Halo Collar vs SpotOn Collar – What's the difference?

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We’ve had a lot of questions about what makes SpotOn the better GPS fence. We know SpotOn is the more expensive option for two products that seem almost identical. We encourage you to research both products- read the verified product reviews (SpotOn has nearly 600), and look around on e-Bay® and Facebook®  Marketplace - you won’t find many second-hand SpotOns.

The video above from a neutral third party sums it up pretty nicely, as does this SpotOn Fence vs Halo 3 Collar comparison from Canine Journal. But, if you want to dive a little deeper, We’ll cover the following topics:

  • SpotOn’s superior GPS accuracy and reliability. 
  • There is no subscription required - SpotOn’s fences work right out of the box.
  • Extra customization without the extra cost - add a GPS-enabled fence-inside-a-fence and correction free zones without Bluetooth Beacons. 
  •  Ability to design the perfect fences for your property - create fences that intersect, overlap, and can curve around any landmark. 
  • Quick charge capability - SpotOn charges up in about an hour.
  •  5-star guarantee - Try it for 90 days. Love it. Or return it.  Plus enjoy accident forgiveness with our 1-year warranty.
  •  SAR compliant - SpotOn emits low radio frequencies, which means it is safer for your pet.
  •  SpotOn is a proud American brand - designed, developed, and manufactured in New Hampshire.  
  •  Testimonials and reviews.

 


SpotOn GPS fence technology is extremely accurate— critical for keeping your dog within his boundaries and safe. The only GPS system to use an active, dual-feed antenna/receiver system, SpotOn is designed to filter out inferior signals reflecting off trees, buildings, or hills, resulting in the most accurate and reliable fence boundaries and the most consistent boundary warnings.

No Subscription Required!

SpotOn works out of the box. You don’t need a subscription to get going and train your dog. YOu can make, edit, and save as many fences as you like (store up to 20 at once). Plus, everything you need to get started is in the box, including a charging cradle. If you want to unlock the full benefit of SpotOn, you can add an optional upgrade for realtime tracking and remote recall.

Unmatched Location Tracking Accuracy

Leading with remarkable accuracy, your SpotOn Fence has access to 128 satellites from four distinct constellations - GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, and Galileo. Connecting to 25-30 satellites at any one time, your SpotOn Fence will be in constant communication with these satellite systems, which means it can more accurately interpret your dog’s location. SpotOn is the only GPS fence with an active dual-feed antenna and receiver system. It filters out interference from Bluetooth and cellular signals like an active antenna but, in addition, differentiates direct and reflected GPS signals to filter out inferior signals reflecting off trees, buildings, or hills, resulting in the most reliable fence boundaries. A better baseline GPS signal, combined with our AI algorithms - eliminates the need for GPS calibration and pinpoints your dog’s location more accurately, even under trees, which results in a more accurate fence line and more consistent boundary warnings.

Optimal Antenna Placement 

SpotOn's GPS antenna is optimally placed. The position of the GPS antenna is essential. GPS works best when it has an unobstructed view of the satellites. SpotOn's antenna is set where your dog's body cannot block it. Resting at the back of your dog's neck, it always has a clear view  of the sky and can maintain accurate boundaries and maintain an uninterrupted satellite connection.

SpotOn Boasts a Patented True Location™ Technology

SpotOn offers True Location™ technology, which balances GPS shift, a natural phenomenon that occurs with any GPS product. SpotOn auto-corrects your dog’s location, so his boundaries and his position are more accurate.

Access to the constellations, combined with the GPS antenna’s quality and location, affects how many satellites your SpotOn dog collar can connect to at once. Better connection to more satellites means boundary accuracy and static correction are not impacted by cloudy weather or tree coverage. Your dog can freely move within the boundaries you set without being falsely corrected or not corrected at all. 

SpotOn works everywhere. Our patented True Location™ Technology maintains accurate GPS performance at all times - even under heavy cover from trees, brush, or bushes.

