How To Choose The Best Hiking Watch For Your Next Camping Trip

How To Choose The Best Hiking Watch For Your Next Camping Trip
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If you're an adventure seeker like me, you would understand the need for compact devices providing multipurpose utilities. Watches are one of those devices. After much research, I have devised a way of shortlisting the ideal hiking watch for you to sustain in extreme weather and altitude conditions.

When you become a usual hiker, you realize the importance of knowledge about changing the weather and the geography around you. The best hiking watches expectantly come packed with features that make your outdoor experience extremely easy.

Hiking lovers can make the most of the best hiking watches due to their technological advancement on the new and modern watch ranges. Not limited to hikers, even backpackers and outdoor travelers must consider making a stealthy watch purpose. It eases your task of predicting climate conditions by your travel plans.

How To Choose The Best Hiking Watch For Your Next Camping Trip

What should I look for when shopping for a hiking watch?

This is a question that haunts many first-timers, but don't worry. I got you covered! Post numerous experiences; I have a list of the best hiking watches on the market which enable you with the ABCs you need. The Altitude with the Baltimore to the Compass! It might also interest you to know that functionality doesn't necessarily deprive you of style. So let’s get cracking!

1. Hands-on GPS 

When you're out and about, what more could one ask for than a map on your wrist? Literally! You can use the online portal Movescout.com to feed points of interest of your plan into the Ambit 3 watch. After that, you may use the GPS to navigate your group to those places.

A feature called Feedback shall help you navigate your way back to the starting point. The Garmin Foretrex 401 is a strong competition to the Ambit3 with its off the roads GPS and navigation power.

How to feed the destination point on the Suunto Ambit 3 watch?

Good, so now the missus never has to worry about you getting lost! The stylish Ambit 3 also holds excellent features such as showing a digital map displaying your route. For your comfort and assistance, it is recommended that you log in your speed, distance and way to the online portal Movescout.com. Another great reason for runners and bikers to get their hands on this new toy!

Suunto Ambit3's battery life is decent at a rough 20 to 22 hours with an operative GPS function. Technically, it is significantly longer with the GPS off, sometimes up to a month!

Setting up a GPS System

On your first use, the screen shall prompt you to set the watch settings, just like the Garmin Fenix. If this is your first time setting up a GPS hiking watch, you will probably have to swift through the enclosed user’s manual or on their website help to configure the menus.

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2. Battery Life

An underrated feature but you can't miss the obvious reason its there on the list. If you're an outdoor traveler, biker or hiker, you're not going to have the option of plugging your watch in for battery recharge every 10 hours or so. In such cases, a sleek watch like the Casio PRW-3000-1ACR Protrek is a strong contender among the best hiking watches in the market.

Running on solar power, you can stretch the battery life. How do seven months on a single charge sound? It comes with five alarms, a storm alarm included. A solar power supplement, compass, thermometer, barometer, and altimeter are included in the package.

This beast also includes sunrise and sunset tables making sure you get in on time. What's more is that the watch lights up or "illuminates" when held up or when the movement suggests that the user is trying to look at it. Nifty!

3. Weather Tracking (Barometer)

For the off-road mountaineer, an accurate weather mapping is more important than anything. Climbing at high altitudes, a mountain hiker doesn't want to be surprised by a downpour on a steep climb. This is where the Suunto Core Wrist Computer watch comes into play.

With a great barometer, it has been an industry favorite for regular hikers and climbers. A healthy barometer signifies accurate weather tracking and storm alerts. It even has an excellent temperature prediction. With sunset and sunrise predictions, it enables to plan your trek in a much safer way not leaving room for any emergencies.

It is difficult to misstep this beast due to it's off the road barometer features which is a pre-requisite for climbers and mountaineers.

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4. Compass

Compasses are a must-have in the best hiking watches. I never realized how essential a compass is until I became a regular hiker and found myself navigating in dense woods.

But if this is your first time buying a hiking watch, you must know about the basics of it. A device or a watch with a 2D compass indicates that the watch must be held flatly to get an accurate reading. A 3D compass, on the other hand, is accurate regardless of the angle of your wrist. When it comes to splurging on expensive hiking watches, make sure that it comes with a 3D compass should work for you!

5. User Interface & Display Quality

Gauging the user interface is essential as it will determine the ease and comfort of the utility of the watch. It includes the number of menus, number of screens, and other configurable features. Some watches allow you to customize the display and modify which data you want handy on your home screen that you can access quickly.

The best hiking watches on the market come packed with a great resolution meaning easier and faster reading of the important data, graph, and maps displayed on the tiny screen. Make sure the watch that you choose has a great resolution like the Garmin Epix Hiking Watch.

Answer the mountain's calls with a watch on your wrist that can keep up with you. With these features in your watch, head out for a hike and never be directionally-challenged again. Make sure your new toy has all of the above style quotients and core features before you make a purchase. Let us know which watch is on your list or your wrist and why!


Guest post by: Robert Donat, a watch enthusiast. Despite not being a horologist, I think my humble knowledge and experience of wristwatches can be of help to you. Among many types of timepieces, I love diving-style watches the most. They give me a solid feel when clinging to my wrist, besides, so many of them are also dressy enough to be my everyday watches. Dive watches are really “the fusion of technology and beauty” (Citizen’s product development policy).

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