An affordable tour guide system for travelling groups: the Orpheo OTG Light

Do you travel through Europe with an art society, a museum friends' group or a choir? Then you want everyone to hear the guide, even at the back of a crowded gallery. However, hiring a set for every trip soon gets expensive. That is why an affordable tour guide system of your own is often the smarter choice. With the new Orpheo OTG Light, that is now possible on a tight budget. In this article, you will read what the OTG Light can do and who it is for. You will also see what to look out for when you take the set abroad.

Why buy an affordable tour guide system?

A travelling group has different needs from a museum. You are in a new place every day, often with a different guide and little time. What is more, you walk through museums, churches and busy streets. Without any help, only the front row can follow the guide.

Hiring works well if you travel once a year. But if you go on tour more often, the costs soon add up. You also have to collect and return the set each time. For that reason, more and more groups choose to buy their own tour guide system. That way, it is always in the luggage and everyone already knows how it works.

What is the Orpheo OTG Light?

The OTG Light is a new wireless tour guide system from the French manufacturer Orpheo. The guide speaks into a small microphone on the transmitter. Each participant hears the guide through a lightweight receiver with an earpiece. The sound is transmitted digitally, with a range of up to 200 metres in open field.

Orpheo deliberately kept the OTG Light simple. There are no apps, no touchscreens and no complicated menus. Instead, you get everything a guide really needs. That makes it an affordable tour guide system, without cutting corners on quality.

Light enough for every trip

When you travel, every gram counts. A receiver weighs just 38 grams and the transmitter 71 grams. Participants can therefore easily wear the receiver on a lanyard round the neck. Even after a long day, they hardly notice it. That is exactly what you want from an affordable tour guide system on the road.

The batteries also last a long time. A receiver runs for about 40 hours on one charge. So for a trip of a few days, you often do not even need to recharge. The transmitter lasts about 10 hours. Does it run flat after all? Then it simply keeps working while it charges from a power bank.

All devices travel in a sturdy charging case with a handle. It holds 32 devices, which all charge at the same time. In the evening, you plug the case in at the hotel. By the next morning, everything is full again.

Clear sound in a busy museum

A popular museum is often crowded and noisy. A guide who has to talk over the chatter is hoarse after an hour. With a tour guide system, however, the guide simply speaks in a normal voice. Yet everyone hears them clearly in their own ear.

Because the OTG Light transmits the sound digitally, the voice stays clear. That also applies in the echo of a church or on a busy square. Each participant sets their own volume with two buttons. Does the guide need a quick word with a gallery attendant? Then they mute the microphone with one button.

Several groups or languages at once

If you travel with a large group, you often split it in two. In Europe, the OTG Light has 19 channels. Each guide picks a channel of their own, so the groups do not hear each other. This also works for an interpreter: one channel per language. So even a budget tour guide system can handle several groups at once.

Pairing is also very easy. The guide chooses a channel on the transmitter. All receivers within 6 metres then switch to it automatically. Afterwards, one button switches every receiver off at once. As a result, the set is ready to use within a minute.

For art groups, there is one more handy extra. Via Bluetooth, the transmitter plays sound from a phone. For example, the guide can let the group hear a piece of music or an interview next to a painting. A cable to the AUX input works too.

Which earphones suit this affordable tour guide system?

Each receiver comes with a lightweight mono earpiece. With it, the participant hears the guide in one ear, while the other ear stays free. On a city walk, people can therefore still hear the traffic. Also read how to organise a city walk where everyone listens.

In addition, the receiver has a standard 3.5 mm socket. Participants can therefore also use their own wired earphones. That is hygienic and saves luggage. Would you rather hand out headphones? Then choose the Orpheo Airset without ear pads. For the guide, a headset microphone is available as well as the tie-clip microphone.

Travelling through Europe

A tour guide system uses radio frequencies, and the rules for those differ by country. The European version of the OTG Light uses the European frequencies. You can therefore simply take the set with you to Paris, Rome or Vienna. Is your trip heading further afield, for example to the United States? There is a separate version for that. Ask us beforehand which version suits your destination.

Buy an affordable tour guide system or hire one?

If you travel once a year, hiring is often the better deal. In that case, see our tour guide system for hire. If you go on tour several times a year, an affordable tour guide system of your own is cheaper. A set of your own soon pays for itself, and it is always at hand. The price is on request. Tell us how many people travel with you and we will send you a tailored quote.

Looking for an even more compact system, with two listeners per receiver? Then also read our article on a compact tour guide system for travelling groups.

Read the manual before you buy

Would you like to see how the OTG Light works first? Our Orpheo OTG Light manual shows step by step how to charge, pair and guide. Below this article, you will also find the Orpheo brochure and the manual as a PDF. Do you have questions about an affordable tour guide system for your group? Get in touch and we will gladly help you choose.