SOS SOS F1- ND

Review Date
February 10, 2002

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by: Twigger(Unregistered User) ,  Advanced

Price Paid:  $185.00 at online

Riding Style:
New Hampshire

Product Year:
2001

Summary:
I bought this beacon online. In practice it makes the induction search a breeze. It has a much greater range than the ortovox F1 and is clearer. Very simple to use, highly recommend this over any other beacon. Mine has 7 leds for better visual cues.

Strengths:
7 leds so you can really see a difference as you pan and orient your beacon. The visual cue is often better than the audible.
Excellent speaker that is very clear and loud. Not scratchy like the Ortovox F1.
Shape makes it comfortable to wear.
VERY easy to follow the flux line of the transmitting beacon. Almost completely intuitive.
Incredible range in both modes. Compared to the F1 in similar trials, you'll find and acquire the signal while the other guy is still searching. In other words you'll pick up the signal from much further out and spend less time hiking up and down the hill looking for your buddy.

Weaknesses:
The straps.
While comfortable, the head strap can be a little hard to continue wearing in search mode. That's it.
To switch from transmit to receive, you have to take your glove off to slide the catch and pull out the knob. Once engaged, gloves are not a problem. Swithing back to transmit is very easy (just push the switch back in-definately not a weakness).
Like any beacon you must/should practice. ( You might be able to practice a little less often with this one!)

Similar Products Used:
Ortovox F1, M2, Pieps OPTI4.

Review Date
February 13, 2001

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 months to 1 year

Reviewed by: Barry Erhardt(Unregistered User) ,  Advanced , from Edmonton, AB. CA

Price Paid:  $200.00 at MEC

Riding Style:
Whistler

Product Year:
00-01

Summary:
The unit I purchased and use is not quite the same as the one you picture. Mine has a 7LED directional bar graph, also the range dial was marked with the travel increments. Instead of the 90m range it has a 9, indicating the number of steps to travel before reorientating the beacon.The step markings on the dail were 9, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and the man remained the same. This travel increment made it easy to stay on the flux line, searching was really quick and the results reliable. It did take a few minutes to learn how to operate as it is not exactly the same as an Ortovox or Peips. The time was well spent, I've never had such quick search times. Directional searching was quick and easy. Most impressive was how simple it was to locate multiple victims. After reading their Multi Simple Arc Search I was able to locate 5 victims in under 8 minutes! This is definately the most veratile beacon available. Well done SOS.

Strengths:
Exellent range, the visual dispay gave directional information before the audio was discernable, over 100 meters! The range LED let me know when it was time to shrink the search radius. Unit worked well in all situations. The new Multi simple search technique make locating multiple victims quick and easy. Something I could understand and do.

Weaknesses:
Was not as fast as a digital beacon in a single burial(small areas)but was much faster in a large area search and easier in a multiple senerio. Body harness was easy to wear but the straps seemed a little to short.

Similar Products Used:
Ortovox F1, M2, Tracker