Did you hear?… Ortovox S1 avalanche transceiver finally shipping

Following SNEWS®’s Outdoor Retailer Winter Market 2007 trend report on avalanche beacons, Ortovox’s Marcus Peterson contacted SNEWS® to let us know that despite our assertions that the much ballyhooed Ortovox S1 transceiver remained little more than vaporware, the company will begin shipping production-quality units the week of March 19. The suggested retail price is reported to be $499. Those receiving the much-anticipated new units will be retailers who placed the first preseason orders, as well as select industry pros including ski patrollers, avalanche rescue personnel, etc.

SNEWS® View: Finally! We got to calling the promised S1 vaporware only after an announcement of its launch last year followed by a delay followed by another announcement of launch followed by yet another delay followed by…. You get the picture. Insiders who have actually held the current production models in their hands tell us the new beacon is, as promised, revolutionary. We’ll wait until we get to test it ourselves before giving the S1 a revolutionary label, but at least we can stop calling it vaporware.