Ski Locator Questionnaire
I have often been in the situation where I, or one of the people I have been skiing with, have fallen in deep snow and found that our skis have taken a completely different path under the snow to the one that would be expected. This can lead to many hours, sometimes fruitlessly, searching for skis in deep snow, in cold conditions, getting angry and worried. This turns good days into bad ones, both for the person who has lost the ski and the friends who are skiing with them.
As you can gather then, I am looking to design a product that will aid the skier in the tracking of their skis if they have lost them in deep snow. This is to ensure that a day that should be spent skiing is not wasted in the search of skis, whilst in more severe cases, could also save the user the cost of a pair of skis.
Personal:
How old are you?
How many weeks skiing have you done?
Do you find that as you improve you head to the more challenging, off-piste terrain more regularly?
Losing Skis:
Have you, or a skier in your group, ever lost a ski under the snow for a period of time?
If so, how often does this happen to you? For instance, one skier in your party will have to spend more than ten minutes searching for their ski every seven days on the mountain.
What is the longest period of time that you have spent searching for a ski, yours or your friends?
Have you ever lost a ski permantently, either your own, a rental or a friends?
Tracking Device:
If you were to buy a device for tracking your skis would you like it to be a stand-alone tracking device, or to have other in-built features? Features may include feedback at the end of the day on distance travelled, top speed hit during the day etc
As a user would you rather have the device as operational through a current handheld device, such as your mobile phone, or rather through some other form of product? For instance stand-alone PDA, vibrating sensors in gloves, ski poles, etc
How much would you be willing to spend on a ski tracking device? Taking into account that this device could potentially save you the cost of either your skis, or the skis that you are having to pay for that you have hired or are testing.
Would it be important to you as a user that the appearance of the ski is not affected in anyway?
Would you mind having anything drilled into the top sheet of your skis? Performance would obviously not be affected
Rental/Test Skis:
If you work in a rental/test shop would you feel more secure giving out skis in the knowledge that the customer will have a constant ability to track them?
What percentage of your skis are lost a year on the mountain?
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to fill in this questionnaire. Your answers are highly important in aiding me to understand the needs of the user. With your input I hope that many more hours will be spent enjoying skiing on your skis in the deep snow, rather than worrying about where they are under the deep snow.
Sorry for such a long set of questions, but cheers for filling it out guys
