Any tips on which transceiver to buy? Looking at the Ortovox Zoom and the BCA Tracker? Anyone know which is best? Pretty skint so just need the cheapest transceiver on the market for going off piste. Looking to buy so if anyone has one they want to sell, would be interested.
Aug 28 2019 4:57PM
Aug 30 2019 9:29AM
FinkIcingAny tips on which transceiver to buy? Looking at the Ortovox Zoom and the BCA Tracker? Anyone know which is best? Pretty skint so just need the cheapest transceiver on the market for going off piste. Looking to buy so if anyone has one they want to sell, would be interested.
I have had both the zoom+ and the tracker and while the tracker 1 was a good entry for me I would recommend the zoom over it. I never had to use either in anything for realz, but from the practice and training I have done with it, it's simple, straight forward and pretty reliable for both search and transmit.
My advice is if you have friends with different ones go out and practice with theirs, both using to search and the one you bury to find and see which is best suited to you. even if you decide the ones they have aren't for you, you wont have wasted time as any avy practice is good.
Aug 30 2019 3:09PM
I would say buy a brand new avalanche beacon for a couple of reasons.
There’s a reason someones getting rid of it.
Maybe it’s aging, maybe they’ve left it on the roof and it dropped on the highway, who knows when you buy used. Unless you know the person really well and they are perfectly fine being your ski partner and having that beacon with you, I would hesitate.
If you are buying a piece of safety gear that could be used to save your ass or your ski partners ass why would you want to hesitate on buying something that’s new and not beat up?
Personal preference but I’d make it matchup with my other gear that takes batteries. So I have the ortovx 3+. Mine takes AA batteries. So I've bought a headlamp that takes AA as well. In case I have to use more batteries in my beacon searching for someone I can just grab the headlamps and keep searching. Then also I only need one kind of backup batteries in my pack. No aaa for headlamp and 9volts for a beacon etc...
Like I said I have Ortovox 3+. I like it because it not only has one of the longer lasting abilities in terms of battery operations, it’s still very simple and easy to use. Also has the reverse to transmit after 2 minutes stationary so if you got caught in a secondary avalanche you can get found.
If your a little hard for money you can get a kit so a brand new ortovox 3+ beacon,probe, shovel for $360.
All the tools outside of AT gear and classes.
Im sure you’ve heard it before OP but the biggest deal with beacons is knowing how to use them.
Meet up with your ski partners, make sure both of them work well, play with each other’s for shits and giggles. Don’t hesitate to stop at your local SAR team or ski patrol and make sure they could locate it as well. Or maybe they tell you they could find you faster with a RECCO locator they have and sew a RECCO tag in gear.
At the end of the day knowledge of avalanches and what conditions are doing is what’s gonna keep you and your buddies safe so... learn up.
A beacon, probe, shovel should always be on you when go off piste but the last line of defense.
Aug 30 2019 3:14PM
AbiHDO NOT BUY TRACKER 3I REPEAT
DO NOT BUY THE TRACKER 3
Ignore this.
I've got a Pieps DSP Sport and have been happy with it: https://www.pieps.com/en/product/pieps-dsp-sport
Plenty of friends have the Tracker 3 and have had zero issues with them.
Aug 30 2019 4:48PM
Basically, with transceivers, you always get a bunch of people chiming in with slightly irrelevant experiences. So here's mine:
My tracker 3 started acting up with no real warning, luckily I noticed at home, not on the hill, because it started randomly switching to "search" mode without me touching the switch, and then got stuck in search mode and wouldn't change or turn off. Really scary if that had happened in the BC. So I warrantied it and got a Mammut Baryvox and HOLY CRAP I can't believe how much better it is. Easier to use, and much faster. Shaved minutes off my multiple burial times. Highly recommend.
Aug 30 2019 11:18PM
I’ve personally used the tracker 2, the barryvox pulse, and now the barryvox S all in a professional rescuer capacity.
The barryvox S is my favorite transceiver I’ve ever used. I’ve played with all kinds of beacons, and frankly there’s a lot of good ones out there (pieps makes some nice devices...never personally used or played with a tracker 3).
my wife has the tracker 2 and while it’s serviceable I don’t think I would really recommend it to anyone at this point given that there’s just much better option out there. If someone has had a tracker 2 for 5 years or something and is dialed on it, that’s awesome, but it’s lacking in its ability to easily and intuitively handle a multi burial search situation when compared with newer models.
however it’s still 3 antenna and not a bad choice.
Aug 31 2019 2:34AM
Okay, to explain myself. I patrol with my tracker 3 and the flagging mechanism in it is so sucky. It’s hard to actually flag, not to mention if you do flag it un-flags after 90seconds.... that being said if you’re in a multi burial situation you may end up in a pickle.
also it’s switched from send to search in my pocket before(I know I know, that’s what the harness is for, but still)
annnnnd it’s just super unnecessarily complicated....
the end.