The customer support is appalling, here’s my experience :

http://snowslider.net/2009/04/01/abs-airbag-takes-extended-trip/

Your blog link is a good read and it really is rubbish service. I can see the problem. Not enough people using the ABS so they can’t invest in a dealer network, but that shouldn’t be your problem. Hopefully, as you say, the Snowpulse and other airbag type devices being prototyped will stimulate competition although I do wonder whether the market is going to be large enough.

It’s chicken and egg with their market size. If they recruited more dealers they would sell more kit, I’m pretty certain of it.

One of the barriers for the UK market is not so much the number of UK based dealers but the confusion about flying with the kit. If they offered a cheap hire network for triggers and canisters, a couple of francs per day or so, for registered customers or offered a subscription contract or something they’d sell more units in the UK.

I’ve lost confidence in them totally, I’ve got the bag back just now and it’s got a trigger, but the importer has been so extravagantly incompetent that I’m not entirely sure the trigger is any good. They’re so very useless it could be the discharged trigger I sent to them for all I know and I have no way of checking.

Yes I see you dilemma. Your idea of a hire network is really interesting. Buy the bag, hire the canisters in resort. It could cut down one of the major fixed costs of the system and solve the flying problem which is constantly raised by potential purchasers.

It has to be said that it is the one piece of kit that stands a very good chance of saving your life in the event of an avalanche and recognizing that a lot of us ski alone at times (although most lone wolfs are careful about route choice and conditions) it is the only piece of kit that has any real effect on outcomes in those circumstances.

ise .... my sympathies ...

..  but firing the trigger without the cartouche in place is the worst possible outcome.

Better to have fired it with the cartridge in place and then replaced both.

The ABS packs don’t require much maintenance, but one critical item of maintenance is to regularly lubricate the brass trigger housing and the tip of the Trigger toggle, with the oil supplied. I do this on a weekly basis and haven’t had any problems.

We have an excellent dealer here, so if you need any assistance then call me & send the bag down here & I’ll get it sorted out for you.

BernardC - 01 April 2009 04:48 PM

The ABS packs don’t require much maintenance, but one critical item of maintenance is to regularly lubricate the brass trigger housing and the tip of the Trigger toggle, with the oil supplied. I do this on a weekly basis and haven’t had any problems.

I’d actually done that the same morning, I don’t know what was up with it really. Taking the trigger on and off a couple of times during the day it had been fine but just at that time it wasn’t right at all. I presume some snow/ice/water had frozen in somehow

BernardC - 01 April 2009 04:48 PM

We have an excellent dealer here, so if you need any assistance then call me & send the bag down here & I’ll get it sorted out for you.

Tignes Piste Patrol use them and I think your local boys in la Plagne use them as well. ABS France were also lending out packs for the season for people to demo this year. I know quite a few people who bought them and at least one who used his fairly early in the season. A small avalanche in the end but I guess you don’t know that when you trigger the pack. So I imagine ABS France have pretty good sales in the Tarentaise and probably in Chamonix and Grenoble.

davidof - 01 April 2009 05:16 PM

Tignes Piste Patrol use them and I think your local boys in la Plagne use them as well. ABS France were also lending out packs for the season for people to demo this year. I know quite a few people who bought them and at least one who used his fairly early in the season. A small avalanche in the end but I guess you don’t know that when you trigger the pack.

Ironically, the closest I’ve ever come to using mine was that day I accidentally fired the trigger. A small slide which I thought was 50/50 at the time, I was pretty certain it was going to be tiny but there was an instant I was about to pull the trigger.

BernardC - 01 April 2009 04:48 PM

..  but firing the trigger without the cartouche in place is the worst possible outcome.

I think the manual states that as well and ABS told me the same. I’m not sure I understand what happens?

ise - 02 April 2009 08:10 AM

BernardC - 01 April 2009 04:48 PM

..  but firing the trigger without the cartouche in place is the worst possible outcome.

I think the manual states that as well and ABS told me the same. I’m not sure I understand what happens?

Apparently if the trigger is fired without the cartouche in place, it destroys the cartouche activation mechanism. This will have been replaced by the manufacturer return service.

Following seeing your post here, I became concerned that it might create a negative influence worldwide and not reflect the absolute professional service that ABS generally have in place - certainly in France and particularily in this part of France.

I immediately contacted one of the dealers/designers/testers that I know and who resides in the Tarentaise. He was incensed to say the least ... ! As I detailed in my SMS message to you, he offered to resolve the situation immediately, in France, if you would allow him to do so - now I understand, even to the point of supplying you new ABS pack.

Even though your issue has been resolved, the case is being pursued vigorously to identify the failings and to sanction the individuals involved.

I further communicated your concern regarding your confidence in the repaired ABS pack. The solution to this is to ‘Test Fire’ the ABS pack and a replacement Cartouche & Trigger will be supplied free of charge (From France)

Ise knows me, but I should add that I have no commercial intertests, ties or otherwise with ABS, save being an ABS user and concerned that the highlighted and apparently one-off bad experience could put snowsporters off buying one. They have an impressive pedigree and are certainly a safety device worth considering for the hors piste user.

Thanks for that, obviously I can only record the experience I had and reflect on it. There seems to be an issue with after-sales support though, there’s no dealer network to speak of in Switzerland, there’s 5 ski stations in this valley and no dealer in any of them or service agent, the nearest is 1 hr 30m away and they didn’t bother to reply to emails. I would have thought it made sense if ABS used Intersport to provide some service, there’s one pretty much everywhere. Both the Swiss importer and ABS in Germany had ample opportunity to explain the issue with firing the trigger without the cylinder attached but didn’t bother, in fact ABS told me the “stitching” needed checking and this was the reason for the return to importer. And obviously what I was most concerned about was the fact it took days to reply to emails and weeks to return my sack.

I compare this with my experience with breaking my Tracker earlier in the season when I had a replacement in my hands a couple of days later.

What’s clear to me is that if you were a skier here on holiday and had for some reason fired your sack, with or without cylinder, you would have no practical chance to get replacement parts or service during your trip.

I had already thought about test firing the sack but that’s tantamount to discarding it for the remainder of the season. I specifically asked the importer to provide spare triggers and cylinders and they declined saying I should use a dealer, obviously if there actually were any dealers here I would have gone to them to start with.