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Thoughts on this beacon article?

Blk88GT

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http://backcountrymagazine.com/stories/mountain-skills-upgrade-avalanche-transceiver-2/

After taking an avalanche safety class with Jeremy Hanke at my local Doo dealer, I bit. I did my research and decided to replace my BCA Tracker DTS with a Barryvox Pulse.

During my primitive driveway beacon search, the Pulse picks up a signal ~25-30M further away than the DTS.

I understand that in the case of a burial, most of your time is spent digging and not searching. However, seconds count and every single one of the guys I ride with is worth the $$$ to upgrade my gear. Hopefully they feel the same.

On a side note, the DTS was introduced in 1997. I bought mine in 2009 and there are still vendors (even here on Snowest!) selling them.

What are your experiences?
 

Pickin’ Boogers

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That article is spot on; 3 antennae is now standard. Extra bells and whistles can be nice for certain purposes, but may not work as well as advertised and/or be less important than advertised.

The 2 antennae DTS is still a good beacon if it's working properly, but not as good as a 3 antennae for the fine search, especially with deep burials.

Use an up-to-date beacon, practice with it, and give it a full check at the trailhead each time (batteries, search, send).
 
C
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I too have the pieps, I took a avy class with a field exercise, we went into the mountains and the instructor berried a pack with a beacon and we had to find it, my pieps found the signal way before others, 3 different exercises and I was first to get to the pack. every small advantage counts, ohh and a good shovel is just as important as a good beacon
 

Blk88GT

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Agreed! I also bought a 10.5' carbon probe to replace the much smaller 6' I had previously.

I'd really, really like to take an AST this season. The more you know....
 
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N

nfinit100

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Oct 1, 2015
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we have the Ortovox S1+ and the BCA Tracker 3 (backup beacon). They both have things I appreciate. The S1+ has some definite advantages in multi-burial situations. The S1+ had a voluntary recall issued last season. Though the failure was around a "potential disturbance in the transmission function" - this isn't voluntary to me as it's the one of the primary functions...so we sent ours in to get repaired. They will send you temporary beacons to use in the interim.

We have gone through several training sessions including the AST1 course. Of all of the beacons the tracker 3 and the ortovox both had excellent distances. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe AST1 and AST2 are just courses/curriculum. No actual certification until AST3, you just get certificates of completion. Did hear a rumor that they are pushing for companion rescue to be a separate course and a pre-requisite for AST1 so they don't spend 1 day on just that in the course.

I truly think, so long as it's a 3 ant and has capabilities for firmware upgrades, you can't really go wrong. You just have to practice, practice some more, and then practice again.

One nice feature that some of the newer beacons have is a secondary avalanche safety. If you hold the beacon still or at an inclined angle it will switch from receive to send automatically in case the "searchers" get caught in another slide.
 

Blk88GT

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Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe AST1 and AST2 are just courses/curriculum. No actual certification until AST3, you just get certificates of completion. Did hear a rumor that they are pushing for companion rescue to be a separate course and a pre-requisite for AST1 so they don't spend 1 day on just that in the course.
.

You're correct, I worded it wrong.
 
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