Altimaster N3

I was supper excited about this altimeter as it had everything I wanted. Unfortunately, my experience with it has been horrible. I've had this for over 1 yr now the NMU is still not working (PC and MAC), and poor battery life. The costumer service is very poor. I have called and sent them numerous e-mails with no responses. Would not suggest this Altimeter or company to anybody. Will not buy from them again.

I bought one of these refurbished from an online retailer for $280 and it came with all the accessories.

I've used it for about 200 jumps and it does everything exteremely well and turn itself on if you forget to. Add in the light, swoop alarms, ff alarms and rechargeable usb batteries and surely its the best out there.

If you hook it up to a digital logbook like paralog, then you can say goodbye to the tedious paper logbooks.

I am another one of those guys who gets more from numbers than a needle position. Out of a half-second glance, I can get a more complete grasp of my altitude from the two large digits than I can seeing a needle's relative position on a dial. And then, of course, there are the sweet logging features (my standard fallrate is THAT slow? :P ), the backlit face (turned out to be the "post-sunset" load), the straight-forward navigation, and small size and light weight (I never took it off, even while packing).

I highly recommend it to my fellow left-brain jumpers out there who feel more at ease with numbers than with pictures. And the logging features a little bits here and there (rate of climb, time to altitude, clock, etc) are a big gob of icing on the cake.

I'm very satisfied on N3, I've used it now for ~400 jumps and it has never failed.

It shows always when you'll be at target altitude. It assumes you are going to the same altitude as you were on your last jump. I'd like that I could manually change target altitude as I almost every time jump from different altitude.

Works great with Paralog on Mac too.

I've been wanting one of these N3A (N3 Audible) altimeters since they came out, and just finally got around to purchasing one.

Just for the record, I have been jumping with 3 altimeters: (1) An N2 on my wrist as my visual freefall altimeter and as my audible canopy altimeter. (2) A Pro-Track for free-fall audible altimeter. And (3), an Optima as a deployment audible and visual (hooked up to my hypeye Pro-D's LED via the Hypeye Extension.) as well as an audible canopy alarm.

So, because of all the beeps, sirens and visual cues, I thought I was supremely aware of altitude. However, from the first jump with the N3A I realized the degree to which I wasn't aware of where I was in the sky.

We all know that we're falling fast and that in a B2E position, we're hitting 1000' every 5 seconds, and maybe twice that speed in a freefly position. But, while performing maneuvers, it's easy to fall for 10 seconds and think it's only been five.

I used the N3A for the first time on a tracking jump. From the moment I heard the N3A tell me "12", I instantly knew where I was. Then, as I was in a dive to get down to the other trackers, it said "11", and again I knew exactly where I was, even though my visual altimeter was out of view.

Then, for the first time since I started skydiving, I didn't feel stressed when it was time to break off. Previously, especially on a tracking jump, I might have looked at my visual altimeter at 7000' or 7500, and then not realized that I had fallen 1500-2000' so, the break-off alarm from the Pro-Track would always come as a 'surprise'. But, because the N3A said "Break Off" at my configured 5500' altitude, and it said it in a calming voice rather than a jarring alarm tone, and it said it shortly after it had told me "6", I was expecting it rather than being surprised.

I used it for a few more jumps before deciding to try adding my MP3 player to the mix. All I can say is WOW! I didn't really pay any attention to the music while in freefall, although I did notice that it would attenuate so I could hear the altitude announcements. But under canopy, the music was pure bliss.

I won't be getting rid of any of the other altimeters, because redundancy is never a bad thing when it comes to lifesaving equipment. However, the increased altitude awareness and the calming voice rather than jarring alarm tones mean that I will be jumping with my N3A as my primary audible from now on.

On the other end of things, I'm disappointed by the closed proprietary nature of data download. I do believe, that Alti-2's exclusive relationship with Paralog is bad for consumers. Having an open architecture that would allow anyone to write software to download and process the data would create competition and therefore software feature improvements and possibly reduced prices. Why shouldn't I be able to plug my N3A into my Android phone or tablet and download the data using software that I or someone else has written?

Another negative is that there's no indication that the device is working. While climbing to altitude, it doesn't display anything to let you know that it knows you're climbing. In fact, it doesn't show anything to let you know that it will work. That was a bit unnerving on that first jump.

