ArticleManagerWatches with outdoor-specific features are very popular nowadays, and with the development of technology, watches have made great strides in combining design with practical technology.
A good mountaineering and hiking watch not only displays the time and date, but also provides you with important information you need for outdoor exercise, such as altitude, location, air pressure, sunrise/sunset time, etc.
It helps you navigate, plan trips, monitor physical condition, and weather alerts.
The best watch for hiking in 2021
1、Garmin Fenix 6：
Garmin Fenix 6, powerful,
Suitable for: hiking, mountaineering, trekking, climbing, cycling, swimming, running, backpacking, and everyday use.
The Garmin Fenix 6 watch was launched in 2019, replacing the popular Garmin Fenix 5 watch.
It’s basically a smartwatch with a color display designed for harsh outdoor conditions.
The watch is made of very strong materials – the bezel is made of stainless steel, titanium or DLC steel, while the lens is made of sapphire glass (PRO model).
Therefore, the watch has excellent wear resistance and durability.
Nevertheless, the watch is designed to be elegant enough to be worn without hesitation in business meetings.
The Garmin Fenix 6 watch is equipped with a 3-axis compass, altimeter, barometer and thermometer.
For a more accurate temperature reading, you can connect it to an external temperature sensor (Garmin Tempe).
The compass and altimeter are automatically calibrated via GPS.
Features implemented by GPS include the watch automatically setting the time based on your location, and of course providing navigation and tracking functions.
You can import routes and points of interest, and the watch will give you directions.
You can save activities and access detailed information about each activity through the Garmin Connect app (desktop or mobile).
The Fenix 6 watch can be synchronized with a smartphone (the Garmin Connect mobile app is available for iOS and Android phone devices) to display text, alerts, emails, and other notifications.
The Garmin Fenix 6 watch is available in two different models (Base and PRO) and in three different sizes: 42 mm, 47 mm and 51 mm PRO models.
Garmin Fenix 6 Pro as a premium GPS watch with powerful features, music, graded pace guidance and pulse oximeter,
In addition to the above features, Wi-Fi, music, and maps are supported – it can display topographic maps and is very useful for navigating in the wilderness.
2、Suunto 9 Baro：
The Suunto 9 Baro is also suitable for: hiking, mountaineering, climbing, cycling, swimming, running, backpacking and everyday use, and is one of the most competitive rivals to the Garmin Fenix 6.
Equipped with a stainless steel bezel and a color touchscreen, the Suunto 9 Baro is also equipped with buttons that make it easy to use if you’re wearing gloves.
The watch is equipped with GPS, altimeter, barometer, thermometer, and compass.
Navigating paths with your Suunto 9 Baro watch is easy, as waypoints and routes can be simply imported from the Suunto app, making it easy to plan your route before hiking.
In addition, you can find existing routes from other Suunto app users and import them into your watch – especially using the heatmap feature to show popular routes within a given area.
The Suunto app also provides complete data on workouts (showing the effectiveness of workouts by duration, distance, calories burned, and more).
The Suunto 9 watch can also track walking distance, find a route back to the starting point, display the current speed and much more, and is equipped with a wrist-based heart rate monitoring sensor.
Bluetooth connectivity allows you to connect your watch to your smartphone and receive notifications from your smartphone on your watch.
The Suunto 9 watch can also be done without a barometer, but for hiking and backpacking trips the Baro version is recommended, since the Baro version is also equipped with sapphire glass for good wear resistance.
3、Polar Grit X：
Released in early 2020, the Polar Grit X watch quickly became popular with hikers, backpackers, and mountaineers due to its highly attractive design and advanced features.
The Grit X is a versatile sports watch, just like the Suunto and Garmin watches mentioned above, which features a rugged design that meets military standards (MIL-STD-810G) in terms of durability.
It supports GPS, altimeter, barometer, thermometer and digital compass, has navigation functions, and can be enabled in various sports modes.
You can import routes into your watch through the Polar Flow platform, which connects to the Komoot app, which means that Komoot routes are automatically synced to your watch.
The Polar Grit X watch is available in three different versions: Grit X, Grit X Pro and Grit X Pro Titan.
Grit X Pro models feature scratch-resistant sapphire glass lenses and several additional features.
It supports an “outdoor dashboard” that displays altitude maps, compasses, coordinates, and sunrise/sunset times, and Pro models also support track backtracking.
The Titan model has all the features of the PRO model, but is made of stronger, lighter materials.
In addition, long battery life, wrist-based heart rate measurement sensors, and military-grade durability are all advantages of the Polar Grit X.
The downside is that the watch doesn’t have a storm warning or a barometer for predicting the weather (which may change with future updates).
4、Suunto Ambit 3 Peak：
The Suunto Ambit 3 Peak watch is also an excellent choice for hikers and mountaineers because of its excellent functionality and durability,
Suitable for: hiking, mountaineering, trekking, climbing, swimming, running and daily use.
Compared to the above watches, the Suunto Ambit 3’s does not support GLONASS satellites, but it is also cheaper and slightly easier to use (the watch’s interface is very user-friendly).
The Suunto Ambit 3 watch is equipped with GPS, altimeter, barometer, thermometer and compass.
Since it uses a high-performance GPS antenna, it has excellent GPS reception and supports navigation and tracking.
The watch can be synchronized with the Suunto app (for analysis and planning) and can display real-time GPS data (e.g. speed, distance, altitude gain, etc.).
The Ambit 3 is Suunto’s first Bluetooth-compatible watch, so when you install the Suunto app, it can easily connect to your smartphone and display incoming and missed calls, messages, and other notifications from your phone.
In addition to the Peak version, the Suunto Ambit 3 watch is available in three other models, called the Ambit 3 Vertical, Ambit 3 Sport and Ambit 3 Run.
But the features described here are the Suunto Ambit 3 Peak version, and in addition, some Suunto Ambit 3 Peak watches come with sapphire glass.
Casio Pro Trek PRW-2500T-7:
Casio Pro Trek PRW-2500T-7 is a very durable non-GPS watch with many useful features for: hiking, mountaineering, trekking, as well as everyday use.
The watch is equipped with a digital compass, barometer, altimeter and thermometer.
The watch uses a solar-powered rechargeable battery that lasts for 5 months without any light exposure, so you will hardly feel the pressure of battery life.
Casio Pro Trek PRW-2500T-7, which receives calibrated radio signals up to 6 times a day to maintain accurate time.
The compass supports magnetic declination correction and has azimuth memory.
Barometers display trend graphs and help you predict the weather.
Casio hiking watches are also equipped with a pressure change indicator that warns you of major changes.
More basic features include a stopwatch, countdown, calendar, and alarm.
The downside is that without GPS, heart rate cannot be monitored.
The selection of the best hiking watches includes four watches with GPS and one without GPS.
While GPS does have its advantages, some hikers prefer watches without GPS, mainly because of longer battery life, lower prices, simpler user interfaces, etc.
Although they don’t have GPS, these watches basically have a compass, altimeter, and barometer – features that are also essential for hiking, mountaineering, and more.
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