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Avocet Vertech II Ski Timepiece
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Upside: Tracks your runs and vert feet gained/lost. Downside: No backlight, inconvenient battery replacement. Rating: ^^^ (3 out of 5 peaks) Ideal User: One who must know his or her accumulated elevation.
 The Avocet Vertech (and its "Alpin" hiking brethren) has
been around since 1993 - pioneering the wrist altimeter/barometer and
predating the Suuntos, Casios and Timexes by years. Its proven sleek, basic
and ergonomic design has helped the vertically challenged in all sorts of
endeavors, and for that alone they deserve credit.And these companies would prefer that you refer to these gadgets as computers - Avocet calls theirs an "electronic wrist instrument." And it's a moniker well-deserving of this American company based in Silicon Valley. Let's start with the best features of the new and improved Avocet, brought out just over a year ago. First of all, the difference between the hiking (Alpin) version and our skiing version is the wristband (stretch elastic for ski parkas, rubber for hiking), and the way in which the instrument gathers accumulated vertical feet. That is, our ski version was tracking negative feet (descending) at feet per minute, but with a few button pushes you can switch to positive feet (ascending) at feet per hour. It's like having two watches in one.
The main function of the Avocet is altitude measurement. It accomplishes this using "state-of-the-art aircraft altimeter technology," linked to its barometer. So you can not only pinpoint your altitude to within 5 feet (or one meter), you can measure your gained or lost altitude, plus track barometric trends for weather spotting. Typical chronometer (clock) features include an alarm and split/lap stopwatch and countdown timer - on top of the many altimeter and barometer features such as max. altitude, rate of descent. The Avocet also clicks off ski runs. When activated, it will tell you how many runs you've taken that day or season - triggered by your movement of 150 feet up... and then down. After a long day on Mammoth's slopes we knew that we had ridden 27,000 feet of vert. Great for bragging rights in the Yodler at the end of the day. And this brings out one of the instrument's not-so-great features. Our tester Eric, who has used Avocets for years, says that - on average - his batteries last nearly two seasons. Just enough to die part way through season #2, whereupon he lost his total accumulated vertical... and hence his bragging rights. The second problem is that one must send the watch in to HQ for battery replacement, forcing you to be without for some time while the instrument is "in the shop." The folks at Avocet say that the new version of the Vertech squeezes closer to four years of life from the battery. They also mention that - although inconvenient - the battery replacement usually takes no more than a day, at which time they also give the entire unit a going-over. Calibration to a known altitude (or barometric pressure) is easily accomplished, as is resetting the other functions. You can even calibrate the thermometer if you want - as it typically runs high when the instrument is on your wrist. Overall, the watch performed beautifully while put it through its paces on Mammoth's snow and the Grand Canyon's uphill torture test. The Avocet is smaller and lighter than most comparable watches, and the function and option buttons are easy to manipulate, even with gloves on. The stretch band is great for various sports, and the display numbers are easy to read. We would, however, like to see the addition of a light, for those early morning hikes and pre-dawn wake-up calls.
msrp: U.S. $160 Special thanks to Mammoth Mountain for hosting the MountainZone testing team for this review. Contact them at 800-MAMMOTH or www.mammoth-mtn.com for your next Sierra visit. — Reviewed & Written by Ari Cheren, MountainZone.com Gear Editor | |
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