UKH

I've been contemplating getting a specific outdoors watch for when I'm in the mountains ever since I saw an instructor from Glenmore using his to check the altitude as a navigational aid in a whiteout.

I'm fairly convinced of the utility of a barometric altimeter in terms of using height for navigation. And can see the advantages of a digital compass (as a backup to a real one), alarms, storm warnings etc. But I'm not so sure whether forking out the extra for a GPS one is worthwhile? I already carry an old Garmin Geko in my bag which lets me check my position when needed, but I'm not sure a watch can reliably replace that, in particular I'd be worried what GPS use does to battery life.

So UKC/UKHers, your advice please: do you have an outdoor watch? Is it useful? Does it have GPS? Is that worthwhile? Any recommended brands/models?

In reply to munro90:
For non runners/bikers the golden standard still seems to be still Suunto (and the Ambit for those wanting GPS).

AFAIK the battery is more than big enough to be used for a day (or two), but not really for multiday climbs (running the GPS all the time). The accuracy is good enough, and they do get a signal quite quickly (compared to old handheld GPS'es).

That said, I use a non GPS model (old Suunto Core), and even that is more than precise enough for altitude, provided you do calibrate it a few times at know spot-heights (eg. summit).

Oh, but I still mainly used it to tell the time, and the second function is to check the rate of ascent/descent and/or altitude on the approach or descent...

In reply to munro90:

I use a Casio protrek which has compass, altimeter and barometer. Came in very handy for knowing how close we were to the summit of Snowdon at 01:00 hrs in a storm once.
It also works against you though, when your daughters are knackered walking up Montgo and they ask the altitude, you look and you're only at 200m! Lie!

In reply to Steve-J-E:


But the problem is that you then have to keep lying and trying to remember what you said before and then gradually try and adjust what you say to meet the truth. I've done that a couple of times when the MR Team has walked alongside kids doing charity challenge walks in the mistaken belief I just wanted them to get over the first half. But learnt its better to tell the truth and tell them they are doing really well.

Anyhow back to the OP the altimeter on the Suunto Ambit is not as good as the older non GPS ones such as X6.
The rate of ascent is all over the place with the Ambit 2 and Suunto admit that the Ambit is aimed at runners etc whereas the X6 and others was aimed at hikers.

In reply to munro90:

I've got a Fenix 3 and gps accuracy on it is pretty good. Slightly less than my 62s, but still more than acceptable (probably as accurate if not better than your old Geko). I mainly got it for running trips rather than walking days, but battery is good enough for a full weekend away. Not so good for an extended trip though. The watch claims 50hrs on ultratrac mode, which I've never tested, but it's done 3 good length hilldays and not been dead afterwards.

Other than that I used a Sunnto Core for years (and Still do for longer trips or races where gps devices are banned) and it's a great watch if you don't need GPS (and if you've got an independent handheld GPS unit you probably don't) with decent altimeter / barometer functions. Electronic compasses I can live without esp if there's no tilt compensation on the watch as it's hard to get an accurate bearing out of them.

Aldi/Lidl occasionally get an alti/baro watch in that folk on here have given positive reviews for for - but when or if it'll appear again is anyone's guess!

Cheers,

Stu

In reply to munro90:


Suunto Ambit 3 Peak
http://www.suunto.com/Products/sports-watches/Suunto-Ambit3-Peak/Suunto-Amb...
A fabulous bit of kit. Highly recommended.
Amongst the many very useful functions - GPS: so you can press a couple of buttons get your grid location anywhere in the world, on your watch display. The GPS corrected altitude is also very impressive - I've neglected to re-set the altitude at the start of the day, but the technology in the watch is still able to correct for that based on your GPS location.

In reply to munro90:

I have one of the Casio Protreks that has the solar power, atomic radio, barometer, (rubbish) compass and (completely useless unless you take it off for 30 minutes) thermometer. It was a newer model they weren't selling in this country for some reason (with 1m altitude precision) so got it off eBay from Italy. I was also avoiding leather straps which might have been making my life more difficult than necessary.

It's a shame the compass is only accurate to +/- something like 11 degrees even in theory.