What is the best watch and functions for kitesurfing?

[SalmonSlayer]

I have the 310XT. It is missing cell phone functionality. It would be nice to call my wife to let her know i am going to be late again. How about a watch with an EPIRB?

dick tracy.GIF (75.15 KiB) Viewed 2816 times

[Peter_Frank]

If one watch should have "all" I need, it would be:

1. Extremely small ! Just HATE big chunky watches as they are useless out there, where lines and board edges and fins etc can get caught, and when riding you want to feel free with as little wetsuit and excess gear as possible.

2. Time displayed ALWAYS, no matter what other mode you are into (which in my case would be #3).

3. Countdown for video/timelapse timing when using a kitecam, or for icy winthersession where you want to time the triggering of the Lewis Hunting Response perfect without "screaming" pain, nor shortened sessions.

4. "Silent" GPS, meaning it simply logs everything in a data file (no need for maps etc), so you can go home and look at the exact wind direction and shifts, and your upwind angles and tack efficiency and up-downwind vmg's if on race or racelike gear.


I have never had use for anything else but that.

Above dont exist yet I think, so I use a very small extremely shock resistant for 1+2+3, and then a GT-31 on my upper arm when I want to log tracks too.

Would be better to have it all in one, true, but havent seen that yet.

Of course you could also have a temperature measurement and windmeter etc etc (I HAVE one with both actually, and a lot more), but they will NEVER fit into the most important demand, namely point #1 - EXTREMELY small thank you

And I could be worried about battery life for such an almost "perfect" watch too, as my GT31 can hold for more than 20 hours logging.
10 hours would suffice, as 8 hours is my typical max session length.

So I think the battery life is the problem.

My normal 1+2+3 watch has a battery lifetime between 10 and 15 years.
With a GPS you have to charge your watch quite often instead of course.

And if you use it as your everyday watch too (well, at least every other day, when you are on the water), it does not make sense to have a watch that might run out of current suddenly.
At least the GPS function should disable automatically long before the time runs out so to speak (at least a full workday), to be of any daily use whatsoever IMO.

Not that easy, maybe not even possible, to satisfy these demands really

Peter

[darippah]

digging up this old thread.. I'm looking for something that can track my top speed, show me my run on a map, and tell me how high I jumped

Is there any watch that does that?

[TomW]

No, I don't think so. But you could with 2 devices. Thehttp://www.amazon.co.uk/G-PORTER-GP-102-Multif ... gps+logger

And i saw an accelerometer device you can put on your board to measure jumps.http://www.woosports.com/press/

[TomW]

I work at Sony developing among other things, smartwatches. You gotta remember the battery problem is way bigger than you know /imagine. Antennas are also big challenge on body, in water.
There's a reason Sony are only ones with WiFi, gps built into smartwatch with IP68 and with 2 days battery life. ( but not using on-board gps). It ain't easy.

Doing a dream smartwatch for action sports would be Ideal solution because you could then use apps of your choice and combine with processing power and connectivity of your smartphone. It's possible. Problem would be size on wrist and cost. And I think market would be small, making roi low, due to high development costs.

[plummet]

The answer is no watch at all. Get out there and ride. There is no need for gadgets.

[Guttorm]

The Suunto ambit 2 has kite apps with Speed max Speed, distance, avg speed & last jump height, but to be able to measure last jump it has to be more than 3-3.5m high.

[norcom]

Another for the Suunto Ambit 2.
GPS, altimeter, thermometer, barometer, compass. You can even get an application that tells you the tides http://www.movescount.com/apps/app10000006-Tide_US_East

[alamos_kiter]

The answer is no watch at all. Get out there and ride. There is no need for gadgets.

Hahaha yeah man that's a bit like logging your blood pressure, pulse, body temperature curve, calories spent, time and average light temperature while you're humping away on your missus.

[SalmonSlayer]

The answer is no watch at all. Get out there and ride. There is no need for gadgets.

Hahaha yeah man that's a bit like logging your blood pressure, pulse, body temperature curve, calories spent, time and average light temperature while you're humping away on your missus.

That would never work for most guys. You need data for more than 60 seconds to get an accurate reading. It would be an interesting competition though. I can't imagine what the forum would be like

I had a 310XT. I cant find it and think it was stolen out of my car when it was unlocked. I was perfectly happy with it and will buy another one. I like having the heart rate monitor for other activities.

You can find them on Ebay for ~ $150

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R4 ... n&_sacat=0