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 the paces several times last season. He took some time to share his experience on 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 #1 choice in hunting.

So, I got to spend some time afield with Rox and Rip and the TEK 2.0 last fall. It was not in its final version. But it was so cool that I did not want to wait. Plus, the sooner we can get into the field with a product being developed the sooner we can learn what else needs to be done to achieve GWYDI. I used it on two quail hunts, one in MS and one in GA. I've been using our TEK 1.0 until now. The TEK 1.0 is awesome at both showing you where your dogs are as well as remotely controlling them. TEK 2.0 takes us another step and shows you on a map. A great map! Our map partner is Delorme. If you know them, then you know their maps are awesome. If you don't, check them out. Compared with TEK 1.0, the top 3 things I experienced 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 kicks butt when it comes to range.
3. It acquired satellites much faster using GPS+GLONASS.

A cool feature that was not done last fall, 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 are 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.