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SpikeDog

You want Big Air, kid?
Skier
Joined
Nov 17, 2015
Posts
823
Location
Wyoming
Casio Sport PAW-1200 WaveCeptor - skied with it since 2007. Altimeter, vertical tracking, all based on barometric pressure. It links to the atomic clock, so it's very accurate. I'm on my third watchband.

With the SkiTracks app on my phone, this watch is not doing much these days, at least while skiing.
 

LiquidFeet

instructor
Instructor
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
6,697
Location
New England
I've actually just been wanting a cheap, simple watch for telling time, that I can access without having to reach into a pocket or pulling off a glove. I'm yet to find a good solution. My initial idea was to find something with a clip that I could clip to a zipper pull or backpack strap for easy access, but I couldn't find any that looked like they'd work well.

I use this ... Dakota hanging clip-on sport watch. What's essential when selecting a clip-on watch is that the clip that holds it in place is firmly attached to the watch (so it won't fall off into the snow), and that the watch hangs with its face upside down (so you can glance down onto your jacket where it's clipped and read it without touching it). Nothing fancy at all, easy to find online, inexpensive, and it shows me the time with no struggle to find it under a sleeve. That's all I need.

Dakota-Mens-Mini-Clip-Sport-Watch-L12087158.jpg
 
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Mike75

Booting up
Skier
Joined
May 8, 2017
Posts
43
I just press the buttons on my odt chips in my earpads and ask Google what time it is, or to send a message, or to make a call. I haven't owned a watch since I started carrying a phone full time

Me too, except I ask Siri to do all this. Plus I run ski tracks on my phone. Really no need to wear a watch while skiing.
 

coskigirl

Skiing the powder
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
4,591
Location
Evergreen, CO
View attachment 64193

I use this ... Dakota hanging clip-on sport watch. What's essential when selecting a clip-on watch is that the clip that holds it in place is firmly attached to the watch (so it won't fall off into the snow), and that the watch hangs with its face upside down (so you can glance down onto your jacket where it's clipped and read it without touching it). Nothing fancy at all, easy to find online, inexpensive, and it shows me the time with no struggle to fine it under a sleeve. That's all I need. (Weird. I've attached an image of this watch three or four times, two different ways, and it shows in the preview but does not show here. Maybe it will show up later....)

30fa0355-ffc8-4a3b-9edb-43e416ca7245_1.258bc4c1b96093324ca8e9644ac4e72b.jpeg

Weird, my post should have an image as well. And when I hit reply to your message I can see your image. I'll post in the issues section.
 

Tony

tseeb
Skier
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Posts
1,284
Location
Northern CA
Vertech Altimiter watch. Tracks vertical and gives max vertical/minute between resets.

Avocet Vertech, it's old but works great,I send in for battery and test every 2 yrs or so...
I have an Avocet Vertech II. I thought I'd lost it at Kirkwood last Sun as I took off my jacket when I took a break in the plaza and it was gone when I looked for it. I looked through all my pockets and stuff and re-traced my steps to rack where I'd left my skis, but couldn't find it. Not only was I bummed since I'd recently had the battery replaced, I also had new band and 'carrier' (that band attaches to) installed since plastic had broken so I couldn't use it on outside of my jacket as designed for a while. And it was a gift from my wife many years ago.

After reporting it to lost and found, I spotted in under a dustpan leaning against the fence separating lost and found from our table. It may have fallen there where I dropped some of the wrapper from the Nature Valley granola bar they were giving away there. If it had fallen in the dustpan, it probably would have been lost.

I have not run SkiTracks for a few years as I ski a lot at Heavenly and Kirkwood when phone can spend some time searching for data signal. My older iPhone battery can no longer make it through the ski day if I listen to a lot of music, let alone run Ski Tracks. While both of those ski areas have EpicMix (or EpicMiss as it often misses a lot of runs). Monday at Heavenly, EpicMiss had 5 lifts/4.6K vertical while my watch had 25 runs/28.5K. Tuesday at NorthStar, EpicMix had 22 lifts/32,347 while my watch had 22 runs/32,490' vertical which is amazingly close.

