I have an Ortovox M2 and can recommend it highly. The battery compartment thing was voluntarily remedied by Ortovox for free and all new M2s have the newly designed battery compartment door. The problem came when the Chinese started manufacturing substandard sized batteries so they wanted no chance for possible error. One reason I chose the M2 is it uses AA batteries instead of AAA. All my stuff I carry uses AA, so why not standardize?
In Feb. I took an Avalanche Class and between the instructor and my classmates we had every beacon and model made. The Pieps DSP clearly had the longest range of any beacon there, provided lockout of burials after discovery and, with practice, I found it very easy to use. I am kind of a techno junky, but my son-law also found it easy to use and he is not. If I was buried I would want my buds looking for me with a DPS. I think they would find me quicker.
That being said, practice is everything. We had a couple who each had the DPS and in our team practice burial, they couldn't find their butt with either hand. We made the mistake of using them and one other searcher to find 5 burials. My son-in-law found 4 before they found the 5th and he was using a new M2 for the 1st time. He knew nothing about any beacon before the class started. The most important thing is to learn how to use the beacon you have until it becomes 2nd nature to operate it. Take an avy class!
s-a
