Comments on: Beacon Basics: Save Your (Beeping) Life

By: RECCO Gear: Reflections on RECCO | Backcountry Beacon

RECCO Gear: Reflections on RECCO | Backcountry Beacon — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:02:20 +0000

[...] is and what it does, you should first know what it’s not: RECCO is in no way a substitute for an avalanche beacon, nor does it provide any guarantee of safety in the backcountry. Carrying and knowing how to use [...]

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By: Helpful Avalanche Safety Acronyms: ALP TRUTh and FACETS | Backcountry Beacon

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:16:47 +0000

[...] occur, and how to avoid them. Take an avalanche safety course in your area, practice with your avalanche beacon, and run through rescue scenarios [...]

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By: Beth Lopez

Beth Lopez — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:14:41 +0000

Nate, it’s because they hold a steady charge for quite a while, and then they lose the rest of their power quite suddenly. So technically, your beacon will work just great for a while, and you’ll go out in the morning thinking your battery is at like 75%–but then all of a sudden, your power will drop rapidly. And having your battery lose juice unexpectedly during a crisis would be… well… lame. Alkaline batteries won’t do this; the charge will drop steadily and predictably over time, so you can easily see in advance when you need to replace them.

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By: Nate McIntosh

Nate McIntosh — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:03:44 +0000

Just curious, why is it not recommended to use lithium and rechargeable batteries?

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By: Beth Lopez

Beth Lopez — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:24:14 +0000

Glad you found the info helpful and clear, Bareman… This is complex stuff, and I think it’s helpful to have it set out in layman’s terms. As Justin said, this article will stay here on the Beacon, and over time, we’re working on making the Beacon’s articles more easily accessible from Backcountry.com’s site too.

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By: Justin Mool

Justin Mool — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:50:02 +0000

Thanks, Bareman. Come back to Backcountry Beacon anytime. The url won’t change and you’ll be able to find it through the ‘search’ bar or by clicking on any of the tags like “avalanche safety”.

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By: Bareman

Bareman — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:47:24 +0000

I am new to beacons but I have some background in navigational technology, inertial theory, gps and other nav technology, and this article was informative and at an understandable level…I highly recommend you archive this for those of us that like to revisit informational articles prior to purchasing an item… keep them coming.

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By: Justin Mool

Justin Mool — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:30:39 +0000

Get Bruce Tremper’s: Staying Alive in Avalanche Terrain. It’s a classic. Also: we’ll be posting some more avie awareness articles next week, so stay tuned.

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By: sonnick

sonnick — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:27:30 +0000

awesome post. can you recommend some general info avy books for beginners? what’s the best backcountry primer in your mind? thanks so much.

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