Customer Reviews

Highgear Axis Model 20037 Watch with Altimeter, Barometer, Digital Compass, Chronograph Mode, Temperature, Graphite Black.

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have unfortunately gone through a few of these watches. Problems with my watch have been the following:
1. Backlight burns out frequently
2. Poor quality on the wrist band
3. Can't remove battery on your own, you have to send it back to the manufacturer or spend obscene amounts of money to have a watch maker do it (this feature has been remedied on newer models.

The concept of this watch is great, but the quality is quite poor.

This is a decent product. The temperature, compass, and barometric pressure readings are very accurate (Keep in mind the temperature reading is about 10 degrees F higher than ambient temp when the watch is worn). The watch does not provide an accurate measure of altitude below 1000ft but that is not surprising since it relies on changes in atmospheric pressure to give the reading. All the features work well and the watch is attractive. It's very light and easy to wear. My only complaint is its thickness and one of the reasons I don't wear it all the time. It is roughly 1cm thick and it is much thicker than I am accustomed to wearing. I guess they need the room to put in all the technology associated with the features. Thinner would be more attractive though.

I purchased this watch for my husband's birthday--since it was an REI Expert Pick and he is an REI fan...
The watch has cool features and all, but its really thick. It's having a Dell XPS on your wrist.
He works with computers, but has to take it off because it gets caught on everything.
He's also a triathlete, boy, did I get him the wrong one.

I have this watch for about 6 months and I like it a lot. Few comments are:

Good:
- The watch is pretty accurate (I just calibrated my compass one time and, even traveling a lot, it has worked perfectly);
- The size is not so big. I'm man but even in my wife's arm it fits well;
- It has a beautiful design.

Bad:
- The materials are not the best (the center button does not work anymore and the ring, used to calibrate the compass, seems to be locked right now).

Why am I giving 4 stars? I had different watchs from Suunto, all of them more expensive and bigger than this one. The size and the "all information in one screen (time, date, temperature and weather forecast are shown together)", plus the update Highgear did in the past months make this watch the best value for the money (an besides, I paid only $80 at Amazon website).

All sensors seem to function without an issue. Calibrated the baro to local adjusted pressure and it stays on track. Highgear has a very informative website. The battery is easily replaceable. Have only taken showers with it but I don't plan to dunk it in deep water.

Why do watch manufacturers keep putting these cheap, uncomfortable rubber bands on their otherwise good watches? The Highgear (unlike the Suunto) band is almost impossible to remove, and if you DO remove it, you'll find that it's impossible to even slip one of those The Bands under the pins, and then you'll find that it's also impossible to put the rubber watch band back on once you've failed to upgrade it. At least the Suunto manufacturer offers a little kit that makes it VERY easy to put a really nice velcro band on their watches. Once I wear out or break my brand-new Highgear, I'll be going back to the Suunto.

I bought this watch for my son. He loves all the gadgets. However
after a week of camping in the rain the watch has condensation on the
inside. It's supposed to be water resistant to 30m so this seems to
be a defect.

All other functions seem to work as advertised. We still need to hike
up a mountain to test the altimeter.

Great outdoors watch. All of their earlier problems seem corrected. Fantastic look and feel.

Bought this off of Campmor for 80$. Once you set your local elevation the weather prediction is pretty on top of things. It will forecast probable weather patterns for the upcoming 6 hours. The compass is damn good as well, just be sure to calibrate it daily if you want really good readings. the thermometer doesnt work when it's in conctact with your skin cause the metal watch frame picks up body heat easily but if you hang it off a belt or backpack for 30 minutes you'll know exactly what temperature it is.

after owning casio, suunto version 1 and version 2's I thought would try a high gear. I bought the best High Gear watch Cabello's had and within 90 days the unit had a panel drop off. Cabello's would not exchange the unit after stating at purchase that it was warranted for one year.
Not sure what High gear will do but in my opinion this watch is not worth the price that is charged and it does not look as if they will back their warranty.