You're right, partially. Yes, you can track the tracker itself and go to that location. But that location might be inaccessible to humans, or the cat might drop the tracker somewhere where it gets unusable, say a bit of water for example.
Also, whats the point of a tracker if its not on the cat?
It's a numbers game. A tabcat used to be £16 to replace the tracker, if you always replace, and they don't lose it that frequently, then it's highly likely that they'll have it in case of emergency. This device is probably more expensive to replace (and unfortunately the tabcat is now £60 to replace, although you do get two trackers for that cost)
It's better that it "malfunction" and fall up by mistake than not falling off when needed.
If it do falls off (by mistake or because the quick release did its intended job), at least you now have a good starting point where to go search for the cat. Assuming it doesn't fall off the very first day, you might also have a good idea or sense of in which area the cats normally goes strolling due to the tracking feature.
> or the cat might drop the tracker somewhere where it gets unusable, say a bit of water for example.
The dog GPS collars made by e.g. Whistle are waterproof, IPX8.
You might not get a cell signal under a couple of feet of water, but that much water also means you probably aren't finding the gadget even if you have a recent GPS fix.
> Also, what's the point of a tracker if it's not on the cat?
Well, if your cat is one that tolerates a collar most of the time, he'll have the tracker on most of the time, which is better than no tracking at all. One of our cats tolerates a collar without any problem.
Also, whats the point of a tracker if its not on the cat?