The Irrigation Association is excited to announce the winners of the 2020 New Product Contest. The contest is usually held during the annual Irrigation Show and Education Week, but this year the IA hosted it online. By going virtual, the new products and technologies entered in the contest were given expanded coverage through dedicated product profile pages on the IA’s Education Week+ website.
Thirty-one new products and technologies were entered in five categories. Products were evaluated based on innovation, design quality, increased water/resource-use efficiency, ease of use and product life expectancy. Contest judges were experienced professionals with technical knowledge and industry expertise. Official judging was conducted via Zoom Nov. 16-17.
The winner of the agriculture irrigation category is the All-Flo Pressure Regulator by Nelson Irrigation. The Nelson All-Flo Pressure Regulator has several unique design features that reduce plugging, minimize friction loss and increase accuracy compared to previous designs. It also has increased flow capacity to reduce inventory and installed system cost.
The winner of the agriculture specialty category is Sweet Spot Drip Tape by The Toro Company. Sweet Spot is a 6/8-inch ID Aqua-Traxx drip tape. With Sweet Spot, growers get the perfect tape to split the difference between 5/8- and 7/8-inch ID tape, enabling them to achieve longer runs than 5/8-inch tape and lower costs than 7/8-inch tape.
The winner of the landscape irrigation category is the ESP-LXIVM with Smart Valve Technology by Rain Bird Corporation. The ESP-LXIVM is a high-capacity controller with Smart Valve technology that elevates the performance of proven two-wire technology to a new level. The innovative breakthrough is in the Integrated Valve Module, which relays valve status back to the controller and provides real-time monitoring of valves.
The winner of the landscape specialty category is E-Sport with Ribbed PE Hose by Irriland SRL. E-Sport is a self-propelled solar-powered traveling sprinkler with innovative low friction coefficient tube. The eco-friendly machine is completely activated by an electric motor powered by solar energy, and with a series of batteries it can be operated 24/7, 365 days a year.
The winner of the landscape lighting category is the AC-LVDD-1210 Low Voltage Digital Dimmer by Letzgo Products Inc. This 12V AC digital dimmer delivers up to 10 amps of smooth LED dimming, utilizing trailing edge dimming to eliminate flicker when driving dimmable LEDs. It features solid-state (fuse-less) short-circuit protection with auto-restart, overload indication, transient protection and intelligent soft-start.
In addition to the official judging, the IA offered a new People’s Choice Award, where those viewing the entries online could pick their favorites. With 2,485 votes cast, the following products were the winners of the People’s Choice.
- agriculture irrigation – ESAC, Reinke Manufacturing Co. Inc.
- agriculture specialty – SDI-E, Netafim USA
- landscape irrigation – Rootwise, NDS/Raindrip
- landscape specialty – Jain Unity, Jain Irrigation
- landscape lighting – Luxor Cloud, FX Luminaire
The 2020 New Product Contest was sponsored by Rain Bird Corporation. Visit the Education Week+ website for more details about the new product contest or contact Tiffany Wilson for information about entering a product at the 2021 Irrigation Show and Education Week in San Diego.
