Let’s see a picture of your WATCH thread.

…

I know at least 4 people who have Suuntos They all hate them.

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.

Casio Pathfinder for me when on the trail.

Ryan

Where'd you get that picture of Dukakis?

Shorter, ethnic looking-guy with thick eye brows?

Check!

I was talking about the helmet……

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

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Roger, thank you for taking the bait, I was having a slow Monday and needed something to wake me up.
BTW, I had 3 Suunto Core's but gave one away to my son in law. Yes I like them, but I also understand their limitations as well as the limitations of all the other options out there. For me the Core looks/works the best.

I figured you would be the one taking the bait, and appreciate your reponse and the diversion from my Monday scheduling/paperwork.

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.

David nice durable band, but isn’t the last layer a real pain to get off when you have to rip it off your arm hair?
For some of the younger set here you might want to explain what thing is on top of your wrist is (hooked to the duct tape).

Good thing you don’t need a slide rule for the explanation

>"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.

"the Altimeter is accurate within 200 ft"

Hopefully this is a typo?

"the Altimeter is accurate within 200 ft"

I think this is called setting the bar pretty low. Pun intended.

–B.G.–

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Too bad they're not made any more!

Yeah, I have a 1st gen Suunto and it SUCKS up batteries.

And it SUCKS at ease of use.

And its night time illumination SUCKS.

Did I mention this watch SUCKS?

Since this is BPL, a watch should be light and durable!

My Backpacking Watches

I have a Suunto X3HR and the company apparently doesn't make replacement bands. I bought one on the internet that claimed to fit the model number and it didn't fit. Thirty bucks down the rat hole.

When I called Suunto I got some guy with a foreign accent who told me to go to a jeweler to see if they could help. Now that's what I call customer service!

I'd never buy one of their products again. They may make the best product and may even offer the best service on planet earth but I'm one who slipped through the cracks despite repeated attempts to get help.

The watch still works fine but the plastic/rubber watch band split and needs to be replaced.

It's what I call planned obsolescence. In my world, Suunto is as obsolete as a dinosaur.

The irony of the whole situation is that my Avocet is no longer made yet I can still buy watch bands from the company and they still service existing products. Suunto could learn a thing or two (or five thousand) from Avocet.

Watch

nothing fancy, readable in dark , well used