I disagree with you on this.
I hear a lot of people being scared about their cat getting strangled with a collar, yet I've never met anyone close to me who has had that happen. Yes, the internet is full of these pictures, but it is extremely rare for this to occur when you have a safety release collar and put it on your cat correctly.
My cat is wearing a PetTracer tracker collar, and I couldn't be happier knowing exactly where she is at all times. I tried Tractive and I would never use it having used pettracer.
They emphasise how the collar needs to be placed on your cat and how tight it should be, and I have no doubt my cat is safer wearing one than not.
For a microchip to work, someone has to first find your cat, take it to a vet, and then, hopefully, it will work when scanned, which surprisingly doesn’t always happen.