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

April 2, 2024 0 comments

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, but we will outline some very important differences below.

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:

Superior tech

SpotOn’s superior GPS accuracy and reliability. In independent testing by a lab that is used by NASA and Garmin for GPS testing, SpotOn Fence was found to be 7x more accurate and its boundary warnings 6x more consistent. See the results.

Similar cost of ownership

SpotOn does not require a subscription. SpotOn’s fences work right out of the box. Plus, you’ll get unlimited fences. With Halo, if you buy the lowest subscription, you will only get 5. SpotOn may cost more upfront, but it includes more.
When you compare the 1-year cost of SpotOn vs Halo + all the extra fees you pay to use it, the difference in cost is negligible (don’t worry - we’ve done the math for you below).

Better user experience

SpotOn is much more flexible. Unlimited fences that are extremely customizable. Ability to design the perfect fences for your property - create fences that intersect, overlap (share GPS coordinates), and can curve around any landmark.
SpotOn is much more user-friendly. The ability to create keep-out areas and the ability to turn off alerts and corrections in the house without paying for extra beacons.
SpotOn has quick charge capability - SpotOn charges up in about an hour.

A company that has your back

SpotOn is a proud American brand - designed, developed, and assembled in New Hampshire (with domestic and foreign parts).
SpotOn stands behind our product with a 5-Star Guarantee - Try it for 90 days. Love it. Or return it. Plus, enjoy accident forgiveness with our 1-year warranty. Learn more about our satisfaction guarantee.
SpotOn has the best customer service. You won't have to wait in the dog park. We are a phone call away 7 days a week (or chat, or email-your choice).
SpotOn is safe for your pet by being SAR compliant - SpotOn emits low radio frequencies, which means it is safer for your pet. There is no subscription required - SpotOn’s fences work right out of the box. Plus, you’ll get unlimited fences.

We also encourage you to research both products— read our 3K+ verified reviews on our website (rating 4.4), the Apple and Google App stores (rating 4.8 on both), Amazon (rating 3.7), Better Business Bureau (rating 3.7), Chewy (rating 4.5). Also, look around on eBay and Facebook Marketplace— you won’t find many second-hand SpotOn Fences.

Fence accuracy and reliability

SpotOn GPS fence technology is extremely accurate— critical for keeping your dog within his boundaries and safe. In fact, SpotOn has been tested by an independent lab and was proven to be the most accurate gps smart fence.

Independent testing lab Spirent is recognized as a leading expert in GNSS testing. The lab has served major organizations in the telecommunications, automotive, aerospace, and defense industries including, the European Union, NASA, Qualcomm, Garmin, Toyota, Lockheed Martin, and Meta.

When they performed a head-to-head test, they found SpotOn consistently demonstrated more accuracy and consistency. More specifically, the fence was 7x times more accurate, the boundary warnings were 6x more consistent, and the tracking was 11x more precise in the presence of buildings and trees. See the details here.

How is SpotOn so accurate?

SpotOn is the only GPS system to use an active, dual-feed antenna/receiver system. This high-quality antenna/receiver combo filters out interference from Bluetooth and cellular signals like Halo’s active antenna but, in addition, differentiates direct and reflected GPS signals to filter out inferior signals reflecting off trees, buildings, or hills, resulting in a more accurate and reliable fence.

This high-fidelity antenna can maintain an uninterrupted satellite connection because it has a clear view of the sky, resting on the back of the neck, the dog’s body can't block it.

SpotOn Boasts a Patented True Location™ Technology

SpotOn also 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.

An accurate fence is important to keep your dog safe. When we designed SpotOn, we set out to make a fence that was comparable to a traditional buried wire solution. We set our standards extremely high, knowing that though all GPS products have inherent GPS drift, we could control it with high-quality components and our True Location technology. We determined the maximum acceptable drift for a GPS fence was 10 feet. We built SpotOn to meet this standard, and in the lab testing, it performed as advertised 96% of the time. The couple of times it drifted beyond the spec, it was only by 16 inches (maximum of 11.4 feet of drift). Halo’s maximum drift was recorded at 32 feet.

The reliability of the fence’s alerts is also critical. SpotOn’s alerts and warnings are designed to be issued 10 feet and again at 5 feet before the fence line. In the independent testing, these alerts were issued 100% of the time. Why is this important? Consistent alerts make it easier to train your dog and for your dog to understand and respect the boundaries of the fence when outdoors unsupervised. During independent testing, Halo issued both alert tones 16% of the time, and 30% of the time, issued a correction with no alert preceding it.

Unmatched Location Tracking Accuracy

In a head-to-head test, SpotOn’s tracking was 11x more accurate in the presence of buildings and trees. This is because SpotOn Fence can access 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.

Setting the record straight...

If you are doing your research, we figure you might also check out Halo’s blog on SpotOn, there is some misinformation in there that we would love to clear up! Halo states:

1. You must wait several minutes for the [SpotOn] collar to connect to satellites. This is simply untrue. Like a cellphone, Spoton needs to make a network connection when powered on (and so does Halo). When powered on, it takes SpotOn less than a minute to connect to the satellites. But like a cellphone, you don’t turn your SpotOn collar off. You leave it on the charger powered on so it is ready for the next use. When it is powered on, it is connected to the satellites and there is no need to wait to let your dog outdoors.

2. SpotOn only provides periodic updates when the dog leaves the fence. If you have a tracking subscription, SpotOn provides automatic, real-time updates once your dog leaves the fence and will track him for up to 14 hours. When your dog is in the fence, his location can be refreshed at the touch of a button and his position automatically updates every 20 minutes.

