Wristwear?

[ripple]

Never had a problem w/ the timex helix. Three friends also have them and no one has had a problem w/ the altimeter readings. I have the helix wrks w/ the digital compass, that is pretty much useless. If I were to replace my helix, I would get the model without the compass, it is much cheaper. Why pay for a function that I don't use.

 

[twigeater]

Maybe this is silly, but the biggest issue that I have with the Helix is that I couldn't actually wear it on my wrist if I expected it to be accurate.
It is a watch isn't it?

 

[KayakDan]

Ivy,I had a Helix and I could always read the altitude,give or take afew thousand feet,and the temperature was always within 15-20 degrees. The barometer went up and down too,just not at the right time
Now I have an$18.00 caribiner watch and a GPS and compass. I still know where I am!

 

[poison ivy]

I could always read the altitude,give or take afew thousand feet,and the temperature was always within 15-20 degrees.

Now that sounds just like my Helix! We must have gotten ones from the same batch.

- Ivy

 

[Rob S]

Even when I set the altimeter at the trailhead, it is way, way off (I'm talking thousands of feet) by the time I reach the summit. It happens everytime I use it... not just occaisionally.

Gee, mine works pretty well.

Never had that problem either. I've had the Helix for 2 years now and never had a summit reading off by more than 70 feet, and 4 out of 5 times it's within 30 or 40 feet. In fact, the very first time I used it, I was climbing Panther in the Catskills, and when I reached the 3500 foot sign I looked down at the watch. It read 3480 feet. I had it set to refresh only once every minute, so I waited a bit and sure enough when it updated, the display read 3500 feet! To my disappointment this never actually happened again since then, but as I said, it always been very close. Maybe there is a defective batch out there.

 

[Sparky]

I have the Suunto Observer. The compass and altimeter are surprisingly accurate for a wrist watch. It's got a few built-in tools (timer/stopwatch, trip ascension/descenion logs, etc).

The thermometer is about 20-degrees higher than air temp when wearing it. Also, the alarm is useless, as the faint beep is barely audible.

Otherwise a stylish, functional watch. Suunto

Good luck, there are so many out there.