Avy Beacon Upgrade - Which one and where to buy?

[CleElum Sledhead]

So with all of the avy's and the very unfortunate avy deaths this year, I have decided it is not only time to take another avy class (wife and I just signed up for another class), but I think it is way past time to upgrade our beacons.

My wife and I both have the older SOS beacons (4 or 5 years old). We also have poles and shovels. Several people on here have said they are crap, but I am able to find the other beacon in a relatively short time when we practice. That being said, faster finds means better chance of living.

I went to http://beaconreviews.com/transceivers/Specifications.htm and read the list and reviews.

It seems to me that these two are two of the better ones out there according to the above website? True, or did I miss something? They rate higher than the SOS and Tracker DTS!

Name Antennas Type Price
Pulse Barryvox 3 Analog and Digital $400
Pieps DSP 3 Digital $380

Second issue, is that I would like to support companies that support our form of recreation by helping to keep our riding areas open. I thought I would order through a company that is a financial supporter of SAWS, but I didn't find one listed on our webpage. Might be a mistake on my part, but I believe the list is correct.

Anyone know which beacon I should get? And which company that supports our fight against closures I should order through? I may be wanting to buy 4 or 5 of the preferred beacon (maybe a couple for my riding buds too).

 

[CatWoman]

Dave, I don't know of anyone who sells that supports SAWS, but I can say the Pulse beacon is absolutely amazing. That is what we upgraded to, and I'm darn impressed with it. I can't say enough good things. As for comparison, I also have an Ortovox F1, and a Tracker.

We did some practice here with it. I hid just a single beacon in the yard to start with, then sent Glenn out. After a few times, I hid 3 beacons, but didn't tell him how many. He was back inside in no time (and re-hid them for me).

 

[student driver]

I have the Ortovox D3's for me and the wife.
They seem to work well.
I've been practicing with her basically as Catwoman and her husband evidently do, and so far they're OK.

Reggie at High Mark 208-343-2830 does quite a lot to help with the good fight and he gave me a deal on mine too.
I think he's also carrying the Pulse one too.

 

[McLovin]

I just bought the pieps and got a pretty good deal on it from snowbigdeal.com it will be here tomorrow, ill let you know what i think of it. The deal with the sos beacons are they are a single antenna and arent digital. I just about bought the blue sos beacon for $150 new but my/riding buddies lifes are worth more than the extra 200 bucks to know i have the best.

 

[alrevedup]

I just bought the pieps and got a pretty good deal on it from snowbigdeal.com it will be here tomorrow, ill let you know what i think of it. The deal with the sos beacons are they are a single antenna and arent digital. I just about bought the blue sos beacon for $150 new but my/riding buddies lifes are worth more than the extra 200 bucks to know i have the best.

Pieps, Just upgraded. Practiced with it last weekend. Extremely user friendly. Picks strongest flux line and stays with it. Multiburial and digital with 3 antennas.

 

[pinnedunderdoo#3]

I got a sos and my next one will be the barryvox mammut works really well.

 

[mac900rmk]

after an avy course a couple of weeks ago I'd say look at the tracker if you're on a budget and the Pulse if you're not. the pulse was impressive all around.

 

[CleElum Sledhead]

Thanks for the input so far folks! Keep em coming!

Sandy, I figured you would have some good input on this subject. Thank you!

Guess I will wait for a some more posts, make my decision, and then start looking for where to buy.

 

[got910]

pulse

search and rescue training proved that the barryvox pulse is worth the price.

EVERYBODY: please practice with your beacons, not just once a year.

 

[Ace Freely]

Dave, the Tracker gets my vote. Unfortunatly have first hand knowledge that they work well. Best place to buy is past Village pizza a few miles.....




Ace

 

[H20SKE]

Dave---Shawn at Cascade Playtime has the trackers for a great price. But that new Narryvox is suppose to be it!! I would bet that Shawn would get them for ya--and maybe you could hit him up while there for some support for SAWS--enough of us support him.


