Suggestions on Altimeters?

[jumpnjivin 0]

I just got my own rig and am now looking at altimeters and I'm looking for suggestions. Is audible they way to go or just your old regular Altimaster? I want to start freeflying and it seems like the audibles are more popular for that.

[BIGUN 1,053]

One analog
One or two audibles.

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[jumpnjivin 0]

copy that.... guess I'll start with the analog then go from there when I get more money.

[icevideot 0]

An audible is a back up but you can't completely rely on it.

A visual altimeter is very useful in making informed decisions. If you ever experience a malfunction, it can be worth it's weight in gold. Audibles are secondary but also may save your bacon someday so I use both.

If you watch the solid freeflyers, they can fly with their arms all over the place so don't believe anyone who says you can't read an altimeter when freeflying. It is less convenient to look at the ground however so I probably look at my alti a little bit more often than usual.

"... this ain't a Nerf world."

[jumpnjivin 0]

Thanks, Is there a big diff. in analog or digital as far as performance that you know about?

[SkyProdigy 0]

with that being said,

is alti-track an ok option for first alti? digital insides with analog face?

[pilotdave 0]

A quality analog altimeter (altimaster) will probably last you your entire jumping career. Can't go wrong with it, and it's a pretty inexpensive purchase (as far as skydiving gear goes).

You can switch to a digital later if you want or add an audible, but an analog is a good thing to have in your gearbag anyway, for when your batteries die or whatever.

Dave

[DSE 3]

I love my AltiTrak.
Coupled with the JumpTrack software, it's really helped me figure out much of what I'm doing.
I also have a pro dytter for an audible, you can usually pick em' up cheap on Ebay or in the classifieds here.

[IanHarrop 37]

No batteries required for an Altimaster.

I still own and use my Altimaster II which I purchased in 1977.

Best purchase of skydiving equipment I ever made. It's the one thing that has lasted this long.

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[jumpnjivin 0]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll probably start with an inexpensive analog then work my way up when my pocket book isn't so flat.

[popsjumper 2]

I'd say get the analog and use it until you train your eyes. Audible's good, up to the point it fails, for a slap in the ears to say, "Wake up, focker, we're here at X altitude."

When you get a audible, get one that includes jump stats and is s/w upgradeable...you'll be glad you did.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[brettski74 0]

Quote

I love my AltiTrak.

I'll second that. It's the only altimeter that I've owned and it's great.

Note that it's fully digital, though. The needle on the front is moved by a stepper motor in the device, so there's no analog altimeter to speak of really.

I've had no problems and am very happy with my Altitrack. You should probably look at getting an audible, too. I have a Solo, which works great for what I do.

[popsjumper 2]

I like my FT-50

Big numbers
Yellow at 4K

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[LordRatner 0]

Quote

I like my FT-50

Big numbers
Yellow at 4K

I'm not a fan of analogs, but at least the color section on the ft-50 is in a usable region.

[phoenixlpr 0]

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I'm not a fan of analogs, but

They are the best for free-fall. It takes less time to gain info from an analog.

[brettski74 0]

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They are the best for free-fall. It takes less time to gain info from an analog.

I assume that you're referring to the fact that you merely need to notice the approximate location of the needle on the face rather than register and interpret several digits on an LCD screen. This is why I went with an Altitrack for my dig, rather than a Neptune.

[PWScottIV 0]

Quote

Quote

I love my AltiTrak.

I'll second that. It's the only altimeter that I've owned and it's great.

Note that it's fully digital, though. The needle on the front is moved by a stepper motor in the device, so there's no analog altimeter to speak of really.

I've had no problems and am very happy with my Altitrack. You should probably look at getting an audible, too. I have a Solo, which works great for what I do.

I'll third that. The altitrack is awesome.

Before you try freeflying you should definitely get an audible. However, as a novice (at least), it could become extremely dangerous to rely on audibles for anything more than a backup. If the battery goes dead in your audible and you're not using your visual altimeter, there's a high chance that you won't notice it until you're waayy too low. And the biggest problem is that (atleast from how I've been trained) you need to learn to look at your visual altimeter habitually... If you rely on your audible to tell you when to deploy, then you'll never lock-in that critical life-saving habit.

However, considering that I too wanted to start freeflying with only a few jumps, I set my audible to ONLY go off 500 feet below my deployment altitude and at my hard-deck altitude, so that I should never hear it unless I've already deployed my chute. The only times I have heard the freefall alarm has been during long snivels. I have made up my mind that if I ever hear my freefall alarm without knowing my altitude, then I need to reconsider what I'm doing falling toward the ground at over 100mph and consider taking up golf or bowling. Once I get more experience (maybe 200 or so jumps), then I might consider getting two audibles and placing more reliance on them to remind me when my separation and deployment altitudes come up.

My audible (L&B Optima) also has three alarms for my flight pattern (1000, 600, and 300). Even though I am usually very aware of my altitude via my visual altimeter and looking at the ground, the beeps are helpful to help que me in to where I should be in my pattern, especially helpful when I'm distracted with monitoring other close air-traffic.

Gravity Waits for No One.

[phoenixlpr 0]

Its good to have an altimeter operating without battery.
I use a Neptun nowadays, but I have my Saffire in my bag and I even use both on some jumps.