Review: Mammut Barryvox S Beacon

The Mammut Barryvox S is hands-down the best avalanche beacon I’ve used. A redesign of the popular Pulse, the Barryvox S maintains supreme reliability while adding major enhancements in terms of usability and performance. It seems to process information much faster than the old Pulse, has a larger display that is easy to read and more intuitive, and a highly powerful search range. With an extended digital range of up to 70m and an analog range up to 100m in the professional-setting mode, the Barryvox S locks onto a reliable signal at 55-60m—at which point one can really expedite the search.

During a recent Avalanche Level 2 course, the S outperformed other beacons, largely due to its extended range. For multi-victim searches, there's a dedicated flag button, allowing the searcher to mark or mask a signal, so that additional victims can be searched for with less distraction. Other features include an outstanding group-check function, beacon-to-beacon updates, vitals & burial data that detects pulse activity of a buried victim, and auto-revert to send mode in case a rescuer is buried in an avalanche while searching.

All in all, the Barryvox S is a top choice for professionals and I would strongly recommend it to all backcountry travelers. With some practice it is a powerful and intuitive rescue tool.

$500; mammut.com.