Set for purchase and shipping to users this month, PassTime on Monday announced the launch of Encore 5, the fifth generation of the company’s platform for location solutions specializing in asset tracking.

PassTime described Encore 5 as its “boldest upgrade yet” with enhancements to the device hardware and feature set.

Launched more than six years ago, PassTime highlighted the Encore platform was geared to change the asset tracking market with a battery-powered device designed for easy activation and quick installation to help customers protect and track their mobile assets.

For the first time, Encore 5 will also be offered with an optional premium version, giving customers the choice between the Encore features they are accustomed to, or upgrade to advanced features with the premium version.

Included in Encore Premium are all of Encore’s standard features, plus access to RapidResponse and two new premium power modes.

With RapidResponse, Encore stays “awake” and can quickly respond to commands, change power modes, and provide location data within minutes.

“This is a breakthrough in battery-powered device technology which typically relies on the device to ‘sleep’ between intervals of several hours or days to conserve battery life,” PassTime said in a news release.

With RapidResponse, Encore can respond to commands quickly while still providing up to five years of battery life.

Encore Premium includes new power modes Endurance+ and Active+.

Active+ is full-power functionality that can report location at the start and end of each trip with the added benefit of allowing live locates anytime, along with automated locates every 49 hours.

“With exceptional engineering in power management, Encore is expected to last years in this full power mode, a drastic improvement from mere weeks of operation in this mode over earlier models,” PassTime said.

Endurance+ allows even longer battery life to achieve the maximum use, while allowing the device to be contacted to change its operation to Active+ without waiting for the device to check-in.

PassTime also mentioned the fifth generation Encore hardware features an all-new push-button power/activation button, redesigned from the previous power switch and cover cap. The device is IP68 certified, making it waterproof and dust-proof, but now pushes the rating over its predecessor by withstanding being submerged in water to up to 10 feet in depth.

The company explained that an IP68 rating provides greater applicability and peace of mind when using Encore 5 on powersports and other outdoor lifestyle assets.

With new and improved antennas designs, PassTime Encore 5 achieves improved cellular performance with increased sensitivity, which will result in greater range and improved battery life, especially in remote locations.

Encore 5 also introduces PassTime’s new Beyond GPS+, a tri-location technology utilizing GPS, cellular and Wi-Fi to provide reliable and accurate location data for mobile asset tracking.

Building upon its existing Beyond GPS feature that utilized GPS and cellular, Beyond GPS+ adds Wi-Fi to enhance location data by leveraging Wi-Fi access points, which is especially useful in urban and indoor locations. By employing this tri-location technology, Encore 5 can provide location data on assets even when GPS signals are obstructed or otherwise unavailable, automatically switching to cellular and/or Wi-Fi networks to gather location data.

“We are extremely proud of what we have been able to accomplish with Encore 5,” PassTime chief technology officer Todd Goodnight said in the news release. “Since the first Encore version over six years ago, we have continued to push the boundaries of what is possible with this technology.

“Through exceptional design and engineering, Encore 5 represents a new paradigm in battery-powered tracking devices with its advanced functionality, while still maintaining years of battery-life,” Goodnight went on to say.