For its third straight year, The Toro Co. was named a winner of the Irrigation Association’s New Product Contest, with its EVOLUTION controller holding up the streak in 2013 in the turf/landscape category.
Toro’s Precision Soil Sensor won in 2012 and its PrecisionSense site assessment system won in 2011.
The EVOLUTION controller, which is patent pending and lunched in the spring, was designed to perform like a traditional time-based controller, but could evolve into a “smart” controller with water-saving upgrades that can be added during installation or over time as the customer’s needs evolve.
“We developed a product that was simple enough for a homeowners’ limited interaction,” said Burnett Jones, marketing manager for Toro Irrigation. “But on the other end, EVOLUTION is smart enough and advanced enough to allow contractors to fully utilize their expertise and knowledge in managing irrigation systems and landscape needs to the full extent needed at an individual property.”
The base model of the EVOLUTION controller allows contractors to extend their sales cycle after installing the controller. With the addition of Toro’s wireless Smart Connect feature, contractors can provide smart irrigation products including rain/moisture sensors, a weather sensor, handheld remote control and auxiliary features such as landscape lighting.
