Let’s see a picture of your WATCH thread.
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Timex Indiglo.
It tells the time. It tells the date. It glows in the dark.
It is on my left wrist. Good for dead reckoning. And knowing when the post-trip happy hour is about to start.
I use the Casio PAW1300. It's much like a lot of their altimeter watches, but it's the "slim" design which is less bulky on the wrist (although it's still a fair size). I've been using mine for ~3 years without any troubles. I like it because it's solar powered and the altimeter works very well. At $140 on eBay it's affordable.
Casio also makes the PAW2000 which is basically the same thing but with a higher res display for more money.
I wear a Garmin Forerunner 610 GPS watch. It can be set up to display all kinds of stuff, but for hiking, I show time of day, elapsed time, distance, elevation, and heart rate (as a % of my max). I also display lap time and lap distance, starting a new lap at the summit or turnaround point.
Every time this subject comes up, the Suunto haters jump at the chance to disparage a well-made piece of useful equipment.
It does what it does, as well or better than comparable or lesser priced watches.
I use mine as an Altimeter/Barometer/ and time piece. When use by a competent person who understands the usages and limitations of this kind of equipment, it becomes a very valuable tool.You don’t buy a watch for:
1. Use as a compass, get a real compass, there is no substitute for it.
2. Thermometer, though mine is very accurate while not on my wrist (body warmth effects it while wearing) I would take a real thermometer if I needed readings during the day.I like it so well I have 2
I LOVE my Casio.
The only item that has been with me on every hike since I bought it.
The thermometer and altimeter work for me as does the alarm and night light
I even made a You Tube video with it of an event that I will never see happening again :
Rather that tolerate a mediocre altimeter within a functional watch, I go for great altimeter and accept some inconveniences as a timepiece:
The batteries never need replacing, as there aren't any. The display has no lower temp limit, and the duct-tape watchband can be used for repairs or first-aid situations.
For use as a timepiece, you simply hang it from a 6.2 meter string and each period of the pendulum is 5 seconds long. For long periods, simply place it in the ground, and mark its shadow every 15 degrees for each hour.
>"but isn’t the last layer a real pain to get off when you have to rip it off your arm hair?"
Ah, but that is also weight-saving. I can leave my razor at home.
For the younger set. Just a few years ago, at your 5th birthday party, you used one of these party favors:
When the air pressure inside the coiled tube is low, the coil is contracted. When the air pressure is greater inside the coiled tube, it expands (you blow in it, it moves).
If you made such a coiled tube out of metal, sealed some air inside and through gears magnified that movement to move a needle around on a dial, you'd have created an altimeter. These Thommen alitmeters are graduated in 20-foot intervals, but you can read them to 5 feet. They are sensitive enough that I can see the needle move if I crack the car windows as I'm driving down the road.
I always wanted to create an altimeter using an expanding bag of Cheetios, inside a cigar box, pushing a paper clip of the box (which would be calibrated in feet of altitude) with a rubber band to return the needle upon descent. Then the Unabomber came on the scene, caused many of us at UC Berkeley delays for security at the computer science building, and increased the suspicions about home-made pressure switches.
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