Ortovox S1+ Review

The Ortovox S1+ is easily among the most capable and fully featured beacons on the market. However, what truly sets it apart is its ability to calculate flux lines and take its rescuer straight to the buried beacon rather than curving in a long a flux-line. We aren't sure if this feature necessarily equals speed, but in more complex burials, mainly if the buried beacons are in close proximity to each other, the S1+ is among the best performing. Despite its interface that would lead you to believe it was for best for more novice users, we'd recommend the contrary. We think it is okay for more casual backcountry travelers but shines for more advanced users, ski guides, or other avalanche professionals who will take full advantage of this exceptionally capable beacon.

Performance Comparion

Range

The Ortovox S1+ has one of the better overall maximum ranges among products available on the market today and has a maximum range around the mid 50-meter range. The S1+, along with the Arva Axio, Pieps DSP Pro, and Pieps DSP Ice, had some of the longer maximum ranges for a digital beacon. We consistently picked up a signal between 50-55 meters away. This was very good and more than you need, but it still wasn't as much as the Mammut Barryvox S or more standard Mammut Barryvox.

Ease of Finding a Single Victim

As we've mentioned about five times now, you don't follow the typical curving pattern of the flux lines with this model; instead, the S1+ takes you straight to the victim. It works by displaying the victim(s) on a screen and then from there it is almost like a basic video game — line the victim up in the sights and make the distance numbers get smaller. In some ways, you'd almost think this would be the most user-friendly beacon we tested, but that's not quite the case. It's not hard, but it is different and takes practice to get used to.

Ease of Use in the Fine Search

The fine search is the bracketing portion of the search, and for our tests, we included the last 5m as well in our findings here. Once we practiced with this beacon searching for one victim, the fine search became easy and eventually intuitive. While it worked well, we couldn't move quite as quickly as the Pieps DSP Pro, the Mammut Barryvox S, Arva Axio, or the Tracker 2. It wasn't a big difference, but it was noticeable.

Ease of Use in Multiple Burial Situations and Speed

Once we'd practiced a bit with this device, whether in the hands of a professional guide or a relative backcountry novice, the S1+ performed at or near the top in our various multiple burial tests because of this model's “lay of the land” style display.

Multiple burials are where the S1+ technology excels because of the S1+'s ability to show the user where all the beacons are in relation to each other rather than just displaying one marked with distance numbers. It shows up to three victims with the distances displayed under each victim simultaneously. Even if you aren't used to this design, it quickly becomes the most straightforward model to interpret for multiple burial searches. You can then hide/mark the victims you are not searching for and later unhide them. The processing speed was a little slower than the Arva Axio, Pieps DPS Pro, DSP Ice, and the Mammut Barryvox Pulse but not by a lot. It also gave you input on all your victims (up to three) distances simultaneously, so it is giving you more information and making it harder to mess up for offering a little slower operating speed.

Features

The S1+, like several other higher end contenders on the market today, has updatable software. You either have to do this in a retail store or mail it in for a small fee. Updating the software is important as there were some early problems with coarse search.

The S1+ has a built-in inclinometer. This is a cool feature we often find ourselves using and recommending to AIARE Level 1 students to help evolve a better eye for guessing slope angle, but we don't know if we love the idea of always taking it out to measure slopes — what if we get hit at that moment?

The S1+ has a group check mode similar to the Barryvox Pulse's group check mode and a typical function check performed by most backcountry users every time they go out. The S1+'s group check goes one step further — beyond the standard tests of making sure everyone's beacons can send and search, the S1+ also checks the other beacons' transmission frequencies to see if they have suffered any frequency drift.

The Ortovox S1+ has our favorite harness system among all the products we tested. It is very comfortable and well-labeled, making it easy to put on. While we liked several other of the harness systems including the Mammut Barryvox S, we thought the S1+ was the best. If you are someone who wants to carry their beacon in a zippered pant pocket, then the S1+ is good but not excellent. Its “flip phone” style closure is a little thicker than others but surprisingly not by much.

The S1 recently became the S1+. The + is just a feature that the Ortovox 3+ already had and now is featured in the S1+. The + is the transmitting antenna and affects only the transmit mode and has no effect on the beacon's search abilities. It chooses which is the better antenna to send from, thus giving the wearer a better chance to be found. Kinda sweet.

The S1+ has a revert to send mode so that in the event you are hit by a second avalanche while searching; your beacon will eventually switch back over. While there is some debate as to the level of usefulness of this feature because of the odds that it will still be with you, it is for some people an important feature. What's nice with the S1+ is that this is an optional feature that can be turned on or off. If the function is on, it can be adjusted to Revert to Send after 30, 60, or 120 seconds of no movement.

Dislikes

While this beacon is very easy to use, it does have a longer learning curve than most because it is quite different. This learning curve occasionally results in seasoned veterans finding it “weird” at first. Many different icons and instructions are mostly intuitive, but some require reading the user manual to figure out. Plan on a little extra time to get comfortable with its menus and icons before using it.

We also noticed that this beacon is a little slower under three meters and we felt it was a little slower than many other triple antennae designs during the “bracketing” phase of the search. It does not automatically turn on when you clip the waist strap. This means you have to remember to turn it to transmit mode. Not a big downside but it would be nice if the auto feature was restored (it was in past models).

There have been some problems reported when searching at the maximum of the coarse search range. The beacon will point you away from the victim until you are out of range.

Best Applications

The Ortovox S1+ is like no other product, but if you were to compare it to another top contender that is also geared toward professionals it would be the Mammut Barryvox S. Like the Barryvox S, the S1+ has a pile of features and functions with several options to truly cater the beacon to its user. Being able to interpret what's best for you takes some time and experience, and while the basic functions of both are well-designed and easy to understand, they have so many other things that more experienced users will get the most out of them. Both beacons are among the most difficult to fool or fool even close proximity burials. The S1+ consistently gives you a better sense of the big picture, but the Barryox S is a little faster. For less experienced users we found the S1+ was able to bracket slightly more easily when dealing with a single burial.

Value

At nearly $500, the S1+ is one of the more expensive options on the market and the most expensive model in our review. The S1+ does have unique technology, and like any new technology, it is almost always more expensive. So while it costs more than pretty much any other model, the S1+ certainly serves up a lot of features and technology for the extra cash.

What Sets The S1+ Apart

We consider the S1+ a potential game changer, like the Backcountry Access Tracker DTS was years ago. The Tracker was the first digital beacon and way easier to use than the competition of the time. Fast forward to today — the S1+ similarly stands out with new technology that is likely to be the way of the future. The S1+ still uses flux lines and the same 457Khz frequency that everyone else uses, but instead of a directional arrow to help you stay on the flux line, the S1+ takes you straight to it. It uses sensors and calculation to locate the buried beacon and displays it using a body icon on the screen which you then line up in the hash marks and walk straight to. This display's superiority is even more obvious in multiple burials where the S1+ gives a “lay of the land” type view, where the user can see each buried victim on the screen at the same time, each with its own distance number and different sized icon to help differentiate the closer and farther victims. That said, Ortovox has had some issues with its software and we feel it isn't quite there yet, but each year it gets significantly better. We do think that maybe one day it's possible that all beacons will be like this: three antennae and able to take you straight to the victim without having to follow the flux line in the traditional way.

Conclusion