Favorite Altimeter Watch

[bonathanjarrett]

What's the best value out there in an altimeter watch? What are you favorites?

[Chad_A]

I'm on my third Suunto Vector and I love it (rock climbing was hard on the first two- Suunto was great and replaced them with refurbished units above and beyond the call of duty).

 

The altimeter is great; I don't use/trust the compass too much. If all you're looking for is an altimeter watch, then the Suunto Altimax is a great option. My g/f has one and it has been great to her, as well....and they're 25 bucks cheaper on average than the Vector.

[cj001f]

As a basic altimeter I dig the Avocet Vertech. For more features, I've a suunto X6 that's sweet.

[bonathanjarrett]

I am just looking for a timepiece that will also give me an "accurate" altitude. No compass necessary.

I have heard that battery life is fairly short on watches like these. Have you all found that to be true? If so, is replacing it a simple thing?

[PaulB]

If all you're looking for is an altimeter watch, then the Suunto Altimax is a great option.

I've had an Altimax for 5 or so years, and it has been great on all my climbing and skiing adventures. It's only weakness is a crappy alarm that you can barely hear.

 

I change the battery maybe once a year... it's easy to do.

[chesterboo]

I have an old casio pathfinder. I have had it, used and abused it for 7 years now. changed battery 4 times and it is very accurate. very happy with this watch. At the time I paid 150 range.

[rob]

I've got a Suunto Vector. Pretty accurate altimeter, if you remember to calibrate it at the start of your climb, and whenever you get a chance to match it to known elevation. It does seem a little weather sensitive, but not by too much.

 

The compass is useless for plotting/taking bearings and for any sort of real backcountry navigation. I'm not sure why they added it.

 

My only complaint is that the watch randomly resets itself -- every few months, the clock, date, alarms, and altimeter just suddenly reset (as if I took the battery out.)

[plexus]

Funny, I'm just about to replace mine. The backing got bent so it can't take proper readings for barometric pressure any longer.

 

I'm thinking about getting one that you clip onto your backpack. Something to keep in mind, when doing anything in cooler weather, the watch is a pain with coat sleeves and gloves, etc.

[Fuggedaboudit]

I am very happy withthe Hightech Altimax. Its $139 now:

 

http://www.mountaingear.com/pages/produc...47%204294966814

 

It clips nicely to your harness or pack- I always ended up clipping my old altimeter watch to my harness anyway. If you are doing anything remotely technical and wearing gloves, youll probably end up doing the same.

[Plinko]

I'm goin on 4 years with my Suunto Observer. It has all the features I wanted, and is the least geeky looking watch I could find. Suunto's altimeter funtion is incredibly accurate, (as long as you recalibrate it when necessary). I use the altimeter log feature often and the compass rarely/almost never and battery life is around 12-14 months.

[northvanclimber]

My only complaint is that the watch randomly resets itself -- every few months, the clock, date, alarms, and altimeter just suddenly reset (as if I took the battery out.)

 

weird.... i've had mine for several years now and never noticed that. would kinda suck if that happened in the middle of a trip.

 

i think the vector is a pretty good watch and the battery lasts a good year for me. my only complaints are that it's awefully bulky and the menu navigation isn't the most intuitive system i've ever seen. still, those are pretty minor concerns all things considered.

[mountainmatt]

For all of these watches, the altimeter is only going to be accurate if you set it to a know altitude before using it. Most of these watches come with many features whether you want them or not.

 

I have a Highgear Axis. It comes with compass, altimeter, barometer, thermometer, etc. The altimeter is nice, fairly accrate, and give you a nice little picture to show your ascent/descent, max altitude, total gain/lost etc. The compass feature is useless. I do find that the barometric pressure is nice to watch, as the watch correlates this to the weather (picture of the sun, clouds, rain, partly cloudy). I have found it to be an additional tool when staying out for a couple days. The thermometer is useless on your wrist, but I like to hang it in the tent to know just how cold it is before heading out. It lets me know what I should wear when starting out. There are also the basics, time, stopwatch, and alarms. I have not had any problems with battery life (first one lasted about 2 years). The only downside to the watch is that its very large. On the positive side, this means it can double as a dinner plate

[bonathanjarrett]

Thanks for all the great feedback folks. This has been helpful to hear individual experiences. It sounds like the Suunto Vector might be the choice for my needs.

[zeroforhire]

I am selling my old one... I just haven't gotten around to replacing the battery... now I have the observer... nice watch... $100 takes the vetor... it is black... any takers?

[jonmf76]

I am on my 7th Suunto Vector, but I love it. The only problem is that it is quite large and catches on stuff all the time. I beat the crap out of them and they lose their seal and get all steamy inside. It is super accurate though...to 10'

[gslater]

I have an old casio pathfinder. I have had it, used and abused it for 7 years now. changed battery 4 times and it is very accurate. very happy with this watch. At the time I paid 150 range.

 

I also have an old Casio Pathfinder. Was on sale at OMC for $99 perhaps 8 or 9 years ago. Should have bought more at the time for gifts or whatever for climbing friends. I've taken it everywhere, and its performance has been flawless. I think I've replaced the battery twice. It seemed like a really big watch at the time, but compared to modern altimeter watches, it's not so big. Its biggest drawback is the fact that it's from the time before electro-luminescent watch faces, so it's got a weak-ass little bulb for a light. Damn near impossible to read at night, so I always have to shine my headlamp at it. Pain in the ass.

 

This poor night readability inspired me to go looking recently for an updated altimeter watch. Suuntos are everywhere, and they're generally pretty fine products, but the alarm volume is so ridiculously low for a "climbing" watch that I can't even believe it. So low, in fact, that it caused me to rule out all Suunto products. And I tried 'em all. Spent a bunch of time at various stores setting and testing alarms on all the Suunto models I could find. The alarms all sucked.

 

The Highgear products seem pretty good for the money, with big, legible displays, and substantially better alarm volume.

 

The Origo watches (available at REI) are also a good value, and similar in style/functionality to the Highgear products. I believe I found somewhere that Origo is a brand that is part of the larger Silva brand.

 

Looked into what Casio has to offer these days, since I had such good luck with my last one. They're a bit harder to find. Surprisingly, Sears is one of the main places that carries them. A bit large (like the Suuntos), but lots of nice functionality. Good alarm(s). Nice backlit display. Solar-powered versions. Automatic atomic timesetting, and so on. Found one particular model that met what I was looking for. Was wandering through Costco, and checked the watch case. Lo and behold, that model was on display and available, so I bought it. $169, versus an MSRP that's something insane like $300. They're still available at the Costco in lovely Tigard, OR, and perhaps at other places.

[Clavote]

I have have a Highgear Axis.

 

Good altimeter and good barameter. It does work just fine under all conditions that you are likely to encounter. It's cheap too. About $120 on sale.

 

The temp is not accurate unless you take it off your wrist.

 

The backlight is kinda dim and forget about reading it with polarized glasses. The alarm is weak. I mean weak! Better to stay awake all night and not miss your start or set your cell phone alarm.

 

The backlight and alarm sound level are my only complaints. Otherwise, it does it's job and I will not replace it unless it fails or someone introduces a smaller watch with the same features.

 

The Suuntos are reputed to be very good too.