Watches can do everything these days!
Some smartwatches for example can give you all your fitness tracking data, all your social media notifications and provide you with a GPS signal.
Not all watches are suitable to take skiing however. They also have to be durable, waterproof.
We have looked at the best watches for skiing out on the market today, and have identified our Top 5, reviews of which will follow shortly.
After that we have a little buying guide for you, going through everything you might like to think about before buying your watch.
Best Watches For Skiing – Reviews
- Rugged GPS watch built to withstand the toughest environments.Supported Application:Phone. . Wireless comm standard:Bluetooth
- Constructed to U.S. Military standard 810G for thermal, shock and water resistance (rated to 100 meters)
- Built in 3 axis compass and barometric altimeter, plus multiple global navigation satellite systems (GPS, Glonass and Galileo) support helps track in more challenging environments than GPS alone
- Monitor your estimated heart rate, activity and stress; Train with preloaded activity profiles. Strap material: Silicone
- Stay connected with smart notifications (with a compatible smartphone) and automatic data uploads to the Garmin connect online fitness community
- Suunto Core: This classic outdoor sports watch is packed with intelligent features like a Storm Alarm, Altimeter, Barometer and compass to keep you informed of conditions while you hike, bike, or camp
- Essential for Adventure: This watch has dual times, date display, and alarm, plus predicted times for sunrise and sunset to help maximize your daylight hours and a depth meter accurate up to 30 feet
- Suunto Sports Watches: Versatile and durable, Suunto sports watches are great for running, swimming, cycling, gym workouts, hiking, and other outdoor sports; Whatever your needs, Suunto has a watch...
- Adventure Starts Here: Combining Scandinavian design with ultra durable materials, our watches track your sports, daily activity, and sleep to help you keep life, training and recovery in balance
- Authentic Heritage: Founded in 1936, Suunto brings over 80 years of high quality heritage craftsmanship, relentless accuracy, and pioneering innovation to our watches, compasses, and dive products
- Rugged, sophisticated multisport GPS watch features an always-on 1.3” display, long battery life and new ultratough athletic design with fiber-reinforced polymer case
- Battery performance: up to 18 days in smartwatch mode, up to 57 hours in GPS mode and up to 40 days in Expedition mode
- Take your training to the next level with endurance and real-time stamina tracking, training status, advanced performance metrics and 30 plus built-in sports apps
- Get 24/7 health and wellness monitoring with wrist-based heart rate, Pulse Ox (not available in all countries), stress and enhanced sleep tracking (this device is intended to give an estimation of...
- Navigate the outdoors with built-in sensors for the 3-axis compass, gyroscope and barometric altimeter; supports multi-GNSS satellite systems (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo)
- Premium Multisport GPS watch with Elevate wrist heart rate technology. Physical size 1.8 x 1.8 x 0.6 inches. Cockpit watch band compatible included (22 mm)
- Fit for adventure with a rugged design that features stainless steel bezel, buttons and rear case. Display type: sunlight visible, transflective memory in pixel (MIP)
- Put key stats at your fingertips with the performance widget that shows the effects and progress of your workouts. Case material : Fiber reinforced polymer with stainless steel rear cover
- Connected features include smart notifications, automatic uploads to Garmin Connect online fitness community and personalization through free watch faces and apps from our Connect IQ store. Display...
- Outdoor sensors, including GPS and GLONASS satellite reception and 3 axis compass with gyroscope and barometric altimeter. Battery life- Smartwatch mode-Up to 2 weeks. GPS/HR mode-Up to 24 hours....
- Adjustable black 20 millimeter resin strap fits up to 8-inch wrist circumference
- 100-hour chronograph with 30-lap memory; 24-hour countdown timer
- 3 daily, weekday or weekend alarms; 24-hour military time mode; 2 time zones; day, date and month calendar
- Black 44 millimeter resin case with acrylic lens; black digital display; Indiglo light-up watch dial
- Water resistant to 100 meters (330 feet): in general, suitable for swimming and snorkeling, but not diving
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Croix, J.H. (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 226 Pages - 10/13/2016 (Publication Date)
- Solar Powered Multisport GPS Watch with large 1.4 inches display (36% larger than previous fenix models) uses the sun’s energy to extend battery life and assure more on-wrist time for your off-grid...
- Enhanced estimated wrist heart rate and Pulse Ox to support advanced sleep monitoring and altitude acclimation at high elevations (this is not a medical device and is not intended for use in the...
- Advanced training features include PacePro for grade-adjusted pace guidance throughout your activity plus environmentally adjusted VO2 max and training status estimates
- Navigate the outdoors with preloaded TOPO maps, ski maps for over 2,000 worldwide ski resorts, multiple global navigation satellite system (GPS, GLONASS and Galileo) support and built-in sensors for...
