A gizmo for outdoor use.....

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Quark

Member
Apr 25, 2007
13
0
49
norway
Hi everyone.
I'm now going to open up a can of worms....:D

It's about watches... or more pricesly,- watch-like gizmoes that goes around your wrist, and can tell you everything about the world that you otherwise could tell from at decent map, compas and commen sense.

Now, I like toys... especially big boys toys... and I'm not taking cars and girls in allmost nothing... (although I don't dislike that at all...) But in this case I'm talking about a "wristtop computer" Altimeter, Barometric, compas, and enough bells and wistles to win first bell-and-wistle at an bell and wistle convention.

I forsee two main arguments - the "purists" ( no offence intended) who will argue that this thing will come between them and nature - that the experience will be deminished by artificial gizmoes, that proberly will break or run out of battery at the worst moment...

And the gizmo-inclined,- (no offence intended) who can't get enough of these thinges...

I actually fell like standing with a leg in both camps, I think that a gizmo like this will be like a bit of a distraction, that will hinder the process of shetting the "urban moden...persona..." and getting in tune with nature... and this of course being a lot of the reason I get out there...

On the other hand, the shetting-process always takes 2-3 days and my "urban modern persona" needs me to be back before that.. So out on a small trip I might enjoy looking to my wrist, and get some info about hight, and sunup/down, or barometric changes. I know I can get this by looking up and around, but some times it's nice just to walk, with no thoughts to cloud formation, time of day, or anything else, and just leave the details to someone else....

So- I imagine me going across, say Hadangervidda in Norway, or Cairn Gorms in Scotland, out for a long week, fairly goal-oriented in the sense that I need to be somewhere in 5 days, but still "shetting the urban:D ....." stuff.
Back in my mind will be the knowedge that the info I need to get exact location can be optained by cross referencing compas, map, subconcious, (it's allways on, you know, and I gotten lost enough times that I usually keep track of the sun, winddirection, landmarks, generell mapfeatures etc, without thinking about it) (although trusting this "6 sense" absolutly have lead me into even more trubble, than I care to think about :p )
The gizmo will be giving me warning if a storm comes, and the compas will serve as a backup incase i loose main compas.
I allways navigate by map/compas, and try to keep track of weather, but a little help isn't so bad?

I will ofcourse survive without this thing, but on the other hand ( or wist) it might be fun to use and even enhance the experience...

So,- am I the only one who might take something basicly redundant with me outthere, or are we more in this category?

/martin

P.s pardon any spellingerrors... I'm a dane.... :D
 

Rothley Bill

Forager
Aug 11, 2008
134
0
Rothley, Leicestershire
Ohhh I'm already tempted, I love toys especially usefull ones like the one you have described.
I'm thinking that some of the i may be wrong but I think silva, make something like that or something that is moving towards that
 
Obviously a time and a place for everything. I like to run, I have looked for speed and distance monitors and discovered Suunto watches. As you leap up the scale of technology you arrive at their crowning glory, titanium does everything! probably would buy one if I came up trumps on the lottery but one of those bits of kit that you regard with envy... however I agree with you about having one foot in both camps and like the thought of your skills leading the way... good question!
 

Graham_S

Squirrely!
Feb 27, 2005
4,041
65
50
Saudi Arabia
My casio protrek does something similar.
I don't really trust the compass for accurate navigation, but it has been handy when I've gotten turned around in plantation forest.
the altimeter/barometer gets the most use.
It's a useful tool, but one I can do without if I have to.
 

dwardo

Bushcrafter through and through
Aug 30, 2006
6,451
475
46
Nr Chester
My casio protrek does something similar.
I don't really trust the compass for accurate navigation, but it has been handy when I've gotten turned around in plantation forest.
the altimeter/barometer gets the most use.
It's a useful tool, but one I can do without if I have to.

I have a Pro-Tek PRG 50 solar and think its great. I agree with Graham though the compas isnt that accurate but its handy on those walks where you know the area has a sort of boundary you wont miss but you want to know roughly what direction your heading. The barometer/altometer (surprisingly accurate) is handy and the thermometer is a laugh when your out camping in winter as you can play "guess the temperature" ! :rolleyes:

I bought mine off ebay second hand for £50
 

Quark

Member
Apr 25, 2007
13
0
49
norway
At the moment i'm looking at the Suunto Core. It's seems to do a lot, and look cool too. (and thats at least half part of it...) But alas, the price... still it's at toy, so maby I can convince SWIMBO to let me use The Boy's toy budget on this :D
I think i'll put this on the Must Have Before Next Trip List, and keep looking around for alternatives... hmm those Casios look good too... I wonder if The Boy really need new boots?
 

Ogri the trog

Mod
Mod
Apr 29, 2005
7,182
71
60
Mid Wales UK
Are you thinking of something like a nintendo DS loaded with every bushcraft/survival/mushroomID/Scouting for Boys etc book that you can find? Or something even smaller for those of us wth deteriorating eyesight to ignore....
A source of reference would be of huge help if you need that mental boost when out looking for something specific but it would be an easy thing to come to be relied upon.
SImilarly having a foot in both camps, I think it would be a good thing to have but kudos would still go to those who can get by without it.

ATB

Ogri the trog
 

lostagain

Need to contact Admin...
Jun 27, 2008
195
0
52
Windermere
I got a Suunto X6HR M a while ago - mainly for the heart rate monitor but as i was spendig money i thought I'd get something i can use whilst out walking / camping etc.

The compass works and is accurate - but I'd rather trust my map reading to a proper compass.
The temperature guage isn't really useful as you have to take off the watch for a while to get an accurate reading - no good while its strapped to a warm wrist!
It tells the time!!
The altimeter is a good feature but again i use this only as a guide and prefer to trust my map.
The main use when walking is the recording feature. The watch will record my heart rate and height every 2 seconds whoch can be downloaded when back at home to see how hard i have been working and i get a trace of my altitude throughout the day. It'll also say total ascent / descent in the day, ave speed etc etc.
The barometer function can also alert to weather changes but i haven't got to grips with that function properly yet.

Its a nice toy, good to see how high you've climbed, your HR during the day etc but it will never take the place of traditional equipment or the skill needed to use that equipment especially to rely on. However, its only the size of a normal chunky watch so you get all the toys without carrying extra kit.

If you've got the spare cash in the boys toys budget then why not,.
 

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