In reality, very few people are actually saved by beacons! In most situations it is about body recovery.
Here is the reality you don't want to hear about:
If you are buried below 1' in depth your chances of surviving are not good, beyond 2-3' you are a goner most of the time, beacon or not! For the most part, the people who are successfully recovered are the ones with some part of their body being exposed allowing them to be found very fast.
Now lets talk about a real situation, first and foremost the avalanche must be witnessed by someone else(if you are buried), or you die, beacon or no beacon.
Now the witness needs to get to the area where the person is buried, a fresh avalanche is very difficult to ride in, most won't be able to get that close to the burial, which means they have to get off the sled and hike through the chest deep snow to the burial(very exhausting), then get out their beacon, unfold their probe, look around and try and find the general area that the burial took place and where the avalanche most likely would have carried the body. Now you start your search, once you find the signal you probe and probe until you find something, now you have to get out your shovel, put it together and start digging. Most out of shape people will already be nackered before they even start digging. Have you ever dug in hard compacted avalanche snow? It's damned hard work and slow, so you better be lean, young and strong, and aerobically conditioned or you will have gassed out long before you find your friend or loved one.
As 2/3 of our population IS NOW OVERWEIGHT OR OBESE having any expectation that your fat friend is going to be able to do all of the above in less than 10 minutes(survival beyond this happens, but is pretty rare) is folly!
If you are buried in an avalanche you will most likely die, beacon or no beacon, because most people will not be able to get to you, find you, and dig you out before you suffocate(provided you didn't suffer injuries that already killed you). That is the reality, if you can't accept that, then stick to the meadows and the trail, the likelihood that a beacon is going to be the thing that saves your life is very very slim!
Yes, I'm certain someone can point to a few exceptions where a beacon helped to locate someone faster, or at least fast enough, but all the stars have to line up for it to save your life.
If the guy looking for you is fat and out of shape you are dead!
Think I'm exaggerating? Ask your fat friend to get off his sled, sprint uphill through chest deep snow for a hundred yards, then have him wander around for a few minutes looking,(if he hasn't already lost his lunch) then have him dig a hole in hard compacted snow down 3'. I am willing to bet he can't do it under 20 minutes, most of the time you have less than 10 minutes.
People have heavily bought into the beacon thing as a life saver(on the rarest occasion), most of the time it is a body recovery tool.