Note that AFAIK Avocet no longer sells or services Vertech watches. The person that used to do the service for Avocet now does it independently (and quickly in my experience this Fall). I was wondering what their value is and saw a couple on Ebay, but neither were guaranteed to work. One was $14 and needed battery. The other was $35 plus shipping and sold as is.
 

tball

Unzipped
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
4,362
Location
Denver, CO
I use a Fitbit Ionic and record my skiing using the bike excecise which is then auto uploaded to Strava and then I go change the name and type manually. Primarily because I want a GPS track and it needs to upload to Strava, the fitbit app store ski tracking app Alpine Snow does not produce a GPS track or upload to Strava. I've been using a fitbit for a couple of years and don't really want to leave their little eco system. Also there was a pretty good price difference between the Ionic and the Garmin Fenix 5 I was also considering.
Does the Fitbit or Strava figure out for you how much time you spent skiing vs. riding the lifts?

One of the things I like about the Garmins with the ski/board mode is they auto-pause on the lifts, so your workout time is more in line with when you were actively doing something. I believe most the ski tracking apps do similar.
 

pjs32000

Booting up
Skier
Joined
Jan 25, 2019
Posts
20
I used to pick up one of these each year before I started wearing an Apple watch. I clipped it to my belt loop and it worked great when coaching and I needed to keep track of time but didn't want to pull out my phone constantly.




18767bd1cff81a35c0305ae21b9cea87--container-store-the-container.jpg
Any idea what this is called so I can search for one online? I've tried searching for "clip watches" before but never really found one I like. I am looking for cheap, very basic functionality - really just want it to tell time, a clip that looks like it won't break immediately, preferably digital with easy to read large face, and a design that will allow me to attach it to the outside of my pants or jacket so I can quickly check the time without remove a glove. This looks like it might check a couple of boxes. My biggest concern with this one would be it flopping around while dangling from a zipper pull or belt loop.
 

firebanex

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Apr 16, 2018
Posts
1,090
Location
Fairbanks, Alaska
Does the Fitbit or Strava figure out for you how much time you spent skiing vs. riding the lifts?

One of the things I like about the Garmins with the ski/board mode is they auto-pause on the lifts, so your workout time is more in line with when you were actively doing something. I believe most the ski tracking apps do similar.
Fitbit and Strava do not. The Alpine Snow app for fitbit does however, it doesn't generate anything that can be pushed to Strava and thus is worthless for me as I track everything else I do activity wise on Strava. I got my fitbit because its what I've been using and it's what my family has been using for a while now. Also it tracks separate from my phone so I don't have to worry so much about battery life on my phone. Supposedly Fitbit is "working on it" to come up with a ski activity tracker within their app, but it might be a while.
 

Apicem-AZ

Booting up
Skier
Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Posts
27
Location
Coconino County
Garmin Fenix 1st Gen with Ski Mode - bulletproof for last 4 seasons.

Also very satisfied after 4 years with the Garmin technology, a Fenix2 - tracks skiing well, and seems to understand exactly when uphill mode is taking place (chair lifts and poma / platter lifts). I always enjoy seeing the resulting map after a day of skiing. It does not

always correspond to on-hill tracking, but after 3 days at a SkiStar area, it was within 10% of the vertical tracking for the RFID lift ticket. When not skiing, it gets used extensively for hiking and jogging.
 

pack21

La vita è bella, non sprecarla.
Skier
Joined
Mar 11, 2018
Posts
49
Location
Portugal
View attachment 64193 View attachment 64193

I use this ... Dakota hanging clip-on sport watch. What's essential when selecting a clip-on watch is that the clip that holds it in place is firmly attached to the watch (so it won't fall off into the snow), and that the watch hangs with its face upside down (so you can glance down onto your jacket where it's clipped and read it without touching it). Nothing fancy at all, easy to find online, inexpensive, and it shows me the time with no struggle to fine it under a sleeve. That's all I need. (Weird. I've attached an image of this watch three or four times, two different ways, and it shows in the preview but does not show here. Maybe it will show up later....)

30fa0355-ffc8-4a3b-9edb-43e416ca7245_1.258bc4c1b96093324ca8e9644ac4e72b.jpeg

Great idea, thanks.


A watch for resort skiing is supposed to serve only to know the lunch hours, control closing chairlifts times, and as an extra feature with alarm to warn the time we set to come back to last chairlift, more than that is gym.


