Smart pet collar is like an iPhone for your dog
LAS VEGAS -- It's nearly impossible not to be connected. Naturally, so are our pets.
The KYON pet tracker is designed to help you communicate and send messages to and from your family pet. The multipurpose collar allows you to track your pet using GPS technology, communicate with others using an LED display on the outside of the collar, and monitor, track and receive information and alerts about your pet. And it actually looks pretty sleek.
While embedding GPS chips in pets is becoming more common, the KYON could be good for someone who's uncomfortable with putting a chip in their dog or putting them under the knife.
The app allows you to set up a perimeter around the included basestation/charger so if a pup wanders too far, the owner will immediately get a notification to their phone alerting them of the escape. If a dog does run away, the collar can display the message "I'm lost" as well as a phone number to alert any nearby humans.
The 3D GPS does seem pretty impressive for a dog collar. It allows you to see the altitude of the collar's location, which can help a pet owner determine which floor of an apartment building the dog is on in the event that it's stolen, should it still have the collar on, of course.
Pet owners will also be able to check in on some health features of their dog. The collar monitors the dog's temperature and activity over time, so if their dog is overheating, cold, sleepy, happy or needs a walk, they'll get a message displayed on the collar itself as well as a notification to their device. The collar can also tell when it's wet, just in case a dog that can't swim happens to fall into a pool.
We could see this feature getting pretty annoying real fast, but it definitely has its uses.
Additionally, the collar claims it can calm a barking dog using an "ultrasound module" activated by the app, though we have to admit we're a bit skeptical of this, especially for yappy dogs. A microphone in the base station also recognizes the dog's bark, which activates the module while you aren't at home.
KYON also claims it can help prevent a dog fight using the same technology by emitting a high frequency sound when activated in the app to deter dogs from coming close. Again, we're skeptical, and it seems like this feature can also annoy the dog wearing the collar, but it's a cool concept we'd like to see played out.
The battery life is supposed to last a whopping 30 days, which is necessary for a device like this. Constant charging would make it a hassle, and the last thing you want is for your dog to run off with only a day's charge left on its GPS tracker.
At $249, this is not a cheap dog collar, and a $4.99 fee is required monthly to keep the collar's GPS feature working, but peace of mind for pet owners can come at a cost. The collar is currently available for preorder, and is expected to ship at the end of January.
Topics CES
