Avalanche transceivers
What does the cheaper of these two transceivers give up?
These two are unusual on this site: the cheaper listing names its own omissions. It states that motion sensing and upgradeable software are absent and that the search performance and the real-time display are the same. This page puts both listings side by side so the claim can be read against what each actually publishes.
| Compared on | BCA Tracker3 | Tracker S |
|---|---|---|
| Antennas | Multiple, stated; the number is not published | Multiple, stated; the number is not published |
| Display | Not published | Instant real-time display, stated |
| Multiple burial | Not published | Not published; motion sensing and upgradeable software are stated as absent |
| Batteries | AAA, included | Not published |
| Weight | 215 g | Not published |
| Stated search strip | Not published | Not published |
| Stated battery life | Not published | Not published |
| Service interval | Not published | Not published |
A tick means one listing published something the other did not, or published a better figure. It does not mean the product is better, and the column is not a score out of anything: a maker who says less loses lines here without losing a comparison. The two verdicts below are where the page is settled.
It publishes a weight, its dimensions and the batteries it ships with, which is more than any other new transceiver on this site. What it leaves unpublished is a search strip width, a battery life or a service interval — and neither does anything else on the shelf.
The cheaper unit, and the one whose listing is honest about what has been removed. A device that names its own omissions is easier to buy than one that lists only features. What it does not do is publish a weight, which on something worn against the body every day is a real gap.
The width of ground a transceiver can cover in one pass during a search, which sets how long a full sweep of a debris field takes. Neither of these publishes one. Exactly one transceiver on this site does — a second-hand unit, at 50 m — and it has no price in any store.
It is a feature that switches a transmitting device to receive, or back, based on movement — useful in a secondary burial. The cheaper listing states it is absent and that the core search performance is unchanged. This page reports that claim; it is the maker’s, and no test accompanies it.
A transceiver is a skill, not a purchase. Neither listing says so and this page does. Buying the device is the easy part; the part that decides an outcome is having used it under time pressure before it matters, with the probe and the shovel that this shelf cannot sell you on the same page.
457 kHz, 215 g, 11.5 × 7.1 × 2.4 cm, strap and AAA batteries included
The thinnest multi-antenna unit here, and the only new one that publishes its frequency, its size and its weight.
Best for: A skier who wants the full Tracker with the features the Tracker S leaves out
≈ $350 / £323 / €370
Multi-antenna digital transceiver, real-time display, no motion sensing
The cheapest transceiver here, and the listing says plainly which features it leaves out.
Best for: A first transceiver, bought with a probe and a shovel at the same time
≈ $287 / £214 / €241
The live figure beside a product went and asked the shop for it the moment this page opened; any amount written into the text has not moved since the sentence was drafted, and it is the first of the two that counts.
