Altimeter function on Suunto Vector

[Rontele]

Is confusing the hell out of me. It says to set the elevation which I did 5280 (Denver) and set an interval, which I did (20 seconds) and now it wants to drop the elevation to 5260. What gives? Starting to think that this thing is more trouble than it is worth.

[cj001f]

What gives?

It's broken, send it to me

[Rontele]

It's broken, send it to me

Bah. Not a chance. I had a store credit at Bent Gate with this little puppy screaming for me to buy it. I will figure it out. After I get a PhD from Cal Tech

[ak_telemike]

you set an interval of 20', not 20 minutes? And the barometric pressure changed just enough for it to register w/o you actually moving?

maybe..........

[f2f]

the altimeter works on temperature (usually your hand is a good provider of static temperature) and barometric pressure (the pressure the air exerts at this altitude). as the barometric pressure varies in the daily/nightly cycle, the seasons and the current weather, your watch will be relatively out-of-sync with the real altitude, unlike a GPS, which can triangulate from sattelites. you can verify this by opening and closing the windows of a moving car: with closed windows (higher pressure inside) the watch will display lower altitude than if you open the windows.

there are two ways to set the current altitude -- one is to use the real altitude obtained elsewhere, the other is to use the current barometric pressure converted to sea-level values, which is what every weather site reports. in both cases slight undulations in pressure (running ac, a fan, etc) can throw it off by a few meters.

if you're not looking for _exact_ certainty suunto's watches are great! i've left my watch un-adjusted for two weeks, hopped on 3 planes to across europe and climbed a peak. my watch was within 5m from the real altitude. it is also great at the altitude i live in (7000ft, 2200m), which is above 24% of the earth's atmosphere (normal barometric pressure here is 700mb, vs 1000 at sea level).

all in all, don't expect your watch to be 99.999% correct. i know i've done over 50000 vertical meters this year, but how much exactly, i don't know

[Rontele]

Following the instructions, I set the interval at 1 minute. I did not think I could set it for feet (?). The barometric pressure has not changed thankfully.

[cj001f]

The barometric pressure has not changed thankfully.

between your hand (temp) and air currents within the home/wherever, the pressure on the sensor has changed enough to change the displayed altitude. Don't get bent out over 20' - the altitude you calibrated it to is likely off by more than that <cough not really a mile high>

[f2f]

suunto can switch between feet/meters. if barometric pressure hasn't changed temperature may have. does in undulate wildly?

i had my watch sitting at home all day. looking at the history it changed up/down at every interval:

11:00 2190
12:00 2185
14:00 2190
15:00 2185
16:00 2180
17:00 2170
18:00 2160

and now it shows 2165. note the altitude decrease with the day's heat passing. the barometric pressure hasn't changed significantly, it's all temperature (the room is quite sunny).

[Rontele]

That makes sense. Thanks guys. I am really looking forward to using it and learning all of the functions.

[Red Baron]

I gave up on trying to figure out all the features of my Suunto. Seriously, the thing is more complicated than most computers, and once I pressed ONE wrong button, and the thing started beeping ever 10 minutes or so, and I had to take the battery out to stop it...

[iskibc]

I gave up on trying to figure out all the features of my Suunto. Seriously, the thing is more complicated than most computers, and once I pressed ONE wrong button, and the thing started beeping ever 10 minutes or so, and I had to take the battery out to stop it...

Mine does that too. Mostly when I'm in water (swimming, hot tub, etc.). Annoys the hell out of me.

[Rontele]

I gave up on trying to figure out all the features of my Suunto. Seriously, the thing is more complicated than most computers, and once I pressed ONE wrong button, and the thing started beeping ever 10 minutes or so, and I had to take the battery out to stop it...

Fortunately I have a friend at school that is a Cal Tech grad. She is pretty much the smartest person ever when it comes to anything computer related. Needless to say, I will drop the watch and the instruction manual off with her to figure everything out.