// WIRED US/UK — HARDWARE & GADGET
Tractive Cat 6 Mini Review: A Fitbit for Your Cat
As the pet tech industry expands rapidly, pet owners are more eager to adopt technology that tracks health metrics, similar to human wearable devices like smart rings, smartwatches, and fitness trackers.
I've been testing smart collars for the better part of the year, previously testing the Fi Mini and Tractive Smart Cat Tracker on my cat Basil, which monitored his location, movement, and sleep.
The Tractive Cat 6 Mini was released this spring, and I tested it on Basil for a month, comparing how this new-and-improved smart collar made specifically for cats with improved health features, like heart and respiratory rate, stacked up against other models.
This new model had surprisingly accurate health and activity stats that helped me understand Basil's routine and baseline a bit more than the previous models I've tested. I think these new health features would be especially helpful for people with aging cats or cats in poor health. (If you have an outdoor cat that roams, I'd go with the Fi Mini because it's more compact with a longer battery life.)
I valued the Cat 6 Mini's new AI-powered weekly reports and comparisons to similar cats to know if Basil is healthy. However, the collar itself died quickly, was a pain to charge, and GPS location accuracy could be hit-or-miss. Whether this smart cat collar is the right fit for you largely depends on your and your cat's needs.
The Tractive Cat 6 Mini cat tracker is available in three colors: black, brown, and lavender. Unlike the previous Fi Mini and Tractive Smart Cat Tracker models I tested, which used an attachment that fits on the cat's existing collar, this device is the collar itself, and the entire thing needs to be taken off the cat to charge on its proprietary magnetic charger. (It takes about three hours to fully charge.) To set it up, all you need to do is download the Tractive app, choose a subscription plan, and set up your pet's profile.
For the 6 Mini model, there is one plan, but you can choose between one-, two-, and five-year contracts. One year is $10 per month, or $120 annually; two years is $7 per month, or $168 annually; and five years is $5 per month, or $300 every five years. The smart collar also has a two-year manufacturer's warranty. All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee as well as family sharing, LTE cellular coverage, 365-day location history, and GPS data export.
The tracker weighs only 1.1 ounces and is suitable for cats weighing 6.6 to 17.6 pounds, to ensure the breakaway collar opens when it should. Basil is 17 pounds, and the Cat 6 Mini fits him well with room to spare. This smart collar fits necks between 7.5 and 9 inches, whereas the previous Tracker Mini model could fit virtually any neck size because it attached to your existing collar.
Tractive claims the collar's charge lasts up to seven days for indoor cats and that it needs to be charged nearly daily if your pet roams outside. When I tested the smart collar on my indoor-only cat Basil, the battery needed to be charged by the fourth day of use.
Because the device itself is the entire collar, I felt like I was taking Basil's collar off more often than I'd like in order to charge—I didn't like that he was collarless while it charged. My anxiety told me that in this brief moment of his nakedness, he would escape. Also, because charge time took several hours, there were a few times I forgot to put it back on him until the next day.