3. Halo also claims that SpotOn can not send commands to the dog. This is also untrue. With SpotOn’s callback feature, you can remotely summon your dog.

Cost of SpotOn Fence vs Halo Collar

It’s no secret that SpotOn is more expensive than Halo. A proud American brand, SpotOn is designed, manufactured (with domestic and foreign parts), and supported in Manchester, NH. We pay our employees a fair living wage and, when possible, source our components and sub-assemblies from local suppliers.

But beyond that, our components are a higher quality, and you simply get more with SpotOn.

You don’t need to pay a monthly fee to use any feature that is available with a GPS connection. SpotOn’s (unlimited) fences, Keep Out Zones, Home Zones, and Off-grid mode will all work right out of the box. Our subscription, which starts at $5.95 a month, is only needed to track your dog and use the remote recall feature. It can be canceled anytime.
Every SpotOn collar comes with the same 5-star guarantee that entitles you to 90-day return window (with no restocking fees), a 1-year warranty, one-time free replacement if your collar is lost or damaged (in addition to the 1-year manufacturer warranty), a free 1x1 session with a certified dog trainer, and customer support 7 days a week, the way it works best for you - phone, email, or chat. Everyone gets the same top-tier level of customer service. Unlike Halo, it does NOT increase with the cost of the subscription plan.
Every customer is entitled to beta tests for new features and a 50% discount on accessories

In contrast, Halo requires a subscription to use the product. They offer three different plans. To get unlimited virtual fences, you’ll need to subscribe to Halo’s gold plan ($19.99 per month), to get discounts on replacement collars requires Halo Care ($9.99 per month), and to create outdoor keep-out zones requires purchasing outdoor beacons ($39). Halo collar offers a 60-day return policy with $25 restocking fee. Yes, Halo may be cheaper upfront, but when you consider the long-term costs, the two products are actually quite similar. A one-year cost of ownership:

SpotOn: $1,094 - includes 1-yr subscription, free replacement collar (if needed), and use of multiple outdoor Keep Out Zones (if you don’t need the subscription, the cost is $999).
Halo: $1,062 - includes 1-yr Gold Plan subscription, Halo Care (to entitle you to a replacement collar for $149), and an outdoor beacon ($39) for each Keep Out Zone. If you don’t opt for Halo care and need a replacement, your cost would be about $1,241.

When you look at the cost of ownership beyond a year, SpotOn provides more value for less.

"The gap in price between the two reflects the gap in quality. The SpotOn collar's design seem to be focused on high-quality components that deliver a high level of precision and accuracy and ultimately a high level of performance, whereas Halo's design kind of seems like it was an afterthought."

- The Pampered Pup- SpotOn collar vs Halo 3. Watch the full video here.

Product features

Here’s a list of features that both products offer. We will explain them in greater detail below.

	SpotOn GPS Fence	Halo Collar
Number of fences	Unlimited - no subscription needed	Depends on the subscription (5 with the Basic plan)
Monthly Plan cost	Monthly: $9.95 One Year: $7.95 Two Year: $5.95	Basic: $9.99 Silver: $14.99 Gold: $19.99
Create fence	Draw in-app or walk/drive	Draw in app
GPS fence posts	1,500	20
Overlapping fences/individually activated fences	Yes	No
Off-grid mode (can make fences in areas with no cell service)	Yes	No
Keep out zones/Fence-inside-a-fence	Customizable shape GPS-based, in-app	Circular, uses Bluetooth-based beacon (+$39 - outdoor beacon needed)
Automatic fence shut-off indoors/Correction-free zones	Customizable shape GPS-based, in-app	Circular, uses Bluetooth-based beacon
Escape notifications and reports	Yes (subscription required)	Yes
Remotely call the dog	Yes	Yes
Static correction	30 levels	15 levels
Battery charge time	1-1 ½ hours	2- 2 ½ hours
Multiple user accounts with customizable permissions	Yes	No
Activity tracking	No	Yes
Indoor keep-out zones	No	Circular Bluetooth-based beacon
Customer support	Phone, Email, Chat	Dogpark
Regular app and firmware updates	Yes	Yes

SpotOn vs. Halo 3 Fence Customization

You can draw them in the app or walk 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. We recommend walking if you want precision around a flowerbed, etc. Drawing in the app work fine for just about everything else.

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 offers GPS fence-inside-a-fence to keep dogs out of off limits areas

SpotOn's Keep Out Zones are GPS-enabled and let you create custom-shaped, off-limits areas within your fences. This feature is free and available to everyone. 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, who uses Bluetooth Beacons for keep-out areas, 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 pieces are needed, and no need to purchase outdoor Beacons which cost $39.99 each.

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, which uses a battery-powered Bluetooth Beacon to turn off fences, 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 with Halo 3’s beacons. Also, you don't have to worry about your Home Zone deactivating due to a dead battery.

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.

Boundary breach notifications, tracking, and escape reports

SpotOn will automatically notify you when your dog leaves and will begin tracking their location in real-time. If your dog returns to the fence, you will receive an automatic notification. Like Halo, SpotOn also offers escape reports (Halo refers to it as feedback responsiveness) so you can see where your dog left, where they went, and where and when they returned. This is helpful for establishing patterns and retraining the dog if needed.

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 and charges up in just about an hour. Halo takes 2 - 2.5 hours to come to a full charge. Plus, SpotOn includes the wall plug you need to charge your collar in the box. To get a wall plug for Halo, you'll have to purchase the charging kit for $34.99 or supply your own.

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.

SpotOn is the original GPS fence

SpotOn gathered a team of engineers who 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 thousands 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 in 2022 that integrates 3+ years of customer feedback and enhanced, more advanced technology.

We hope this helps answer your questions! If you want 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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