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Black Diamond QuickDraw Tour Probe 190

Black Diamond QuickDraw Tour Probe 190 description

As the shortest and lightest Black Diamond probe available, the QuickDraw Tour Probe 190 makes a great pick for shallow-snowpack spring ski trips or times when weight is a major issue.

Bottom Line: Go ultralight on backcountry ski trips with the 7.9-ounce Black Diamond QuickDraw Tour Probe 190.

This probe flips out and is ready to go in about 1.2 seconds.. the click-top lock is super easy and super quick.. Thankfully, the only thing I had to use it for on my last trip was checking for rocks in the snowbank under our cabin so we could jump off the deck after a few cocktails, but it worked. A somewhat unique feature is the sandpaper-ish grip, which is really effective in keeping the probe in your hands, but tears your gloves up a bit - if you're using your probe, your gloves are the last thing you care about, so I am backing it... dropping your probe during a search is just not good. Great probe.

Probes are not the place to cut corners and try to save weight - they need to be simple, quick to set up and reliable. I like this probe as it can survive a good, hard pounding without breaking. Other probes I've tested in hard snow (like automated beacon test sites) have bowed, bent and/or had the tensioning mechanism come loose. Not this one.

If you are doing backcountry skiing and need a beacon, definitely get something longer than a 190. I own this and after using it for one season you realize if you ever had to use this probe other than in drills, the extra little money for a longer probe definitely makes you and the people you are skiing with feel a lot more comfortable

Easy to use, fast assembly and better quality than most.