Review of the Barryvox S Transceiver.

For over a decade the Mammut Pulse has been the top transceiver on the market. Mammut have now introduced its predecessor, the Barryvox S. Incidentally Barry(vox) was a famous Grand St Bernard dog who rescued a lot of travellers passing over the Grand St Bernard pass many years ago.

So how does this device perform…

The Barryvox S is a sophisticated three aerial transceiver taking all the good points from the Mammut Pulse and substantially improving on them.

Pros:

Compact size and robust build. Longer range: 70m digital, 100m analogue. Fast start up. Group check mode, which can be enabled whilst being worn in its harness. Pro group check mode for monitoring the signal frequency of the device being checked. Some of the older transceivers have frequency drift which cause problems when searching. Analogue and digital functions. The true analogue function allows you to hear the actual signal of the buried transceiver. It can even be used if the screen is broken in a tone only mode. Intuitive and simple to use, but having advanced options to personalise your preferred search interface. Mark (and unmark) function for eliminating a found transceiver from the search. Backlit and very clear display. Auto-revert to send function (2mins or 4 mins) Rescue send (doesn’t transmit unless no movement detected for use if not searching in a rescue) Device update, so new firmware can be updated from one device to another. The pulse had 4 firmware updates of its lifespan. Comfortable carrying harness, (enabling vital data detection for triage). Relatively light 210g incl. batteries

Cons:

A bit expensive.

Should I buy? If I had a Mammut Pulse (or other three aerial beacon) I would stick with this for the moment, but if I had a two or one aerial beacon it would definitely be worth the upgrade. If the lifespan of the Pulse is anything to go by which is over 15 years, then the annual cost for this transceiver is well worth it for the extra purchase price.

Terry Ralphs - ISM Director