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Did you hear that ________ (fill in the blank with ARVA, BCA, Mammut, Ortovox, Pieps,
or XYZ) is releasing a new avalanche transceiver that you simply drop on the snow and
it will tunnel through the avalanche debris, locate and unbury your partner, and quickly
begin resuscitation? Neither did I! But I often hear rumors about upcoming avalanche
rescue technology that sound almost that preposterous. I also hear rumors about "problems"
with various transceivers.
I hesitate to perpetuate these rumors, because they frequently look like attempts
to use the technology industry's "FUD" approach to marketing. That approach
attempts to thwart competitors by creating Fear, Uncertainly, and Doubt. Some companies
use this approach to slow the sales of competitors' products while they try to catch
up with their own technology. Now I'm not saying
that the companies who create avalanche technology purposefully create FUD, but the
end result of pre-announcing products is often the same.
With the above caveats disclosed and recognizing that there are
many great avalanche transceivers already available,
here are some juicy rumors.
October 2011—The U.S. Pieps distributor says that the release date
for the Vector will probably be January 2012 with some test units available in November
2011. You can read about the Pieps Vector
here.
 January
2011—The folks from Pieps were showing the Vector at the Outdoor Retailer Show
in Salt Lake City. It has four antennas, selects which antenna to transmit on based
on the transceiver's orientation
(which was an innovation first introduced in the
Ortovox 3+), has
a rechargeable battery (that is purported to last for 2+ years and then be replaced
at a service center), a USB port, and includes a built-in GPS that displays latitude/longitude,
allows you to upload a map, and can tell you when to change directions during your
signal search. It's said to be lighter and
is expected to have a longer search range.
I did have a chance to play with the Vector at the OR Show, but only indoors. It'll
be interesting to see if the Vector, with its feature-packed list new innovations, is
accepted as the professional's transceiver or considered too complex. In either case,
Pieps remains the industry's major innovator.
Early 2010—News of the Vector, the next generation avalanche transceiver
from Pieps, has started leaking out. To Pieps' credit, they've remained extremely
quiet about the Vector and have not fanned the FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) fire.
With that said, I'll now do the fanning.
 The
Vector is rumored to have the now standard three antennas and multiple burial marking.
Cutting edge features include a fold-out antenna (that switches the Vector into search
mode and should improve its range while minimizing the transceiver's size) and a lithium-ion
rechargeable battery. Even more revolutionary is a built-in GPS to aid searchers and
a USB interface which you can use to download the GPS data (including maps showing the
search path, multiple burials, and marked locations). The description sounds almost
as futuristic as my introduction to this page of rumors!
I have been told that the Vector will be unveiled at the winter Outdoor Retailer
show in Salt Lake City in January, 2011. The Pieps DSP
undeniably pushed the technology envelope with a number of firsts including
three antennas, upgradable
software, marking of multiple victims, and a
built in compass and altimeter.
It looks like Pieps may have another game-changer with the Vector.
November 8, 2011—The Element is no longer a rumor!
Read about it here.
November 16, 2010—Mammut will be introducing a new avalanche transceiver "for
the winter of 2012" which will be named the "PULSE Element." The Element
 was
designed to reside in the "group of low to mid-priced beacons [used by] occasional
users." The Element is not meant to replace the
Pulse, but rather to target non-professionals
and users with less demanding needs. I believe my source for this information is solid.
The Element will be built using the same (small and light) chassis as the Pulse.
As with the Pulse, the Element will have three
antennas, include a group check
mode, support suppression of multiple victims,
and will be upgradeable.
The simplified Element will have a single button (versus two on the Pulse), an icon-only
interface (versus textual messages on the Pulse), and will auto revert to transmit mode
based on fixed time period (rather than a user-selected time period and motion as done
by the Pulse), The Element will be digital only (without the Pulse's ability to toggle
between analog and digital). The simplifications continue with the Element's ability
to list multiple victims on the screen, but it removes the Pulse's ability to select
specific victims. The Element will not sense motion to indicate which victims appear
to be alive (as supported by the Pulse), and its
direction indicator will not point
behind you (a feature only available in the Ortovox S1 and the Pulse). The
range is expected to be between 40 and 50 meters.
The proposed retail price is $350 (versus $450 for the Pulse). Demonstration models
are expected to be available at the winter Outdoor Retailer show in January 2011 (in
Salt Lake City, Utah).
It looks like the Element is targeted to customers who might otherwise lean toward
the Ortovox 3+ and the
Tracker2—that's a big and growing consumer group.
With the Element based on the Pulse's technology platform, I expect it will be a solid
performer.
December 16, 2010—Recent rumors state that the Mammut Pulse has
trouble locating the BCA Tracker2 transceiver. The claims that I heard were vague (some
reports said the problem only occurred with multiple burials while others said there
was a 20-second delay before the Pulse identified the Tracker). BCA and Mammut issued
a joint press
release today stating that they were unable to recreate any compatibility problems.
Ortovox Sues Mammut
October 15, 2010—This is no longer a rumor, but it was for a few
years. Ortovox sued Mammut for incorporating a compass in the Pulse transceiver. Ortovox
ended up winning the case which prevents the Pulse from being sold in Germany (and resulted
in Mammut paying Ortovox a cash settlement). You can read the details, from Ortovox's
perspective, here.
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| Mammut Pulse |
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| Pieps DSP |
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| Tracker2 |
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| Ortovox S1 |
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