Anyone tried the Pieps DSP tranciever?

[MnO]

I´m going to upgrade my old analog Pieps Opti4 beacon before this season. Since I´m very pleased with the Pieps I´m thinking of buying the DSP from the same brand. Last winter there where some rumours about some errors in the firmware causing indications of multiple victims when there actually was only one. (from Colouirmags review?). Does anyone know if they´ve fixed the problem this year?

[summit]

I messed around with one in a shop and was fairly impressed but I didn't get to do much with it... sticking with my F1 for now.

[Storm11]

My roommate who works at a local gear shop says that they're the best out there right now. Super accurate.

[420skier]

I have used the DSP alot and love it. Its the fastest one i have used when locking in on a nother and has way to many cool fetchers to list. the multiple burrieal one is great and works real well. A+++++ go get it!!!!!!!! I worked at a shop the last three years and Its what every body should get i have seenthem alll..

[MnO]

Sounds good to me. Thanks for the info. I think I will try one if I can find it in stores.

[Hugh Jardon]

I would be careful with this Peips beacon. It would not pick up my beacon and two others when we were practicing with it. But those beacons picked each other up just fine. Something was very weird. Also, the little bodies that indicate a multiple burial are never the correct number. My impression is that this thing needs another season or two before it's dialed, especially with the power supply-it was at zero after using it for about two hours in search and transmission. My friend sent his back and they returned it saying nothing was wrong.

[summit]

I would be careful with this Peips beacon. It would not pick up my beacon and two others when we were practicing with it. But those beacons picked each other up just fine. Something was very weird. Also, the little bodies that indicate a multiple burial are never the correct number. My impression is that this thing needs another season or two before it's dialed, especially with the power supply-it was at zero after using it for about two hours in search and transmission. My friend sent his back and they returned it saying nothing was wrong.

i've heard those exact problems from a bunch of people

[zoltank]

I would be careful with this Peips beacon. It would not pick up my beacon and two others when we were practicing with it. But those beacons picked each other up just fine. Something was very weird. Also, the little bodies that indicate a multiple burial are never the correct number. My impression is that this thing needs another season or two before it's dialed, especially with the power supply-it was at zero after using it for about two hours in search and transmission. My friend sent his back and they returned it saying nothing was wrong.

Please do not kill me for resurrecting an old thread.

I'm looking for a three antenna beacon, and the DSP was a front runner until my friend from Jackson Hole said the DSPs had problems picking up other beacons, with ones over a year old especially suspect. I looked around and found this thread.

So, has this problem with the DSP been resolved? It possibly not seeing a transmitting beacon is a deal breaker for me.

[hutash]

Not a real problem. There was some ghosting occurring, but software upgrades fixed that. The Pieps is one of the best beacons out there, and actually best at picking up older beacons who's signals have wandered.

Check out Jonathan S's site.

[Bcar]

ive used one for 3 seasons now, GF has one too. She was the fastest in her avi class last weekend.
Ive never had an issue, and usually hit the beacon park once a day or every other day, sometimes it will list one extra burried person, but usually not. its really fast, and accurate, flag/mark function is nice too. i have the latest v6.2 software as well, (or whatever the newest one is).
Id get it again, but prob the advanced so I could ditch a few other pieces of kit.

[Jonathan S.]

Not a real problem. There was some ghosting occurring, but software upgrades fixed that. The Pieps is one of the best beacons out there, and actually best at picking up older beacons who's signals have wandered.

Check out Jonathan S's site.

The DSP still ghosts, especially with older F1 beacons (and their continuous carrier signal), so you do have to keep that in mind with the victim count.
Its marking function isn't as reliable as the S1 and Pulse, but otherwise the DSP certainly has a lot going for it.

I don't have a website, but here's a good source for reviews (as well as just an overview of what's out there):
http://www.beaconreviews.com/transceivers/

My review of last year's firmware is also posted there:
http://www.beaconreviews.com/transceivers/shefftz.htm

My reviews of this year's firmware will eventually be linked to from here:
http://www.wildsnow.com/1476/avalanc...-review-intro/

(If anyone wants to see a draft advanced copy, just PM me with your email address.)

[DarkHorseHyenna]

I messed around with the Pieps stuff, but when I heard they have problems picking up old F1 beacons because they narrowed their bandwidth to gain signal reception distance, thus going against industry accepted standards for beacon transmission and reception protocols I bought a s1 from Ortovox and again I am super happy with how fast my Ortovox beacon makes me when practicing with it. Just like my old f1, but better!

[Jonathan S.]

I messed around with the Pieps stuff, but when I heard they have problems picking up old F1 beacons because they narrowed their bandwidth to gain signal reception distance, thus going against industry accepted standards for beacon transmission and reception protocols I bought a s1 from Ortovox and again I am super happy with how fast my Ortovox beacon makes me when practicing with it. Just like my old f1, but better!

The DSP will find an F1 perfectly fine -- the only problem is that the victim count will often read in excess of one even if only one is buried.
And if more than one is buried, the DSP will have problems masking (but not finding) the first beacon.

