We have grouped units by manufacturers, no matter which unit you use it is useless unless it has good batteries and you and evry member of your party knows how to use there unit.

Ortovox F1 Focus

This is a single antenna analogue transceiver with three lights which display the received signal strength and an audible signal the volume of which can be turned down as you approach the victim to help you pinpoint the location of the victim. The F1 Focus takes more time to learn to use than a digital unit but once you have learnt it is brilliant in every situation. It is excellent to use for multiple burials and is one of the best value for money transceivers out there. When you put on the harness the transceiver automatically turns on. We would advise against using older models manufacturered before 1991 as they have a preblem with frequency drift. If you are going to use an F1 make sure it is a new one. Be careful if you are hiring one as it may be an older model.

Ortovox M2

A solid single antenna device which provides an audible signal and digital display of signal strength and distance when below 40m. The M2 is easy to use but I found it less comfortable to wear than the F1. There has been a recall to fit a new battery door due to the variability in size of some brands of AA batteries. If you use the standard AA and not some of the camera brand ones there is no problem though it may be worth getting the door changed anyway, it’s free.

Ortovox X1

Don’t buy it, I found the X1 confusing to use and although it has been updated it still isn’t much better.

Ortovox D3

Not much better than the X1 in my experience, there are too many unresolved problems with this unit.

Ortovox S1

Not available on the market yet, the S1 utilises a clam shell design with a digital display showing the relative position of all buried victims. If it works as well as it is claimed it will revolutionise the rescue of multiple victims.

Backcountry Access Tracker

This was the first truly digital transceiver on the market; it provides a direction arrow and a distance to the victim. With one buried victim it is the easiest transceiver to use that I have tested, where it does get more confusing is with multiple burials so you need to go and practice regularly with this unit.

Barryvox 3000

A really nice small transceiver from Barryvox it can use a combination of digital and analogue signals or be set to either. A direction and distance is displayed on a digital display and there is a signal to indicate multiple burials. There is also the facility to reduce the search range when doing a transceiver check at the start of each day. The Barryvox is a very versatile machine but unless you are using it regularly so can remember how to use all its functions most of these will be wasted on you.

Barryvox Pulse

A new model for this season the Pulse starts searching in Analogue mode then switches to digital mode at about 50m. It has an arrow and distance measurement to the victim, if there are multiple victims each victim is displayed with a distance. As they are found these can then be ticked off. I haven’t had a unit to test yet but colleagues who have used them say that they are one of the easiest transceivers to use and certainly the easiest unit to use with multiple burials.

Please have a look at our easy tutorial on searching with a transceiver for a single victim, this method works for all the transceivers discussed above. With the digital units you are looking for the lowest numbers in your pinpoint search. With an analogue unit you use the strongest audible and visual signal. It helps at the pinpoint stage to use a cross search pattern to identify the strongest signal.