ABC watches, GPS watches, do you need them? Do you own them? do you swear by them?
So back in 2019 I picked this up, I was planning on being out in the wilderness every weekend and wanted to condense tools down to wrist, then the pandemic happened. And since then I have developed a taste for watches of call kinds, 3 years later this thing has been worn all of 3 times or something in the like. Prior to this I wore an apple watch and was going to switch to a suunto but missed an amazing deal on one and went with this instead. So a friend of mine saw this and said... thats a watch I would have been into when I was 19, I was a little taken aback because for me a watch is largely a tool, sometimes it's a tool for looking good but never the less.
Do you guys have any experience with ABC watches (altimeter, barometer, Compass) are they useful for civilians like us? Ray Mears wears a rolex sub... is all this stuff just fluff to get us to open our pockets imagining were outdoor survival experts. Has anyone got any genuine use out of it, if everest was to be conquered today... would they still pick a rolex? or something like this? This comes back round to dive watches for diving/pilots watch for flying, I suppose this is todays field watch and if I was in the military in the field I would likely pick something like this as a backup tool.
P.s. I still carry a little pocket compass nearly everywhere because they are super handy for someone who is always out exploring.
Lets Discuss
I bought a Casio Pro Trek PRG-270 a few years ago. The only feature I use is the barometer since you have to remove the watch from your wrist for a few minutes to get the temperature to not measure your body heat. Compass was always in need of calibration. It does have a nice EL backlight to make it easy to read at night.
Beyond that one, I have not had an itch to get more.
ABC - own but dont need although it is nice to have the abc functions sometimes
GPS - own and need, i use a garmin fenix for exercise, mostly cycling
I got one for $60.00 and its too big to wear but kept it handy for the barometer change. In outdoor construction thats handy.
Don't own one, didn't really know they existed, can't really see when I'd really use one, or even pretend-use one. Seems a lot like moon phase watches in that it's information that would be (occasionally) useful but then never really gets used.
My personal take is that if you want a GPS get a real GPS, same for a compass, thermometer, barometer, etc... A Garmin 64/65, and a Timex Expedition will cost a bit more than a GPS watch, but would be far more functionally useful.
To me, a watch is a tool for telling the time, that should be out of the way when not needed, a 38-42mm watch disappears on your wrist when you're not using it to tell the time. The more things you add to it the more likely you are to make it less useful in it's primary role by cluttering the dial, or making it big, bulky, and more likely to be an annoying hinderance.
I have 2 ProTrek's PRG-270 and PRG-330 and I just liked the look and the features are fun for 5 minutes but not really ever used. The Barometer is the only function I check to check the ones on the wall in the house.
My other hobby is running, and a GPS watch is considered an essential tool by most runners that are at least semi serious about tracking their training. My Garmin Fenix 6S is pretty ugly but has impressive functionality. I only wear it for running though
My Garmin Instinct and Apple Watch both pull some playing outside duty.
The AW is easier to use, but the battery life is limited, so if I'm doing something for a long time I use the Garmin. I also like the track back feature on the Garmin (it keeps my family from getting mad at me because I was gone hours longer than I was supposed to be).
I used to do all of that stuff with a dive watch, but it eventually dawned on me that I was using an inappropriate tool just to be intransigent.
Casio awesome tool watch ABC/GPS or a Garmin. Thats something you would have to try it out there and max it good use. In the past we had F91W1 and map compass we got around.
My only “modern” watch with Bluetooth and solar powered; some variety in my collection :
I got 1 ABC watch, an older protrek that someone gave to me. As someone who doesn't really venture into wilderness I don't really need it, but I tend to wear it a lot anyway. Once I'm out of the city I'm pretty much lost, so even in the suburbs I appreciate the compass. I don't really need to navigate with it, but I like knowing what direction is which way. Plus I really really like the barometer function, it's reasonably accurate and works good enough for my purpose. I do want to get an ABC G Shock, mainly because 19 y.o. me would think it looks cool, thus me now think it looks cool. The altimeter is the least used function for me, Illinois is so flat it borders on 2D, still cool.