Gear Review

Mammut Barryvox

excellent ease of use
fail-safe design
light weight
a top seller

The Mammut Barryvox is a dual mode (digital and analogue) Avalanche beacon designed for speed and ease of use.

The Barryvox is also one of the lighter avalanche beacons on the market, at only six ounces.

Avalanche beacons perform two primary functions. First, they serve as a transmitting beacon, emitting a radio signal which can be used to locate persons buried by an avalanche. Second, the beacons can be switched over to a receiving mode, to rapidly locate the signal being emitted by beacons in the transmit mode.

Obviously, this system requires that both rescuers and victims be wearing avalanche beacons, know how to use them, and be well practiced in search and rescue operations.

I was attracted to the Barryvox by its compact size, low weight, and ease of use. The Barryvox has several customizable features designed to prevent user error, and has tested well in speed of locating beacon signals.

Users have apparently taken a liking to the Barryvox, making it (currently) one of the top selling Avalanche Beacons. Current thinking on Avalanche Beacons favors simplicity and ease of use. The harsh truth is that most people will practice little (and infrequently) with their beacons before they actually need them. The Barryvox is nearly foolproof in this regard. Even someone who's never seen one before will likely be able to quickly use it in a real-life search.

Note: the newest Barryvox is called the Pulse, and this model features advanced multi-burial search filtering, which I believe is an essential feature in a modern avalanche beacon. I haven't worked with a Barryvox Pulse yet, but I would not hesitate to get one instead of the older version.