Should I Buy a Pulse?

[Jonathan S.]

Invalid (in my opinion) reasons not to buy the Pulse:

1. "Price" - yes, it costs more than the DTS, X1, D3, Opto 3000, but not any more than the DPS, and here it is for $360:
http://store.thebackcountry.net/cart...roductid=22424

2. "You might have the only Pulse in your group" - this renders the "vitals" transmission pointless, but that's only a very small aspect of all the new features in the Pulse.

3. "It's in its first season" - I've used it on dozens of practice searches so far (including up to 7 tightly spaced transmitting beacons with significant electronic interference) and it's worked very reliably. At my AIARE ITC, one of the instructors took my Pulse and set up a three-beacon scenario that he said could fool the Pulse (i.e., 2 beacons about 2m apart, then a 3rd beacon just barely within the receive range). He reported back that he had indeed fooled mine. Then I twice attempted to replicate the problem, but both times succeeded in registering, finding, and masking all three beacons. (I need to get out soon and replicate this multiple times so see if it ever occurs again.) That's all I've heard so far concerning a potential glitch. Any future improvements in the beacon will be available to beacons purchased now (via the software upgrade). So although I'm not always an early-adopter, I don't see much point in waiting.

Valid reason not to buy the Pulse:
You've tried it yet prefer a different beacon. Out of all the beacons currently on the U.S. market (a description that excludes the elusive S1), the Pulse is by far the most technologically advanced and feature-packed. But that does not necessarily make it the best beacon (whether defined as fastest, most reliable, least confusing, etc.) for YOU! Overall, it has a much different user interface than other beacons (i.e., full-text screen and soft keys) and in general tries to do all the "thinking" for you. That will work wonders for some people, yet will be a frustrating and potentially confusing waste of time for others.
In summary, the Pulse is a very impressive high-tech wonder, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the best beacon for everyone.

[Tony]

After reading Jonathan's last post, I changed my mind:

Dirtybrian, BUY THE PULSE

































then, after you have used it for a full season at least, write a nice and complete report in TGR, so we late adpoters can have the heads up on the new technology

[shmoesmith]

I've been thinking about a pulse for a while now for my little sister. I would just buy an opto 3000(which is what i'm using now and love), but they dont sell them at backcountry.com anymore for some reason That leaves me with the other 2 anntana systems, or jumping into a pulse or peips DSP if I want 3 anntana(which I would prefer so i can 'mask' on multi's).

I'll probably pick up the pulse on saturday and write a review on it. One has already been posted about it vs the dsp advanced though.

[KnuckleDragger]

I've been thinking about a pulse for a while now for my little sister. I would just buy an opto 3000(which is what i'm using now and love), but they dont sell them at backcountry.com anymore for some reason That leaves me with the other 2 anntana systems, or jumping into a pulse or peips DSP if I want 3 anntana(which I would prefer so i can 'mask' on multi's).

I'll probably pick up the pulse on saturday and write a review on it. One has already been posted about it vs the dsp advanced though.

Backcountry.com does still sell the opto 3000 but are probably just sold out. I had the same issue in November when it suddenly dropped of of their site. A few weeks later it was back. (for those that work at BC.com, it would be a nice feature to still list products that are sold out as such instead of removing them from the product list)

dirtybryan,
I am a total newbie when it comes to beacons but it sounds like you might want to ask yourself what kind of use will the beacon see. Will you be touring with just one or two other people most of the time where the likelihood of multiple burials is small and the networking function is of minimal use? Or do you expect to be in larger groups or participate in SAR efforts where you are more likely to encounter multiple burials and/or other situations that would take advantage of the Pulse's additional features?

If it is the former, I would think it is not worth the extra money. In the later case it may be worth it.

[shmoesmith]

UPDATE:


We did end up purchasing a Barryvox Pulse.

Initial Impresson: I didn't like it. It felt too much like I was looking at a PDA

Functionality: WOW! This thing kicks some serious ass in multi burial situations. I was suprised at how much faster a search could be done when all you had to do was click a button to 'eliminate' the signal off the found beacon and then track onto the next closest one down the slide line. The difference would be like putting a Geo Metro up against a Porche. It made multiple searches that much faster.

Not only does it allow you to locate faster because of the masking, but it saves you TONS of energy because you dont have to track back up hill to the point you found the multiple signals to find the next signal on the way down(like you would in a traditional multi search pattern). This saved energy is invaluable when it comes to digging out a buried victim.

The only glitch was when it was used around big metal objects, at which point it had a hard tiem finding a beacon(this shoudl apply to all beacons though) The software in it is upgradeable so if there are any patches/fixes you should be able to take care of it.


CONCLUSION: I'm sure the Peips DSP would have teh same increase in spead as the pulse due to the masking, so either of them would be great beacons.
All in all, after seeing this thing in action, I think that it is well worth teh extra $100 for the multi search efficiency alone. As far as the other features, I couldn't give a damn about them.

[Tony]

good update. tks.