favorite watch???

Hi Terry,

I really like my Casio Protek 1500, its got all the functions I need and is solar powered, I had a Suunto before and got caught out a few times when the battery died and had no spares with me.

I would love a Suunto Ambit 2 but the Walmart Casio was $75 and it has backlight, temp, altitude and Barometer, lots of non essential options.
Paired with my Suunto compass which weighs little this is a great watch.

When I go to Nepal I might want a better altimeter but hay for $75 I have put it thru the wringer and it is still going strong!

Timex Expedition

At the moment I have a Garmin Forerunner. It's great for training and reviewing data after a short hike. It'll show me my route on a map, elevation gained/lost, heart rate, etc. It's great for runners but not great for backpacking. It won't tell me my grid coordinate in the field but I can set it up where it will direct me to where I started. When I'm volunteering with SAR, I can export the GPX file to show the area I searched. (EDIT the map and elevation data is only available on my computer after I've downloaded it. I can only read distance covered and pace in the field).

As far as ABC watches go, I've only owned a Pathfinder and I can't remember the model number. It had a titanium band and when it broke I couldn't find a local replacement band for it. Like most (if not all) ABC watches, you have to calibrate the altimeter and even when you do, there can be a fairly large margin of error. I also couldn't rely on the thermometer but the compass was fine to quickly reference the cardinal directions.

I'm in the market for a new watch and I've narrowed it down to two for two very different reasons:

Garmin Fenix. GPS is set up better for backpacking vs my current Forerunner which is designed for running/training. I like that I can buy an external thermometer module for it. This is the most high tech watch that I can afford.

Luminox (Interested in several models). I've never found a watch alarm which will wake me up. I don't trust a compass, thermometer, altimeter on the ABC watches I've played with so far. The only thing left which has any reliable value to me is to simply use it as a time piece. I really like that they use tritium so I don't have to shine a light on it or use a backlight.

Solar Atomic G-Shock. Pick your color and style. Waterproof, no batteries, always the right time, durable, generally affordable. See: Costco, Walmart.

thanks everybody for some feedback. I really hate shopping especially for tech stuff. So, a little advice really helps to keep it simple when I am looking.

It has an old-fashioned analog dial and keeps perfect time. the rotating bezel comes in handy a lot more often than you'd think. No alarm, stopwatch, or countdown timer, but I could enver figure out how to use those things anyway. Likewise with the altimeter, barometer, thermometer, and all the other -meters.Self-winding, so it never needs batteries. Advertised as being waterproof to 200 meters, which is a lot seeper than I'm eve rlikely to dive. Oh yeah: chicks dig 'em.

Except for the thermometer, a cheap casio matches the desired feature list, and I would point out is lighter weight than pretty much any "adventure" type watch I see on display at REI or the like.

I like an analog face for easier use as a compass ( point the hour hand at the sun, south is half between the hour hand and 12 o'clock on the watch face ( north of the equator ) ).

I have smaller wrist, plus for the weight savings, I get a women's watch with the same features as a men's. ( My grandmother did the reverse when her eyes started to go, for the large face).

I like Timex's Indiglo or Casio's Illuminator back lights.

About $30-35. Readily available on-line or most any store with watches.

Around town, it's usually a Victoronox women's analog, but it is a little heavier and only has phosphor on the hands, not a whole-face backlight.

casio gshock riseman

Timex Expedition