Innotek UltraSmart Extra Collar Receiver for IUC-4100, IUC-4200, and IUC-5200 Systems

I have large dogs, Chesapeake bay Retrievers and Labs. When they are outside day or night they have this device on. They have been wearing their current collars now for 4+ years. I recommend this collar to everyone that asks me how we keep our dogs on our property without them wondering off.We take the collars off every night when the dogs come in for the night. About once a month they get charged, sometimes its longer and sometimes it's less. If it's less, I know the battery is getting ready to expire so I make a phone call to get a replacement. If I have bought any of the collars in the last 12 months the replacement collar is sent to me free of charge with return shipping for the old collar already taken care of as well.What I do not like about the device is when they changed to the flimsy rubber collar. I'm sure some people may like but for us it is just something for one of the other dogs to chew on and it breaks in a short time. However I can order the old style hard rubber collars for it and the replacement is only two screws. Well worth the piece of mind for someone that has lots of property.Before this device we used the PetSafe large dog collar. We bought it in 2005 and believe it or not is still in use. When we upgraded to the Innotek collars I gave the entire old system to our neighbors for their dogs and it is currently in use now. Still going strong.One other thing I wish was made better is the remote control that goes with the collar. We will sync the collar first thing before we let them out but sometimes during the day the sync will drop and when you go to use the remote there is nothing. Normally corrected by re-syncing, just a pain when you really need to use it and it doesn't work.There are times I wish this collar came with a GPS so I can look at the computer screen or my smart phone to see where all the dogs are while they are out of sight or I'm away from home for the day.Customer Service with Innotek has been nothing short of outstanding. They will stay on the phone and trouble shoot until we work out what the problem is. They have done as much as call me back later in the day to check on me to make sure it's still functioning as advertised. I have had to pay 40 some dollars for a replacement collar before but that is where I havent bought a collar for a year or two. But 40 some dollars is better than the almost 200 like in the beginning and the just over a hundred dollars everyone pays now.

I have had four different dogs and three systems in the past 20 years and this is the worst system ever! We 'upgraded' our old system with the Contain and Train system and had nothing but problems. I currently have two English Setters, and these collars are horrible. They do not stay buckled and fall off the dogs when they play. We had to start putting a zip-tie on the collar so that it would stay on the dogs. They do not charge reliably and only work for about 6-9 months before they won't take a charge. The system is also very prone to interference from other dog fence systems. We had a lot of issues with our neighbors fence 'cancelling' out our signal on the side of our property adjacent to their property with a different system. (The fence was professionally installed according to the specs.) When we could keep the collars on the dogs, they would crap out and I would have to return them for a new collar about every 9 months.After a two years of this nonsense , we installed the Invisible Fence system and it works brilliantly. The collars are small and made with a very sturdy nylon strap. If you love your dog, do not get an Innotek system.

Let me say that the electronics work well, as intended and designed. The collar itself is garbage. Being all plastic isn't all bad, but the design uses two hinge points where the strap attaches to the battery pack and those connections are prone to break off with no way to repair them. I've had two fail in exactly the same manner. Another problem is that the tongue end of the strap isn't secured very well at the buckle and easily works free, allowing the buckle to become unclasped. It's a good thing my dog is a retriever because he always beings the collar back to me when it falls off. Innoteck really needs to change these two design flaws, unless of course they prefer to force their customers to spend a major portion of they system cost on replacement collars every year or two.

We've got two of these for our two setters and they work perfectly. Nicely adjustable and tough for the roughhousing that goes on. The battery lasts a very long time and the unit charges easily. I have not used the self-check modes or other features of the collar as my dogs now respect the line with and without the collar. The beeping, even to my (relatively now...sigh) young ears is faint and if there is a lot of ambient noise (traffic, high wind, or other) it may be difficult to hear the beeping during training.The major complaint that I have with these is that the strap comes undone VERY easily, we lost one, but I clued into two things:1) you must have the extra strap (past the buckle) tucked into the loop so there's no loose strap flapping around or the buckle will come undone and you will lose your collar.OR2) much easier is to tape the clasp of the buckle closed with electrical tape. This is a very simple and not bad looking and permanent fix. In our case it is helpful too because we can have one color for each dog making sorting out who gets which collar easier.It would be wise for Innotek to fix this problem on their side, but it is definitely not a deal breaker.