Review: Barryvox Pulse (2011, v3.0)

Nerding Out w/Pulse
For those who want a bit more information and range out of the Pulse, delving into their advanced features is the way to go. It’s not that hard, but if you’re brand new to the world of avalanche transceivers, this is some pretty geeky stuff that you may not appreciate without a fair amount of time practicing and let’s get real, aside from pros, who practices using their beacons anyway?

Nonetheless, if you’re willing to spend the time to practice enough to notice the difference these options provide, then you will appreciate the ability to change the default settings, if only a little.

Accessing Advanced Settings
To get in to the advanced menus, be sure to press the diamond etched button (finger side for righties) while it is powering up anytime after it ‘says’ “group check”. If it says “activated” at the bottom, you timed it right. Then press the circle etched button with your thumb (righties again) after it tells you the battery power level and you’ll be entered in to the first level of the Pulse’s control room.

Using the finger button you can scroll down to modify things like the Group Check distance (Touring or Sledding), Language (chose from 8), Profile (Basic or Advanced: the key to level 2 options), Owner (you can key in an identifying name or number, Maintenance where it keeps track of s/w tests done via a computer link, and finally Exit, to return to transmit mode.

To dig into more advanced settings, select Advanced under Profile by pressing the thumb button to see the options, then the finger button to select Basic or Advanced. Pressing the thumb button on the ‘checked’ setting selects that setting, and then kicks you back up to the first level.

From here, scroll down past Maintenance for a new option called Settings that gets you to level two choices.

Analog Mode
There are many things you can change here, but there’s really only one that I modify anymore, and that is to select the option to go to Analog mode manually. This does two things with the Pulse. First, it changes the audio tone when further away than 3 meters to an analog audio tone that gets louder as you get closer. Not dramatically louder, but noticably.

More importantly, it changes the initial detection scheme to rely predominantly on the antenna with the highest gain to increase range. In this mode the Pulse is just shy of the DSP’s range, so 48-50m instead of 50+m. Once the Pulse detects a signal in analog mode, it quickly locks on and digital processing kicks in, usually within a meter of first ‘hearing’ it.

And finally, it allows me to switch to full manual analog mode by pressing both keys simultaneously. I’m very comfortable with search in analog mode, at least, once I’m within 10 meters and most assuredly as an audio confirmation when practicing multiple burial scenarios. The main reason I like it is because it gives a real-time response that, to the experienced ear is dead nuts accurate. When it’s louder, that means it is closer exactly in the position your receiver is in, without any digital processing delay. Digital displays can be fast, and pretty darn accurate, but loud vs soft takes no translation time either with the beacon’s processor, or the one between your ears. With digital beacons, there is enough of a processing delay, especially if you are moving your beacon quickly, that it might indicate the distance for where your beacon was half a second ago, not at the time and position it displays it. If you’re moving too fast, this information is inherently erroneous, it’s just a matter of degree.

To the practiced, this analog mode allows you to hear more than one signal at a time, maybe even be able to confirm what the digital display was already telling you in plain English. If you are well practiced, it might even speed up a micro-grid search. However, the main advantage of analog mode is to increase the receive range. Once the Pulse latches on to a signal, as with basic mode, you’re pretty much on easy street until you need to start digging.

…and more
The other option I used to change was the direction arrow inside of 3 meters. But with the cross now shrinking as you get closer, I’m inclined to stick the cross since the direction arrow can get pretty jittery when you’re that close.

There are plenty of other options, and the only other one that is worth serious consideration is the Vital Data function. If you’re in Europe, or with a guided party where everyone is wearing the Pulse (or the new Arva) then this is a worthwhile feature to turn on. Here in the states, it’s much ado about nothing.
© 2011