DO NOT Use a Smart Phone App as an Avalanche Beacon!
The Canadian Avalanche Center has just released a press release denouncing the use of “smart phone apps” as avalanche beacon. 3 European smart phone apps are offering service as avalanche beacons now and they have been found to NOT WORK. When you are running out of air underneath an avalanche, you won’t feel that great about having saved $300 bucks by using a smart phone app instead of a real, certified avalanche beacon. A smart phone app will never replace your avalanche beacon. There are so many reasons that an app cannot replace an avalanche beacon: they don’t work properly, battery life, robustness, reliability and interference . Please get an proper avalanche beacon and learn how to use it. Please read the Canadian Avalanche Center’s press release: Canadian Avalanche Centre Warns Backcountry Users About New Smartphone Apps Apps marketed as transceivers give users false sense of protection Oct 24, 2013, Revelstoke, BC : Smartphone avalanche search application