tstar 10 #1 Posted December 21, 2020 Hi Everyone! I’m new to the sport, very new! I have two tandems in so far… It’s tough waiting till spring to start AFF! My wife gave me an early Christmas present, an Altitrack altimeter. Black face, 21,000 linear dial with a nearly dead battery (LB is sending a new one). I have a few questions for you Altitrack users; 1. Which software do you recommend I get for it? From research, I gather that JumpTrack 3 and Paralog are the two most widely used programs… I’ve seen wide ranging reviews on both. 2. Any recommendations for lens protection? I was thinking of a TPU film or that Liquid Glass Nano stuff… Tim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tstar 10 #2 December 24, 2020 Did I post this in the wrong Forum?? Tim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,089 #3 December 24, 2020 No, you posted in the right one; it's just that no one has answered yet. I don't have an Altitrack, so I don't know. If you use Dropzone.com's search function, there are a ton of references to the Altitrack (725: too many to sort through with just that search argument -- you'll have to refine). As far as protection is concerned, well, I have a 45-year-old altimeter that's never needed as much as a new lens cover. The only thing I've ever needed to get (last year) was a new U-bracket, because I finally wore the old one out with my homemade altimeter mount. Wendy P. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tstar 10 #4 December 24, 2020 Thanx for responding! This is my first thread I have started so I wasn't sure... Appreciate the info!! Tim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sundevil777 93 #5 December 24, 2020 (edited) The altitrack isn’t very popular, and for good reason. Return it if you can. The data is so noisy as to be useless in its details (same applies to the protrack), if you want an analog face, just get a mechanical alti for much less money. Their ads now say, digital precision with an analog face...which is stupid because the precision is determined by the display, not at all by what is behind the display. Edited December 24, 2020 by sundevil777 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tstar 10 #6 December 25, 2020 Well... That sucks! I've been wearing it around the house getting used to it, looking like a 60 year old idiot! lol I'm not sure I understand your accuracy versus display comment, the display is merely paint and a needle or an LCD screen. I'm admittedly new and ignorant but I assume mechanical altimeters use mechanical pressure sensing, gearing and a mechanical connection to the spinning needle on the display versus digital pressure sensing (multiple sensors for redundancy/comparisons?) and all the fancy computing and algorithms to generate the jump profile. I don't know how the needle is physically moved on the altitrack/stella, mechanical or magnetic... That sucks about the dive data being unreliable, makes you wonder how accurate the altitude sensing and display is!! Thank you for taking the time to warn me... Merry Christmas!!! Tim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sundevil777 93 #7 December 25, 2020 6 hours ago, tstar said: Well... That sucks! I've been wearing it around the house getting used to it, looking like a 60 year old idiot! lol I'm not sure I understand your accuracy versus display comment, the display is merely paint and a needle or an LCD screen. I'm admittedly new and ignorant but I assume mechanical altimeters use mechanical pressure sensing, gearing and a mechanical connection to the spinning needle on the display versus digital pressure sensing (multiple sensors for redundancy/comparisons?) and all the fancy computing and algorithms to generate the jump profile. I don't know how the needle is physically moved on the altitrack/stella, mechanical or magnetic... That sucks about the dive data being unreliable, makes you wonder how accurate the altitude sensing and display is!! Thank you for taking the time to warn me... Merry Christmas!!! Tim Precision is related only to your ability to distinguish where the needle is. If the face of the altimeter were much larger in diameter, then the increments for 100 ft would be farther apart, and at some large diameter, you could even make marks for 10 ft. You could also get greater precision with a slimmer needle. However even if the altimeter you use is very precise, it doesn't mean it is accurate because you might not be zeroed correctly for instance. What is behind the dial has nothing to do with precision. I wouldn't assume our altimeters have multiple pressure sensors. The data collected by an altitrack or protrack is fine for the way we actually use it during a jump because it gets averaged out over time, smoothing out the noise. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tstar 10 #8 December 25, 2020 Oh I see what you're getting at... the inherent accuracy of a digital readout vs the vague location of a needle on a scale that's not very... what's the word? Granular, or not finite enough?? Yeah the dial would have to be eight inches across! Same difference between a digital watch or an analog one I suppose... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sundevil777 93 #9 December 25, 2020 16 minutes ago, tstar said: Oh I see what you're getting at... the inherent accuracy of a digital readout vs the vague location of a needle on a scale that's not very... what's the word? Granular, or not finite enough?? Yeah the dial would have to be eight inches across! Same difference between a digital watch or an analog one I suppose... Precision has a different meaning than accuracy. Engineers get technical about such things. A digital readout isn’t necessarily more precise, it depends on how many digits/decimal places are actually used, but can still be inaccurate. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites