Overview of other upcoming reviews and updates in a comment at the end of this blog:
http://www.wildsnow.com/1476/avalanche-beacon-review-intro/

I’ve copied below some excerpts from the introduction and conclusion of the draft review, since those section won’t be affected by any slight changes in the final firmware.

*****

The long-awaited new Tracker 2 addresses some of the Tracker’s shortcomings, while still remaining true to the Tracker’s original ease-of-use intentions. I have greatly enjoyed handing my Tracker 2 demo unit to students at avalanche courses and responding to their standard question of “how do I use this?” with a quiet stare intended to convey “just look at it for a few seconds to figure it out.”

Now what about the Tracker 2’s lack of a multiple-burial marking/masking feature, like from the competition (Ortovox, Barryvox/Mammut, Pieps, ARVA)? BCA’s two-pronged answer is that such a feature inevitably entails additional design complications that can confuse a user, and that such a feature is highly unlikely to be needed. For the former, read my other reviews of the competition, try them out, and decide for yourself. For the latter, this is a far more complicated issue, involving statistics, tradeoffs, and personal travel tendencies. Some interesting articles on the subject are available from the American Avalanche Association in this issue of The Avalanche Review:
http://www.americanavalancheassociation.org/tar/TAR27_2_LoRes.pdf

*****

Overall: To What Kind of Person Does This Beacon Appeal?

The original Tracker appealed to a user who wants a relatively simple and straightforward directional beacon, and doesn’t want to bother with any special multiple-burial features or other complications. As such, its only direct competitor has been the D3 (plus the ARVA Evo3 where available).

Or, to quote an often-used — and unfortunately rather sexist — line, “The Tracker is the beacon you give to your girlfriend.” In other words, if you’re not going to practice (and if you don’t place a high priority on close-proximity multiple-burial features), get a Tracker, or D3 (or ARVA Evolution+ if you can find one).

The Tracker 2 is a significant improvement along these same lines. As a user of the original Tracker said upon trying the Tracker 2: “they made it even more idiot-proof: I didn’t think that was possible.”

Overall: What Thoughts Go Through My Mind If a Partner Has This Beacon

“My partner had better be well-practiced and skilled for a close-proximity multiple-burial scenario.”

“Otherwise, although in general I sure hope my partner is not an idiot, this is the most idiot-proof beacon ever, even more so than the original Tracker.”