Timex Helix WRKS

I ordered my Timex Helix WRKS altimeter/barometer/thermometer/digital compass/watch, and I received it last night in the mail! The Timex has a countdown timer where the High Gear Axis did not, but the Axis had nice bar graphs that helped to more quickly recognize data trends. The combinations of data on each screen is not quite as intuitive as the Axis. There's a button to give quick access to the compass from the normal time function, but I would have preferred to have that quick-access button get me to the temperature or altimeter or just be configurable. I think I'll end up leaving it in one of its other modes, like temperature/altitude instead of normal time.

Most everything is controlled through the i-Control crown, which is reminiscent of the crown on an analog watch. Wearing the watch on my right wrist (as I am left handed) makes it more difficult to control the watch, since the crown is on the right as well. It has 2 different pulled-out positions, so it's a bit sensitive to my wrong-handed fumbling.

The Timex doesn't have quite as high precision of the Axis, but I'm hoping all these instruments prove more reliable. The Timex is a simpler instrument altogether -- it doesn't have the software to try to represent sea-level air pressure and accommodate for weather-related air pressure changes.

Interestingly, I can't seem to find the mode that looks like the pictures on the Campmor site.

Update (25 February 2004): I've had the watch for nearly a week now, and I've gotten accustomed to it, and it's working nicely. I end up calibrating the altimeter often, which I understand is common with normal altimeters. Weather can skew the measurements, but it won't accumulate error like the High Gear when the software tried to attribute pressure changes to weather or altitude. This is a simpler device.