High Gear Axio Altimeter Watch

     Many say carrying a watch on a hike is overkill, and I would tend to agree with them mostly.  Of course, we don't really even need watches any more thanks to the attachment on our hips... the wonderful invention of the cell phone.  In fact, the cell phone replaces my radio, cd player, GPS (yes my phone will work as a GPS without cell service), home computer, mail box, bank... this list could go on and on but you get the point.  However, most of us never really think about what happens to our life if our cell phone takes a nose dive into a piece of gravel and shatters to a hundred pieces of micro processors.  Or how about the (caplunk) sound that we all dread hearing, yes that sound of your $600 cell phone falling into the only glass of water within a football fields distance, the toilet, or getting thrown into the pool by your best friend.  Yes, each has happend to me and it sucks.  You realize how worthless you really are when technology fails.  So, it's a great idea to have the real thing, that is, of each item that your cell phone replaces in the case of a technological emergency or the loss of your best friend (your cell phone).

     I decided to wear a watch on this trip, usually I would leave it at home and forget about time, but since we will be gone 2-3 weeks, I opted to wear one.  The High Gear Axio was an awesome match for me and this trip because, not only does it tell time, it has multiple alarms, an altimeter, a barometer, thermometer, and chronograph, and finally, it's water resistant up to 50 meters!  What I like about it is the multiple functions and the information that it will provide us on our trip.  Plus it's price was right.  This watch retails at $100 so it's relatively cheap, better yet, I got it for $30 brand new as a part of the Promotive.com community. 

Specs:

Waterproof- 50 meters

Backplate- stainless steal

Lens Type- Mineral Glass

Backlight- Electroluminescent

Altimeter Range- -2500-30000 feet

Barometer- 300-1100 mBar plus weather indicator

Thermometer- 14-122 degree range

Chronograph- Does all the typical stuff

Multiple Alarms- 2 daily alarms, hydration, altimeter, and sleep alarms

Here's the scoop:

     I love all the functions with ranges that will be very useful for this trip.  It will be nice to not depend on my cell phone (perhaps not as accurate as the watch in some it's functions too).  I can change the battery which is awesome, I hate taking it to someone to replace.  The price was very, very good and the only thing missing was a compass but I would be a little skeptical on its accuracy any ways and I bought a badass compass anyways to take along so I don't really need that function.  Really wanted the Suunto but it was nearly $1000, I had to comprimise and this watch will get the job done, plus it looks badass and its big, fitting my wrist well.  It's really cool to know your elevation, the temperature, and what the weather is doing via a barometer (it also has a symbol for a quick idiot look in the case you forgot how to read barometric numbers, I really love this device.