Hiking watches reviewed: Garmin, eTrex and Suunto

Forget about the time, these watches will tell you everything from the terrain ahead to the calories you’ve burnt.

A Suunto Movecount heatmap of the Sydney CBD.

The storm alarm sounds. The weather has hit quicker than expected. You’re still 11.3km from your destination. It’s north east, but more than that there’s a 565m rise and creek ahead and the temperature is falling.

Thankfully you marked a series of waypoints since you left the trail — vitally, also, you marked where you saw that wild pig; an encounter you don’t want to repeat.

And having survived, in the pub you can regale fellow trekkers with the entire stats of your adventure from the speed of that descent to the calories you burnt.

Such is the functionality available from the latest generation of hiking watches, all of which come complete with GPS, thermometer, barometer, altimeter, compass ... and some with a few more features, too.

1. The Garmin Epix, $799. This feels like, and is, a serious piece of kit for the outdoor traveller. It offers a full colour mapping GPS on a 1.4-inch high-resolution colour touchscreen wrist watch with the functionality to double comfortably as a top-notch allsport timepiece. Flicking through a number of maps — including BirdsEye Satellite Imagery and worldwide shaded relief base map — you can see everything ahead. The touch screen not only allows you to swipe easily through the data you need but also drop on waypoints to easily calculate the distance and climb of the challenge ahead. The Epix also has the functionality to satisfy the most statistic hungry sports enthusiast or competitor. It can be set to monitor and record stats for everything from triathlon to skiing and open-water swimming. When this watch beeps at you, you listen.

2. eTrex 35t, $529. For something a little different — and for the adventurer who doesn’t like a big wrist watch but prefers bigger maps — Garmin also offers the handheld eTrex 35t. It comes with a sunlight-readable 2.6-inch colour touchscreen display and again offers preloaded maps on which you can plot waypoints. Like the watch, it is a tremendously intuitive piece of technology — ideal not only for hiking but also hunting, fishing, camping, skiing, off-road motor biking and riding.

3. Suunto Traverse Alpha, $729. It looks stylish but feels as “military standard” tough as the company claims — with a water repellent nylon strap and scratch resistant sapphire crystal glass. Like the Garmin, it offers easy access to all the essential outdoor adventure information — with the push of a button. With GPS tracking and a powerful battery life it allows the fun ability to mark a “breadcrumb trail” of important locations over several days. The watch favours adventure pursuit over multisport functionality and as well as trekking comes with some specific hunting and fishing features including a red backlight, moonrise and moonset times and an automatic shot detection which keeps track of the number and location of shots in the background. For the outdoor pursuit you won’t go wrong — or get lost — with this.

4. Suunto Spartan Ultra Titanium, will be $1029.99. To be released next month, this will be Suunto’s move to capture the adventurer — and multi-sport — market. As well as the functionality for everything from triathlon to cross-country skiing — including specific modes for types of training, it comes with a new and improved Suunto Movescount. The unique feature taps the Suunto community, generating heat maps of where people are training, be it running, skiing, cycling and open-water swimming. It’s an impressive tool which as well as being fascinating, reveals the best places to train in new areas and the best places to ignore if you don’t like crowds.