Comments on: WiFi Dog Fence Review

By: MT

MT — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:48:47 +0000

After almost a week of trying to get our Perimeter WiFi border established, I am giving up and sending it back in the morning. Maybe it was just our unit but setting the boundaries was next to impossible. I’d hear a beep, set a flag in that spot, and the next time I brought the collar out to that area to test it… nothing! Not a sound. Not a peep. Not a beep. This happened over and over again. I grew weary trying to figure out where the boundaries were to set the flags because there was no consisitency from one time to the next. Consequently, I’ve now had my unit for 6 days and have gotten no where with it, let alone starting to train my dog. Wished it would have worked out but it just didn’t for me. I’m going to look into other brands of wireless fences and hope for better luck. I must say, though, that the gentleman I spoke to on the phone was extremely helpful, knowlegebable and friendly. He told me honestly that the Perimeter WiFi has about a 50/50 return rate for various reasons. I gave it a try hoping I was in the 50% that it worked for. Obviously I wasn’t.

ADMIN – Hi MT,

Sorry to hear it didn’t work for you. Those kinds of spotty coverage problems are endemic across all brands of wireless fences. They have a lot of problems getting through obstacles. If you can, try a wired system. Wired systems are much better, they do not have that problem at all.

By: F Webel

F Webel — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 12:53:05 +0000

Purchased a PWF-100 unit and have been very disappointed in it’s performance. We have tried multiple locations, including the second floor, for the Indoor Station and there are always “dead” zones where our dog gets NO stimulation and just walks away from our property. Cannot recommend this unit unless you live in a tent with no trees for a few hundred yards.

By: Kurtis

Kurtis — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:23:26 +0000

I really like the features of this system. However, the negative reviews cause me to be cautious to buy it. I see many of the negative reviews are older and the latest review gives positive feedback on the system. Does anyone know if the bugs have been worked out of the system? Also, does the company provide upgrades to improve the system? Thanks!

ADMIN – Hi Kurtis,

The units are constantly being shipped with better software. You can’t upgrade it yourself, but Perimeter has been good in the past about swapping the units for ones with newer software where there is a problem. Unfortunately, it does not seem to have made a big difference in our testing. Less seem to be arriving dead, but the system still has the same limitations.

I think after all the negative reviews people have much lower expectations from the unit. We certainly try to be very clear that it has very big limitations when selling it to customers. (the boundary line moves around a lot, it is very slow to react, and has a lot of trouble with obstacles). Where I think it does better is in a wide open space, with a dog that has already been trained on a wired system. I would not use it in any other situation.

By: WallyMac

WallyMac — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 13:36:57 +0000

I feel compelled to write a good review about this product. I was one of the original purchasers of this system back in May/June of 2009. I will admit that the system they originally sent was not working correctly… but the problem was relating to the collar synching with the base unit. The second system they sent worked perfectly! I think the biggest challenge that people face is finding a suitable place for the base unit. It does use a wi-fi signal, so like any radio wave, it is succeptable to interference. I live on a 2 acre property and have the perimeter set to 110 feet. Yes, if u do not calibrate the collar, it can be off by a LOT!! There is a factory reset button if u have a problem. It only took my dog about a week to really learn the boundry. I set it up with the collar in my hand and walked the entire circumfrence of the signal placing the flags exactly where I heard the beep. It was mostly a circular shape, although on the far side of my house, the signal was brought in about 6 feet (due to interference, or going through all the walls), so the shape there was a little different. Like I said, I put the flags exactly where the beep occured. I re-checked the boundry twice before putting the collar on the dog.
I understand the problems some people are having and will try to explain from what I experienced. #1 – the collar does not need an on/off switch because it has a motion sensor built in. After about 5 minutes of stillness, it goes into a sleep mode until motion is detected again. Sometimes, I will shake the collar just a bit before letting the dog outside to make sure it is activated. #2 – Like any wireless product (and I have tried them all), there will be times when the signal is dropped. The base unit DOES have an alarm if it loses contact with the collar. You can choose to mute it, or wait until it re-scquires the signal (sometimes takes a minute or so). However, the pluses of the system far out weigh the negatives. I know where my dog is at all times. I can actually watch the distances change when he is running around the property at night. I can see when he is getting close to the boundry and call him back if needed. I would agree that the accuracy is about +/- 3feet from the set distance. Overall, I am pleased with the system as it continues to keep my dog in the yard. I used a Petsafe wireless system before and sent it back because my dog was shocked very badly several times while IN MY OWN HOUSE! So, do your research and see what system works best for you. I was pleased to work with their customer service.

