When it comes to avalanche safety gear, you shouldn’t compromise on its quality since it’s supposed to save lives. And if something breaks in the worst possible moment due to low quality material, it could cost you precious seconds or even minutes. Therefore, look for probes which are preferably made of aluminum, carbon or for heavy duty use such as steel. Steel probes are usually built for high degree precision and reliability without paying too much attention to its weight.

On a flip side aluminum probes are the most common probes for recreational backcountry skiers. Where ratio of weight to rigidity and precision has been completely achieved for a backcountry user needs. A 3rd option would be a probe made of carbon fiber material, which brings all characteristics of rigidity, precision and lightweights together with its low heat conduction, however at the cost of higher price.

WHAT LENGTH?

It all depends on a mountain region where you mostly going to spend your winter ski touring or mountaineering. Mountain ranges and its surroundings are specific to its precipitation climate, which would eventually reflect on its depth of a snowpack. In a shallower snowpack, with longer and drier spells, probe with 240 cm is sufficient. However, if you tend to travel to areas with a lot of precipitation, hence the deeper snowpack, pick one of the longer probes between 270 cm and 320cm.