Is SMARTBOW or Tucor better?

Neither clearly leads. SMARTBOW starts at On request and Tucor at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, SMARTBOW or Tucor?

SMARTBOW starts at On request and Tucor at On request.

Does SMARTBOW or Tucor run on more platforms?

SMARTBOW runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android. Tucor runs on Web, Windows, iOS, Android.

What is SMARTBOW best used for?

SMARTBOW is most often used for a 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutes, a dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervals, a herd manager wanting rumination-based early warning of displaced abomasum or metritis, a vet practice using behavioural data to audit transition cow management across client herds. Of those, a 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutes and a dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervals are not what Tucor is typically brought in for.

What can SMARTBOW do that Tucor cannot?

SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts. Tucor covers NLP-C controller, Decoder diagnostics, Flow monitoring, MAD-based programming.

Agriculture · head to head

SMARTBOW vs Tucor

SMARTBOW

Agriculture

Ear tag cow monitoring with real-time indoor location, from Zoetis

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

Tucor

Agriculture

Decoder irrigation controllers with a yearly remote-access subscription priced separately for cellular and Ethernet

From: On request
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: SMARTBOW real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.; Tucor nLPNet is a yearly subscription priced differently for cellular and Ethernet, so a site with no cabled network path is committed to the higher recurring rate for the life of the controller with no way to change it later without running fibre.
They diverge on capability: SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Tucor covers NLP-C controller.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which SMARTBOW and Tucor actually diverge.

Attributes where SMARTBOW and Tucor differ
Attribute	SMARTBOW	Tucor
Platforms	Windows, Web, iOS, Android	Web, Windows, iOS, Android

Identical on both: starting price (On request), pricing model (quote), free tier (No), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Agriculture).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in SMARTBOW

Real-time location
Heat detection
Rumination monitoring
Health alerts
On-farm server
Individual baselines
Herd software integration

Only in Tucor

NLP-C controller
Decoder diagnostics
Flow monitoring
MAD-based programming
Station prioritisation
Weather correction and water budget
NLPNet remote access
Cycle Manager

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

SMARTBOW

A 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutesnot Tucor
A dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervalsnot Tucor
A herd manager wanting rumination-based early warning of displaced abomasum or metritisnot Tucor
A vet practice using behavioural data to audit transition cow management across client herdsnot Tucor

Tucor

A university retrofitting a conventional multi-wire system to two-wire without trenching a new cable to every valvenot SMARTBOW
A nursery or greenhouse needing 50 independent programmes on one controllernot SMARTBOW
A grounds team chasing a decoder fault on a mile-long loop who need it located rather than dug fornot SMARTBOW
An HOA that wants unscheduled-flow alarms after a contractor cut a lateralnot SMARTBOW

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

SMARTBOW

Real-time location depends on receivers covering the whole barn plus an on-farm server, so the install is a building project and the price bears no relation to what a simple activity collar costs.
It is an indoor system; a grazing or partly grazed herd loses the location capability that is the main reason to choose it over cheaper monitoring.
Ear tags are consumable and go missing with the tag, so the running cost includes replacements at a rate that depends on how rough your handling facilities are.
Zoetis ownership means a pharmaceutical company holds continuous behavioural data on every animal alongside your treatment records, and the integration roadmap favours other Zoetis products.
Nothing is published on price, and sales run through veterinary and dealer channels, so comparing it against DeLaval, Nedap or CowManager requires several quotes and there is no reference list price.

Tucor

NLPNet is a yearly subscription priced differently for cellular and Ethernet, so a site with no cabled network path is committed to the higher recurring rate for the life of the controller with no way to change it later without running fibre.
Neither the controllers nor the subscriptions have published prices, so a multi-controller estate cannot budget a rollout without distributor quotes for each site.
Tucor runs two separate cloud portals, NLPNet and Cycle Manager, which is a confusing surface for a small vendor and means the answer to where a function lives depends on which product line you bought.
It is a small independent competing with Rain Bird, Hunter and Toro, so the installer and spares network is thinner and a site is more exposed if a distributor relationship in its region ends.
The product documentation is sparse compared with the major manufacturers, so specifying and commissioning depends heavily on the local distributor knowing the platform rather than on published material a consulting engineer can read.

Pricing, plan by plan

SMARTBOW

On request

SMARTBOW$undefined/year
- Ear tags priced per animal
- Barn receiver infrastructure and on-farm server quoted per building
- Installation and commissioning quoted separately

Tucor

On request

NLPNet remote access$undefined/year
- Yearly subscription required for remote access
- Separate pricing for cellular and Ethernet connections
- Priced per controller

Which should you pick?

Choose SMARTBOW if

You need real-time location.
You work on Windows, Web, iOS, Android.
You also want heat detection.

SMARTBOW review

Choose Tucor if

You need nlp-c controller.
You work on Web, Windows, iOS, Android.
You also want decoder diagnostics.

Tucor review

Questions people ask

Is SMARTBOW or Tucor better?: Neither clearly leads. SMARTBOW starts at On request and Tucor at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, SMARTBOW or Tucor?: SMARTBOW starts at On request and Tucor at On request.
Does SMARTBOW or Tucor run on more platforms?: SMARTBOW runs on Windows, Web, iOS, Android. Tucor runs on Web, Windows, iOS, Android.
What is SMARTBOW best used for?: SMARTBOW is most often used for a 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutes, a dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervals, a herd manager wanting rumination-based early warning of displaced abomasum or metritis, a vet practice using behavioural data to audit transition cow management across client herds. Of those, a 1,500 cow freestall barn where finding a flagged animal by eye takes twenty minutes and a dairy replacing visual heat detection with per-animal oestrus alerts to tighten calving intervals are not what Tucor is typically brought in for.
What can SMARTBOW do that Tucor cannot?: SMARTBOW covers Real-time location, Heat detection, Rumination monitoring, Health alerts. Tucor covers NLP-C controller, Decoder diagnostics, Flow monitoring, MAD-based programming.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

SMARTBOW: What does SMARTBOW do that other activity monitors do not?

Real-time indoor location. It tells you where the flagged cow physically is, not just that she is behaving abnormally.

Tucor: Is remote access included with the controller?

No. NLPNet is a separate yearly subscription, and it is priced differently depending on whether the controller connects over cellular or Ethernet.

SMARTBOW: Does it work on grazing herds?

Poorly. Location depends on barn-mounted receivers, so animals out at pasture fall outside the system's coverage.

Tucor: How many valves can one controller run?

The NLP-C addresses up to 500 decoders and 125 sensors across 20 points of connection, with up to 50 programmes.

SMARTBOW: Who owns it?

Zoetis, which also owns Valley Agricultural Software and DairyComp. The technology came from Smartbow GmbH in Austria.

Tucor: Can Tucor retrofit a conventional system?

Yes, converting a conventional multi-wire installation to two-wire decoder control is the main reason sites choose it.

SMARTBOW: Is it cloud based?

Analysis runs on an on-farm server rather than in the cloud, which keeps it working during an internet outage but makes the server your responsibility.

Tucor: Who owns Tucor?

It is a privately held company founded in 1995, based in Harmony, Pennsylvania, and independent of the major irrigation manufacturers.

SMARTBOW vs Tucor

SMARTBOW

Tucor

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in SMARTBOW

Only in Tucor

What people use each for

SMARTBOW

Tucor

Where each one falls short

SMARTBOW

Tucor

Pricing, plan by plan

SMARTBOW

Tucor

Which should you pick?

Choose SMARTBOW if

Choose Tucor if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on SMARTBOW

More on Tucor

Keep looking

Other head to heads