Field Testing is the Best Part - Development of TEK 2.0

Vice President Lance Tracy was one of the first field testers for our new TEK 2.0 GPS TRACKING+E-COLLAR TRAINING SYSTEM. Lance put the system through its paces several times last season. He took some time to share his experience with our latest and greatest:

The best part of being Founder of SportDOG Brand® products that are “Gear The Way You'd Design It® (GWYDI)” is...well it's that I get to be part of making sure they really are GWYDI. I know I'm not you. But we are kindred spirits in some ways. I, and the rest of the crew here, take GWYDI seriously and take immense pride in our brand and our products. We own and love dogs and we hunt. I have two pointing dogs (English Setters Roxy and Ripley) and hunting quail with them is my number one choice in hunting.

So, I had the chance to spend some time out in the field with Rox and Rip and the TEK 2.0 last autumn. It wasn't the final version, but it was so impressive I didn't want to wait. Plus, the earlier we can test a product in development, the quicker we can identify what additional work is needed to achieve GWYDI. I used it on two quail hunts, one in Mississippi and one in Georgia. Up until now, I've been using our TEK 1.0. The TEK 1.0 is brilliant at both showing you where your dogs are and remotely controlling them. TEK 2.0 goes a step further and displays this on a map. An excellent map! Our mapping partner is Delorme. If you're familiar with them, then you'll know their maps are top-notch. If not, do check them out. Compared to TEK 1.0, the top three things I noticed were:

1. The updates on the TEK 2.0 were almost like watching the dogs move in real-time.
2. It had 3 times the operating range. Both the SportDOG Brand TEK 1.0 and Garmin products use a MURS band or 150MHZ technology and have similar operating range (the distance at which the dog’s collar will communicate with the Handheld). The TEK 2.0 uses a brand new 915MHZ channel-hopping technology (HopTek™) that is less susceptible to interference and excels in terms of range.
3. It acquired satellites much quicker using GPS+GLONASS.

A cool feature that was not completed last autumn, but is now, is voice location. You can set TEK 2.0 up for hands-free operation. The Handheld will TELL you where your dogs are and what they're doing. Rather than staring at your Handheld, you might get a shot at that bird flushing wild. Of course, you still have to hit it!

The TEK 2.0 is one cool invention and is worthy of having SportDOG Brand on it. It is GWYDI. The engineering team here outdid themselves and the technology packed into it is incredible. Rox and Rip didn't notice the difference, but I sure did.