How it works

Details on the Functionality of the Snow Scope Probe

We have sought to design a product that is intuitive and will not get in the way of your normal workflow in the backcountry. The result is a device that is simple and easy to use, if you know how it works. This section outlines the basic functionality and will help you effectively integrate scope into your field work.

Parts

On/Off

The Scope has no on/off switch. It is always on but will go into a deep sleep when you are not using it. The scope will go to sleep when you insert it into its protective cover or if you have not aligned your probe into Ready mode for 10 minutes. The scope wakes up when you remove it from its cover.

Pro tip: This is based on motion over the optical sensor window, so if your scope goes to sleep when out of the case and you would like to wake it up you have two options: 1. insert and remove the scope probe from the cover or 2. Slide your hand or sleeve over the optical window from the battery side towards the tip.

Measuring Profiles

After initial setup you are ready to use the Scope in the field. Make sure you open up the app and have it running in the background of your phone each time before going into the field. This will ensure your profiles are tagged with the correct time and location

This video gives an overview of the field operation described below

Probing Procedure:

1. Remove Cover from the Snow Scope, this will wake up the Snow Scope. Extend the collapsible pole – to lock the collapsible pole, slide the telescoping top most section of pole down until the snap button engages.

2. Align the Snow Scope vertically -- the Snow Scope operates based on orientation: when horizontal the Snow Scope is in a Standby Mode, once the probe is aligned vertically it will enter Acquisition Mode and is ready to take a profile. Acquisition mode is indicated by a quick vibration and solid green status LED. The Blue LED will also be on if a connection is established to your phone. This is necessary for location data, so open the app on your phone and connect if it is not already connected! Learn more about connecting to the app here.

3. With the tip of the Scope ABOVE the surface of the snow, pause for approximately 1s -- the Scope sensors take a second to calibrate before each profile and the force sensor must be out of the snow!

4. Push the Scope smoothly and quickly through the snowpack (1-5 sec). Probing faster generally allows for a smoother probe when encountering hard layers. Faster probes typically result in fewer sensor errors as well. If your profiles look "blocky" you are likely probing too fast.

5. Remove the Scope from the snow and wait for the profile to transfer to your phone. The scope status LED will blink green if the sensor data was successfully processed into a profile. The Status LED will blink red if there was an error during probing or processing.

6. To take an additional profile, wait at least a few seconds, and then rotate the Scope horizontally (to standby), and then vertically until you see the green light on and feel a vibration (indicating acquisition mode). Before taking an additional profile, also make sure that there is no dirt/mud/ice/ debris on the tip.

7. After probing, the data will be displayed on your phone and uploaded to the cloud where it can be viewed on the web app and with others it is shared with. Learn more about viewing Snow Scope Profiles here.

LED Indicator Lights

There are two LED indicator lights on the probe. Understanding what they mean is very helpful to using the probe when you have your phone stored in a pocket.

Connection LED

The Connection LED is very simple. It only shows whether the probe is connected to a phone.

LED Color	Probe Status
Blue	Probe is connected a phone
Off	Probe is not connected

Status LED

The status LED indicates the current status of the probe, and if there are any errors

LED Color	Probe Status	Status Description
Slow Pulsing Green	Standby	Probe is on and in a horizontal orientation
Solid Green	Aligned and Ready to Probe	Probe is on and aligned vertically - sensors are ready to be probed into snow to collect data
Off	Probe is either off, or a profile is processing	If a profile is processing, the LED will only remain off for a few seconds before switching to fast blinking red or green to indicate a successful transfer or profile error
Fast Blinking Green	Profile measured successfully	The profile was collected successfully
Fast Blinking Red	Profile measured with error	The profile was collected, but the data wasn't high enough quality to generate a profile
Solid Orange	Firmware updating	The probe's firmware is being updated
Solid Red	Self-Test Failure	The probe is experiencing an issue. Learn more here.

Batteries

The Snow Scope Probe is powered by 3 AAA batteries.

3 AAA lithium batteries will last a significant portion of a winter season depending on use of the probe. We typically say that the batteries should last about as long as your avalanche transciever batteries.

We recommend Energizer Ultimate Lithium™ AAA batteries for best battery life and performance. Other non-lithium AAA batteries will not perform as well in colder conditions and have less battery life, but will still work in all but the coldest temperatures. We have tested the performance of the probe with Lithium AAA batteries down to -30F/-34C.