Just became (a proud) bearer of a brand-new Arva Link beacon (in fact two of them; one for myself, the other for Jr.). Played with them all evening (making customised settings such as owner info etc. and, mock-testing the functionalities, of course....)

The owner-manual seems to be rather sketchy, the English rather French-glish.... the feature of display backlight (red glow) nor mentioned there.... one unit glows (whilst switched to “search” mode), the other does not.

Anyone knows, how to set it “on”?

EDIT: updated thread header due unexpected turn in the story

I can’t help you but I’ve been after a review Link for 15 months but no luck with NicImpex who are just down the road. Doh. So if you get the time I’d love to hear more about this beacon.

Here I go....

brief report from brief field testing:

- an old (analog) Arva (1st generation) used as a (buried) source
- (I was) circling around holding three beacons (all set in “search” mode: 2x Link + 1x Arva 3D) and comparing the read-outs
- Links set to “digi” and “novice” modes, 3D set in digi, too

A) at short distances (bellow approx. 3meters) all read-outs almost correct and bearing signs (direction arrows) nearly the same (steady and correct)
B) at mid distances (3 to 10m) both Links read the same (correct, e.g. real) distance, whilst 3D overreads (up to 11m at real 7m); but 3D bearing sign stays steady, alltime precisely “on course”, while both Links arrows temporarily deviate (up to nearly 90deg from the source)
C) at long distances (approx 30 to 40m) the 3D reads almost precisely (39 at real 40m), while Links underestimate (as much as 30 at real 40m), all bearings unreliable

- next I buried two sources (2m gap in between): 3-D got jammed easily, while Links did not

So, that is all for time being.....

Did you calibrate the compasses of your new Link’s? (as the bearings seem to be of)

Yap, did it as a part of initial set-up (both units)

OK I went to NicImpex tonight to ask about the red glow, here is a pic I took of the Arva Link (in a dark office)

In search mode there is a red backlight to help reading the display in low light conditions. This is turned off in transmit mode to save power. So you should see this kind of glow.

How does this compare to your beacons?

One unit glows (as shown), the other does not.

OK, I will submit a warranty claim.

Oucha!

The fault seems to be much more serious than defected illumination… got to local wholesaler and… to my surprise in a minute or two I ended up with two brand new Evo 3D units, many apologies and some blah blah about withdrawal due unspecified SW fault…

So all in all, here the story goes again: old’n’proven rig’s the best.

That’s not good, so basically the Arva Link is a no no at the moment?

yo, you’re right.