Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The whistle is brilliant and amazing. The one star less than 5 is for a head's up. I have had every whsitle product they've made and they all work brilliantly once you know their limitations. For instance--- the last one updated tracking every 3 minutes--- now it's 90 seconds which to me is amazing but some people complain about that not being good enough. I"ve got a cat who travels up to 4 miles away from home, usually to visit other cats in the area. The one star less is because in order to use this the 1. company tells me I need to purchase a new modem despite the one I have being currently sold by Verizon as perfectly workable. No suggestions from Whstle. Since this depends entirely on wifi to work I find it 1 star less worthy that there is not a huge ATTENTION before purchasing this as their last 3 models worked perfectly with my current wifi..2. Battery life: they've gotten a new charging station recently to improve the charger. The 5 day battery life is only if the device pretty much is sitting near the base station and your roamer is not out of it's zone. My experience is the battery life at best is 2.5 days, more like 24 hours. Let me explain. We live in a State Park. Houdini enjoys visiiting the feral cats at another house 1 mile away. I get a notice he's gone out of his zone. The map shows his exit usually on a trail leading to I can guess where. I take action and run off to the trail calling his name chasing a bag of treats wihich is likely to get his attention if he hasn't gone into feral mode which he does once he's a certain distance to the woods, meaning he's hypervigilant and acting like prey, not my pal. He won't let me too near. I just tell him to come home. 50% likelihood he will within an hour. So now he's off to his pals place. I have to decide if I'm going over to shake the treats to get him to come home on his own of course, he won't let me near him. So I push track and see he's there. I get there and push track again. ( 3 sightings now). I have to restrain myself from pushing track again because he doesn't let me catch him and I know he hears me. I go home and push it again and see he is in fact on his way home or I push it later and see he's going even further afield back to his old house territory. I wait until morning. At this point the tracker even with this limited use is at 57% capacity. I push track to see where he is, travel to get him and push it again. A third time is required to pinpoint him. I try to cajole him then leave. Later in the evening if he isn't home on his own I push to see where he is. At this point we're at 20% capacity. By the third morning there is maybe 4% battery left. This gives me peace of mind to know where he is and he'll probably be on his way home on his own. So usually I use it to just let him out and stay close to the phone so I can retriev him immediately the second he leaves his zone which usually works great. I give whistle triple A plus for this. Another fabulous side effect that others have mentioned also is I am 100% positive that when he is remote-- more than a mile away and I push locate at night that he totally knows the lighting up of the device is a sign I am looking for him. I am positive because he is conditioned to know that when it turns on in the dark there is a high likelihood wherever he is that shortly afterwards I will show up calling his name and looking for him. So the light going on is associated with me and our relationship. I got this device because 2.5 years ago my cat would go out at night and I tracked that he was out 60% more than in. He disappered for two weeks and had taken up residence at the local arboretum -- people were feeding him, planning on trapping him and taking him home-- he is microchipped but they may not have bothered to get him checked. The whistle was instrumental in my being able to train my cat to come home, to stop travelling to certain places and break the cycle of his going towards feral or being taken. He is a Norwegian Forest Cat and his nature is to be in the forest but he is also a loving family companion very very very happy at his home. He looks ratty and miserable when he's been out for longer than 2 nights ( this happens once every 4 months now) so I know the whistle helps keep him safe. Be patient and learn it's limitations and you and your cat may appreciate its brilliance as we do. My only real complaint now is that we are moving to New Zealand for a year and I dont' know what I'll do without whistle in New Zealand. The customer service, too, is truly awesome. Yes it has limitations, you know they can't find your pet for you but they sure genuinely express a willingness to do anything in their capacity to help and show genuine concern. Most reps have pets and know the product, too. Photo included of Eric the White with his whistle tracker.