Comments on: Backcountry Access Tracker 2 — Avalanche Beacon Review

By: Jonathan Shefftz

Jonathan Shefftz — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:37:06 +0000

Just noticed that this comment exchange never provided the final word: turns out the beacon design was fine, and it was the users who doing things like using batteries other than fresh alkaline. Whoops, never mind!
Meanwhile, all sorts of reviews will be published at Wild Snow for new beacon models and significant firmware upgrades. But what about BCA? In keeping with their keep-it-simple approach, nothing new there. But I did appreciate the T2′s ease-of-use on two recent occasions:
- First was running tests for initial signal acquisition. This entailed manipulating TransmitSearch switches something like 150 times. And with very numb fingers toward the end. The ergonomics of the T2′s switch were even more appreciated at that point!
- Second was teaching at my avy course when a student complained that somehow his new T2 wasn’t working properly at the close-proximity dual-burial practice station. So I grabbed his beacon and found the first target within several seconds or so. Hmm, now to find the second target (while keeping the first target on). When was the last time I practiced a multi w/o a mark/mask feature? Well, I’ll just plead the fifth on that, but it all came back to me immediately and off I went. Probably about 10 or 15 seconds longer than with a mark/mask feature. Does it take practice and skill? Yes, but it’s a good skill to practice. And would the time differential increase significantly for a third target? Yes, but a close-proximity three-victim burial is likely to end up rather badly regardless.

By: Jonathan Shefftz

Jonathan Shefftz — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:05:10 +0000

“Tracker2 = still has issues that need ironing out.”
– Such as? According to BCA, firmware release 4 fixes the problem.

By: Viktor77

Viktor77 — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:02:17 +0000

Jonathan, does your partner develop electronics that people rely upon for survival?Somewhat of a recreational mindset, no?….everything is good and explainable until someone gets buried. Sorry, I will try to stand shoulder to shoulder with my CO brothers whenever possible versus foreign manufacturers, but I can’t drink the kool-aid in this case. I have “zero defects” in mind, or at least aspire to it, when I enter avalanche terrain. DTS = great beacon. Tracker2 = still has issues that need ironing out. Lou/John I get what you’re saying, but very respectfully do not concur with your approach when it comes to beacons.

By: Jonathan Shefftz

Jonathan Shefftz — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:45:40 +0000

Along the lines of Lou’s comment, one of my partners, in noting how intermittent problems are the most difficult to sleuth, told me that in the electronics he works on, he’s come across failures that are less than one part per *million*!

By: Lou

Lou — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:40:44 +0000

Problem is, nothing this complex can have zero defects. Reality.