Corollary: RE: [at-l] "any watch will do..."

[m_factor at hotmail.com (Mara Factor)]

Hi folks,

Please excuse me if this has already come up...  (I haven't been reading 
this whole thread but just happened to read this message.)

Those watch alarms really are designed to wake people up.  If you happen to 
be someone for whom the watch alarm does not wake you up, please be 
sensitive to your fellow hikers sleeping nearby and do not set the alarm.  
If you don't wake up to it, the rest of us do and with it on your wrist, in 
your tent, or halfway across a crowded shelter, we have no way to turn it 
off.

This is also true for those watches that have hourly chimes.  For some of 
us, those chimes are enough to wake us up - every hour on the hour.  Of 
course, the only people I've ever hiked with who have those chimes turned on 
are people who can't hear them.  LOL

Personally, I am now usually able to sleep through the chimes but not the 
alarm.  That wasn't always the case.

And those chimes aren't annoying just while sleeping.  Nothing like hiking 
along with someone who can't hear them whose watch chimes each hour.  I used 
to comment to a friend about "what time was it now" and he was always amazed 
that I always asked on the hour (he knew I didn't have a watch with me at 
the time).  I told him his watch was chiming  but he never heard it and 
insisted it wasn't.  Argh!  He finally allowed to to fiddle with his watch 
and I turned off the chimes.  ;-)

As for whether or not to wear watches, I've hiked with $5 K-mart specials on 
up to a fancy-schmancy, alitmeter/barometer watch.  The novelty of the 
altimeter may wear off after a while but every now and then it came in very 
handy.  For telling time, however, the $5 special was just as good as the 
expensive watch and got me to meeting points and post-offices on time.  You 
can always ignore a watch during those times when it's not needed (burying 
in your pack, if necessary), but it's nice to have for those times in town 
or when you are making plans to meet friends.

Mara
Stitches, AT99

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>Date: Thu, 17 Mar 2005 12:01:44 -0500
>From: "David Hicks" <daveh@psknet.com>
>Subject: Re: [at-l] "any watch will do..." ???
>To: <at-l@backcountry.net>
>Message-ID: <00cf01c52b13$4b3eff80$225da441@davidhicks>
>Content-Type: text/plain;   charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>In my case, "any watch will do..."  will not do -- as most who have camped
>(usually trail workers) with me know.  In fact, most watches will not do -- 
>at
>less as far as my getting up late is concerned.
>
>I have a three different watches my kids gave me because, "This one is so 
>loud
>that it has to work."  Wrong!
>
>The frequency used for alarms by nearly all watches is in a dead zone, for 
>me.
>
>So a tad of advice for anyone who even suspects that they may have some
>hearing loss -- have the store personnel set off the alarm for you before
>buying "any watch."
>
>Chainsaw
>