I'm looking at buying a new beacon, the Pieps units seem like a good unit with quick search functions. Does anyone own one of these units or used one before. Thanks

I have the fluro yellow one from 2 years ago (same as today's model) and it is a very good unit. The three antenna model picks up on signals extremely quickly.

I am very impressed with my Pieps and for the sake of comparison, take a look at the BCA Tracker:

Over repeated tests with different people and different BCA Tracker units, including two different mountain guides, I have found the Pieps to significantly out-do the mystifyingly popular BCA Tracker. I will write more on the Pieps performance shortly. I have trained with probably 6 different groups of people in the last two years and I am consistently the fastest to find the burial. The guy that taught my Level 1 course went out of his way to say how impressed he was with the Pieps performance. Any one who says 'it is too complicated' must be very stupid or simply repeating what they read on the internet. It isn't complicated: switching to search is one of the easiest methods offered on modern beacons I have seen: you slide a grey switch down to 'search'. To transmit, you slide the same switch to 'send'. To turn it off, you slide the switch to 'off'. That's it, a big long physically and visually easy to see/operate switch with only three settings. Any other additional features do not even come into the picture unless you wish to use them (flagging multiple burials etc). They are accessed using another button and non-essential items for correct usage. Try turning a BCA Tracker to search whilst wearing big mittens on a windy and bad vis day... and then later on glancing down to quickly se if it is set to search.... what feedback does it give you? Way less intuitive than the Pieps as there is no sliding switch, just a button that has to be pressed twice at the correct speed and then an almost meaningless two letter square led message (Se) flashes on the display for a second. It is poorly designed yet popular through good American marketing.

(sorry to Tracker fans, but every time I train with a Tracker user they are left wandering for far too long trying to get a signal. My gf is selling hers: there is no way I want her trying to find my O2 starved body with a BCA Tracker. I saw one guy get so frustrated with his Tracker that he gave up and used an analogue beacon for search training instead. He had never used an analogue before and within a short period had found both burials).

The software in the Pieps is also up-gradeable and they do it for free. So when they improve the 'brain' of the beacon like they did last year, you don't have to buy a new one. Just get a free software upgrade.

Good review Lespud, pretty much sums it up, i see the new upgrade gives you altitude, temp and a compass. I think my choice is clear, the next question is buy local or Canada?

There are some new and better models coming from Ortovox and Barryvox. They showed some impressive technical leaps at some seminars during last season. don't know how that compares to Pieps. We are still waiting for an answer from Tracker.

I think it is not so much good marketing from Tracker but very poor marketing from others. Pieps has been around for ages. In fact we call avalanche transievers "Lawine pieps", but they really lost contact with the complete market staying focused on the safety driven bc/randonnee market and missing out on the "fun users". This is where Tracker came in by saying everyone can do it with our digital device. They own the digital segment in the customers mind.

The new Tracker model has bigger buttons, that can easily be pushed even with big mittens on. There might be better products on the market but still during tests Tracker comes out as a good product. In speed tests/comps they still rule (but that might be more based on the people actually using their product than the product itself).

I totally agree with your remark of meaningless message, does SE stand for Send or Search????

But if you know the limits of the product it can be a great tool.

Hi Chop - I am very confident in recommending the Pieps, but don't base too much on my opinion other than Pieps are great. As Sanno suggested there are other brands that are probably better. Indeed some fancy stuff is in the pipeline that may put some brands way out in front. But if you get Pieps, you will be happy. It is honestly to find and lead you directly to a buried signal. And the switch is easy and intuitive.

- Off: the grey sliding switch bar protrudes from the top, making it hard to close the harness pouch (reminding you to turn on your beacon!)
- On: the grey sliding switch bar is flush with the top and bottom of the beacon.
- Search: they grey bar protrudes from the bottom of the beacon.

It is physically simple to set the beacon's status and then se at a glance what it is switched to. They are also small and light, not vital for a beacon, but nice as they are actually quite annoying things to wear if your body is loaded in gear (back pack straps, waist belt, energy bars in pockets, climbing harness, compass in pocket. Unless you are a huge guy, there is only so much real estate in the abdominal area

Regarding the extra features (compass thermom) they are nice but remember that your beacon should see daylight twice a day: morning when you turn it on and then evening when you turn it off. You don't want to go getting it out to use other functions, particularly if it is buried deep under all your layers. They are nice to haves, but in honestly, they are things that beacon probably shouldn't have.

One weak point for the Pieps is the harness and pouch. They are lame, junk, useless. For a good and expensive product they harness should be better. A good harness is important as it keeps the beacon where it should be whilst you are getting avalanched. The BCA Tracker has a great harness and pouch, although a little bulky. The Pieps has a bungee cord that attaches the beacon to your pants, but it too is a lame gesture.

