new Pieps beacon 2023

[~mikey b]

https://www.pieps.com/en/product/pro-ips/

After more than four years of development, PIEPS presents a new, groundbreaking avalanche transceiver that heralds a new era: the PIEPS PRO IPS with 80m search strip width and an especially stable transmission and search performance thanks to its INTERFERENCE PROTECTION SYSTEM (IPS) and DUAL ANTENNA SINGAL PROCESSING (DASP) technology.

These groundbreaking innovations make the PIEPS PRO IPS the absolute benchmark of avalanche beacons. The Interference Protection System reduces the influence of interference in transmit mode as best as possible. DASP enables unprecedented signal stability during search through simultaneous singal processing of the X and Y antennas.

[Jonathan S.]

Another try at the foldout antenna, which for ARVA seemed to do nothing.
But I definitely look forward to testing this!

[Hacksaw]

Mike, will we get to see this at ISSW?

[Jonathan S.]

Surprising that already for sale in Europe, yet not available in North America yet under its BD version?

[summit]

I remember when they had something like that at SIA in the 2010s... and it got recalled the moment it was released.... maybe they finally worked the bugs out after a decade.

[Jonathan S.]

The Pieps Vector was way different. Too different. Especially the GPS integration. Hence years of development, resulting in a short sales life before the permanent recall. (And recall as in, send back the beacon for a replacement model.)

[sfotex]

Got to spend an hour playing with this today,
80m search range, IPS is a ‘power boost’ when the beacon detects interference transmitting. While searching the beacon will show the effective search range when it encounters interference. The million dollar question is can the company that struggles with switches pull off a swing out antenna?

[bodywhomper]

“Schwing” antenna?

[Jonathan S.]

Any insight as to why this is being sold in Europe yet not in the U.S. (under the BD label)?

[Peruvian]

Any insight as to why this is being sold in Europe yet not in the U.S. (under the BD label)?

Aren’t there 2 different modes for EU vs US? Maybe they haven’t gotten clearance for a US version yet.

[sfotex]

Any insight as to why this is being sold in Europe yet not in the U.S. (under the BD label)?

Pieps wanted to get feedback in Europe before launching in the US. It will be sold under the Pieps brand vs the BD brand.

[Hacksaw]

It was interesting that at ISSW, Pieps and Black Diamond were not displaying. The only transceiver companies were BCA, Mammut and Ortovox.

[sfotex]

Pieps, BCA, Mammut, Arva, and Ortovox are at ICAR this year. There's been some lively debates about beacon interference.
To make it even more interesting Felix Meier has been present to give his perspective on things.

[galibier_numero_un]

Pieps wanted to get feedback in Europe before launching in the US. It will be sold under the Pieps brand vs the BD brand.

They want users to beta test that the switch locks out correctly ;-)

... Thom

[Jonathan S.]

Courtesy of the AIARE beacon webinar tonight, Mike Hattrup told me that the Pro IPS will not be available in North America until Fall 2024.
However, a limited number will be available to avy educators this fall.
I hope to receive one, and if so, then I will report back here!

[Jonathan S.]

Available for public purchase now.
(I will report back once mine arrives!)

[SDW]

I hope it works as advertised! But I'm also happy to watch from the sidelines. The last 20+ years of beacon innovation has produced good results but also quite a few duds (seems like the wrong market to be beta testing on consumers, but oh well). I think Pieps announced something similar to this almost 10 years ago, so it's interesting they held off as long as they did. Hopefully that means it's been thoroughly tested before being offered retail.

[Jonathan S.]

I hope it works as advertised! But I'm also happy to watch from the sidelines. The last 20+ years of beacon innovation has produced good results but also quite a few duds (seems like the wrong market to be beta testing on consumers, but oh well). I think Pieps announced something similar to this almost 10 years ago, so it's interesting they held off as long as they did. Hopefully that means it's been thoroughly tested before being offered retail.

Pieps Vector did have a fold-out antenna, but that was the GPS (which didn't work well, hence the recall).
(Pieps switch recall was bad, but it was related only to the switch, not any sort of innovative design.)
ARVA Axio had a fold-out antenna for its third antenna, and that design was indeed a dud, but an innocuous dud at that, since it worked okay, just not any better than the usual super-small third antenna inside the housing.

Hmm, what other innovative designs have we seen ...
Ortovox S1 was kind of a cool, but the screen was too small for its innovative display design to offer any advantages.
(Wish they'd try a far larger model for SAR, maybe 50% bigger than a typical beacon.)
Ortovox Diract Voice definitely works well for the voice feature.

I suspect that the consensus on the ISP will be that it's a fine beacon overall, with a neat-o factor of flipping out the antenna to search, and a potential advantage in dealing with interface.
But hardly any sort of breakthrough.
Either way, I will report back with initial impressions followed (eventually) by more formal testing.

[tang]

The recent Mammut recall on the new Barry prompted me to look at this new pieps.
A critical vulnerability on any beacon is always the on/off and send/search switch mechanisms.
With this pieps, I’d be concerned with how you stash it away (when you switch to probe and shovel) and not knock it back into send. This was a flaw with the arva neo pro in my opinion. The best solution was just to turn it off, but that’s very suboptimal, especially if there’s a second slide.
But maybe this antenna truly locks into place and isn’t as long as it looks (could fit back in a pocket)?
Or is the send/search switch not via the antenna out/in?

[Arctos Guides]

https://gzhls.at/blob/ldb/d/4/6/1/d6...6754ca3f02.pdf

Check out back up mode on page 22 in the link above. It seems to address the issue of inadvertently switching to send. Which is definitely a weak point on most transceivers.

I haven’t seen this transceiver yet, but I do like that it has an analog function…a must for multiple burial scenarios IMO.

The recent Mammut recall on the new Barry prompted me to look at this new pieps.
A critical vulnerability on any beacon is always the on/off and send/search switch mechanisms.
With this pieps, I’d be concerned with how you stash it away (when you switch to probe and shovel) and not knock it back into send. This was a flaw with the arva neo pro in my opinion. The best solution was just to turn it off, but that’s very suboptimal, especially if there’s a second slide.
But maybe this antenna truly locks into place and isn’t as long as it looks (could fit back in a pocket)?
Or is the send/search switch not via the antenna out/in?

[tang]

Thx Conor, so I guess you can have it in search (or at least non send) with antenna down? Not totally clear but that would be a big positive.

[Arctos Guides]

I believe when the transceiver is in backup mode it’s actually in transmit; however the signal is suppressed the transmit until you stop moving for 2min or whatever you set the interval. This is for the secondary avalanche scenario.

This transceiver has a lot of interesting functions on it. The back up mode would definitely help with a situation like the practice.

[ASmileyFace]

Recall alert: https://mcusercontent.com/c4cc806900...112024revb.pdf

Battery contact issues? Seems like this could be avoided by using good batteries, but glad to see another company getting ahead of tragedy. Seems like the PIEPS folks learned from the last debacle?

[~mikey b]

US

https://www.blackdiamondequipment.co...ro-ips-recall/

[summit]

THe new Peips and the new Mammut... I'm going back to my Pulse