beacon woes ?

Do some practice drills with him.  30 minutes in a snowy parking lot will be a great refresher for both of you!  If he can't find you in a few minutes in a 30m x 30m area then you SHOULD be worried...
If he finds the beacon consistently, well then praise his superior antiquated technology!

A snowy parking lot provides a good simulation of locating the beacon under time pressure since you need to dig it out before the next car comes along and crushes it.

Buy him a new beacon for Christmas.
You are never going to shame him into getting a new one since he's not ashamed to be lugging this one around.

Thanks for all the advice all. Maybe if I send him a link to this thread and threaten to “out” him he will be shamed enough to pony up for a new beacon! On the other hand no gift says “I care about you (being able to rescue me)” quite like a new beacon.

I’ve also been on some group tours where some one (different guy) loans an old analog beacon to a newbie who doesn’t have his own yet. I guess in this case you are not expecting that they will be any help in a search, so I guess it is better than nothing.

There must be some users of analog beacons out there. Anyone willing to own up to it?

I learned on an analog pieps. It was pretty effective and people were in the same ballpark with timed trials at the time. When I bought one the tracker was popular and seemed easier so I went with it at the time. I haven't used one since though.

A snowy parking lot provides a good simulation of locating the beacon under time pressure since you need to dig it out before the next car comes along and crushes it.

yeah i like to practice on I-90 during a blizzard...

... There must be some users of analog beacons out there. Anyone willing to own up to it?

Not me, but frequently ski with someone who is a long time users of his analog beacon - I have no issue with it at all. Trust his judgement & experience...

I've used analog beacons for almost 10 years and practiced with them , probably, more than an average person. I used F1 , SOS F1ND, Ortovox M2 and then switched to Mammut Pulse last year. I have been involved in avy education for a few years and had a chance to try many beacons as well as observe others use them.The first time I started to question strictly analog beacons was during the pass/fail faze of Operations 1 Course in Rogers pass where no analog users (5 out of 24 students- and I was one of 5 ) scored highest marks .That was multiple burial scenario on 30m x 30m with 2 "victims" under 5 minutes. Although,some digy users failed and /or scored in the 4-5 minutes mark,there was quite a few that did it under 2 min. Of course, skill is still , by far the most important factor in search speed. That said, I know that majority of people DON"T practice enough , even though we all think that we are good enough. Most of the time we just want to go skiing , have too little time to play etc.
If the beacon (and skilled partner) are the last line of defense, I'd like to have cards stacked in my (my partners) favor at least a bit more.
I'm sure that there might be a tactful way to talk to your partner about your concerns (and I'm the last person in the world to ask about that) It is , after all, your life that is potentially at stake. Cheers, Pred