Hiking watches

[Charlietrees]

Hi All, I'm in the market for a new watch for the hills/work as a surveyor. I'm quite open with what features it has. My top feature list are in descending order;
Compass, barometer, altitude
Battery life - seen many people on this hills with a gps watch that has ran out of battery !
GPS
Type of battery
Bluetooth etc
Heart rate monitor.

I wondered what you guys have/ think of them?

Thanks

[ptc*]

I have a Garmin Fenix which is a few years old now, has been a through two hot washes in the machine and is still doing well.
I don't take it into the hills any more, battery lasts only a couple of days with regular GPS use so I went back to a regular-style mountain watch without electronics but the Fenix is great for my woodland ranger activities. I walk a deer fence in the hills and have to log damage etc and the Fenix is perfect for that, very accurate.

[Charlietrees]

That sounds excellent and what I need one for ! It's a toss up between garmin and suunto :/

[Nigels3011]

I have a Suunto Altimax. Only has Altitude, Barimetric pressure and temp. I was always concerned with battery power in GPSs for walkers so never bothered with one. And back in the 90s the electronic compasses in wrist watches weren't regarded for their accuracy so I stuck with my trusty Silva. The Suunto is still going strong after nearly twenty years so it doesn't owe me anything.

[Charlietrees]

I have a Suunto Altimax. Only has Altitude, Barimetric pressure and temp. I was always concerned with battery power in GPSs for walkers so never bothered with one. And back in the 90s the electronic compasses in wrist watches weren't regarded for their accuracy so I stuck with my trusty Silva. The Suunto is still going strong after nearly twenty years so it doesn't owe me anything.

How long does the battery last on it ? The reviews are so varied.
I have an old Garmin etreck gps. I don't use it a great deal, mainly work and tracking routes when the weathers dodgy. I wondering if having it on your wrist will make me use the function more.

[Nigels3011]

I have a Suunto Altimax. Only has Altitude, Barimetric pressure and temp. I was always concerned with battery power in GPSs for walkers so never bothered with one. And back in the 90s the electronic compasses in wrist watches weren't regarded for their accuracy so I stuck with my trusty Silva. The Suunto is still going strong after nearly twenty years so it doesn't owe me anything.

How long does the battery last on it ? The reviews are so varied.
I have an old Garmin etreck gps. I don't use it a great deal, mainly work and tracking routes when the weathers dodgy. I wondering if having it on your wrist will make me use the function more.

Well, it doesn't transmit and only uses pressure for the altimeter. I'd say batteries last as long as any normal LCD digital watch. Or certainly long enough not to be an issue. Having said that I don't get into the hills much these days and don't wear it 90% of the time (don't wear a watch at all) so its not having to react to altitude/pressure changes much. Don't know if that effects battery life of a barometric pressure watch.

[Fiona Reid]

I have a Suunto Vector, altimeter, compass etc but no GPS. I don't use the compass as a regular one is much better. The battery lasts 12 months on average.

I also have a garmin forerunner 610 with hrm and GPS that I use for running. That will last 7 or 8 hours with both hrm and GPS recording so not great for hillwalking. If you didn't use the hrm and just used the GPS then I imagine it would last longer.

[Outdoors Father]

Been using the Garmin Fenix 2 for a few months now and I enjoy it. As PTC said, battery won't last more then a couple of days, but I find the features excellent and I love doing faster navigation with pre-uploaded gpx files (saves the need for a handheld GPS).

Also came with a HRM that is excellent for runs and cycling too. You can pick them for 50% off easily now with the Fenix 3 and 4 already out.