Which Avalanche Beacon is the best?

I’m looking for new avalanche beacons?  I’ve looked at BD, Ortovox, mammut Barryvox, and Arva.  I’ve heard both good and bad reports on them. Anyone have some personal insight into which ones are best?  For reference I have pieps currently and have used ortovox in the past. I know BD owns pieps now, so just trying to   figure out which beacon is the best.
thanks 

Dallen 

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/snow-sports/best-avalanche-beacon

‘The best beacon is the one you practice with’  — An old Klingon proverb i think

honestly anything except for pieps/bd, too many recalls, too many issues.

Baryvox seems to be the guide standard beacon. 

BD/Pieps are the equivalent of buying a rack of cams off Alibaba for $5.... 

I am interested in the ortovox diract voice. Have yet to play with one though. 

For features and performance : barryvox s 

If u don’t need all the features just the regular barryvox.
super reliable and user friendly 

Thanks I read through outdoorgearlab’s reviews. I am leaning heavily toward the barryvox S.  I agree that the one you practice with is the best one. I’ve heard not awesome things about BD beacon recalls. My pieps have never given me grief, but I’m pretty sure they are preBD.  I also know otrovox makes solid gear. 

Barryvox S and Tracker 4 seem to be the best, Barryvox has more range which I think justifies the higher price. Stay away from BD/Pieps, they took over a year to recall a problem with their beacon that killed at least one person.

Barryvox S is on sale, it looks like for only 5 more hours, here:

https://store.miyaradventures.com/collections/snowsports-equipment-or-snowsports-gear/products/mammut-barryvox-s-avalanche-beacon

I bought this same beacon a year ago from this company (in Seattle) and they are legit.

Cool thanks I’ll look at that 

I prefer BCA beacons because of the red indicators. The LCD screens on many beacons can be very difficult to see in poor visibility. I wear contacts that reduce my close-up vision focus somewhat.

Nick Niebuhr wrote:

Barryvox S and Tracker 4 seem to be the best, Barryvox has more range which I think justifies the higher price. Stay away from BD/Pieps, they took over a year to recall a problem with their beacon that killed at least one person.

Agreed...

I use the BCA T4 as my daily driver. It's fast and reliable.

I also use the Mammut Barryvox S.  It's got lots of bells and whistles and the ability to simplify multi-burial scenarios.

I've used quite a few types of transceivers, but these are my current favs.

J

You’re getting a lot of different answers because there is no single answer. I’d strongly recommended going to a BC ski shop and holding each beacon in your hand, put gloves on and use it, wear the layers you’d wear climbing or skiing and practice getting it out and swapping to search mode, basically do a full field run through with each one. Different beacons, send/search switches, displays, interfaces, etc all mesh with different people. What’s intuitive for one person might be maddeningly frustrating for another. 

For example I really like the Barryvox S and generally find Ortovox beacons harder to use, but I know folks who feel the exact opposite. Neither of them is necessarily a bad or a good beacon, they’re the ones that we find easiest to use. 

https://beaconreviews.com/

I'd steer you away from the Barryvox S and to the standard Barryvox. The S is great for higher end users who practice quite a bit, but really the standard is great for doing what it's supposed to do while having a few useful bells/whistles and is cheaper. BD/Pieps are good beacons. They messed up with the recall, but newer models are great and I've used one to pass various beacon exams with no issues. 

jselwyn wrote:

I'd steer you away from the Barryvox S and to the standard Barryvox. The S is great for higher end users who practice quite a bit, but really the standard is great for doing what it's supposed to do while having a few useful bells/whistles and is cheaper. BD/Pieps are good beacons. They messed up with the recall, but newer models are great and I've used one to pass various beacon exams with no issues. 

Second this. S seems more appropriate for guides with large parties, and I've heard euro guides practice a lot every year using the advanced features like analog mode and multiple burial scenarios. I honestly don't have confidence in myself using those features, and not sure I'd need them because most beacons don't have them at all. I do practice standard search mode though.

James C wrote:

Second this. S seems more appropriate for guides with large parties, and I've heard euro guides practice a lot every year using the advanced features like analog mode and multiple burial scenarios. I honestly don't have confidence in myself using those features, and not sure I'd need them because most beacons don't have them at all. I do practice standard search mode though.

Yes, agreed with Jesse and James.

That was called the Barryvox Pulse. Good beacon. Heart rate function was only compatible with other barryvox pulses. Was replaced by the current models. 

climbs sometimes wrote:

practice practice practice. i can’t tell you how many people iv seen totally waffle with there super tricked out beacon. in reality as a single rescuer digging up a beacon in under 7 minutes is a minimum. 

I think it's good to determine a standard...but there have been quite a few random numbers thrown out there in this thread.

If you are into standards, here are a few benchmarks:

Real Life Statistics: 15 Minutes to Find/Probe/Uncover - (93% Survival rate if uncovered before this time).

American Avalanche Association (A3) Pro 1 Standard: Locate 2x Transceivers, 50x50M Zone, Locate and bring both to surface within 7 minutes.

American Mountain Guides Association (AMGA) Ski Standard: Locate 4x Transcievers, 30x30M, Locate and probe all within 8 Minutes.

My two cents: I used to have the Pieps DSP Sport. I thought it was a fairly decent to use beacon but eventually sold it due to the recall issues. I went with the Barryvox and would say it is a better device. I have practiced search drills with both before and in my opinion the Barryvox is more intuitive and easier to use. All my ski partners seem to have the Barryvox as well. I also thought about getting the Barryvox S but decided against it and just got the regular one since I didn't need the extra features. My only complaint with the Barryvox is the buckle on the carrying case/harness, which can be a little hard to clip sometimes because the length of the buckle straps barely reaches over the device, which keeps it nice and snug in its case, but can be a bit annoying to clip back on. I actually ended up keeping the harness from the Pieps and modified it slightly to fit the Barryvox, Overall I would add a strong vote for the Barryvox (or the S if you want it), but you do you.

BTW: If you do decide to go for the Barryvox (regular one), I'm selling one at a reasonable price. Message me if interested. 

So I have a Pieps, brand new in the box and not subject to the recall. I was pretty happy with it since I got a decent price on it.

Is it really that bad?