Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board Altimeter Brands

Time to get that Christmas list set up....

What are peoples thoughts on brands of Altimeters? I have an old Suunto and have been overall pleased. However, there seem to be a lot more variety out there from more expensive to cheap. Any suggestions?

I've had a Thommens for years. Has always worked well. It does not to be calibrated with weather changes. NO batteries required.

My Garmin 76CS also has an altimeter and it also has been accurate. Batteries NEEDED.

I bought a Highgear Altitech and found it really frustrating. I thought it was supposed to tell me the altitude. As it turned out, I kept needing to tell it the altitude.

I set it at a known altitude at the trailhead and it was off significantly at the next known altitude. I recalibrated it and it was off again at the summit, another known altitude. I recalibrated it again and it was off again when I got back to the second place I had set it, with a reading that was different than the first time I was there. Fortunately, I had bought it from REI so I was able to return it with no hassle.

I have a garmin map60cs it has an altimiter and it is nice you can use barometric presure or you can make it go of the downloaded topo map in it it has been really accurate for me if you doubt one you can use the other and it is verry accurate so even on the topo you get a good reading plus all the other features and neve had a problem with the gps i have had it for two years and used it alot good luck hope you find what you are looking for

I've owned and used several altimeters extensively over the past 30 years. Thommen is my favorite and considered the finest aneroid barometer-altimeter by many. It is also very expensive. I had my first Thommen for about 20 years, before a thief decided he needed more than I. My second one I bought over a year ago. Three weeks ago I flew to the Alps, only to find out on landing that my Thommen did the unbelievable--it broke! That is, it showed an elevation of over 12,000 feet, when I was only at 1,000; and on the flight, the cabin pressure never went over 7,000 feet, and the Thommen was with me the whole time (not in my checked luggage). The reason I know the cabin pressure is because I had a Suunto altimeter on my wrist, which is also extremely accurate (within 10-foot increments). Anyway, my Thommen is now stuck at 12,000, forcing me to send the instrument back to the Thommen factory for repair. It was totally useless in the Alps.

Be that as it may, my Suunto has worked excellently over the years. Like any barometer-altimeter, it must be constantly checked against known elevations, especially if weather is changing, which means barometric pressure is changing.

My Garmin GPSmap76CS altimeter is no where near as accurate or precise as the Thommen or Suunto. (As a GPS unit, apart from the altimeter function, it is super accurate.) My Garmin-12 unit is fine for airplane altitudes using 3-D GPS readings, but lousy for finding the correct contour on 7.5-minute or 15-minute topo maps--it just varies too much, even with "SA" turned off (thanks to Clinton back in his presidency, for those of you who are familiar with the term "selective availability," which he thankfully ordered the military to turn off for us civilians).

I highly recommend Thommen altimeters, even though my latest one has a problem, but it has a two-year warranty, which I plan to take advantage of.

I have a lot of fun with altimeters, especially for climbing mountains and knowing how far I am from the top, especially when you cannot see the top. The Suunto Vector, which I have, even tells you your rate of climb--how many feet per minute you are going, up or down, which can help measure your exercise on smaller mountains as you work out for your Whitney climb, or wherever. So, if you are striving for 1,000 feet per hour, or about 17 feet per minute, the Suunto Vector is a neat watch-altimeter to have.