SpotOn vs. Halo 3 Fence Customization

SpotOn provides extremely customizable fences by drawing in the app or walking them in real-time. SpotOn’s patented technology allows you to precisely customize your fences to your property with the ability to drop 1,500 fence posts. If you choose to walk your boundary, SpotOn tracks your movement and automatically drops fence posts as you walk, and lets you know when you're close to reaching your max. Halo collar's fence creation maxes out at 20 fence posts, which you must manually select at different points in your yard. Fencing a large property or getting a curve around a flower bed, shrubbery, or around an obstacle is much easier with more posts. 

SpotOn also gives you 20 fences to use wherever and whenever you need them - no subscription needed. Halo's Bronze plan ($9.99 a month) allows for five fences (20 fences requires a Silver subscription plan).

Additionally, SpotOn has twice as many levels of static feedback compared to Halo 3 (SpotOn has 30 levels of correction, Halo 3 has 15).

SpotOn offers GPS fence-inside-a-fence  
 
SpotOn Keep Out Zones are GPS-enabled and let you create custom-shaped, off-limits areas within your fences. You can use Keep Out Zones to keep your dog out of the garden, the pool, the chicken coop, or to prevent playtime in the poison ivy patch. Keep Out Zones have a minimum size of 30’x30’. But unlike Halo 3, SpotOn zones have no maximum size or range, and are not restricted to a circle shape. So you can create a custom shaped zone to keep your dog out of whatever area you need to. No extra cost and no beacons needed!

 

Home Zones offer correction-free zones within the fence  
 
It’s a fact that GPS signals are not as accurate indoors. SpotOn Home Zones are GPS-enabled and allow you to disable corrections inside your house and any other buildings, enabling your dog to come indoors without deactivating fences or taking the collar off. So your dog can go in and out freely without any false corrections. Unlike Halo 3, there is no maximum size for a Home Zone, and your zone can be whatever custom shape you need, it’s not restricted to circular zones required Halo 3’s Bluetooth beacons.

 

Individual Fences  

SpotOn GPS dog fence lets you activate GPS fences individually. Make, save, and activate different fences for different times, seasons, and places.  You can create different fence configurations on the same property if you like, such as a daytime fence that includes the woods and a nighttime fence that goes to the edge of the grass. Because Halo 3 collar’s fences cannot be activated individually (all are either on or off), you cannot have any boundary lines overlap in any way, which makes creating multiple fences on your property nearly impossible.

 

SpotOn offers multiple user accounts with customizable permissions  

SpotOn lets you set up different accounts with different permissions so your friends and family can manage your dog with ease. Give full access to some users while others will not have the ability to change warning and correction settings.

 

 

 

Battery life and charging 

A single charge on SpotOn's battery lasts for 22 hours in containment and 14 hours while tracking and charges up in just about an hour. Halo takes 2 - 2.5 hours to come to a full charge. 


SpotOn is the original GPS fence

SpotOn gathered a team of engineers that created GPS devices for the US military and applied that knowledge to invent the first GPS containment system for dogs. We hold multiple patents, have been in the market since January 2019, and have thousands of dogs who rely on SpotOn. We have tested our system with hundreds of dogs, including independent livestock guardian dogs, rough and tumble farm dogs, and wandering suburban dogs. We’ve worked through challenges with durability, technology, and bugs, identifying and resolving many of the issues Halo users report including poor GPS accuracy and software glitches that result in the dog being corrected where it shouldn’t or not corrected where it should. 

We have learned a lot and launched a next-generation system that integrates 3+ years of customer feedback and enhanced, more advanced technology.

SpotOn doesn’t make you pay for things you don’t need - get an optional upgrade to enable GPS dog tracking and remote recall 

You are not bound to a subscription fee and we have a 90-day money-back guarantee with NO restocking fees.

Subscription plans are NOT required. SpotOn's GPS dog fence does not require you to purchase a monthly subscription to create and maintain fences for your dog. There is an option to purchase our Boundary Boost tracking subscription for your SpotOn collar, which gives you real-time GPS dog collar tracking notifications if your dog leaves the virtual fence and allows for remote recall.

