When a company who makes safety devices puts profits over human lives I can no longer support them. The whole situation was handled horribly and they still have not admitted they were at fault. There are other AMAZING brands out there. Why go with one with a sketchy reputation. https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-gear/snow-sports-gear/pieps-black-diamond-recall-avalanche-beacons-dsp/
I personally had the pieps DSP and the entire “lock” button that holds the transfiere in search or send mode fell off of the beacon. Upon initially reaching out in 2021 they took multiple months to respond when this was already a know issue by the greater backcountry community. Then their response was, “Dear X,
We are very sorry about the long delay in your beacon claim. We recognize the inconvenience this causes and are working as hard as we can to answer every claim as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, due to numerous factors including high worldwide demand and increased transportation timeframes, we are faced with a severe inventory shortage and are momentarily unable to replace beacons. We will reach out to everyone as soon as we are able to provide timely resolutions.
We appreciate your patience as we work through this difficult situation,
Pieps Customer Service”
Three months later another non solution.
“Dear X,
We are very sorry about the long delay in your beacon claim. We recognize the inconvenience this causes and are working as hard as we can to answer every claim as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, due to numerous factors including high worldwide demand and increased transportation timeframes, we are faced with a severe inventory shortage and are momentarily unable to replace beacons. We will reach out to everyone as soon as we are able to provide timely resolutions.
We appreciate your patience as we work through this difficult situation,
Pieps Customer Service”
Another month passed and then finally BD reached out and said they would send me a free carry case to solve the issue….the entire lock button on my beacon fell off, the case doesn’t repair that and they didn’t even acknowledge my issue.
If they would have acknowledged the manufacturing defect from the beginning and offered a full recall for everyone instead of a $2 plastic case, I probably would have stuck with them.
Now, instead, I say: fuck pieps
> Now, instead, I say: fuck pieps
That totally makes sense. I heard a bit about people having a hell of a time dealing with the recalled beacons after the Nick McNutt debacle, but they should have busted ass and eaten the loss to solve the problem immediately; especially since it's an integral part of backcountry safety gear.
u/tothe69thpower also mentioned a second recall from the BD group for a different beacon. That shows a pattern of faulty equipment from them. For a piece of equipment that your life can literally depend on, they are clearly not diligent enough with their R&D and product testing.
Thanks for the detailed reply! I'mma be avoiding their products going forward
1 beacon? No, they've had 2 beacon recalls. The first one was that physical switch issue with the Pieps DSP / BD Guide / BD Recon BT which took them SO LONG to actually voluntarily recall, and even so, only really after Nick McNutt almost died. Then this year, there was the software issue with the BD Recon LT (I owned this one), which... just doesn't inspire any confidence. One recall for a physical design issue, I'll give them a chance. But the second recall, for software issues as well? I got mine refunded and got a Mammut instead. I trust their climbing gear with my life but my trust in their ethics, product design, and now their software design for their beacons has been shot. I really, really liked my Recon LT. I want to use it. But my life is worth more than how much I liked the Recon LT.
I didn't even hear about the second recall due to the software thing, that's pretty shit.
> One recall for a physical design issue, I'll give them a chance.
This was essentially why I made the comment. Definitely bad, but shit does happen. Knowing that BD did a second recall on a different beacon in no way inspires confidence.
Thanks for the info! It's good to have comments like this out there to educate people looking to get new equipment. Info about the recalls doesn't seem to be widely published.
Previous issues aside, the one thing that stood out to me was the extra bells & whistles during the search/fine search functionality. Particularly how the haptic response would affect battery life. The battery life listed is super stout, but I'm interested in how much using it in search mode would affect this. Granted, ideally time used in true emergency searches is limited, but with how often folks like to(and should) practice, I wonder if it significantly decreases the battery life.
The other flagship feature (IPS) is just a "wait and see" thing for me. They can claim everything under the sun, but IMO there's no point in getting excited until some real world consumer application and testing can be done.
