden behind two small screws. To open the slot, we’ll have to use the screwdriver that comes with the kit:
We decided to use the usual YOTA SIM card from the iPhone 6, but it turned out that the device does not support nano-SIM , And works only with the Micro SIM (as in the iPhone 4).
We buy the adapter:
We insert our Simka into the adapter, we try to immerse it in the slot MonkeyG Deest … And Simka is stuck. Due to the peculiarities of the adapter (and / or the design of the tracker), Simka “zazhevalo” in the slot and pull it out so simply does not work:
Five minutes of picking with a screwdriver and tweezers, And Simka with the adapter surrendered. The adapter broke down completely, and Simka got off with light scratches:
We decide to stop such experiments and go buy a SIM card in the Beeline salon specially for the Micro SIM format. The consultant offers the “All for 500” tariff, for 500 rubles a month – the cheapest for the tracker, according to him. We did not check whether it was so or not, and went on to conduct the tests further.
So, Simka is inserted into MonkeyG, download the application for iOS:
It looks scary, the translation is also “curve”. And then – remember, we said that we lost our instruction in vain? So, only the instruction specifies the ID of the device, which you need to enter in the application.
The case itself is empty. You can not get through to technical support. What to do? Nothing. The device is simply not working. We do not know how many people, like us, are irresponsible to the paper with the instruction, but this will be a lesson to us.
Let’s move on to the iPet Mini test.
The SIM card slot is accessible from the back of the device, for this you need to bend the rubber cap:
Insert Simka, install the application. Chinese applications look about the same, and the translation is also almost the same for all:
At the first start, the device found itself in Shenzhen, but apparently it has not yet managed to catch the GPS, but The last location he had, no doubt, was in China.
We are waiting for a couple of minutes, and coordinates arrive with an error of several hundred meters. Obviously, according to LBS (the blue dot is the location of the iPhone, the green arrow is the tracker).
During the test, we were inside the building, so the absence of the GPS signal is quite normal. We leave on the street, we check:
In fact, we were near the cafe “Baskin Robbins”, so that they themselves both iPhone and iPet Mini are guilty. The error is within a hundred meters. In general, it is not so bad, considering how high-rise buildings are located on the New Arbat in Moscow in an unsuccessful way for the GPS signal.
Mishiko works in a similar way under these conditions, but the results in the field tests showed a bit more accurately, we remember it from the past test:
What can To conclude? The first – if you are ready to torment yourself with a poorly localized application and are not afraid of problems with the SIM-card, and the search tracker is looking for a couple of months, then the Chinese brothers can offer a completely budgetary momentary solution. For example, if you want to go with a dog for a week to some distant fields, and worry about the loss of the pet. You do not make sense to shell out for something expensive and it’s easier to buy something that will cost as cheaply as possible and last for at least a week.
The “long” purchase of Chinese trackers is no longer justified: overpayment for communication can amount to 3-4 thousand. The plastic case is flimsy for canine teeth, the functionality is limited only to GPS (which you will use only a couple of times), and the uncomfortable sim-trick and zamorochki with simka are all clearly not pluses for Chinese trackers.
And what do you think What criteria do you choose (or would choose) for such a device?
