|
Summary: The Pieps DSP is a small beacon, it has one of the longest ranges
of the digitals, it allows you to lock-out a transceiver during a multiple burial, its third
antenna is excellent at dealing with spikes during deeper burials, it handles
frequency drift well, and it can be upgraded via the earphone jack.
The Pulse Barryvox and the Pieps DSP are currently the top-rated avalanche transceivers on BeaconReviews.com.
Searching: The DSP has a long range and has an intuitive
direction indicator. The only downside is the direction indicator refreshes a little slower than
the Tracker (although I haven't quantified this or adequately compared it to the
Pulse). This is relatively minor considering the DSP's many strengths.
Multiple Burials: The handling of multiple burials is similar to the
Pulse Barryvox (you press the Mark button to ignore the current beacon and advance to the next beacon). Read
the details here.
Spikes: The Pieps DSP was the first three-antenna beacon and set the standard for
spike handling. Superb.
Controls: The switch that changes between Off, Send, and Search is the most intuitive of the 20 beacons reviewed. A bump of the
switch conveniently changes from search back to send (as with several other beacons). The Mark button (a flag, which is reasonably intuitive) tells the transceiver
to ignore the nearest transceiver during a multiple burial search.
| Advertisement |
Pieps DSP
 |
Comfort: I did not like the (now-discontinued) black harness. I find the updated (silver) harness which positions the transceiver
to your side somewhat more comfortable, although it is unusual that the elastic strap goes over your shoulder while the fixed strap goes around your torso (that is
how it is displayed in the user manual), and the transceiver tends to ride higher on your torso than others.
The plastic case gets stiff when it is cold which makes it more difficult to remove the transceiver from the case.
Unique Features: The DSP lets you check the transmitting frequency
of your friend's transceiver. It has a Smart Transmitter which modifies the cadence of the transmitted
single to reduce the likelihood of signal overlap during a two-victim multiple burial. The scan function
shows the distance to multiple victims. The DSP will support the Pieps iProbe.
| Advertisement |
Pulse Barryvox
 |
The Pieps DSP is programmed to blink the little man icon ( )
at the bottom of the screen when it senses a continuous background signal (i.e., an older analog beacon). To test this, I searched
for an Ortovox M1 which had a strong background signal. The DSP's man icon did not blink during the
secondary search, but it did display two blinking men during the
pinpoint search. I treat the blinking men as a indication that the DSP is aware of an unusual signal
and is doing its best to interpret it.
Upgrades: The DSP can be upgraded via the earphone jack. Read about the latest software upgrade
here.
Other: Read about the DSP's self-test.
This beacon unquestionably deserves five stars. Outstanding!
View the comparison table for more information regarding the Pieps DSP.
|
