Back in April, about a month after I’d moved into the van, a subscriber sent me a Waggle Pet Monitor (thank you again, Jes!), and I’ve been actively using it in the van since then. Now that I’ve had a few months with it, I thought I’d share my thoughts about it.
*Disclaimer: the Waggle is not a substitute for responsibility. Please always check on your pets, no matter what technology you have in place to help protect them, and ensure—with smart choices and your own physical being—that they are, in fact, safe. Technology can and does fail. As with any tool, its effectiveness is in how it’s used.
That said, the Waggle Pet Monitor has become an important tool in my emergency and safety kit as a van-dweller, and I wouldn’t want to be without it now. In addition to having my entire life in the van (my two dogs), I also have a 15-pound propane tank in a [properly vented] cabinet under the stove, and two lithium iron phosphate batteries in the back, so even when the dogs aren’t in the van, I appreciate the ability to know the temperature for the purpose of maintaining my batteries and propane tank. Extreme heat can cause propane leaks and shorten the life of lithium batteries. With the Waggle, I know immediately when the temperature starts to climb too high, and I can take appropriate action.
About the Waggle Pet Monitor.
There are three different versions of the Waggle Pet Monitor: a Lite+ version, a Pro+ version, and a Pro+Air version. I have the Pro+ version, but I’ll briefly go over all three.
All three versions operate on the Verizon network (the Waggle device itself comes with built-in 4G Verizon data), and you do have to purchase a separate cellular plan (via the Waggle app during setup) to receive alerts on your smartphone.
Cell phone plans for the Waggle were, at the time of my signing up (April 2024), as follows:
• $69/quarterly (billed every 3 months)
• $129/half-year (billed every 6 months)
• $199/year (billed every 12 months)
• $299/two-years (billed every 24 months)
According to this page, the quarterly subscription may no longer be available (?); however, that’s the subscription that I’ve been on since April, and it continues to auto-renew.
If you don’t have cell service, you will not receive alert notifications. This is very important to remember if, like me, you tend to spend time in remote areas off-grid and out of cell range.
The Waggle Lite+ monitors temperature, power loss, power recovery, humidity and heat index.
The Waggle Pro+ monitors all of the above, plus it is GPS-enabled and adds a Geofencing alert. This means that if your vehicle (or wherever the Waggle is installed) moves outside of a set mileage range of its current GPS location, you will be alerted. It also offers a location map to show you exactly where the Waggle is at any given time. So basically, it’s a GPS tracker, too.
The Waggle Pro+Air includes all of the features of the Pro+ and adds an air quality index sensor, a TVOC sensor (Total Volatile Organic Compounds - detects a wide range of organic chemicals), and an Elevated CO₂ sensor. This version is relatively new as of the date of this posting.
All three versions have a rechargeable battery that can last up to 2-3 days without an external power source, and a digital display on the device itself. You can push a button on the display to see current readings, but the display will turn off after a few seconds. When away from the device, you can monitor all stats via the Waggle smartphone app (so long as there is cell service).
The power loss (and power recovery) feature will send an alert if power is lost (or recovered). If you want to monitor a specific battery system, the Waggle must be plugged into the power source you want to monitor. For example, if you want alerts when the house battery loses or regains power, then you must plug the Waggle into the house battery system. Right now, I have the Waggle plugged into the Wave 2 air conditioner battery since it’s most important to me to know when the air conditioner loses power and shuts off. If I receive a power loss alert, I know that the a/c has stopped running and the temp will start rising. This offers me a bit of a head start in taking necessary action before the temp gets too high. I also set the upper number of my temperature range below what is actually concerning, so that I can act instead of react.
The moment one of the monitored data sets goes outside of the set range, an alert will be sent. A reminder alert will continue to be sent every thirty minutes (frequency is adjustable in-app) until it is back within the set range. For example, if I set my temperature range from 35º to 80º F and the temperature creeps up to 80º, it will send an alert to my phone as soon as it hits 80ºF. It will continue to send alerts with updated information every thirty minutes until the temperature falls below 80ºF again. The same thing applies to the other monitored data.
If you want to send alerts to multiple people, you can enter up to five different phone numbers and e-mail addresses. And if you don’t want to receive text or e-mail alerts at all, you can set alerts to be provided in-app only (an in-app notification will pop up on your phone screen, so long as your phone settings allow this). The Waggle limits the number of text alerts you can receive to 500 per month.
Personal experience.
In the four months that I’ve used the Waggle Pet Monitor (Pro+), it has functioned exactly as advertised. I’ve had it operating 24/7 since I installed it on April 13, 2024.
I do not depend on it to keep my dogs safe in the van, and I would not recommend that anyone else depend on it, either. But in addition to common sense and good critical thinking skills, this tool can offer some peace of mind.
I’m the type of person who regularly does risk assessments in my head and mentally lists all of the worst-case scenarios in every situation. The Waggle is a tool that could really come in handy if, god forbid, one of those worst-case scenarios were ever to occur. And for me, that’s a worthwhile investment.
If you’re interested in purchasing a Waggle Pet Monitor at 60% off, here is a referral link: http://waggle.refr.cc/default/u/tifholmes.
There’s also a helpful FAQ page on Waggle’s website HERE.
As always, if you have any questions, please leave a comment. I’m happy to help if I can. And if you’d like to watch a YouTube video about the Waggle that I just published, you can watch it here:
Nicely written. I marvel at what people create that help others stay safe. Thanks!