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so My transceiver was stolen from me this season...luckily it was near the end of the season so I could beg borrow and steal for the last few days....was gearing down at the end of the day, took my transceiver off and put it on the tail gate of my truck along with my pack etc...went to the front of the truck to talk my shell pants off and swap out my boots...when I came back to the tail gate it was gone.....friggin' sucks!! but my fault I guess

anyways, I had the DTS Tracker...and to be honest I really enjoyed that transceiver...easy to use, simple etc etc etc.....however this year I have to buy a new one anyways and thought I would see what other folks are using and enjoying...or not enjoying. I have used the ortovox 3+...and although I liked the smaller size...ir really did not like using it. Found the screen difficult to read in sunny conditions and I do not like the switch over method....nothing wrong with it, just seemed clumsy or weird to me.

thanks in advance

Pieps DSP or DSP Tour.

In my Avy 1 class we saw every manner of beacon used. The Pieps consistently had the best range, took you to the victim with authority, and the ability to deal neatly with multiple burials is awesome. The only downsides are that the slider switch is a bit fiddley with gloves, and the new harness they ship with is lame (the old style was great). If you keep your transceiver in your pants pocket it's not an issue.

I really like the Ortovox mid range model, simple, good at multiple burials if necessary, and the position sensitive transmit feature could be a life saver in a very specific situation. But I hear ya on the LCD, this is a problem with every beacon which uses an LCD display, they are sometimes hard to read in bright sunlight. They use LCD because it consumes less power than LEDs, but the brighter LED displays on the BCA beacons are nice…
Who knows what will happen with the yet to be released Tracker 3, now that K2 owns BCA. IF the Tracker 3 delivers on its promise (all the features we have to love with Tracker: easy to read, fast and intuitive) plus smaller size factor and multiple burial marking, it will be a winner, but until it is for sale we will not really know...

I am very interested in the tracker 3 for sure. If, like you said, it follows through on what the rumors are.

I would say check out the Ortovox 3 + or the Mammut Element. Both pretty similar in functions. The Element is basically an easier-to-use Pulse without the heartbeat sensor.

I live in the Pacific Northwest which is usually grey, muted colors, and flat lighting and always snowing in the winter, but on bright bluebird days, I've never felt that my 3+ lcd was hard to read in the sun. But then again, on bright blue days, I'm not usually on sunny southern aspects.

As far as switching into search mode, I like the slider at the top. It works just fine for me with mitts on too.

Any comments on Ortovox zoom+? At lest reviews are good...

I have the Ortovox S1 and love it. Super easy to use, simple multiples, fast and accurate. Only down side is it has gotten confused (displaying the victim) when facing away (behind you) from the signal when you first switch into search mode. Not really a big issue as you should now which way the Avy path is. Great harness, or fits in a pocket great. Plus, it looks like a Star trek communicator, Bonus points

Have a look at the arva axis, saw one in action and have to say, pretty impressed. Really like the refresh/recycle time while doing a fine search.