It’s about time the Wasatch got some snow, dammit. It was a mixed blessing to open my garage door this morning and find that the overnight snowfall was thigh deep and over the top of my snow-thrower hood, which necessitated a double pass, which in turn made me late, which led to getting stuck in the Cottonwood Canyons traffuck, and once we finally got to the trailhead almost an hour later, I pulled my beacon out to find that it had been left on and was reading “00″ as a power level (details below). It wasn’t a great start to the day, but it soon improved, as photo Exhibit A shows below: Continue reading ‘Deep Snow and Shallow Batteries’
Tag Archive for 'Beacons'
I found out about BeaconReviews.com through an odd coincidence – the webmaster, Steve Achelis, is a mountain unicycle rider and was suppose to go out on a ride with us today, but couldn’t as he was reviewing beacons. I’ve never met Steve, but the website is excellent.
I’ll probably get sued for saying this (like I almost did for my last beacon review…), but the top brands of modern beacons are all pretty good and as much as anything, it is a matter of personal preference. In the right hands and with enough practice, people can get very speedy with any beacon in a search. That said, I was psyched to see that Steve also thought my current beacon of choice was one of the top contenders.
A great thing about BeaconReviews.com is that as much as anything, it is a labor of love for Steve. He is a software entrepreneur and presents everything you’d ever want to know about how beacons work, current reviews, known issues, history and tons of links. It is like Consumer Reports for beacon buyers – straight up facts coupled with ratings which are unbiased by manufacturer’s advertising.
Hopefully I’ll get out MUni riding with Steve sometime soon (or better yet, skiing) as it would be fun to discuss this in person with him. Until then, check it out.
http://beaconreviews.com/transceivers/
________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and get a fast, accurate Pieps DSP Smart Transmitter from Backcountry.com! Click on the photo below…
Picking the right avalanche beacon is trickier than it may seem. I’ve used Pieps, Barryvox, Ortovox and BCA Trackers over the years and am not wedded to any particular brand, but instead look for the best beacon available at the time when I decide to upgrade. I hold onto my beacons for 2-4 years because once I learn a beacon, I like to stick with it. For me to upgrade, there needs to be some major advancement, like dual frequency (now a non-issue), advent of digital beacons (now the norm) or a major leap in technology, as happened in the last couple of years. In addition to that, all the top-tier beacon companies make good products and are constantly leap-frogging each other with features, distance or speed, so it really depends year-to-year which one is the best.
To confuse the issue, the “best” beacon will depend in part on your personality. In the hands of a Luddite, the fanciest, feature-packed beacon will be overwhelming, but to a techo-geek, it may be a dream come true. For me, a big consideration is durability, as I tend to be hard on my beacons. If I’m looking at a new beacon and it doesn’t seem like it could withstand being dropped on the floor, I don’t care how many fancy features it has, I’m not going to buy it. I want a beacon which is fast, easy to use, durable and absolutely intuitive. Complicated button sequences to change modes doesn’t cut if for me.
- There are no bad beacons, only bad users.
I had the good fortune of doing a beacon review for SKIING Magazine last year. The premise was (this came from SKIING) that you open the box, turn the beacon on and use it without reading the instructions. I liked this idea as it was so real-world, for better or worse. In the hands of someone who practices often, any beacon will be fast, but in a panic situation, intuition counts for a lot. My personal pick from the beacon litter of that era was the Pieps DSP, based in part on its tight feature set, but also because it looked like I could drop it a few times. So far I’ve been very happy with it – your mileage may vary.
________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and find ‘em fast with a Pieps DSP Transciever from Backcountry.com! Click on the photo below…
