THE DISPATCH — Issue #001
What This Is, and Why It Matters
I've been meaning to start this for a while. Not because I didn't have things to say — but because I wanted to make sure it was worth your time before I asked for it.
Here's what changed my mind: I kept running into the same thing across the RV, dog, and travel spaces. Noise. Content written for search engines by people who aren't living inside any of it. I've been an RV tech. I work with high-drive dogs. I'm on the road. I figured someone in that overlap should be writing honestly about it.
So here we are.
What The Dispatch Is
This is the connective tissue for Rendezvous Cafe — a brand I'm building around the things I actually care about and live every day: RV life, working dogs, the road, trading, and a growing curiosity about Web3 I'm not going to pretend is fully figured out yet.
Each issue will do at least one of these things:
Research and report — real digs into trending topics, product shifts, and market movements. Not scraped headlines. Actual analysis from someone with skin in the game.
Cut through gear noise — I know what matters in RV systems and in working dog gear, and I know what's just marketing. You'll get the honest version.
Think out loud — I'm building something while traveling. I'll share what I'm learning, what's working, and what isn't. No fake-it-till-you-make-it energy here.
When I recommend something, I'll tell you why — including the parts I don't like about it.
Who I Am (The Short Version)
Retired RV tech. Full-time on the road with my Dutch Shepherd. Day trader. Dog trainer specializing in protection work. Building something at the intersection of RV culture, dogs, travel, and the early edges of Web3.
The longer version comes out over time. That's what a newsletter is for.
This Week: The GPS Dog Collar Test You Need Before Your Next Trip
First thing worth knowing: Whistle is dead. Tractive acquired them in mid-2025 and killed the app in August. If you're still running a Whistle collar, your device is now unsupported. A lot of people missed this.
So here's what the 2026 GPS dog collar landscape actually looks like — specifically for people who take their dogs somewhere with spotty or zero cell service. Which, if you're boondocking or full-timing, is most of the time.
For backcountry, hunting, protection, or working dogs: Garmin TT25 + Alpha 300i
This is the one category where "buy the best" is the right answer. Garmin's system runs VHF radio and Iridium satellite — it works where there is no cell signal. Period. The TT25 tracks up to 9 miles line-of-sight with fast enough updates for a moving working dog. It's expensive. The alternative is losing your dog in terrain with no coverage. Worth it.
For full-time RV travelers who need reliable everyday tracking: Tractive Dog 6
Tractive stepped into the gap Whistle left and earned the spot. The Dog 6 runs multi-carrier LTE — not locked to one network like its competitors — with 25 days of tested battery life. If you move frequently through different regions, this is the one. The app actually works.
For semi-rural and suburban use with premium features: Fi Series 3+
The newest Fi is a real upgrade: 10-week tested battery, clean app, automatic walk detection, accurate geofence alerts. The trade-off is it runs exclusively on AT&T's LTE-M network. In good AT&T coverage, excellent. In the Southwest or rural areas — check your carrier map first before you rely on it.
Skip: Apple AirTags work fine for "lost in the neighborhood" scenarios. They are not field tracking tools. And as mentioned — Whistle is gone.
Before You Go
This newsletter exists because I'm building something — and the people who find it early tend to shape what it becomes.
Reply to this email and tell me one thing: who are you and what brought you here?
I read every reply. Early readers become part of the story. That's not a marketing line — it's just what happens when you build something small on purpose.
See you next week.
— Jon
P.S. — The RV market in 2026 is shifting in ways most buyers aren't tracking: prices haven't corrected to pre-pandemic levels, dealer inventory is thinning, and the financing math is different than it was two years ago. That's issue #002.
---The Dispatch · Rendezvous Cafe · dispatch.rendezvouscafe.online
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