After I had two (2) Ortovox fail during one S&R practice, I decided to replace my transceivers on a regular basis (keeping the old ones for practice). I also think 5 years is a good time to replace; I have refused to sell a beacon older than 5 years to someone who wanted to use it as there personal daily driver. I haven't had the plastic go bad, but the electronics have; we put these things thru the ringer, especially when the recommended practice was under out layers against the chess. Any drop or impact -- oh well, you pays your money and takes your chances.