We offer a free 90-day money-back guarantee as an extra level of protection as your dog is learning the fence. After the trial period, there is a fee that is charged either monthly, annually, or bi-annually. There is no contract—you can cancel or resume a Boundary Boost subscription at any time. Plans start at $5.95 a month.  Click here to learn more. 

As part of your purchase, we also offer a free training program and a complimentary 1X1 session with one of our certified trainers which is tailored to the needs of you and your pup.


Only SpotOn offers a ⭐ 5-star ⭐ guarantee

At SpotOn, we stand behind our product and your experience with a 1-year manufacturer’s warranty with accident forgiveness and a 90-day return window, with no restocking fees. Every customer gets a complimentary 1x1 virtual training session designed to meet the specific needs of your dog.  

 

We also offer 1X1 customer support, 7 days a week. Don’t wait in the DogPark. Our US-based customer service team is available everyday on phone, chat, or email, 9 am - 6 pm. We are happy to answer any specific questions you have about SpotOn’s features and capabilities. Reach us at support@spotonfence.com or 1.603.488.1504.

Learn more about SpotOn's money-back guarantee.

 


SpotOn is a proud American brand - Manufactured in the USA

And... SpotOn is assembled in the USA!! Our design and development team is in New Hampshire. We proudly manufacture, with both domestic and foreign parts, right here in New Hampshire.

SpotOn is SAR compliant & meets regulations for human use

 

Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) measures the rate at which energy is absorbed by the human body when exposed to a radio frequency (RF) electromagnetic field. It is a critical indicator of the safety levels of various wireless devices, including wearables. By attaining SAR compliance, SpotOn has minimized RF exposure and potential health risks to your dog. Although regulations for pet wearables regarding SAR are not required, SpotOn’s SAR compliance meets regulations for human use.

  

We hope this helps answer your questions! If you would like more information, we can be reached at support@spotonfence.com or at 603.488.1504.


Product reviews

Travis C.  10/18/2023 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My wife and I own a non profit petting zoo for special needs children, adults and vets with PTSD. where we live has an issue with coyotes so we new we had to get a livestock guardian dog. The breed we chose is the Turkish Kangal. They are a great breed but do tend to wander. That being said we knew we needed some sort of fencing and with todays pricing on fencing materials we could not afford to do that so we started looking into various GPS fencing systems. Our first investment was with the Halo collar this collar unfortunately had issues with maintaining the GPS fence due to limited satellites and our dog would run right through it. That being said we knew we had to find an alternative solution. After doing research we came across SpotOn GPS fence and saw they had reviews from farmers who use their product for their dogs and have had good success. We decided to give them a try and this is what we learned from using their product. First the GPS collar uses 150 satellites to monitor the dogs location. Areas that are covered by a trees still work with all the satellites being used. The static charge used to correct the dogs goes up to 30 which is great for my breed which is very head strong. Halo collar only goes up to 15 which may be good for some breed's but not a Kangal. SpotOn also lets you set up no go zones within your fence so like for us if we don't want Kahn in our riding ring so we can simply set up this location to keep him out of it. Also you can set up a fence with in a fence which basically means if you want your dog to stay in a certain area for example lets say during the day you want your dog to stay around your house you can set the GPS fence inside of your total property. That way they are near the house during the day and then at night you can switch to the outer perimeter fence to protect your live stock. Halo does not offer this. 

 In our opinion SpotOn is a superior product then Halo especially for LGD.

Gregg V. 9/19/2023 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I had the Halo collar before Spot On. I had a lot of issues that customer service would fix and then they would reoccur. Spot On seems to be flawless so far (2weeks). I’m still playing with the boundaries but am confident when they are finalized it will give us peace of mind.

 

Eric L. 6/14/2023 
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Originally I tried the Halo collar and had to return it due to GPS drifting and location inaccuracy. Halo couldn’t fix the issues. 

 Spot On is double the cost of Halo but 10X more accurate and easier to use. Much better design. Worth the extra investment.

 

See more verified reviews here.

 

 


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