Bryan Stern

I like these a lot so far. I like that they are flexible which allows me to fold them up more tightly in my bag. They definitely aren't as sticky as my BD skins, but I haven't had any trouble with them coming off my skis and it does make pulling them apart easier. I find the grip a little less strong than my BDs, but barely. The glide is definitely better. My only complains are with the tip and tail attachments and they are minor. I had to widen the tip connectors to fit onto my DPS's and I found that fairly difficult. The tail clip, while fine, can be a bit tricky in the cold as the rubber is harder. I definitely prefer the BD tail clips.

When I took an avy course this winter, everyone else in my group complained that I was cheating (in jest of course), but thats how much faster and easier my searching was in comparison to others using BCA trackers and F1s. It was very handy for helping direct a group search for multiple burials as I could reliably declare how many were buried and to tell people which signal for them to pay attention to (to direct subgroups of searchers to different beacons).

Still as with most beacons, I found its important not to move too quickly while searching. The beacon would sometimes get confused if you tried to move very quickly and then it would ask you to stand still while it reacquired its target. The symptoms of confusion usually were that it might try to send you the long way on the flux line. The cure for this was to stop moving and let it figure it out quickly. I wouldn't consider this a flaw as with all digital beacons its important not to "outrun" them.