Necessary???…

Feb 08 2011

Is a wrist top computer watch a necessary item for the backcountry hunter? The truth…probably not. But it sure is nice to have one. After all, none of us died before the advent of this little piece of technology. When you’re sitting high atop a ridge line in the head of the Grey’s River and a storm front looks to be building on the horizon is sure is nice to know how far down you have to climb to the creek bottom, what time the sun is going to set, is the barometer plunging or will you wake up without an alarm in the morning to get on that 200-inch buck before the sun comes up.

And that is just some of the useful characteristics of this type of instrument. Along with all of the normal watch functions. I just bought a new Suunto Core Everest edition watch. My old Suunto Vector was getting a bit worse for the wear, after well over 2,000 days of continual use and was about due for an upgrade. After reading an article in a past issue of Backpacker Magazine I was sold on the new version of my digital hunting partner. The new Core Everest is a limited edition of only 8,848 which un-coincidentally happens to be the elevation of Mount Everest in meters. This bad boy will run you about $400 bones but well worth the money given the watch’s functions and upgrades. Beyond the time and date needed for punching your tags this not so little sucker will; tell you your elevation, give your altitude and barometric pressure, has a digital compass, give your net altitude change, measure your depth underneath the surface of a lake, give a storm alarm warning, give the sunrise and sunset times, wake-up alarm, and give the temperature all along the way. Not to mention the case full of trophies and awards this watch has won. And for good luck the signature of Apa Sherpa is on the bottom of the watch. For those of you who don’t know, Apa holds the world record for the most summits of Mount Everest at a current summit count of twenty times. Unbelievable!!!

So far this watch has been everything it’s cracked up to be and more. The functionality of the menus and user friendliness has been seriously improved versus the older version as is the aluminium bezel and improved wrist strap design. The readout and backlight are much better than the old version as well.

I have no doubt that this little devil will be on my wrist this fall and hopefully will be with me for another six long hunting seasons just like its older brother was.

I have had the good fortune to try more than a few watches in my career and I always seem to come back to my trusty old Suunto. And the best part…it’s only available in EASTMANS’ ORANGE!!!

For more information check out backcountry.com for more information and user reviews.

Guy

MRS Correction

Feb 04 2011

We had a small hick-up in the antelope chart in the MRS section for Wyoming. The season dates for the “blue” chip units are incorrect. The corrected chart is below. Sorry for the inconvenience. Let me know if you have any questions, concerns or ideas for improvements. Good luck on your research. -Guy EastmanAntelope MRS Chart