Which brand leads the pack of GPS dog fences?
Independent lab, Spirent, finds SpotOn is the most accurate GPS dog fence
At SpotOn, data reigns supreme and drives us to deliver the best GPS fences available.
Why?
- 🐾 We know that the reliability of your dog’s fence is critical to their well-being.
- 🔍 We know there are a lot of options out there, and all brands claim they are the best and most accurate.
- 📋 We want to make sure you have all the information you need to make the best decision for your dog.
That’s why we hired Spirent, an independent lab that specializes in GPS testing, to test SpotOn’s latest fence products, the Omni Edition (launched in April 2024) and the Nova Edition (launched in January 2026), alongside the latest products from two market-leading GPS dog fence brands.
In September of 2025, we put four products to the test across a series of live outdoor environments to determine, with a degree of scientific certainty, whether one brand outperformed the others. In this field testing, all products were tested to their stated specifications.
Alerts and corrections - how the systems work
All GPS fence systems use one or more alerts before the fence line and issue a correction at the fence line. For instance, SpotOn issues an alert 10 feet before the fence line, again at 5 feet before the fence line, and a correction at the fence line.
Competing products begin alerting 7-15 feet before the fence line, and should issue a correction at the fence line.
All GPS products have a tolerance that accounts for GPS drift. SpotOn’s stated tolerance is 3-6 feet for the Nova Edition and 6-10 feet for the Omni Edition. Other GPS fence brands state a GPS drift tolerance of just over a foot to four feet.
Methodology: how the test was conducted
For each product, identical virtual fences were created by using each device's mobile app.
To calculate the accuracy of the fence line, the team measured the distance away from the fence and the time it took for each device to broadcast alerts and corrections using measuring tapes and flags, and collected the data you’ll see below.
We tested the accuracy of the fenceline (did it drift from its original placement?) and the reliability of the boundary (were all warnings and alerts issued according to the product’s specifications?).
Accuracy
Accuracy is the fence line. More specifically, where you put the fenceline and how much it moves or “drifts.” Accuracy is basically how much drift relative to the fence line.
All GPS devices experience drift. Drift will vary based on internal factors such as the type (dual-band or single-band receiver / dual-feed or single-feed antenna/ active or passive antenna), size, quality, and tuning of the GPS antenna and external factors such as the satellites' positions in the sky and the number of obstructions in their fields of view (such as trees and buildings).
Here is a helpful analogy. If you are driving in an autonomous car, accuracy keeps you in the middle of the lane and on the right side of the road. GPS drift is often worse in heavily wooded areas or around tall buildings. Going back to the car analogy, have you ever used your smartphone for directions in the city? Sometimes it thinks you are across the street or one block away. That’s GPS drift. It might be fine if you simply needed directions, but not if you were driving in an autonomous vehicle.
When it comes to your dog’s fence, the less drift the better.
We tested in several different environments to ensure we understood the accuracy of SpotOn and compared it to other solutions. Both of SpotOn’s products consistently demonstrated superior position accuracy compared to the other GPS smart fences. In fact, SpotOn products were found to be 7.3x more accurate than the other GPS smart fences, with both our Nova and Omni editions displaying minimal drift in all conditions compared to the more significant drift displayed by other GPS fences.
- - SpotOn Nova’s average GPS drift: 2.3 feet
- - SpotOn Omni’s average GPS drift: 2.8 feet
- - Competitor one average GPS drift: 21 feet
- - Competitor two average GPS drift: 17.2 feet
However, where it really stood out was under a full tree canopy and around tall buildings, where SpotOn substantially outperformed the other GPS fences.
- - SpotOn Nova’s GPS drift under trees and around buildings: 2.7 feet
- - SpotOn Omni’s GPS drift under trees and around buildings: 3.7 feet
- - Competitor one GPS drift under trees and around buildings: 30.5 feet
- - Competitor two GPS drift under trees and around buildings: 28.6 feet
Reliability
Reliability is how the fence performs relative to the fenceline. It really doesn’t matter how accurate the fence line is if the alerts and corrections don’t trigger when and where they are supposed to. Circling back to driving an autonomous vehicle, it may know where the roads are and can stay on the right side of the road, but if it doesn’t stop at a red light or stops in the middle of the intersection, the rest of it doesn’t matter.
SpotOn was 100% reliable during independent testing. What does that mean? It means that all alert and boundary warnings triggered where they were supposed to, EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
Compared to brand one, which triggered warnings and corrections 78% of the time, and brand two, which triggered warnings and corrections 71% of the time.
What does this mean for your dog? Low reliability leads to inconsistent or non-existent boundary alerts and corrections, which:
- 1. Makes it harder to train your dog because they will not anticipate where alerts and warnings will be issued, which makes the repetition needed during training unattainable.
- 2. Is unfair to them once they are using the fence. Inconsistent alerts and corrections appear well inside the boundary as false corrections, or well outside the boundary, potentially putting your dog in harm's way.
Conclusion
A fence that is not accurate or reliable is really not a fence at all.
That’s why SpotOn is rigorously tested and proven to be the best choice for your dog. We set the standard of accuracy and reliability when we launched our first fence back in 2019. Over the past several years, while others have been making their products cheaper and smaller, SpotOn has taken a different path. We have not sacrificed performance; we have consistently sought the highest-quality GPS components to set the standard for accuracy and reliability, so over 100,000 dog owners feel confident letting their dogs live life unleashed with their SpotOn.
About Spirent
Uniquely qualified to perform this testing, Spirent is recognized as a leading expert in GNSS testing and serves major organizations in the telecommunications, automotive, aerospace, and defense industries, including the European Union, NASA, Qualcomm, Garmin, Toyota, Lockheed Martin, and Meta.
