Product Review: SportDog Upland Hunter 1875

Typically my reviews get to the down and dirty and keep things short and sweet. I will not bore you with an over technical view of the product as you can get those facts more accurately directly from the company. What I will tell you is my direct experience with the product and company after I used it for the 3 years on my Vizsla in the field over a variety of conditions. At the time I used this collar I ended up with 15 to 20 days in the field during a hunting season. The year before I originally reviewed this product I went on two out of state hunts so 6 of those days were all day hunts as opposed to 2 to 4 hours hunts at home. I would consider my usage of the product in hunting situations in the field to be moderate.

The SportDog Upland Hunter 1875 is a solid performing E collar / beeper collar best suited for pointing dogs in the field. It has a moderate price point of $429 and in my opinion is best suited for the hunter who plans on hunting 2 to 4 hours a few times a year, which covers a large number of hunters. From an end user point of view the E collar function is basic with multiple levels of stimulation and a tone feature. Whenever I used the stimulation feature, which is rare it has worked flawlessly. Again, when I used the tone feature I never experienced a failure.

I had a love hate relationship with the beeper function. The beeper senses when the dog is not moving and sends out an audible sound when the dog is on point allowing you to locate your dog. There are a variety of tone selections (9) along with a high and low volume. Another option is to have the beeper go off every 5 or 10 seconds in addition to the point indicator. Personally I had my collar set on silent mode and the point indicator is set on the loud hawk screech.

The beeper functions works well with one caveat. I have never had a situation where the dog has gone on point without the beeper indicating such. The issue I have come across is on my longer hunts while out of state. Even the best conditioned dogs are going to tire out on multiple all day hunts in a row. When the dog tires and slows down the beeper collar will often go off. This can lead to some annoying situations where you are not sure if the dog is on point or standing in place resting. Also it can be a lot on your ears if the dog is nearby or standing next to you. That being said there is a way to turn it off with the remote. I have also noticed as the dog slows towards the end of a long day at times the beeper will go off even though the dog is still moving. I had planned on resolving this situation by purchasing a SportDog Tek 2.0 GPS tracking collar. I was disappointed with that collar and would not recommend it. SportDog also has discontinued the Tek 2.0, which should also be a clue. (I currently use a Garmin Alpha 300I with a TT25 GPS Collar) and LOVE it!)

Lastly, I just plain old like the people at SportDog. There customer service is top notch! Shortly after my warranty ended part of the speaker came off of the beeper. I contacted SportDog and was quickly able to talk to a person. I explained how I had bought the collar before I even picked up my dog as a puppy so even though I had owned it for over 2 years I had not used it that long. Without any hassle what soever I was told they would send me a brand new beeper and asked that I send them the old one so they could see what the problem was. They also paid for the shipping.

Additionally SportDog is a company committed to conservation and supports a number of conservation organizations including my favorite Pheasants / Quail Forever. I feel good in my decision to support a company who in return gives back to the upland hunting community.

Bottom Line: The SportDog Upland Hunter 1875 is a solid product with a moderate price point which I recommend for the casual upland hunter.