We ran a scenario in one of our avalanche classes last weekend. 7 buried targets. I stood at the top with the Barryvox Pulse and followed the indicators to the 1st target, got within a few meters and 'marked' it, it sent me to the obvious #2, and #3 (which I marked) and then I tried to force it to where i knew that #4 was but it was headed me back up the area to where i had started. There i found # 5 & #6. Then it returned me to #4.
Of course, it makes total sense now....from my start position it had already 'numbered' all the beacons within its search range and although i was physically closer to #4 after having searched for #3....this isn't the order that the Pulse beacon had tagged them at the beginning of the scenario. M**** of the story. Follow the info from the beacon. Find them one at a time. Leave someone digging out the target that you have pin-pointed with a probe. Mark it and move on. Trust the technology....it seemed to have worked.
We need to work a little more with the Pulse before i am fully convinced that a novice user won't get lost in the functions. I have toggled through multiple beacons and i am not really sure if that was helpful or confusing. I purposely haven't read the instruction manual....as i know that very few of our students actually read the manuals and i want to experience all new beacons from this vantage point first. Hopefully I'll get another chance to play on the rest of our courses this weekend. Maybe I'll post how it goes...
In any case, great prices on the beacon. Thanks for posting stuff like this. It is always great to get a variety of equipment out into the field. Each beacon has great features. No one beacon is perfect with the mix of ease of use, reliability, warranty, cost, features, ease of multiple search, deep burials.... But if everyone knows how to use their beacon and there is a variety in the riding group....it leads to a great selection of tools for any situation.
