I am looking to purchase an altimeter watch but have a limited budget.
The Suunto look good but are very pricey. I have seen watches on blacktoe.co.uk spec and money wise they look good- anyone tried them?
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 Check out :-
http://www.highgearusa.com/20005.shtml
Should be retailing in the Uk for about £100 later in the year.
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Try :-
http://www.syncronic.co.uk
and
http://www.oregonscientific.co.uk
and
http://www.timex.co.uk
Let me know which one you get and how it is because I want one aswell but can't really afford the Suunto Observer.
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 Ummm...why don't you just get a GPS, start at about the same price and does one heck of a lot more for the money? GPS altitude is way more accurate anyway.
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Depends what you want it for. A GPS is generally more useful but then it doesn't have a stopwatch that can take splits. Also the compass on a GPS only works if you're moving and its a lot more bulky of course.
Once calibrated a barometric altimeter is more accurate than GPS altitude which merely gives you a height above the WGS84 geoid which is only a close approximation to earths surface. I've found through practice that you can get reasonably accurate altitude readings from a GPS but you do have to give it plenty of time to settle down - usually a couple of minutes without moving.
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 Besides which, unless you have a barametric altimeter built in to a GPS unit, the altitude is subject to the error margins generated by the USA military, masters of the GPS system.
At one time they built in an automatic error deviation into the commercial use of GPS to prevent use by terrorists (or at least lessen the impact of such use). Agencies who actually purchase licences such us us in the UK Ambulance Services who use GPS for AVLS (Automatic Vehicle Locating Systems) and rescue services etc complained that the error generation was not condusive to proper use. The US military therefore considered altitude to be less important to us than an acurate location so switched the error deviation accordingly. That is why you will never get an accurate alltitude reading from a GPS unit!
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 I think the US military took off the selective availability error in around mid-2001, but reinstated it in September 2001 due to the attack on New York. The error can be reduced by post-processing the data on a PC, resulting in a fairly accurate estimation of location. So in effect, it's not that difficult to reduce errors to determine a location for planning a terrorist attack, but selective availability still causes problems to someone using a GPS for benign purposes.
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We (The South East region of the Welsh Ambulance Service) have been using AVLS since 1995. At that time the location was not as accurate as we would have wished, and vehicles could be as much as 1/4 mile out of true position. Since 2001 and the corrections of generated errors however, the accuracy has been so good that our controllers can watch a vehicle live on screen and send data to direct them to a location within a precise accuracy, often as little as the drive to an individual property in a street full. We have recently had an upgrade and the Government advisors have told us that the accuracy from the GPS system is as accrate as OUR systems will allow. They told us about the switch to altitude generation errors. I would appear that altitude is as important to a terrorist using a GPS guided weapon as is location!
I have t say that this has been bourne out by m own research in that the accuracy of known locations checked off against my Etrex is pretty good. I ave to say howevr that the accuracy of the altitude readings fluctuates by an margin of + and - 50 feet withn the space of a few steps, and the spot heights of specific locations has never been true in my experience.
It certainly bears out what the scientific consultant told us recently!
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We (The South East region of the Welsh Ambulance Service) have been using AVLS since 1995. At that time the location was not as accurate as we would have wished, and vehicles could be as much as 1/4 mile out of true position. Since 2001 and the corrections of generated errors however, the accuracy has been so good that our controllers can watch a vehicle live on screen and send data to direct them to a location within a precise accuracy, often as little as the drive to an individual property in a street full. We have recently had an upgrade and the Government advisors have told us that the accuracy from the GPS system is as accrate as OUR systems will allow. They told us about the switch to altitude generation errors. It would appear that altitude is as important to a terrorist using a GPS guided weapon as is location!
I have t say that this has been bourne out by m own research in that the accuracy of known locations checked off against my Etrex is pretty good. I ave to say howevr that the accuracy of the altitude readings fluctuates by an margin of + and - 50 feet withn the space of a few steps, and the spot heights of specific locations has never been true in my experience.
It certainly bears out what the scientific consultant told us recently!
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We (The South East region of the Welsh Ambulance Service) have been using AVLS since 1995. At that time the location was not as accurate as we would have wished, and vehicles could be as much as 1/4 mile out of true position. Since 2001 and the corrections of generated errors however, the accuracy has been so good that our controllers can watch a vehicle live on screen and send data to direct them to a location within a precise accuracy, often as little as the drive to an individual property in a street full. We have recently had an upgrade and the Government advisors have told us that the accuracy from the GPS system is as accrate as OUR systems will allow. They told us about the switch to altitude generation errors. It would appear that altitude is as important to a terrorist using a GPS guided weapon as is location!
I have to say that this has been bourne out by my own research in that the accuracy of known locations checked off against my Etrex is pretty good. I have to say howevr that the accuracy of the altitude readings fluctuates by an margin of + and - 50 feet withn the space of a few steps, and the spot heights of specific locations has never been true in my experience.
It certainly bears out what the scientific consultant told us recently!
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Sorry, this seems to be hapenng a lot recently!
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 What's that then?
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What's that then?
(ducks).
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 Is there an echo?
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Very funny
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very funny
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 You can get a cheap Suunto on ebay most of the time, I've just upgraded to an Observor and sold my Vector but too late I'm afraid I sold it today!
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How many times do I need to repeat that message ?
<I'll get my coat>
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 I got my dads a sylva altimeter last year for his birthday and its not a bad price an is pretty accurate and we allways know exactly how many feet we have left to climb with lots of regular updates every few feet, should have bought him socks!
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I have a Casio Pro Trek watch for sale - can't remember the model number off the top of my head (it is at home at the moment and I'm at work!). It is very good, but I have very large wrists and there generally isn't room for it and my wrist inside the sorts of jackets I wear in the mountains! It has a slight scratch on the face which does not imapir readability etc and I have original box & instructions etc. £60 and it can be yours - email me if interested (or you need to know model number) - first come first served at mike.tinsley@axa-ppp.co.uk
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