| By :
Roger Brown
There are a multitude of functions available on watch altimeters. They won't all mean the same to you and won't all be applicable to your particular reason for being out in the woods, but it is a good idea to think carefully about what functions may be critical and buy your watch accordingly. Some of the functions that are available are not necessary. For example if you're only going up in the mountains and out in the woods there is no point getting watch was tidal charts. But, here are some of the common features that I think most people really get a lot out of: Compass or direction finder - everyone that spends any time on the woods has a compass and that compass needs to stay as their primary directional instrument. But, if you have a backup compass on your watch, it is a terrific safety feature. With watch altimeters, compass function is driven by a magnetic sensor inside the case of the watch. That sensor can pick up on all sorts of metal objects around you so you have to be careful though to take that into account if you are around a lot of metal. Make sure to that when you use this device you hold your arm level of the ground, because this makes the reading more accurate. Thermometer - having a thermometer is theoretically a great thing. However you need to realize that unless you take the wristwatch off your arm it will read roughly the temperature of your body. That is clearly not a good thing. However, you can make good use of the temperature device by taking the watch off and leaving it in the shade for a while in order to equalize with the ambient air temperature. Once you've done that for about half an hour you can then trust the thermometer reading to readjust and tell you what's actually happening now. Clock that's automatically set with a standard - this is a very cool function in that you don't have to think anymore about setting a watch and making sure it is set to the correct time. Altimeter watches with this feature will automatically set to an atomic clock. This means that it is constantly updating which can also be a power drain. But the payoff and never having to set your watch again makes it the battery drain worthwhile. In the final analysis, you need to make sure the functions on your watch altimeter or ones that you will actually use. There is no point in getting a fancy bell or whistle that looks really good on paper but never provides a true value to you because you never use it. That being said, you need to take the owner's manual of your new watch and spend some time with that in order to get familiar with the functionality of each feature.
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