Oak Hill Kennel

Product Comparison: Tri-Tronics and Innotek Electric Training Collars

We have used Tri-Tronics collars since the seventies; more recently, Innotek and Retriever World arranged for us to take an Innotek collar on a free trial. These are our observations and comments.

The Tri-Tronics collars we use are the A1-70 and100/LR. (Tri-Tronics has superceded the LR series with the new LS series, but we are still using the old ones.) The Innotek is the RR-500, "The Retriever Trainer."

Functions | Range and Reliability | Design | Summary and Recommendation

Functions

The Tri-Tronics 100 series has a transmitter with two buttons, offering an instant selection of three levels of shock. The lowest level is attained by pressing the lower button, the middle level, by pressing the upper button, and the strongest shock by pressing both together. In addition, it is possible to select one of five overall levels at the collar by plugging in the appropriate intensity plug (old) or contact point (new). This makes it easy to tailor the low, medium, and high levels to each dog being trained. The 500 Series collar, also recommended for retriever training, offers all of these options plus the availability of a very short "momentary" shock.

The Innotek RR-500 transmitter features four touch pads. Two give brief shocks of different durations, mimicking the Tri-Tronics "momentary" mode. Two give "continuous" shocks, that is, the collar shocks the dog as long as the buttons are held down, as in the Tri-Tronics 100 series. The first three are programmable to any of seven possible levels, while one of the continuous buttons is set permanently at the highest level. Programming takes several seconds, as the user holds down a combination of buttons and waits for the transmitter LED to blink the desired number of times, so Innotek's advertising claim of seven levels "instantly" selectable from the transmitter is misleading. (Top of page)

Range, Reliability, and Duration of Charge

The Tri-Tronics, with flexible antennas on both transmitter and collar, claims a 1-mile range line-of-sight. We have never put this to the test, but find that the collar shocks the dog with 100% reliability out to 500 yards under all conditions in which we work: dog in cover over its head, dog in water, dog among trees, dog in low area or over slight rise, as well as direct line-of-sight in an open field. A charge usually lasts for at least a week of training approximately 8 hours per day. Some trainers press the buttons a lot more than we do; their results may vary.

The Innotek has a flexible antenna on the collar receiver but not on the transmitter, and claims a 1/2-mile range. We found it was over 95% reliable at 200 yards, less than 50% reliable and very dependent on antenna orientation at 300 yards, and nonfunctional at 400 yards. The conditions of this test were with a person holding the collar and using either a test light or the sound of the shock to indicate the collar's operating as the transmitter button was pressed on signal. When we put the collar on the dog, we found that it appeared to be reliable to a distance of 50-75 yards on land, and beyond that response was unpredictable, with no response from dogs at 200 yards or more. We were unable to get any response from a dog in the water, even within a few feet of the handler and concluded that the collar does not function when the dog is in the water. The transmitter battery is not rechargeable, but we found that the "low battery" indicator on the collar receiver would come on before the end of the first training day since a charge. (Top of page)

Design

The Tri-Tronics company has been working with, and soliciting feedback from, retriever trainers for a number of years. The two-button design, allowing instant selection of three shock levels, and the ability to tailor those three levels to each dog quickly using variable-intensity plugs, are extremely well-suited to training retrievers.

A number of features of the Innotek suggest that its designers are unfamiliar with the activity of retriever training and even with the characteristics of retrievers themselves. The set of functions available for a well-timed application of shock seems arbitrary (basically only one continuous level, plus "hot" which may be too much for some dogs, are available); the suggestion that the transmitter be worn on a lanyard around the neck is inappropriate for blind retrieves; most of the available intensities are of no use on a retriever; and the collar strap is too short to fit around the neck of a large retriever or an average-sized dog with a large neck.

Both the transmitter and receiver of the Innotek are much smaller and lighter than those of the Tri-Tronics, but we find this of little significance as we rarely carry the transmitter any distance and any retriever on which we would use the collar is plenty big and strong enough to wear either. (Top of page)

Summary

We found the Tri-Tronics to be reliable under all conditions applicable to retriever training, and well-designed for the purpose. We found the Innotek to be reliable to 50-75 yards in an open field, not to work on dogs in the water, and to be of poorer design.

Recommendation

We strongly recommend the Tri-Tronics 100 or 500 series for retriever training. The overriding concern with any electric collar is reliability--if you do not know when you are shocking your dog, it is extremely easy to abuse and even ruin the dog. In addition, we find the Tri-Tronics to be much better designed for retriever training, allowing three useful levels for all dogs, and ergonomically superior as well. Frankly, we are a little surprised that a company (Innotek) would market nationally a collar whose reliability and design are what we would expect for a first prototype.

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