[khyber.pass]

I posted about this deep in this forum somewhere, but in a search with mainly Pulses and a DSP, the DSP outperformed the Pulse in both range and multiple burials. The Pulse got confused between multiple signals whereas the DSP distinguished between beacons without having to use the mark function. What I like about the DSP is the range, it has about 10 metres+ on anything else out there. That said I have both a DSP and a Pulse and I can't decide which one to keep, which one to sell. I like the Pulse's audio signal and 360 degree arrow, as well as the ability to switch it into analog mode. They are both top-of-the-line. Outstanding issues with the DSP seem to have been solved with the newer firmware which is installed on any new retail beacon.

As for ghosting, from what I've read & encountered all digital beacons ghost older analogue beacons to some degree depending on a multitude of variables. And I don't trust the victim count on any digital beacon as reliability here is an issue with both the Pulse and DSP due to the complexity of signals and arc lines. Point being, don't put blind trust into anything, just know how it works. If really in a search, then your main priority will be speed of retrieval of the closest victim, not counting the burials, and chances are you know how many went down in any case. If one has a fleet of Pulses, one can detect who is still breathing, thus directing triage, but I'm not sure how much I want to trust this yet, and I pray I never have to address this situation. That said, the sledders in Fernie had to, and in the end with the amount of snow that buried 8 people they could only dig out one person in 20 minutes as he was buried 3 metres down.

Point being? A beacon isn't going to be the main thing saving yr life..

Apologies for wandering on this topic but the Extreme avi danger here is a lurking menace on the minds of many of us.

[Jonathan S.]

well put, and worth repeating:

Point being, don't put blind trust into anything, just know how it works.

[h2d]

Whats the concensus, if money is no object, ortovox s1 or pieps dps? Reasons other than you have one or the other please.

[Jonathan S.]

The consensus is that each beacon has its advantages and disadvantages, hence you should choose whichever design with which you feel the most comfortable. (I'm not trying to be sarcastic: that's the reality of beacon design.)

[MultiVerse]

The consensus is that each beacon has its advantages and disadvantages, hence you should choose whichever design with which you feel the most comfortable. (I'm not trying to be sarcastic: that's the reality of beacon design.)

Agreed, because unfortunately there are still a lot of tradeoffs for each performance parameter which, of course, have been ironed out by each manufacture over a long period of time and they should be commended for their efforts.

Still, I often wonder what a larger engineering budget (i.e. Nokia, Samsung, and Sony) and more competition might bring to the table. Granted this is a niche market, but for the amount of money $$$$ we’re spending on these things, shouldn’t they at least be smaller and lighter… it’s not like the displays take up that much room and ~300$-550$ dollars buys a lot of computing power everywhere else.

[Jonathan S.]

Agreed, and I suspect an even bigger breakthrough would be if the transmission standard were redeveloped from scratch: the current standard was designed only with analog accoustics in mind, and not for all this digital processing.

[hutash]

The DSP still ghosts, especially with older F1 beacons (and their continuous carrier signal), so you do have to keep that in mind with the victim count.
Its marking function isn't as reliable as the S1 and Pulse, but otherwise the DSP certainly has a lot going for it.

I don't have a website, but here's a good source for reviews (as well as just an overview of what's out there):
http://www.beaconreviews.com/transceivers/

My review of last year's firmware is also posted there:
http://www.beaconreviews.com/transceivers/shefftz.htm

My reviews of this year's firmware will eventually be linked to from here:
http://www.wildsnow.com/1476/avalanc...-review-intro/

(If anyone wants to see a draft advanced copy, just PM me with your email address.)

Thanks for the correction. I thought you were associated with beaconreview.com. At any rate, that was the site I meant, but didn't have the link handy.

Thanks again for the info., and all the beacon info you post.

[khyber.pass]

Note on the S1 -- from my own tests, it's a little slower, and the processing speed isn't up to the functionality (such as the compass). I worry about the flip design too. A lot. More things to break. Perhaps the S1 will set the trend but so far I'm really not sure what to think about it. Anyone else actually use & deploy one frequently?

[Jonathan S.]

Be sure to thank Steve too over at beaconreviews.com -- he puts up lots of great information there, and deserves more publicity for his site.

Also, the latest issue of Backcountry magazine has some pretty good reviews (although I disagree strongly with several points). But only three models unfortunately, and the Freeride isn't really appealing to people who read the reviews, while the ARVA 3 Axes is impossible to get right now in the U.S., so that really leaves only a review of the S1, yet it's still worth reading for anyone thinking of buying it.

[h2d]

I am thinking of getting it, not in the states so don't really have access to that mag, is it online to? Anyone care to give a quick overview of the review. Cheers

[Jonathan S.]

I am thinking of getting it, not in the states so don't really have access to that mag, is it online to? Anyone care to give a quick overview of the review. Cheers

The review is not available on the magazine's website, but the same author wrote this guest blog:
http://www.wildsnow.com/1548/ortovox...lanche-beacon/
(A mix of puff and substance, but still, lots of helpful substance in there.)