After more than a year of anticipation and delays, Boulder-based Backcountry Access finally appears poised to release its updated Tracker2 avalanche beacon. The new three-antenna offering from the folks who revolutionized transceiver technology with the original BCA Tracker allegedly is available at select BCA retailers, although you’ll be hard-pressed to find any in stock now.
If you can afford to wait for the back order, the Tracker2 (MSRP: $335) lives up to its billing as the fastest beacon on the market, using quick “real-time” updates for precision in a search situation. Perhaps more important is the beacon’s ease of use. It lacks any extra buttons, menus or extraneous features beyond a basic on-off dial and toggle to switch between transmit and search modes.
In an era of high-tech transceivers featuring “multiple burial” search modes, some argue the Tracker2 is overly simple — a light indicates multiple burials, but the unit does not suppress a signal in order to search for the next victim. BCA responds with the argument that multiple burial scenarios are rare and the extra bells and whistles are more of a distraction in a typical rescue situation.
Get it: has a list of retailers.