Finally, the only other negative about the N3A is the price. At $350, it's costly for the feature set. For that price, it would be nice if it included GPS functionality similar to the Flysight.

Regardless, I have fallen in love with the N3A and probably the only thing better would be a slimline HUD.

First time I used it I was unsure how well it would work so I plugged in my head phones to it, put it in my pocket, wore another alti, seconds after I left the plane I heard a nice voice saying "13,000". then "12,000". "11,000" and so on, at 5,000 I heard "Break off" and at 3,000 she said "deploy, deploy". under canopy the voice told me "down wind", "Base", "Final". never had to look at my alti, I always wear an extra to be safe but its awesome

It keeps track of EVERYTHING. Speed at different altitudes, when you open, jump numbers. I love this Altimeter.

This altimeter really is a great product. Get to drop zone, wake the device by pushing a button and off you go. Was concerned about strictly digital device as a very new skydiver. NOT an issue - very intuitive to understand. I also enjoy the data it displays on way up. Climb rate, current altitude, time to jump altitude, etc. all help me mentally and physically prepare for exit; helmet and gloves on, last run of EPs, camera set.... I highly recommend the N3. I only wish there was an easy mounting option/kit for under canopy.

A couple of years ago I was complaining about N2 buttons, and I have asked for buttons that blush. Alti staff answered with N3, so it's an customer oriented company. They also have an outstanding crew for support when things are not going so well with older N2's.
I have done more than 250 jumps since I have bought the N3, and I jump it in combination with N3A. I cannot ask for a better visual/audible altimeter.
It is by far the best piece of equipment in it's league, and I am happy with using it.
Customizing it is a very good option with it. The NMU and Paralog are working flawlesly.
Alarms are easy to be heard under canopy and very useful option regardless the skydiving level.
Altough I haven't had any problem with the rechargeable battery, I have seen an emergency solution for thoose people who forgot to charge it. You can find it on Alti-2 website.
Good work Alti-2.

I used a N3 for about a year and 250 jumps now:

What made me mistrust first was the way the N3 is mounted: Imagine a velcro strap with fingerring and some silicone sleeve threaded thru the strap. The N3 is simply sled into the sleeve. At the first glance I thought this is something that will not hold very long....
After a year and many jumps, mostly tandems where I needed to get ready in small aircrafts (you know it`s going to be tight there...) sleeve and the strap are looking like new! No problem at all!

Second, the N3 body is made of aluminium, and the display cover is now glass. This combination is not only rock solid, due to the new "clicky" Buttons - everybody who used a Neptune knows what I mean... :-) it is also very useful and lot more easier to operate.

Third, the N3 uses a USB rechargeable battery, which lasts long enough (sorry, I don`t have data but every now and then I connect it to my computer and transfer the logs and at that time it also recharges....). I did not have one jump where the battery was indicated below 50% and I remember only 3 or 4 times this year I connected the thing to a computer... So in my opinion no problem at all! And you can find a USB port on every DZ nowadays :-) Ah and USB is so much easier than IrDA, no more hassels with this trash-technology!!

All in all I had exactly not one problem with the N3 since I used it. It accurately logged every jump (shot delays, speed and of course all usual dives like tandem or video of course. I did not do any wingsuit jumps this year...)
With my older Neptune 2 I was usually challenged with empty batteries, corroded or misaligned battery contacts, or weird readings, which I got used to handle so also no big deal.... but not once with the N3.

I may somehow be biased because I`m Alti-2 AFS but I really belief they did everything right with the N3!
If they could add native Macintosh Support for their "Neptune Maintainance Unit" - called NMU - I would not know what else to ask for... :-)

alex

PS: Did I mention Paralog on Mac? I works perfectly, due to the USB-Port of the N3...!

Excellent piece of kit. everything is programable from the DZ / aircraft, to the frequency and pattern of the canoy and FF alarms! I use it as a wrist alti (dytter in helmet) with the velcro wrist strap. It comes with a wrist mount, a back hand mount and two rubber protective cases.
Just like the neptune 2, the freefall display is easy to see and jumps are logged in the logbook.
USB interface means no additional infra-red recievers/etc and associated costs to view/upload your profile via paralog etc... Charge it with a wall socket adapter, computer/laptop or the 12v outlet in your car.
5/5

:)