The problem is that a conventional watch is uncomfortable on the wrist under glove, or inside a pocket, i like your setup.
 

coskigirl

Skiing the powder
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
4,591
Location
Evergreen, CO
Any idea what this is called so I can search for one online? I've tried searching for "clip watches" before but never really found one I like. I am looking for cheap, very basic functionality - really just want it to tell time, a clip that looks like it won't break immediately, preferably digital with easy to read large face, and a design that will allow me to attach it to the outside of my pants or jacket so I can quickly check the time without remove a glove. This looks like it might check a couple of boxes. My biggest concern with this one would be it flopping around while dangling from a zipper pull or belt loop.

Unfortunately, I don't. I searched for carabiner flashlight clock to find the image but I can't get a link to anywhere that sells it. However, it is a small face so may not fit your requirements.
 

tball

Unzipped
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
4,362
Location
Denver, CO
Here are a couple of prime day deals on Garmin watches with ski mode.

I just bought this Fenix 5. $340 is the best price I've seen it even without the HRM strap:
https://www.rei.com/product/121186/garmin-fenix-5-performer-bundle

Or, $149 for the Vivoactive 3 is a great deal too:
https://www.amazon.com/Garmin-vívoactive-GPS-Smartwatch-Stainless/dp/B074KBWL9J/

I'll blame DC Rainmaker for getting me shopping. I never should have looked at his post with prime day deals:
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/07/amazon-prime-day-2019-sports-tech-deal-tracker.html
 

Uncle-A

In the words of Paul Simon "You can call me Al"
Skier
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Posts
10,893
Location
NJ
I was using a Fossil watch for several years then it broke. It put up with hard falls on ice, slush in the spring, getting pulled off my wrist when removing my gloves and more. I just didn't bother to replace it with something just for skiing.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
Skier
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Posts
4,806
Location
Whitefish, MT
Avocet Vertech, it's old but works great,I send in for battery and test every 2 yrs or so...
I had 2 (or 3?) of those and the only one that was accurate was the first one. I could ski all day wearing all three of them and they'd all read different. A lot different. On top of that you had to return them every two years to have a Avocet change the battery and supposedly recalibrate the thing. I even sent it in for repairs that did not improve it. Finally replaced those with a Brunton ADC Summit. It's far more accurate, within 3% of the actual vertical as measured by both the resort and my brain for the day. And I can change my own battery. The first 20 days every year I keep track of the watch vs the resort's vertical and if it's not within 5% it gets a new battery. I never use it for the time because it's buried under my jacket.
==*==rant==*==
I don't care about my speed and distance nor do I want to bore my friends by uploading to Facebook (really you should ask before putting it in your news feed and if they don't want it, give it to only a "list" and save the rest of us from yet more junk. And the same goes for those bike trips!) I myself object to seeing the routes and the speeds for every run posted by all my ski friends. I would block them except their pictures interest me. I've tried blocking the app, but for some reason I see all these graphs anyway. I even give my Facebook friends the ability to block out my ski pictures. They just need to tell me and I put them on a exclusion list. Why can't they do the same for me.
 
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crgildart

Gravity Slave
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
16,328
Location
The Bull City
I'm in the camp of not wanting to peel back jacket and glove seam to look at a wristwatch. So, I go with a pocket watch... one that also makes phone calls and takes photos..

Every place I've skied has a clock at all of the lift loading areas so I usually know what time it is, or close enough.
 

James

Out There
Instructor
Joined
Dec 2, 2015
Posts
24,453
I'm in the camp of not wanting to peel back jacket and glove seam to look at a wristwatch. So, I go with a pocket watch... one that also makes phone calls and takes photos..

Every place I've skied has a clock at all of the lift loading areas so I usually know what time it is, or close enough.
Yeah many of our clocks are so off they’re useless. Phone in pocket, but a watch clipped to jacket is best for just time.
 

Kneale Brownson

Making fresh tracks forever on the other side
Instructor
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
1,863
I had that Skiathalm or however it was spelled. Had to send it in for service and got a new one back. The big buttons were for stopwatch operation. When I nearly dropped my iPhone while on a lift, I got an iWatch so I can keep the phone in a pocket. However, if my finger is too cold, it doesn't let me activate for answering calls.
 

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