Overview
The Pulse doesn’t just up the ante from two to three antennas, but four. However, truth be told the value of this fourth antenna is as obvious as an appendix. To even mention the availability of this perhaps detracts from the value of the Pulse. The fourth antenna does nothing to help you find a victim, it only exists to transmit motion information in the extremely rare event that you are searching for multiple victims in an avalanche, locate more than three quickly, and need to decide who to dig for last (‘cuz one isn’t breathing and the others are).

Yeah, TMI! In that situation it may matter, but are you really going to be thinking that rationally then? I’m afraid it will just confuse an already soul-racking experience. If you must know about this feature, read the manual (or see pg 2).

Now that we have the pulse feature of the Pulse discarded from the conversation we can focus on what the Barryvox Pulse does well – find buried beacons with alacrity – fast and easy. Pieps DSP might yield greater range for first obtaining a signal, but not by much. If you dig into the available menu system, you can do all kinds of customizations to adjust what sort of clues the Pulse gives you, allowing you to alternate between digital and analog modes, make the analog tone switchable in close, toggle the direction on or off, and chose what pulse signal you are using, depending on if you’re stateside or in the eurozone. Again, if you want to know more, read the manual. For most the factory settings are just fine.

Power Up!
After you’ve loaded three triple-A batteries in the back, you switch the Pulse “on” by depressing the red button at the top down, and sliding it to the right (with the screen facing you). It now goes through a series of internal checks and asks you a few questions. If you don’t respond fast enough, it assumes you weren’t interested and continues with the self check. If you press the diamond etched button (finger side for righties) during this start up phase it will ‘activate’ the ability to delve into the backend menus for a little customization. In about 15 seconds it is transmitting unless you’re ready and agree to calibrate it, or do a group check, or want to customize it.

Searching
To switch to receive, depress and push the slider on top to the right one more notch.

From the factory the Pulse is set to Basic mode. When you switch to search mode the Pulse begins listening with two antennas. As soon as it detects something it lets you know with a loud double-beep, and the display begins showing distance and direction. The distance isn’t too accurate when far away, but keep in mind this is where the signal is weakest and none of the other beacons are numerically that accurate either.

The numbers may fluctuate up or down a full 10 meters initially, but the direction arrow will remain hemispherically correct. As you get closer, the numbers and direction arrows get more accurate. The optimal range in Basic mode is about 2 meters less than in Advanced mode with Analog enabled, but still in the 45 meter range for best coupling, but only 38ish for worst coupling. This is a healthy improvement over any of the prior versions creating a more circular, omni-directional receive pattern.

Once the Pulse locks on to a signal you’re pretty much on easy street – just go the way the arrow points and make sure the distance numbers are dropping. As you get closer the steady volume single cadence digital beep will double the speed inside of 10 meters until you are within 3 meters.

At this point both the audio and visual clues shift gears; the directional arrow disappears to be replaced by four arrows forming a cross and the audio changes to a digital beep that becomes louder and more rapid as you get closer. Simultaneously the cross shrinks the closer you get. It’s a good combination of signals to see and hear your proximity.

Start probing at the closest point in a spiral around the zone and prepare to dig furiously (with a strategy).

The default settings are well thought out as are some of the less appreciated features such as the harness and tether. The harness holds the beacon securely without restricting your movement, with a fairly easy to understand strap system. My only beef with it is wrapping up those straps for storage. Which is part of why I’ve join my brethren in the Alps and I just stash the beacon in a cargo pocket, with the tether latched to a belt loop. Frankly, chest harnesses get in the way, and it’s much easier to reach down and pull it out of a thigh pocket.

Multiple Victims
Should you be in the unlucky position to be dealing with more than one victim, the Pulse does a good job of recognizing the number of victims within 30 meters, and reliably marks each one as found by pressing either of the side buttons. The number of victims detected will appear on the left side of the display. In my experience additional victims may first be detected as much as 25 meters away. The first indication of additional signals is usually indicated by a + after the number of known victims.

When you’re within 20 meters of an additional signal the Pulse is darn good at knowing how many there are. It also does a good job of recognizing and separating older analog beacons like the F1, but that is somewhat dependent on how many there are.

F1s have a wider pulse, which can allow for more overlap with multiple signals. Since timing is an important factor used to distinguish multiple beacons, the more they overlap, the harder they are to clearly separate and keep track of. One F1 among two or three newer beacons Pulse does without batting an eye. Two or more F1s may create some uncertainty, depending on proximity and timing. Usually within a minute or two overlapping signals separate, but that could be an unnerving minute in a real situation.

As mentioned above, there are several customizations you can make, but the factory settings are clear, easy to understand, and impressively optimized. Unless you’re a snow geek, there’s no need and if you are, the Pulse gives you plenty to nerd out about (see pg 2 & 3).

Is there anything to not like about the Pulse? Certainly the price. But if you’re content to not nerd out, get Barryvox’s Element. It’s the Pulse without the vestigial fourth antenna and motion sensors with the default search settings for about 20% less. If you want to play with menus and other such avy beacon minutia, or you’re the ‘leader’, pony up and get the Pulse.

© 2011

Customizing the Pulse
Level 2 Menu choices

Barryvox
www.mammutusa.com
Pulse
Price: $490
Pwr3 AAA batteries
Range: Best coupled ~ 48m, Worst coupled ~ 40m
Multiple Victim Features, Customizable, Vital Signs

 

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

Level 2 Options
Analog Mode
Chose between Auto or Manual. Manual allows you to switch to Analog mode while searching by pressing both keys simultaneously. It also changes the default audio tone from digital, to analog when the transceiver is first switched to receive and is searching for a signal. This audio tone is a real-time echo of the signal, and gets louder as you get closer, while still working with the digital display of distance and direction. It will also allow you hear multiple signals, which should be also confirmed as you get closer on the LCD display as the number of victims is shown on the left.

Audio support < 3m
On or Off. When off, there will be no audio tones inside of 3 meters. When On, it beeps faster and louder as you get closer.

Pinpoint view < 3m
You can chose Cross or Direction. The cross gets smaller as you get closer. With the Direction arrow, the direction arrow normally shown for more than 3 meters remains active inside of 3 meters.

Auto-revert to send
You can chose for this to be 8 minutes or 4 minutes.

Group Check Distance
Touring is closer, Sledding is further.

Vital data
On or Off. Only useful to have on if other members of your party have this capability and are using it. Requires that you set what region it is for and you periodically pass the Vital sensor test

Vital sensor test
This runs a test to make sure it can sense motion, like your breathing or pulse.

W-Link
Region B (NA or NZ) or off

Calibrate device
Calibrates the magnetic sensors. When the transceiver senses the need, it may ask you to preform this test on start up. This is a way you can manually force the calibration.

Reset device
Reset the whole shebang to factory default settings.

Exit

Barryvox
www.mammutusa.com
Pulse
Price: $490
Pwr3 AAA batteries
Range: Best coupled ~ 48m, Worst coupled ~ 40m
Multiple Victim Features, Customizable, Vital Signs

© 2011

GearInstitute view (same author – less minutia 😉 )