Recommended beacon for relative newbie?

My apologies if this has been covered, a persual of this forum yielded naught.

My brother is hooked on b/c skiing since he came up from CA to climb and ski the Fuhrer Finger this past summer. He needs to buy a beacon (or two) to get rolling in the Sierras. He has a little training with digital beacons.

I have the BCA and Mammut digital versions, and like them both, but imagine there are new and improved beacons since I last bought. Anybody done research on recent offerings, or made a recent buying decision you are willing to share?

Thanks!

When I've put both, without instructions, into the hands of absolute newbies (N~5), they've been faster with the Pieps DSP than with the BCA tracker at speedily locating a hidden beacon. The primary stumbling block seems to be figuring out how to get it into search mode - the language-invariant icons on the Tracker don't tell users to let go of the big red button when it has made the switch into search mode.

Realistically, anyone who gets a beacon should practice with it enough to render such a concern mute.

If you've not seen it, beaconreviews.com is useful. I've got nothing but good things to say about the DSP and recommend it to anyone who asks - excellent range, easy to use. The newest Ortovox they were showing off at the Snow and Avalanche Summit certainly seemed impressive - I'd give it a look if I were in the market for a new beacon. I'd be very unlikely to purchase a two-antenna beacon now that there are a number of apparently excellent three-axis models from which to choose.

Thanks a bunch for the helpful info., esp. the website, of which i was not aware. There are some new-fangled high-falutin' purdy pieces of gear out there! beacons w/ compasses and altimeters oh my

Haven't seen any reviews as of yet, but BCA just released the Tracker 2, which they claim is the easiest out of the box beacon on the market. Most beacons these days are excellent and with practice should suit your needs: can't stress the practice part enough.

Have him take a avy class and practice, practice, practice. The class I took also had several different models to try, so we were able to test different ones out.

$90 off Pieps DSP