H20SKE...

 

[MtnDoo]

I just picked up a BarryvoxPulse Mammut beacon.
It's very small compared to the old BCA Trackers, supports digital & analog freq's, and is easy to use. It also keeps some info about you personally (name/contact/med needs), and can trasmit pulse indications - letting searchers know you're still alive - or a frozen stiff(so they can concentrate efforts on others). It does support multiple burials as well.

Barryvox specifically mentions snowmobiles as a use in their instruction manual. Not sure who they give PAC $$$ to.

MD.

 

[MARCUSO]

I just picked up a BarryvoxPulse Mammut beacon.
It's very small compared to the old BCA Trackers, supports digital & analog freq's, and is easy to use. It also keeps some info about you personally (name/contact/med needs), and can trasmit pulse indications - letting searchers know you're still alive - or a frozen stiff(so they can concentrate efforts on others). It does support multiple burials as well.

Barryvox specifically mentions snowmobiles as a use in their instruction manual. Not sure who they give PAC $$$ to.

MD.

Yep Pulse is the one right now. It can show heartbeats(if someone else has a pulse model), multiple burials... up to 17 people.. I will be testing them all this Sunday at the avy field study to see which is the best.

 

[Timber700RMK]

Dave---Shawn at Cascade Playtime has the trackers for a great price. But that new Narryvox is suppose to be it!! I would bet that Shawn would get them for ya--and maybe you could hit him up while there for some support for SAWS--enough of us support him.
H20SKE...

Got my Tracker from Shawn also. Unbeatable price & works good too. Not as fancy as the Pulse, but does the job!

 

[SnowBigDeal]

The pieps or the pulse are great beacons with 3 antennae. The pieps is not as complex as the pulse, but both are still easy to use. The pulse has a menu on it that you can customize it more to your preferences, including whether or not you want to use analog, digital, or both.

There's this place called www.snowbigdeal.com, they usually take care of their customers pretty good

 

[CleElum Sledhead]

Several of you have suggested the Tracker, but it is only a two antenna digital beacon and is not rated nearly as good as the 3 antenna digital Pieps and Pulse beacon that I was thinking about upgrading too.

Are you saying the Tracker is "good enough", and I don't need to waste my money on a better one? if so, is the SOS, "good enough" too? Seems that the beacons with the "faster finds" would be much better to have.

 

[NedMark]

I got my Pieps here for $320, shipped. http://www.greatoutdoorsdepot.com/pieps-dsp-avalanche-beacon.html

 

[DARKO]

I just ordered the Pulse beacon from SnowBigDeal here on the forums a few days ago. He's a active SW member and super knowledgable as well as a great guy to deal with and awesome prices. I always prefer to deal with a member of this site when possible, as said above cant say enough how good of service i received from snowbigdeal. Looking forward to seeing the mail man with my new Pulse, and then some serious practice to get it dialed in.

 

[CatWoman]

Several of you have suggested the Tracker, but it is only a two antenna digital beacon and is not rated nearly as good as the 3 antenna digital Pieps and Pulse beacon that I was thinking about upgrading too.

Are you saying the Tracker is "good enough", and I don't need to waste my money on a better one? if so, is the SOS, "good enough" too? Seems that the beacons with the "faster finds" would be much better to have.

The Tracker is good......the Pulse is better. It's more comfortable to wear, and you can't beat the multiple burial thing....let alone the heartbeat feature. If another Pulse user goes under and you switch your beacon over, it then keeps track of how long that person has been under, and how long they have a heartbeat (and whether the two are the same).

When the cost is an issue....as was the case with us before, then the Tracker was next in line for a choice.

 

[puckered]

Pieps DSP from SnowBigDeal - very fast service, with shovel and probe - would recommend to all.

Used Pieps analog in the 70s for ski patrol. You wanna know about tough to use.. these new ones are cake, but you must practice and take an avy class.