My Necto Pet Monitor Review – Better Than Waggle (And Cheaper)

I travel with my dog a lot, and unfortunately not every pit stop is dog-friendly – which means from time to time I have to leave my dog alone in my vehicle.

I’ve used a few pet temperature monitors before finding Necto. The others were incredibly unreliable (a show-stopper for me), more expensive, and ultimately something I couldn’t trust to alert me if my vehicle hit an unsafe temperature.

I’m so glad I found Necto. It gets a full 5-stars from me – this is my detailed and honest Necto pet monitor review.

In this article:

• My Necto pet monitor review
• Pros and cons of Necto
• Necto vs Waggle

I was not paid to write this article. All the thoughts below are my own unbiased, unsponsored opinions and are based on my personal experience using my Necto temperature monitor.

Disclaimer: This article features some affiliate links. I only endorse things I’ve personally used or that come highly recommended by trusted peers. If you purchase anything I mention using my referral links from Amazon, REI or other retailers I may receive a small commission. However, there is never extra cost to you. You can read more here. Thank you for your support.

NOTE: Even with a pet temperature monitor I still do not leave my dog unattended on a hot day. A temperature monitor can help alert you to unsafe conditions, but reasonable judgement is still necessary when deciding if it’s safe to leave your pet unattended. Read more RV pet safety tips here.

Necto Pet Monitor

Before I get into my Necto pet monitor review, let’s quickly cover what it is and how it works!

Necto is a small device that measures temperature and humidity. You set the safe temperature and humidity range you’re comfortable with, and Necto will alert you if either temperature or humidity falls outside of your safe range.

Alerts can be sent to up to 5 people, and you can receive them through the app (push notifications), text alerts or via email.

Necto is a cellular device, which means it does not need wifi or bluetooth to work. It comes with an internal SIM card that connects to 3 different cellular networks for maximum coverage, and uses the cell network to deliver alerts to you.

NOTE: Your Necto pet monitor will work regardless of who your current cell phone provider is.

Necto Temperature Monitor Review

I recently took a road trip across 8 different states, 5 different National Parks, and a variety of metro and extremely rural areas.

Why is this important? Because Necto uses cellular connection to work, so testing it’s reliability in a variety of areas is a great way to pressure test how reliable it really is!

The outcome? Necto had superior connectivity compared to my Waggle pet monitor. It only lost connection once! (in a mountain pass, where there is no cell service)

I’m so pleased with how Necto performs, especially compared to other RV temperature monitors for pets. There’s a fairly long list of things I love about my Necto! I’ll share details on what I love, as well as what I’d like to see changed below.

Necto Review – What I Love

After traveling with my dog and testing multiple pet temperature monitors, I’ve found Necto is the best one on the market. Naturally, the list of things I love about Necto is fairly extensive.

Reliable Alerts

Even in remote areas with limited cell coverage, I’ve found that Necto stays connected better than other monitors.

Why? Because Necto uses three different cellular networks. That means it’s 3x more likely to be connected than other devices.

For example, Waggle is only able to use one cellular network which limits the chances it can find a cell connection to send alerts to your phone.

Necto updates the app with temperature readings every 10 minutes. However, if the temperature exceeds your set range in between updates it automatically pushes an alert to you. It doesn’t wait a full 10 minutes to let you know there’s a problem.

In addition to receiving alerts, I can also open my app and check the current temperature at any time.

No Wifi Or Bluetooth Needed

Because Necto is a cellular connected pet monitor you do not need a wifi or bluetooth connection. This gives me so much more flexibility to use Necto just about anywhere!

It also means I can easily move my Necto pet monitor to different vehicles or locations depending on my needs. It’s extremely versatile.

Lastly, because it uses cell connection it stays connected even when you’re driving.

I Choose The Safe Range For My Dog

Not only is the Necto app really easy to use, but it also lets you pick what temperature and humidity ranges are safe.

My dog is most comfortable in temperatures between 50°F and 85°F. However, when we’re traveling in places that tend to be hotter I drop the limit to 80°F so I have more notice that my vehicle is approaching an unsafe range, which gives me a little more time to get back to my dog before he’s uncomfortable.

Battery Life & Power Consumption

In my experience, Necto has a longer battery life than Waggle. I can consistently get 3 days on a fully charged battery. My Waggle almost always died after 2 days.

I think the largest factor for longer battery life is that Necto can connect to multiple cellular networks, so it spends less time in “search” mode which wears down the battery.

Because Waggle can only connect to one network it uses more battery to search for a connection, which kills the battery faster.

Necto comes with a power cord and wall plug. This allows you to use it in a typical household outlet, or use the USB cord to easily plug it into the outlets in your car or RV.

Best of all, it uses a very small amount of electricity so you can leave it plugged in without worrying about draining your vehicle battery. I leave mine plugged in 24/7.

Easy Installation & App Set Up

Necto Price & Subscription Fees

This is probably the category I’m most impressed with in my Necto review!

