Tech Review: Ovilus 5b

The Ovilus 5b

A tech review by ALPS investigator Jennifer Furgerson

There have been many types of Ovilus' made over the years since it made its on screen appearance on the television show Paranormal State in the year 2008.

 It was created by Digital Dowsing.

Blow are some examples of the most popular models:

The most resent in the line of Ovilus' is the Ovilus 5b:

This device has a dictionary mode just like the others that came before. It has an easy to find on off switch and is rechargeable. Both nice features in any device used in the field for paranormal investigations. Just like the Ovilus 4 the voices sound real compared to the robotic voices of past models. The model 5b has the same modes as the 4: Dictionary, Draw, True/False, Phonetic, Proximity, Energy and Motion. The Ovilus 4 is 12 x 10 x 6.5 in and 3.75lbs and the Ovilus 5b is 7 x 5 x 3 in and 0.6875lbs. This makes the most recent model lighter and easier to stand upright on is own. With a touch screen on one side, the speaker, the rest of the features remain the same except two. The Ovilus 5b is rechargeable (as I mentioned before) and has on internal SD memory card (no need to remove the card, just plug the device into your PC) and this will allow you to download the dictionary log from a session before you clear the memory of what was said in dictionary mode (it will not wipe the dictionary that was programmed into the device).

The Ovilus 5b Mode Review:

Dictionary ~ (most used) the words are clear in female and male, and clear in English and Spanish. Best results come not holding the device as where holding it tends to feed off of our personal naturally occurring energies.

Draw ~ (still testing) tends to lend to the pareidolia effect (when you brain tries to make seance of the shapes it sees in order to form a picture). the lines being drawn can be adjusted in the settings to move faster, draw bigger, draw smaller...yet it is all done through pixilation. 

Energy ~ (still testing) it works similar to that of an oscilloscope ( an instrument in which the variations in a fluctuating electrical quantity appear temporarily as a visible wave form on a display screen). best when not held.

Motion ~ (used on occasion) this simply picks up vibrations. best used when not held. 

Phonetic ~ (used on occasion) parts of speech to be used to help form whole words, but using it while being held works great to generate random white noise. for better results to spit out whole words, let the device be placed on a flat hard surface. 

True/False ~ (hardly used) hard to tell if it is feeding off of naturally occurring static or an entity. results have been too random to be used for any feedback as actual answers.

Proximity ~ (still testing) responds to static and emf fields that are generated around the device. looking for spikes in its sonar like display.

My Total Review:

The Ovilus 5b, when used correctly can be an effective paranormal investigation tool. Where I do prefer to use the Dictionary mode the most, I have learned that once it is turned on, one must let it sit for a couple of minutes due to the device responding randomly. Patience is required when using this device. Rushing or assuming answers from the device, and/or any mode will lead to false positive conclusions. I recommend the use of the Ovilus 5b, like any other Ovilus, to not be the only device used to gather information during a paranormal investigation. The length of time to be used during an investigation will depend on the investigator. I have been using it between 15 and 30 mins, but no more than an hour in any one mode. When switching modes, allow the device to sit for another minute and try not to touch any part of the Ovilus unless you need to reset or turn it off. This device is not cheep by any means, so I do not recommend going out to buy one unless you have researched the device yourself, listen to many reviews, and if you are lucky enough to be able to use one before buying. My point: learn about the gear you tend to use before you buy. Not all paranormal equipment is for everyone. For me, I tend to like gadgets and love to test them in the paranormal field. 

I give the Ovilus 5b... a complete thumbs up!

Check out Digital Dowsing website for more information

Digital Dowsing

You Decided to Become a Paranormal Investigator, Now What? Part I

You never miss an episode of your favorite paranormal TV show and you decide that it is time to find out what this paranormal stuff is all about. Maybe you are seeking answers about experiences you have had or maybe you just think it would be fun to go on investigations like you see on TV, either way you decided you want to become a paranormal investigator, now what do you do?

I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I have been doing this for over seven years. I have helped train a lot of investigators and they turned out to be very good at what they do so, I must have done something right. I am hoping this series provides some helpful information to all the people out there who have decided to become paranormal investigators. Not everything in this blog is going to work for everyone so, even if you take away one good piece of information, my mission would be complete.

Your first step to becoming a full fledge paranormal investigator, forget everything you have seen on TV! Ok, not everything. You probably learned about EMF, EVPs, and what a K2 does. Keep that in your nugget, but dump the basic premise of a paranormal investigation that you saw on TV. 

What you see on TV is for entertainment mostly. Sure, I would bet they do catch some EVPs and every once in a while they catch something on camera, but If you go into your very first investigation thinking you are going to see a shadow person dart in front of you, a door close by itself, or a book fly off a shelf, you are going to be sadly disappointed!

If you have never been on an investigation before, you need to understand that investigations don’t last an hour like you see on TV. An actual investigation can last anywhere from 4 to 10 hours. Add in a preliminary investigation, evidence review, and maybe follow up trips for further investigations and you’re looking at well over 14 hours! Not all of them are like that, but you get the point.

 What I am trying to get at is that investigations are very time consuming. If you have a client they are going to expect you to wrap everything up within a short time frame. They want answers to what the heck is going on in their home and they don’t want to wait for a month.

If you have a family or significant other, now would probably be a good time to sit down and discuss the new hobby you have decided to begin. It will be important to have their support down the road if you decide to join a very active team. If you are like many of us, they will probably look at you like your crazy when you tell them that you have decided to become a paranormal investigator. Don’t worry, it’s normal. They may never completely understand why you do what you do, but they will eventually understand that it is something that is important to you.

At this point you are probably itching to do an investigation. You may have even thought about doing some EVP sessions, in your own house, just to see if you can capture your first paranormal evidence. Don’t do it! Never investigate in your own house! If you don’t have any activity, in your house, you may be inviting it in. If you already have activity, you may make it much worse. Much worse!

It’s also not a good idea to attempt to go out and investigate on your own. Paranormal investigations are not just a fun past time. They can be serious business both spiritually and from a safety aspect. You always want to have a buddy with you in case you hurt yourself and you need help or if, by chance, you encounter a nasty spirit that doesn’t want you around. Not only do you not want to go out alone, but you don’t want to go out unless you are armed with the most important item an investigator can carry with them, knowledge! 

The best thing you can do to start your journey to becoming a paranormal investigator is learning anything you can about the paranormal and investigating. There is a wealth of knowledge available, on the internet, about paranormal theory, photography, recording EVPs, conducting investigations, steps to protect yourself on an investigation, and equipment. You can also go to your local library and find a good number of books on the topic.

Terminology is also something else that is very good to learn. When we have a new investigator join the group we like to sit down with them and first go over some important terminology to see what they already know. If the new investigator doesn’t know much we send them home with a list of terms to go over. 

It is important that investigators understand things like the difference between an intelligent haunting and a residual haunting. Terms like apparition and poltergeist are some other terms you should be able to understand among many others.

If you take the time to learn everything you can, I guarantee you that when you meet a group ,for the first time, you will impress their pants off when they find out that you already have an advanced knowledge on the subject. A dedicated investigator in training is great! A dedicated and knowledgeable investigator in training is awesome!

It is very important that investigators are able to discuss equipment and theories when on a case. Often , clients will notice your equipment or ask questions. You don’t want to have to tell the client that you can’t explain how the equipment works and why you are using it or why you believe something may be happening in their home.

Please check back. Part II will be coming soon!