****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I am an expert blind skier. I purchased these towards the beginning of the ski season. I have tested them extensively both at high speeds, and while skiing technical terrain. They work great for both.While testing these in bowls, even on double black steepness, they can easily cover the range where a guide can see the blind skier, without the audio chopping out. I have had a few chops at the far range of what we would normally cover, but its rare and is very reliable, even at distances of 100 yards. When skiing steep shoots at Aspen Highlands, the audio never chopped out at sight ranges even when we got into the steep trees. Of course, the reviews mentioning dropouts of the audio if the users separate beyond where people can see each other don't really matter for blind skiers, because blind skiers always need to be within sight range of the guide.The system has a bit more noise than my previous system at high speeds, where the wind makes it a little more choppy than I was used to, but the radio quality of commands was still well within what I would consider safe. I never had the audio drop in any way while going fast. It was muffled a little by wind at 30mph or more, but hearing my guide was fine.The latency, though higher than any analog system by a good bit, was still sub 200 MS. This means that when right next to my guide, I hear the guide speak then I hear the guide through the mic, and the latency is high enough that I hear both. This will be disorienting for most people who aren't dealing with weird audio gear regularly. This also makes it quite annoying to hold conversations with people when near the guide.If my guide and I are separated, because we often ski powder separately taking turns, and the guide presses the button to turn off the intercom, I can press my side and bring it back up. Suepr duper useful.The system is clearly designed for listening to music while skiing as well, meaning it fits over both ears, and not just one ear like I'm used to. I would prefer a 1 ear system, and may start using the system with one ear only, tucking the other ear into my jacket. I like hearing what's around and with this system the guide is centered mono.The buttons on this system are a little annoying. Because of the previously mentioned latency, I prefer to turn off the mics during chair rides or if holding conversations. I do not like that I have to take off my gloves to operate these often, as the buttons are a little finicky. They are at least tactile, but through a helmet, knowing which button is which isn't as easy as it could be. This is a minor point because honestly solving this with gloves on might be tricky. The boot sequence is the most annoying, because you have to press and hold two relatively stiff buttons, which is very awkward with a helmet, in the cold, in adverse conditions.We have only had battery life issues once, while skiing from 9:30-3:30 one day, without turning the systems off of intercom all day. They started to fail on the last run, and the failure mode consisted of the entire audio glitching out rather than failing in some more subtle way. I knew it was failing but never got any sort of battery low notification. As it was on the last 400 yards of our last run, I turned the system off rather than trying to diagnose whether it was honestly a battery low issue, and not just a glitch of radio communication. Even on days at or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, I was surprised to note that the radios still operated as expected. It is to be seen whether these systems maintain a good battery life when we don't ski during the summer. I would advise not storing them in any rapidly changing temperature environment, as the unstable heat environment is not good for most batteries. Skis go in the attic but radios stay in the house.Overall, these were an amazing purchase to replace the mics we had prior, which were starting to have more than just battery issues and needed replaced.
