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I'm thinking of getting a new altimeter watch. I need something that I can read without having to pull out my reading glasses (aka I'm getting older). I really like having and altimeter watch when I'm doing field-ops for the avy center and keeping track of how much vertical I've skied.
Looking on the net, it looks like the Suunto Core watch would be ideal. If you own one give me some feedback.
Hacksaw I am a Garmin fan myself. I like the interface with my InReach and the apps. You can use a variety of face styles for it (agreed on the no-reading-glasses point). I have the Fenix 6s pro which you charge every 9 days as my wrist is too small for the solar versions, but those might work for you. My old Suunto was no longer supported and my buddy, who teaches app navigation (www.backcountrynav.com) likes this one. There are other versions with fewer applications that are less expensive too.
I finally gave into the fancy GPS watch scene and bought the Garmin fenix 5x back in 2017.
The selling point for me was the full-color topo map capability on my watch.
Definitely wouldn't want to use it for seriously navigation, but works really well to confirm that I'm where I want to be.
(Or the opposite!)
Super helpful on this tour last month:
https://www.strava.com/activities/8104048047
... where near Mt Hood's Illumination Rock we decided not to go up any further, and during our short transition suddenly we were in a white out with zero contrast -- had to whack the snow in front of me with my ski pole to tell if it was flat, up, or down.
Following the fall line would have taken us far away from our destination, and even what seemed like a hard left traverse wasn't hard enough.
Fortunately I could keep glancing at my watch to see if we were reversing the skintrack closely enough. Using a phone or hand-held GPS would have also worked, but would have been far more cumbersome.
And that was with my contacts in, with the same aging eyes issue alas.
Many more Garmin models with that same mapping capability now, although I'm not familiar with details. Prices seem excessively until you realize that you're really buying a computer that just happens to sit on your wrist.