New High-Tech Toy

I know that there's been some messages about using only one's wits with minimal tools as being "pure" survival technique. And I know that one should never rely upon technology for survival. But...<br><br>Tissot has just release a new watch that is very cool, It's called the T-Touch and it retails for approx. $600 (so I don't have to worry about buying it anytime soon!). Anyway, it's an analog watch with a digital display window and it has the following functions: barometer, altimeter, chronometer, compass, alarm & thermometer. <br><br>I'm currious how the compass function works, but the web site doesn't explain much. It does say it locates magnetic north and can be adjusted for east and west declination. That sound pretty darn functional to me.<br><br>

Mimicking Scrooge "Spirit of equipped past, present and future- SHOW ME NO MORE!" as I cringe under my space blanket.

<br>Suunto makes similar products, at about "only" half the price, which is still expensive. I have this one...<br><br>http://www.suunto.com/pls/suunto/suunto2.pubproduct.prod_view?in_product_id=329&in_prodgrp_id=164<br><br>..and it's pretty nice, albiet a little large.<br><br>

I have one too, the "Yachtsman", and I like it a lot.<br><br>For field watches I had been using Casios for many years, but the designs kept getting more and more appearance-oriented and less functional.<br><br>The Suunto is a bit large, but it weighs much less than a Casio G-Force, maybe half.. it's really surprising how light it is. That, combined with the fact that it's more rounded so that sleeves don't interfere with it nearly as much, make it seem more convenient to wear than the smaller but heavier and more angular Casios.<br><br>Besides, the display is much larger, and I don't need glasses...

It looks like there is a touch sensor embedded in the crystal. It is possible that in a true emergency if the crystal gets whacked really good then you might not be able to switch to those extra features. I would also prefer a compass without batteries.

>>I would also prefer a compass without batteries. <<<br><br>How cynical.<br><br>My favorite feature of all of these watches is the thermometer. By estimating the actual ambient temperature and subtracting that from the watch's temperature reading, with a little practice you can come up with a very reasonable guess as to whether you're wearing a long-sleeve shirt. :-)<br>

Gadgets - hate all the ones I haven't bought yet and 1/2 of the one's I have bought.<br><br>I understand from a friend who works for a big ol wireless company, that there is a cell/gps/frs/gmrs/compass/alt/chrono/barometer/therm. on the drawing boards. <br><br>Start saving your nickels now.

The watch themometer thing- you speak the truth! They are about as accurate as a bubblegum machine horoscope!

<br>Actually my Suunto seems to provide very accurate temperatures. The trick is to not be wearing it. ;-)<br>I think even the manual makes some sort of reference to removing the watch for a certain amount of time to get good readings.

Mine too. I have to admit, though, that I find it less useful in general when I'm not wearing it. :-)<br><br>What would make the thermometer useful is to be able to capture high/low temps. Taking it off at night is reasonable, and capturing the low gives you some more objective idea of how your sleeping gear is performing.

This one by Casio, http://www.casio.com/watches/product.cfm?section=14&market=0&product=3673 is 1/3 the price but no touchscreen. The Pathfinder series has been around for ages and I've had one through quite a few battery replacements. The thermometer lets you set an offset to compensate for your body temp, but I've always found that it works best if you wear is on the outside of a long sleeve shirt and avoid covering it with a jacket sleeve if possible. Honestly, the one feature that I really like is the barometer. It will log the barometric pressure once an hour for the last 48 hours and display it as a bar graph. Very usefulfor predicting storms and the such while out in the field. The same bar graph can be inverted to show rate of ascent if your climbing. The only problem is that if you are constantly changing your altitude, the barometer's reading is false due to the pressure change. Anyway, I can not complain about it after all these years. It's been dropped, stepped on, ran over, mutilated, frozen, cooked, and otherwise tortured and I have only ever replaced the band and the batteries.

Buckling the watch onto a beltloop or pack is good enough to get accurate temps when on the move. I agree with the high/low temp capture, that would be handy. I really like the barometric trend capture, and have found it useful.

isnt buying one of those keychain thingy's with those options mounted on your belt beter than a watch with you have to take of ? besides keycains are cheaper...

I finally saw this watch, for some reason the link wasn't working the first time I tried.<br><br>It is a good-looking analog watch. Unfortunately, I REALLY don't like analog watches. I'll stick with my Suunto.<br><br>Don't get me wrong, I own three analog watches, and I wear them whenever I wear a sports jacket or tie, in other words, wherever a “positive class indicator” is called for.. but, in that context, they're jewelry, like late-18th century smallswords, intended to make a statement, not to be useful. That’s something else altogether.<br><br>Esthetically, though, I really don’t like the fact that we’re still combining all of this very high-tech electronics with an interface dreamed up by 16th-century clockmakers to make their job easier. In fact, I find it condescending, and a little insulting, that engineers still feel compelled to mask all these solid-state wonders behind an interface of actual metal arms being physically, mechanically, pushed across a dial face, no matter what the costs in design and energy to the rest of the device. It’s like a visible admission that we can’t mentally cope with anything newer, that we can’t learn to do without the "learning to tell time" system we were taught as little children along with learning to tie our shoes.<br><br>But, that’s just me. I also sort of resent the ridiculous system of dividing a reasonable, nature-provided time interval into 24 units, and each of those into 60, and each of those into 60, then each of those into tenths, hundredths or thousanths. There’s nothing the least bit natural or inevitable about this system, and the math it engenders is absolutely absurd, sometimes to the point of being dangerous.. and results in such complete nonsense as having a microwave run for LONGER when you key in “90” than it does when you key in “120”.<br><br>Unfortunately, we’re probably stuck with it. Swatch Internet Time doesn’t seem to be catching on quickly, so I guess we may have to wait for a more flexible-minded generation to come along and remove this mess.

<br>If all you wanted to do was tell the temperature cheaply, then sure, of course that would be fine. A small sundial could also be used for time, and I supposed you could find a cheap hygrometer(?) for barometric pressure. A golf pencil, and a piece of paper and you could chart it all over time too, and heck, maybe even figure out your altitude. A magetized needle in your pocket could be used as a compass. A small photon light and you can even view it at night, except for the sundial of course.<br><br>For everything there's always a cheaper, or more accurate, or more reliable, or smaller, etc, solution. That's why there are a million products for sale. Different strokes for different folks.<br>

Hmm... As I recall from a science class a loooong time ago, one can make a barometer. I'll have to try some specific instrictions, but I suspect that you could fabricate one from a water container, perhaps a found pop can, and the seep tubing in your PSK.<br><br>Not an essential tool, but could be useful of you're stuck in a long-term survivial situation and you want to track changes in weather.

I specifically chose an analog watch for camping for two reasons. One, the dials can be used in determining compass direction. You can do the same by "Imagining" the arms, but having the arms there makes it easier. Two, liquid crystals and electronics can fail easier than mechanical gears. Liquid crystals are aso affected by cold tempuratures and can actually disappear if it's cold enough.<br><br>