How to Buy an Altimeter

An altimeter is great to have along in the outdoors: It can help you monitor your vertical progress as well as aid you in locating yourself should you get lost.

Things You'll Need

  • Altimeters
  • Compasses
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Instructions

    • 1

      Check the altimeter's maximum altitude: The better ones are effective to 40,000 feet, higher than you'll ever get on this planet.

    • 2

      Check how fine-grained the elevation readings are: A good altimeter is accurate to within 10 vertical feet.

    • 3

      Look for the following features: total elevation gained/lost, current rate of gain/loss, overall rate of gain/loss, maximum rate of gain/loss, current barometric pressure.

    • 4

      Look for basic watch features, such as time and date. A good altimeter will also have a stopwatch (with multiple splits), an alarm and a countdown timer.

    • 5

      Play around with the altimeter to test for ease of use: Are the features logically organized or a chaotic mess?

    • 6

      Check if the altimeter is waterproof. If it isn't at least "water-resistant," it won't survive the rain.