Necto costs $205, which includes the device AND 2 years of free service.

Compare that to Waggle, which costs $199 and does not come with any free service – you’ll have to pay $25 a month.

Additionally, once you first 2 years of free service ends you’ll only pay $30 per year to keep your service active.

It blows my mind that Necto connects to 3 cell networks for $30 per year but Waggle charges $25 per month for one.

This reason alone is enough for me to recommend Necto over Waggle, even before you consider it’s superior reliability.

Customer Service

Necto has fantastic customer service AND they’re located in the United States.

I called Necto to confirm a few features before writing this article and was pleased to speak with a native english speaker located in the same time-zone as me.

Conversely, any time I’ve spoken with Waggle the communication has been more difficult as their customer service is based out of India.

Fast Shipping & Delivery

Necto is available on Amazon (I’ll openly admit I’m addicted to Prime 2-day shipping) which means you can get yours delivered in two days or less.

If you’re a procrastinator like me this is great news!

I also appreciate that buying through Amazon makes it easy to manage returns – not that I think you’ll need to!

Easy To Customize Notifications

It’s incredibly easy to customize which notifications you receive and how inside of the Necto app.

You can choose to be alerted via app push notification, text message or by email.

You can also add up to 5 phone numbers to receive notifications on.

Lastly, you can choose which notifications are sent. For my use, power outage alerts aren’t something I need so I’ve chosen to turn those off. The same applies to humidity alerts (although I could see where those would be useful if you were using Necto for a wine cellar or greenhouse garden.)

Necto Review – Room For Improvement

For the sake of a well-rounded Necto review I’m including the things I’d like to see improved upon. This is a much shorter list, but they’re still worth mentioning.

LED Display With Temperature

While you can check your app to get real-time temperature and humidity readings at any time, Necto pet monitor does not come with a built-in display.

Necto pet monitor has two indicator lights: one to show power status and one to show cellular connectivity.

However, it does not have a way to read the current temperature from the device itself. This can only be done in the app.

It would be nice to see future model enhancements that include this feature. Although, this is not a feature important enough (in my opinion) to warrant a price increase to offset the material costs of a built-in screen.

Extended Battery Life

Ideally, I’d love if the battery life on this lasted for more than 3 days.

Realistically, it’s still one of the best battery life’s on the market. Even my cell phone won’t last more than 3 days on one charge.

However, for the price point and the current state of battery technology I think it’s current battery life is good.

More Color Options

This is another trivial complaint, but it would be great to have a few color options to choose between.

I really like that Necto comes in white. Honestly, this is probably the color I’d choose even if I had other options – it blends in with anything nicely.

My campervan’s interior was white, so it would have blended right in. Waggle also only comes in one color, but the black is much harder to disguise.

Longer Power Cord

Necto comes with a power cord and wall adapter. The power cord is USB-C (plugs into the device) and USB (plugs into power), and is about 2 feet long.

This length works for most of the ways I use my Necto, but having a longer cord would give me even more options for power outlets.

Of course, this is a standard type of cord so it’s also easy for me to buy a longer one and replace the one it comes with.

Waggle Vs Necto

Waggle pet monitor is one of the most well-known brands. I’m pretty sure this is because they’ve been around longer and invest heavily in marketing. However, in my opinion Waggle isn’t the better pet monitor.

Here’s a quick comparison of Waggle vs Necto:

If you want more detailed information check out my Waggle Review or my Waggle Vs Necto Comparison articles.

Waggle Necto Temperature Sensor Reviews

Don’t just take my word for it! The user reviews tell the same story.

Waggle temperature sensor reviews are… lacking. Most of them share similar complaints to mine, stating that connection is unreliable and frequently results in missed notifications.

There are also many complaints about customer service, faulty devices and a general lack of accountability from Waggle for providing a functioning product intended to keep pets safe.

At the time of this writing, Waggle temperature sensor reviews on Amazon have a 4.1 star rating, and Amazon shows “400+” purchased in the last month.

Compare that to Necto temperature sensor reviews and you’ll find that Necto boasts a 4.7 star rating (out of 5… pretty impressive) and has sold over 800 units in the last month. I think those stats speak for themself.

And finally, 24% of the reviews for Waggle are 3 stars or fewer. Only 5% of the reviews for Necto are 3 stars or fewer.

Necto Pet Monitor Review – Is It Worth It?

Overall, my Necto review is positive. I really like and trust the reliability of the pet temperature monitor and highly recommend it.

I appreciate the value they provide for a very competitive price. Even more importantly, I love how much more reliable Necto is than the other RV temperature monitors I’ve tested. And lastly, I think they’re the clear winner when it comes to customer service and genuinely caring about providing a safe and reliable product for my dog.

You can purchase your Necto pet monitor here.

If for some reason this article hasn’t convinced you that Necto is better than Waggle, you can purchase your Waggle pet monitor here. (But don’t say I didn’t warn you!)