I am looking for an avalanche beacon for my son who does a lot of back country skiing. I want something that will allow rescuers to find him. Do all beacons come with the locator feature? What type of batteries do they use? Is $289 the lowest price unit? Thanks for your help!!!

I agree that this beacon is pretty good. Pretty much all beacons have both transmit and receive ('locate'). However, this isn't a PLB (locator beacon) which alerts rescue teams to come find you. Its intent is to find someone within very short range (~30m) under avalanche debris. Also, keep in mind that if you're depending on rescuers to find your son, you're thinking the wrong way. Rescuers take hours just to arrive on scene, suffocation under avalanche debris takes minutes. Proper beacon use, irregardless of -which- beacon depends on education and trained ski partners, who, by virtue of skiing with you, will be there on scene (with their own beacons) hopefully in time to do something. Beacons have less than a 50% live find rate for recreational skiers. Almost better to spend the $300 to take a class, learn the basics, and rent a beacon instead.
View Details: Backcountry Access Tracker DTS beacon >