Handheld Altimeter

[OtisAir]

howdy ya'll -

Anyone have experience with handheld altimeters?

I wear a Forerunner 205 on my wrist when PPG'ing but I don't have faith in the "elevation" it indicates because I depart from around 400MSL, then it shows a descent for the first 3 minutes (I'm uh, climbing) and never really gets a good close fix on my altitudes. I don't use the altitude for anything other than "I was this high today" so I don't need it super accurate, just closer than what I'm getting. It has to be small and secure-able to my person so I don't lose it in flight.

Recommendations?

Thanks,

Shane

 

[Areeda]

My wife got me a watch that did that one year. It was pretty accurate compared to charts when driving my car and the plane's altimeter when I flew.

I went through a couple of batteries then stuck it in a drawer someplace because I found it too big on my wrist, display to small to read easily and just not a real good watch for someone old enough to need reading glasses.

 

[Rob Schaffer]

Strap this to your leg with a kneeboard strap,.. of course you have to get in your seat to be able to read it

http://www.microtim.com/index.htm

 

[gismo]

My wife got me a watch that did that one year. It was pretty accurate compared to charts when driving my car and the plane's altimeter when I flew.

I went through a couple of batteries then stuck it in a drawer someplace because I found it too big on my wrist, display to small to read easily and just not a real good watch for someone old enough to need reading glasses.

I've had a few watches with an "altimeter" function. None of them would allow you to adjust the altimeter reading by entering SLP. They all had barometric functions as well but the two weren't interconnected so if you changed the baro setting the altitude readout remained unaffected. I did work out a scheme where I'd keep the two in sync by always making an approximate adjustment to the altitude when applying a change to the baro using the 1" Hg = 1000 ft ratio. That was enough of a PITA that I eventually gave up and quit buying watches with altitude readout.

Does anyone make one that works like a "real" altimeter i.e. you can set the SLP and it shows the correct altitude?

 

[Rob Schaffer]

The one above can be set to show MSL or AGL, or flip between the two. Skydiving altimeters could be used, but for Paragliding they wouldn't be of much use if you are flying 1000 ft or less AGL.

 

[Areeda]

I've had a few watches with an "altimeter" function. None of them would allow you to adjust the altimeter reading by entering SLP. They all had barometric functions as well but the two weren't interconnected so if you changed the baro setting the altitude readout remained unaffected. I did work out a scheme where I'd keep the two in sync by always making an approximate adjustment to the altitude when applying a change to the baro using the 1" Hg = 1000 ft ratio. That was enough of a PITA that I eventually gave up and quit buying watches with altitude readout.

Does anyone make one that works like a "real" altimeter i.e. you can set the SLP and it shows the correct altitude?

It's been a while but the way I remember it you didn't enter SLP but could adjust the current altitude. I know my house is about 875 and EMT is 297MSL so it worked fairly well.

 

[gismo]

It's been a while but the way I remember it you didn't enter SLP but could adjust the current altitude.

That's the way the ones I had worked.

I know my house is about 875 and EMT is 297MSL so it worked fairly well.

Sure if you know your altitude at one point you can read your altitude elsewhere, unless the SLP changes in the meantime. When a front comes through while you're away from home you could be off a thousand feet or so. I originally had visions of using such a watch as a "backup" altimeter in an airplane but they're all but useless for that.