As soon as I was getting a faceful of spoil coming back down, bucket on rope.
DogFox, it was the b&f collar, some friends are having good success with the ortovox also, but ive not used it yet myself.
Re battery time, on the locater boxes,,, Ive left the pieps box on in the van (transmit mode) for over a week a few times, no problems plenty of % left.
Ive left the collar on for 3-4 days (b&f) still working.