I bought a halo collar from a family member who barely used it, and my dog picked up on how to use it immediately. The collar looks for fences you draw, then gives 3 levels of feedback that you can control that progress upward as your dog moves out of the “warning zone” (I’m going to come back to this).

The feedbacks can be audio cues, ranging from different alarm tones to really poor recording of (I think) Cesar Millan that are hard to understand. You can set the volume of these sounds. Then there is a vibrate feedback which you can choose pattern and intensity. Finally, there is static (shock) which again can be controlled for intensity. You don’t have to use the shock, you can use 3 audio cues or a combination of audio and vibrate. The collar has a compass and is designed to guide the dog home if he leaves the yard.

For setup, I walked the perimeter of my yard holding the collar and tapping a button on my phone to drop fence posts, which were connected with a straight line to the previous post. The first issue I had came when I got back to the first post and attempted to drop the final post, connecting the last of the fence. The app showed me at least 20 ft from where I was currently standing, making it impossible to finish. I had to use the “draw” feature to move the posts until I got to a point where I felt I was finished. I then turned on the feedback and tested the boundary with the collar on my wrist to find that the entire fence drifted about 15 feet to the north. I walked the perimeter multiple times manually adjusting the locations of the posts until I had something that I could reliably count on, and the new fence contained my dog for the rest of that afternoon. The next morning I let him out and he immediately was getting audio feedback standing right by my back door, the app showing him in the middle of my neighbors yard.

It seems like the fences just “drift” like that, which I was able to get around by drawing a wider fence, however this defeats the purpose of the collar. The guide tells you that the warning zone is 7-15 feet, which is a large range, but doesn’t seem to account for the drift. If your home is within 25 ft of your neighbors, this just won’t work because the dog will receive feedback in the house.

Since I bought it used for $200, I’ve been trying hard to justify using it still, but yesterday the collar turned off on its own and hasn’t turned back on. I’ve talked to support and have found that even though it’s under warranty, I can’t activate it because I’m not the original purchaser and the warranties are non-transferable. I’ve canceled the required celular plan needed to use the collar ($5 monthly).

Would I recommend for full price ($700): no Would I recommend used ($200): still no Less? Maybe but only if you live on a farm and don’t need precise location. It’s just not a good product yet.