Do you wear a watch?

imported
#1

Putting the finishing touches on my gear list for this years PCT, and am wondering how many people out there hiked with a watch, and whether there were any models out there that you particularly enjoyed/found useful.

Novakaine

#2

A WATCH/ALTIMER MIGHT BE USEFUL.ARE YOU GONNA POST YOUR GEAR LIST ON A WEB SITE?? cT

cheeserTOM

#3

Simple Timex Ironman. Helps you reckon how far you’ve travelled. And/or your average speed. Also lets you know the day and date. All this while being rather tough, light, inexpensive, reliable and not too clunky for long sleeves or jacket. Mine has a little alarm that I would set for ten am. This is when I would kickstart the hiking, pack-up breakfast and get along my way. I didn’t always appreciate those who would set an alarm to wake up at some obscene single digit hour. Try and keep those early morning bells and whistles in your tent rather than the communal shelters. As for altimeters, most elevations (if you care to know them) will be listed in your guide. Other time keeping tools such as cell phones or blackberries and the like are not so convenient while actually hiking.
If your are already considering your watch you must be well prepared. In the end, you will have plenty of time along your hike to upgrade any gear issue you come across. I generally recommend having gear that is cool or stylish as well as functional. An expedition quality swiss or german automatic would be a cool selection if you can afford it. My timex, not so styly. In the end, get out and have fun on your odyssey.

Ablejack

#4

I’ve used a HighGear Summit watch for the last 2 years. It has all the major functions (alarm, stopwatch, altimeter, compass, barometer with weather forcasting). I find the altimeter to be the most useful navigation tool on a mountain trail.

Miner

#5

Check out one of those “snap-watches” or any variation of them in that line of products. They have some that work as zipper pulls. I can’t remember the maker but surely you could find them if you looked online.

I agree that knowing the time can help you with your pace and knowing how far you’ve gone and have to go etc. I know a lot of people endorse having no watch and really getting onto a natural sort of cycle. I think that would be nice, but I do usually have a watch. I also can see how an altimeter would be handy for navigation. But most of those decked out watches, including the Summit, are so huge. They’re sweet though.

The snap watch is nice because it only displays the time in simple digital format. If you push a button it’ll remind you what the date is. They’re tiny and unobtrusive and they cost like 8 dollars.

zach attack

#6

It is up to your own preference, but you don’t HAVE to wear a watch while hiking. It can be freeing to not always know (or much care) exactly what time it is or how far you’ve walked so far that day. I don’t a watch, but do carry a cell phone that I keep turned off during the day and use to check the time when I wake up and go to sleep. And knowing the time is good in towns to meet p.o. hours and such. Although those altimeter watches are pretty spiffy!

Smack

#7

I carry a basic timex. During the day it rides in a pocket. I might look at it once or twice during the day to verify progress is OK or it is time to change plans. I wear the watch at night since I wake up often and I find it helpful to know I really do have a couple more hours.

dioko