REVIEW – I’ve had a cat as a pet for pretty much my entire life. Since I’ve always lived in a rural area, all of my cats have enjoyed being both indoors and outdoors. My current little monster is Ozzy (shown above). He’s an American Bobtail, and he’s something else. 😉 He absolutely loves being outside, and sometimes, he’s gone for hours exploring our woods. When I was offered the opportunity to review the ROLA PetTracker, I thought it would be fun to see where he goes and where he is, even in real time. Let’s check out this pet gadget and see how well (or not) it works.
What is it?
The ROLA PetTracker is a wearable tracking device with a built-in camera, microphone, speaker, and SOS button, that is small enough for cats or dogs to wear.
What’s included?
- ROLA PetTracker
- Mount
- Small harness
- Fur-pressing pad for long haired pets
- USB-C charging cable
- SIM card
Enabot also included a large harness suitable for a dog. I don’t believe this is typically included with purchase but was included for review purposes.
Tech Specs
Camera angle – 89.8°
Image stabilization – Six-Axis Gyro Stabilization
Night vision – Not Supported
Speaker – 0.8W
WIFI/BT/GPS – WIFI 2.4G/ BT 4.2/ GPS+AGPS
Dimensions – L62*W37.5*H27.1mm
Weight – 70g
Battery capacity – 1500mAh
Charging time – 1.5 H
Battery life – 3-5 Days
Adapter power rating – 5V/1.5A
Device power rating – 7.5 W
File format – MP4
RAM – 1GB
ROM – 32GB
Design and features
The ROLA PetTracker looks like a small action camera that is available in black, white, and yellow. Its front has a camera lens, status LED, SOS/power button, and microphone.
The SOS feature is pretty awesome. If you press the button (note that holding it down turns off the camera), it will call the app, allowing you to talk to the person on the other end through the camera. If your pet gets lost and someone finds it, they can press the button to place a “phone” call to the owner’s mobile device where the ROLA app is installed and talk in real time.
The back of the camera has a large removable clip.
The clip has a hinge that enables you to customize the viewing angle.
The clip also has slots for the included strap and harness. In the image above, you can see the covered USB-C port for charging.
The clip is removable and when it’s removed, you have access to the SIM card slot.
You’ll need a knife to pry the cover open.
Then you can place the included SIM card in the cover.
I’m testing the ROLA PetTracker with my cat Ozzy, so I removed the clip and attached the harness clip. Ozzy is a pretty big boy. He weighs 13lbs. The ROLA seems a bit large even for him, so I don’t think it would be very comfortable for a smaller cat. Once I put the harness on Ozzy, he wasn’t thrilled, but he didn’t try to pull it off.
ROLA app
In order to track your pet and see a live view of where they are, you have to install the ROLA app on your mobile device. I did this on my iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Setting up the camera is easy, and the app itself is easy to understand and navigate. The main screen shows a live view of your pet on a map, which you can change from a standard to a satellite-style view.
The app has some rudimentary health info that will show how many calories and walking the pet has done that day. Unfortunately, you can only see this data for the week. You can’t scroll back through older data.
You can also set up a geo-fence so that if the pet is detected outside the set range, it will alert you.
You can also see a real time view through the camera and talk to the pet through the speaker.
I do wish the ROLA PetTracker could capture video clips on its own instead of having to manually log into the app, connect and start the video capture. It would be cool to have a timelapse of where your pet has been during the day.
I had some issues with the app losing connection with the camera when I tried to connect to the camera when Ozzy was out running around on our property. I would continue to see Unstable Network errors when I had 2 bars of cell coverage. Note that Rola says that their camera and SIM will work on all three major US carriers: T-mobile, AT&T, and Verizon. I personally use T-Mobile and know that we have great Verizon coverage in my area, but somewhat spotty AT&T coverage. I am not sure exactly which carrier the SIM in the camera sent to me use, but I think it might be AT&T based on some of the connection issues I experienced while testing the PetTracker.
NOTE: I also need to mention that the SIM card provided with the device comes with 100MB of free data. Once this is used up, additional data can be purchased directly through the ROLA App. Here is the price break down.
I am disappointed that if you top off the data, it’s only good for 30 days and then you have to buy more. You also can’t see how much data that you’ve used until it’s depleted.
See it in action
Final thoughts
The ROLA PetTracker is a pretty cool gadget that helps you find your pet if it goes missing and can help others easily contact you and talk to you through the device if they find your pet. But it isn’t without some issues, like not being able to see how much data has been used at any given time and issues with connectivity. I still think it’s a nifty and affordable gadget for pet owners if they don’t mind the caveats.
What I like about the ROLA PetTracker
- Can be used with cats (if they aren’t too small) and dogs
- Easy to setup
- Fun way to check in to see where the pet is in real time
- Can speak to your pet in real time
- SOS feature allows calls through the PetTracker device if they find your lost pet
What needs to be improved?
- There is a charge for extra data and it expires after 30 days
- The app doesn’t show how much data has been used and available
- Seems to have some intermittent connection issues
- Connection voice is a little annoying and probably scares the stuffing out of your pet
- Would be nice to have a setting to automatically capture video every hour
