G Haugen: Do you know what version of S1 you were experiencing the “misdirection” phenomenon? I’ll be it was v1 (1.2.1xx in the tools menu). My purpose in pointing out this remaining phenomenon was to prod Ortovox into fixing it. I think the screen update speed is a bit too fast when far away, perfect inside of 10 meters. So I agree with you that Ortovox needs to fix this.

It is worth noting that Pieps published an article at ISSW 2008 about determining a reliable search strip width via field measurements. If you look at the results you see that their results expose the problem of a jittery/stuttering display with the S1. If one responds immediately to the indications of the S1 you can spin in circles. To be fair, based on the time of the report these results had to be based on v1 of the S1 which had a much more pronounced “stutter.” The most recent version is a significant improvement, but does not completely eliminate the problem, especially with more than 2 victims. I did see the problem with one victim, but rarely. With 3, it was common.

Finally, I’ll repeat. The probability that you’ll need the capabilities of the S1 for more than 2 victims is slim. The response of the S1 to one or two victims is the most telling. In that arena, the S1′s ability to indicate whether the 2nd victim is to the L or R of the first is something that could, with enough rescuers, make a huge difference in saving lives. Kudos to Ortovox for that feature.

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