By: James Irvin

James Irvin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:24:39 +0000

This unit should have never been placed on the market. It was totally useless and a major waste of time. I bought this unit from an online store “Pet Street Mall” . They only refunded $260 of my original $300. So add a waste of money to the list!

By: shawn

shawn — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:52:44 +0000

Well after reading all these reviews it’s all truth. As someone who has this system since july 2009 till today let me put some things i do like about it. After i trained my doges for a while and made sure they know there boundaries(of course they got shocked few times)I decided to use this system only with the buzzer correction since the system is really not consistent with the corrections distance. The good thing about it is my dogs know when to come back to our yard without getting shocked and we know where the dogs are at all times.
And most important the customer service is really the best out there. I had the whole unit and collars replaced recently to more updated one, so i hope one day they will get it to work right.

By: GH

GH — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 22:18:49 +0000

America Outdoor, an internet merchant, failed to fully refund the price paid for a defective Perimeter WiFi Dog Fence System. The merchandise was returned within 20 days after purchase, carefully re-packed in the original box, clean and in new condition. Following is an excerpt from the letter to America Outdoor requesting a full refund and explaining the defective system.

This system does not perform as it claims. We spent an entire day trying to set the perimeter.

There is no consistency in the distance from base station to the Activation Zone. Most of the time it is not even close, sometimes varying more than 30 feet short of or beyond the point of initial activation — much greater than the claimed Activation Zone of +/- 3 feet. Sometimes, it will not even activate at all anywhere along the line extending from the base station and through a previously-set activation point, allowing “holes” in the fence where it does not
activate.

Additionally, there are extreme variations in the width of the Correction Zone, well beyond the claimed width of 5 feet to 10 feet (diagram says 3 feet to 10 feet). As with the Activation Zone, the variation of the Correction Zone is random and often exceeds 30 feet. These substantial and randomly-occuring inaccuracies result in an extremely irregularly shaped Safe Zone whose boundary is ever-changing and totally unpredictable. If I cannot predict where it will activate, our dog certainly will not be able to do so.

Such an erratic system will be impossible for even the most intelligent dog to learn because the boundaries are always changing. In order to avoid the unpredictable, unfair, painful corrections, it is reasonable to expect that our dog would cower at the side of the house, as close as he can get to the base station inside, terrified of moving too far.

By: Rob

Rob — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:56:45 +0000

Due to the negative feedback in regards to problems transmitting through walls etc… It sounds like the system should have an external antenna that could be positioned in the center of a roof. My house is situated in the center of the area where i would like the dog enclosed, so this would be perfect… until this problem is resolved i will not be purchasing this product!!

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:10:49 +0000

This product is easy to setup with a preset distance already built in. Moving in and out of the menus was easy as well as changing the corrections. I found no problems walking around my house with the collar and also noticed that it started beeping within 3 feet of where I set the boundary. I set the boundary to be 100′. Being able to setup the system by myself was very simple. The rechargeable batteries have been lasting me about 7-10 days.
The thing I really like the most is being alerted to when my dog challenges the system!

By: J Stachel

J Stachel — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:20:16 +0000

After reading the negative reviews, I was nervous to take the plunge. But with a 30 day money back guarantee I figured why not?

My first impressions are quite different than other reviewers – I thought the product appeared well built and did not appear at all cheap, in fact it seemed robust.

Had some intial troubles setting up (I am not the most tech savy) but the person I reached on the customer service 1-800 number was most helpful. Seems placing the unit next to the fridge was not the best idea. Moved to a different spot and easily got a decent boundary (70′). My property is a little over a hundred feet wide so any more range and my dog would be in the neighbors yard. I did play around and got 100 feet, but reset to 70′. I do agree that it would be nice to just “dial in ” the range instead of running in and out of the house.

Battery life has been around a week, though my dog “bumps” the boundary quite a few times a day. It is really nice to know what he is doing! I would consider a wired product if it offered the feedback, I just like to know all is well.

I was leery of rechargeable batteries, I hate throwing away a product because the batteries die and you can’t replace them. The batteries in the Wire Free wifi fence are replaceable (thats how you charge them, you take them out and charge in the base) – and you can buy replacements on the web.

I found the lower shock levels to be too low (tried them myself and they were only a tingle). Setting 3 and 4 will get your attention, setting 5 hurts! However setting 5 works well. Maybe when he starts challenging less I will back the setting down a little.

The only time I experienced issues similar to the other reviewers was when I placed the base next to the fridge – ever since moving it all has been well. I am really pleased I decided to take the plunge and my neighbors are amazed with the system. I am worried that neighboring systems will interfere, but the girl at customer support assured me they would not.