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12-11-2007, 03:54 PM #1
Pieps Freeride - would you trust it?
Anyone here tried the new super cheap Pieps Freeride? It sells for 200 bucks here comparing to 600 for Pulse...I did find some info but no real life experience. I am hesitating to recommend it to friends...
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12-11-2007, 04:43 PM #2Registered User
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I'd trust it. But I believe it's got a specific use - for people with no avy training who are part of a group. Say you were in a guided party I wouldn't object to the guides giving those out to people purely so they could be located since they'd be useless as searchers anyway. I remember reading about it - it's just a single antenna beacon with no features right? So searching is the same as an analog beacon, the grid method?
So I might think they'd be alright for a single person or maybe 2 if they were part of a good sized group with knowledgeable people in it, but I wouldn't get one for me.
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12-11-2007, 04:47 PM #3Gel-powered Tech bindings
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Functionality seems very similar to the old ARVA 9000/Evolution (as opposed to the two-antenna Evolution+), i.e., single antenna with digital readout for approximate distance (but unlike the somewhat similar M1/M2, no adjustable sensitivity, and digitized accoustics) and hence no directional indicators.
Also only one battery.
And multiple burial symbol.
Transmission can be deactivated by the iProbe, so, hmm, if (and only if) a Freeride (or DSP 5.0) user is one of multiple victims and is found first by a searcher with an iProbe, then the search for other victims will not be delayed (by first having to completely uncover and physically turn off the victim's beacon) or complicated (by having to deal with multiple signals after the first victim is located).
More details:
http://www.pieps.com/cms/media/manua...al_free_en.pdf
More discussion/debate:
http://www.backcountryworld.com/showthread.php?t=3844
Most ridiculously misleading hype imaginable for a safety product:
http://www.pineneedle.com/store/pc/v...&idproduct=295
[So the Freeride is (an honor it shares with the DSP) "the first truly 100% perfect safety solution for multiple avalanche burials!" (unclear what the numerator and denominator were to arrive at a 100% ratio) and "Optimal solution for Off-Piste-Skiers!"]
Overall, seems like a shame that the first beacon specifically targeted for sidecountry-type skiers who are least likely to practice is a design that is going to require lots of practice to be an effective searching tool. (Will be fine of course in victim mode.)
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12-12-2007, 12:00 AM #4
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12-12-2007, 12:57 AM #5
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12-12-2007, 01:37 AM #6Registered User
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I used analog beacons when that's all that was available too. I still have my Pieps 457. But there's no question that my DSP is worlds easier to search with. Don't get me wrong, the grid method's OK and great for the final pinpointing, but I prefer the direction/distance readout of multi-antenna digital beacons for the initial homing in.
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12-12-2007, 01:41 AM #7
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12-12-2007, 01:50 AM #8Registered User
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Ah, cool. Should've read the pdf. So it's still much easier than an old analog beacon, but not as easy as e.g. my DSP. Not bad.
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12-12-2007, 01:54 AM #9Originally Posted by RootSkier
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12-12-2007, 05:45 AM #10Gel-powered Tech bindings
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The Pieps Freeride may or may not have some sort of indicator for whether the searcher is aligned with the flux line, but it definitely does *not* have any true directional indicator (i.e., informing the searcher whether to go left or right to get back on the flux line), since a single-antenna design has no way of performing that function. (Same for Ortovox M1/M2.)
Edit: The Freeride definitely *does* have a fluxline indicator. (But it definitely does *not* have any true directional indicator.)Last edited by Jonathan S.; 12-12-2007 at 08:21 PM. Reason: I was wrong, whoops, sorry!
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12-12-2007, 07:12 AM #11
You can get a tracker for the same price.
Originally Posted by wintermittentOriginally Posted by snowsprite
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12-12-2007, 07:40 AM #12
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12-12-2007, 07:42 AM #13
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12-12-2007, 08:11 AM #14
They are 229.93 right now at REI on sale.
If you use code HOLIDAY7 when you check out you get an extra $20 off.Originally Posted by wintermittentOriginally Posted by snowsprite
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12-12-2007, 08:18 PM #15Gel-powered Tech bindings
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12-12-2007, 10:08 PM #16
given that the price is supposedly $185 does it make any sense as a practice beacon?
It would seem to me that would make a lot more sense for those of use who don't have beacon basins nearbyFor sure, you have to be lost to find a place that can't be found, elseways everyone would know where it was
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12-12-2007, 11:54 PM #17Hugh Conway Guest
cutting through the useless bullshit.
It's better than not having a beacon. No, it's not the latest and greatest.
If you'd like some help reshipping beacons I'd be happy to oblige (you were nice enough to offer help with a car). Cheapest/Fastest way would be a USPS Priority International Flat Rate Box ~$30-$40 depending on which country, should hold a couple beacons that could be sent as a gift
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12-13-2007, 01:25 AM #18
thanks guys (thanks Hugh for the offer), i know that i can get better beacons for a good price in US and especially now with your exchange rate being fucked up...but a few friends here in Czechland asked me about buying the Freeride here...the price difference is huge: Freeride 3500Kc comparing to BCA Tracker 8000Kc...and I wont bother with getting beacons for them from states...
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12-13-2007, 07:01 AM #19
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