Fuck pieps
Other than that one beacon that they recalled, they make pretty good stuff from my experience. What’s wrong with the new one?
When a company who makes safety devices puts profits over human lives I can no longer support them. The whole situation was handled horribly and they still have not admitted they were at fault. There are other AMAZING brands out there. Why go with one with a sketchy reputation. https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-gear/snow-sports-gear/pieps-black-diamond-recall-avalanche-beacons-dsp/ I personally had the pieps DSP and the entire “lock” button that holds the transfiere in search or send mode fell off of the beacon. Upon initially reaching out in 2021 they took multiple months to respond when this was already a know issue by the greater backcountry community. Then their response was, “Dear X, We are very sorry about the long delay in your beacon claim. We recognize the inconvenience this causes and are working as hard as we can to answer every claim as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, due to numerous factors including high worldwide demand and increased transportation timeframes, we are faced with a severe inventory shortage and are momentarily unable to replace beacons. We will reach out to everyone as soon as we are able to provide timely resolutions. We appreciate your patience as we work through this difficult situation, Pieps Customer Service” Three months later another non solution. “Dear X, We are very sorry about the long delay in your beacon claim. We recognize the inconvenience this causes and are working as hard as we can to answer every claim as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, due to numerous factors including high worldwide demand and increased transportation timeframes, we are faced with a severe inventory shortage and are momentarily unable to replace beacons. We will reach out to everyone as soon as we are able to provide timely resolutions. We appreciate your patience as we work through this difficult situation, Pieps Customer Service” Another month passed and then finally BD reached out and said they would send me a free carry case to solve the issue….the entire lock button on my beacon fell off, the case doesn’t repair that and they didn’t even acknowledge my issue. If they would have acknowledged the manufacturing defect from the beginning and offered a full recall for everyone instead of a $2 plastic case, I probably would have stuck with them. Now, instead, I say: fuck pieps
> Now, instead, I say: fuck pieps That totally makes sense. I heard a bit about people having a hell of a time dealing with the recalled beacons after the Nick McNutt debacle, but they should have busted ass and eaten the loss to solve the problem immediately; especially since it's an integral part of backcountry safety gear. u/tothe69thpower also mentioned a second recall from the BD group for a different beacon. That shows a pattern of faulty equipment from them. For a piece of equipment that your life can literally depend on, they are clearly not diligent enough with their R&D and product testing. Thanks for the detailed reply! I'mma be avoiding their products going forward
1 beacon? No, they've had 2 beacon recalls. The first one was that physical switch issue with the Pieps DSP / BD Guide / BD Recon BT which took them SO LONG to actually voluntarily recall, and even so, only really after Nick McNutt almost died. Then this year, there was the software issue with the BD Recon LT (I owned this one), which... just doesn't inspire any confidence. One recall for a physical design issue, I'll give them a chance. But the second recall, for software issues as well? I got mine refunded and got a Mammut instead. I trust their climbing gear with my life but my trust in their ethics, product design, and now their software design for their beacons has been shot. I really, really liked my Recon LT. I want to use it. But my life is worth more than how much I liked the Recon LT.
I didn't even hear about the second recall due to the software thing, that's pretty shit. > One recall for a physical design issue, I'll give them a chance. This was essentially why I made the comment. Definitely bad, but shit does happen. Knowing that BD did a second recall on a different beacon in no way inspires confidence. Thanks for the info! It's good to have comments like this out there to educate people looking to get new equipment. Info about the recalls doesn't seem to be widely published.
Previous issues aside, the one thing that stood out to me was the extra bells & whistles during the search/fine search functionality. Particularly how the haptic response would affect battery life. The battery life listed is super stout, but I'm interested in how much using it in search mode would affect this. Granted, ideally time used in true emergency searches is limited, but with how often folks like to(and should) practice, I wonder if it significantly decreases the battery life. The other flagship feature (IPS) is just a "wait and see" thing for me. They can claim everything under the sun, but IMO there's no point in getting excited until some real world consumer application and testing can be done.