- Support for Garmin Pay contactless payments (not all countries and payment networks are eligible), music storage with premium streaming service (may require subscription with third-party music...
- 【TOUGHNESS FROM THE INSIDE OUT】The Amazfit T-Rex Pro comes with a 1.3" HD AMOLED always-on color screen; The outer bezel undergoes a metal-spraying process, which enhances the rich textures of the...
- 【YOUR PARTNER IN EXPLORATION】The Amazfit T-Rex Pro smartwatch is high-level exploration partner, suporting four global navigation satellite systems, a blood-oxygen saturation measurement system, a...
- 【Ultra-long 18 Day Battery Life】When fully-charged, you can relax and enjoy upto 18 days of activity and progress with typical usage, or upto 9 days with heavy usage, or upto 40 hours with GPS...
- 【10 ATM WATER RESISTANT】With a 10 ATM grade, the Amazfit T-Rex Pro smartwatch is water-resistant to a depth of upto 100 meters and can accompany you as you surf, swim, or explore the mysterious...
- 【OVER 100 SPORTS MODES】The Amazfit T-Rex Pro fitness watch features over 100 sports modes and can be used to monitor critical data such as workout heart rate, distance traveled, movement speed,...
- 200 M Water Resistance
- Diver inspired Rotating bezel with anti reverse, Screw down crown
- Date display Regular timekeeping Analog: 3 hands (Hour, minute, second)
- Hands and hour markers with large fluorescent areas for easy reading
- Stainless Steel Case w/ Black Resin Band
Best Watches For Skiing – Buyers Guide
There are all sorts of watch features that can come in handy when you’re out on the slopes. We’re going to run through what we deem to be the most important features here for you now, and hopefully that will help you decide which watch is the one for you.
Waterproof Rating
To get the most out of your watch for skiing, you’ll want to wear it over your ski jacket, and you certainly don’t want any melted snow to damage your watch. That’s why it’s important that your watch is waterproof as opposed to water resistant. All of the watches in our Top 5 are waterproof to some extent.
Waterproofing is best judged by the IP rating. An IP rating consists of two numbers, the first number representing resistance to dust and the second number representing resistance to water. Higher numbers correspond to greater resistance.
For a skiing watch, we strongly recommend that you get a watch with an IP rating of at least IP67 or IP68. Anything below an IP65 is not going to be good enough. Objects with an IP rating of IP67 are typically described as being protected from immersion in water with a depth of up to 1 meter (or 3.3 feet) for up to 30 mins.
GPS
We would also recommend that your watch is GPS enabled. This means that your watch will give off a GPS signal to a global positioning satellite system, to help you to identify exactly where you are. This is essential should you detour from any set skiing routes, and if there were any possibility that you could get lost.
GPS is the most well known global positioning satellite system, but there are others besides, and it’s better to have a watch that is enabled for more navigation systems rather than just the one.
ABC (Altimeter, Barometer, Compass)
Before the advent of GPS, outdoor sport enthusiasts relied on altimeters, barometers and compasses in their watches. Although they’re not as necessary now, they still seem to be a popular feature, and they can provide more accurate data than the GPS can on certain things.
How it works, is that a barometric sensor within the watch detects changes in air pressure. And since air pressure is lower on higher altitudes,the altimeter is then able to show both your current altitude, as well as the change in altitude.
Normally a barometric altimeter is only able to detect vertical changes, but when this is combined with GPS data you get better, more reliable information.
Should you find yourself without a GPS signal, a watch with a digital compass becomes very handy. One with a 3 axis compass would be best since it gives you accurate information.
The other advantage of a watch with a barometric sensor is that, if there’s a sudden change in air pressure, it can warn you that a storm is coming, in enough time to get you off the slope and find shelter.
Durability
If you’re taking a watch skiing, it’s best to invest in a watch that can take a knock, perhaps with stainless steel or resin in the casing. You’ll also want a clock face that’s scratch resistant, perhaps with mineral glass or maybe even sapphire glass.
Smartwatch Features
There are several apps dedicated to skiing available on both Apple and Android watches. It is beyond the scope of this article to go into any depth comparing the individual apps. If you do decide to go for a smartwatch, you need to ensure that it’s compatible with your smartphone.
If you want a smartwatch that you can make calls from (since you’re unlikely to take your smartphone out on the slopes) then you’ll need a watch with it’s own SIM card slot.
Battery Life
The watch’s battery life is also an important consideration. Using the GPS function on a watch really drains its battery, so ideally you’ll want a rechargeable battery that will last you all day, that you can simply recharge when you get back to the chalet at night.
