[at-l] watch alarms and watch altimeters

[m_factor@hotmail.com (Mara Factor)]

To combine two threads...

I, too, wear a watch with an hourly bleep function.  It's not that women 
don't wear bleeping watches, it's that they are more likely to keep the 
extraneous bleeps turned off.  I just don't use the bleep  function.  The 
only time I set the alarm is when I truly need to get up when the alarm goes 
off.  When the alarm goes off, I hit a button and it stops.  Usually, I'm 
awake before it goes off and I can turn it off after the first bleep (which 
is fewer bleeps than if I actually change modes to the alarm function and 
turn off the alarm.)  When I sleep until the alarm, I usually get to it fast 
enough to stop it after the second bleep.

My watch is a Casio Weather Station/Barometer watch.  It has an altimeter on 
it good to about 14,000'.  While it is mostly a "toy" in that I rarely 
"need" the altimeter and barometer, I do like to have them.  There have been 
times when they have come in handy.

I'm a bit of a weather buff and enjoy having the barometer.  While the 
barometer is not immediately useful while you're hiking in terrain where the 
elevation varies, if you get to known points and the previously calibrated 
altimeter is reading high, then I know low pressure is moving in.  On the 
other hand, it shows barometric tendency over 18 hours so when I wake up, I 
can usually see which direction the barometer has been moving overnight.

When kept calibrated, the altimeter can be very useful in some terrain for 
helping to pinpoint where you are on a map.  Follow the trail to where it 
intersects the topo lines at the elevation where you think you are, etc.  
This is more useful when you are in a situation where you can't see the 
features of the terrain around you to otherwise position yourself with 
compass and sitings of nearby mountain peaks.

For most hiking, the altimeter and barometer are totally unecessary but that 
doesn't mean they aren't useful or fun to have along.

I don't think my watch model is made anymore but there are plenty of similar 
ones out there now that usually go to 19,000' and sometimes offer a 
thermometer (which is only useful if you are willing to take the watch off 
your wrist for a few minutes).

Mara
Stitches, GAME99

>From: "Anderson, Paula_(MD)" <PMAnderson@apshealthcare.com>
>Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2001 19:53:16 -0500
>
>waahhll,
>
>to break the gender lines, I, a female, have a watch w/ a bleeping alarm.

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