Sanno, I had not thought of teh market segment aspect that you raised. Good point. Although I have a new Tracker and although the button is bigger, I still am not such a fan of it. The big issue is that on a heated moment in bad conditions you just cant quickly and calmly activate search and then assure yourself that search is indeed set. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw it and thought "what the frk does Se mean??"

As for winning search competitions, I have read that too and always been perplexed. I have never once seen a Tracker beat a Pieps. We have down side by side tests a lot. My beacon leads me on the convection line like I am following a piece of curved string. With a little curving I usually run directly to the burial the moment I get my first signal (well before the Tracker). In the meantime the Tracker use is still zigzagging the training area, gets a signal, loses it. Instructors have asked Tracker users if they are actually set to search. They often get quite embarrassed! And on the fine search I have had mine reading 90cm and theirs, right next to me, reading g 150cm. The Pieps keeps zoning in down to 10cm (not actually that useful as it is unrealistic in real life).

Le spud, after thinking about the extra functions i do agree, not really practical and as with any fully optioned thing, they chew battery power quickly, not ideal.

I've got the tracker and I can find burials pretty quick (in the few chances that I've had). I really like the digital distance read out and then when u get close the signal strength read out. I don't like the beacons that use noise since in a high-stress situation I think that it would be hard to distinguish. When we were doing simulated burials everybody was shouting and running around and I would find it hard to concentrate on how load a beep was(I'm sure with training it's not so hard - it's just my first impression). I like to be able to see the arrow pointing in the direction.

I do have to agree with the SE message - search or send. I messed that up once. At the end of a search I thought I had switched it back to send but it kept beeping. That is certainly a stupid decision by the tech guys.

the tracker has a poor real range when tested against other beacons. im not a fan of the tracker. i prefer to have range and use an sos which will send out a good strong long signal. best real range.

if you practice beacons are easier to use.

pieps has been making beacons for years and they are quite good.

I own a Pieps and agree with Spud's analysis. I have never used a tracker and cannot compare though. The pieps is really precise. Shortly after buying it I went riding a bit of BC with 3 other people. As lunchtime came around I noticed that the other 3 people were in close proximity of each other (maybe about 4 m2) and decided to test the pieps. I put it in search mode to see if it would get confused with 3 signals so close to one another. It only picked-up 2 signals!!! I was a bit disapointed by my new purchase, but after further investigating it turns out that one person had forgotten to switch on his beacon! He promptly switched his beacon back on and I got my 3 signals!!! I do not know about other new products, but needless to say that I was very impressed. Range is not good as analog but better than dts. I think the time you make up with the simplicity of using a digital beacon more than makes-up for the lesser range.

With regards to efficiency of digital vs analog or pieps vs dts, it is not only a function of the beacon itself but of how experienced the user is as well obviously.

My Pieps sometimes tells me that there is n+1 burials, where n is the true number of transmitting burials in range.

I bought it 2 years ago and at the time it was a documented anomaly.


ps - SerreChe, check out the latest map offering from IGN (Geoportal). It is actually pretty good. Might be helpful for you efforts in teh next weeks.

Just ordered my Pieps beacon, of to NZ in August.
Thanks guys!

Enjoy NZ Chop!

Spud, thanks a lot for reminding me about geoportail. I tried it when it came out, but the server was swamped and I could not use it. This time around I went there and it worked. The resolution is actually much better than google earth which makes sense since they only cover specialized locations.

When I typed "ecrins" in the browser it did not know what I was talking about. So I had to type the nearest city name and then scroll from there until I reached the trail head. The resoltion is really good, I could see the hiking trail very easily. The option of overlaying the map in transparency is really cool as well. I could also easily find both refuges on the side of the glacier. Really good stuff. I could also easily find my house back home. I wish I could get GPS coordinates out of it (geoportail) though, or be able to type some GPS coordinates and be taken to the right spot automatically. Fun to play with, but will not replace my handy dandy IGN paper map of the location.

Looking forward to that hike. I think it's gonna be tough going though. Hope the weather does not cr*p out on me.

Ahhh
Are you and Spud going on a date?

No Toque, Spud still wants to spend more time exploring Cham before venturing elsewhere which I can understand given the time and money he has invested there over the last couple of years. I am sure at some stage he will visit my neck of the woods and have a go at La Grave, Les ecrins, etc...

I have just received my new pieps unit, i am very impressed with the little i have done with it! well i am of to NZ on the 19 to give it a work out. cheers!!!

Well done on the new acquisition Chop, I am sure you will enjoy it.

enjoy wearing it chop but heres to not having to use it!!!