Best Hiking Watch For The Trail Less Traveled

If you’re a serious hiker or backpacker you may want a little more info on your wrist than the current time and something to remind you that it’s Saturday.

While timekeeping is important out on the trail, having an ABC watch (a watch with Altimeter, Barometer, Compass, and thermometer) to let you know your bearing, altitude, and of any incoming storms is the next step up. With a little more outlay, you could even plump for a fancy GPS navigation watch that will display color topographic maps on your wrist.

The options abound – all you have to do is choose the model most compatible with your needs and budget.

To help you find the perfect wristwear for your adventures, we’ve done the grunt work for you. We’ve tested a range of watches and settled on 10 of the top models, covering a range of price points and models best suited to a variety of different activity types, from GPS watches through to watches with touch-screen capabilities.

Our top Picks by Category

Budget: Casio Pathfinder PAG240-1, Suunto Core, Casio Pro Trek PRW-3500
Best GPS Hiking Watches: Garmin Instinct Solar, Garmin Fenix 6X Pro, Garmin Enduro, Suunto Spartan Sport HR Baro
Best Battery Life: Garmin Instinct Solar, Casio Pathfinder PAG240-1, Suunto Core, Garmin Enduro

10 Best Hiking GPS Watches: The Results

The Best Hiking Watch – What Is Important?

With an incredible array of makes and models to choose from, finding the perfect hiking smartwatch for your personal needs can be a tricky undertaking. To help you make a decision, we recommend you familiarize yourself with the common features below:

• What is the primary purpose you’ll use the watch for?
• Which watch features are a necessity?
• Which extra features are ‘nice-to-haves’?
• Does the style matter to you?
• What are you willing to pay for all the above?

Mentally running through these questions should help you quickly eliminate the ‘also rans’ until you find the perfect hiking watch for your adventure in the great outdoors.

Hiking Features/Enhanced Functionality

To state the blindingly obvious, you’re looking for a watch that goes beyond a need to simply tell the time. The “enhanced” functionality of hiking or backpacking watches gives you a wider breadth of data to allow you to make decisions that will hopefully make your trip into the backcountry safer and more enjoyable.

Here is a rundown of the common enhanced functions and what you use them for.

Altimeter

Altitude, derived from the Latin for “height” (altitudo), is a measure of your absolute position vertically above sea level.

Knowing your elevation is an extremely useful way of determining (or double-checking) your position in combination with a map. This is particularly valuable in areas where taking sightings with a compass for triangulation is tricky e.g. in dense forest or barren wilderness with few discernable landmarks/rock cairns or if navigating at night.

A watch with a hiking altimeter will determine this in one of two ways:

1. Barometric Pressure

An altimeter barometer watch uses the atmospheric pressure of your surroundings to calculate your approximate location above sea level. This is based on a simple observation of the natural world – that atmospheric pressure decreases as altitude increases. 

Barometric altimeter watches, however, will only give you an approximate elevation since temperature variations and local weather conditions also influence atmospheric pressure, resulting in some uncertainty on your precise altitude.

To ensure accurate readings, an altimeter barometric watch needs to be calibrated often, with some of the more advanced models doing this automatically. Although, we would caution that you should also learn to do this manually as technology can (and does) fail.

2. Hiking Watches with GPS

With the Global Positioning System (GPS) gradually incorporated into more and more ‘everyday’ devices over the last 20 years, almost everyone is now familiar with it. GPS-based altimeters use the same principles to identify your height as your lateral (x/y) position i.e. multiple satellites are used to pinpoint your location on the earth’s surface.

GPS altimeters suffer from the fact that you need to be in the line of sight of at least 4 geo-orbiting satellite systems to gain an accurate location, which can be problematic if you are in the mountains, canyons, or valleys of the backcountry.

As a result, for use in the backcountry, we would recommend picking a non-GPS barometric altimeter over a GPS altimeter due to their (typically) greater accuracy in locations in which we outdoors folk normally find ourselves. However, if you want something that doesn’t require calibration and you can live with the uncertainty, then don’t rule out a watch with a GPS altimeter.

Lastly, a cute feature of some watches is the ability to download the altitude data to your computer or web application and make a topographic profile of your hike.

Barometer

Your hiking watch’s barometer function measures the atmospheric pressure and tracks how it is changing over time. It is this variation over time (typically the previous few hours) the barometer uses to predict the upcoming weather conditions as revealed by air pressure changes.

Increasing atmospheric pressure means that weather conditions are improving and conversely decreasing atmospheric pressure suggests that less than stellar hiking conditions are on the way (think precipitation: rain, fog, snow). 

A sharp decrease in pressure usually indicates a storm is on its way, and many of the hiking smartwatches in this review will alert you with an alarm, giving you time to get your rain gear on, or to seek shelter.

Having some advanced warning of the likely weather forecast can be a massive help in staying dry(er) and more comfortable, and in extreme cases, staying safe by seeking shelter.

Compass

Any watch without this feature isn’t a watch for hiking in our opinion. A compass is your principal means of finding your way and will show you the four cardinal directions (North, South, East, and West) in addition to your current bearing (which way you are facing). A compass works by measuring the earth’s magnetic field, allowing it to accurately determine which way is north.

While a compass on your watch is useful for getting a sense of general direction, we would again caution that it should not entirely replace your traditional compass for two simple reasons. First, you’ll quickly find sighting and triangulation with a map much easier with your handheld compass, and secondly, and more importantly, technology can fail.

GPS

A feature of more advanced (and expensive) hiking watches is GPS function. As mentioned above GPS watches use orbiting satellites to pinpoint your location on earth. This information allows you to instantly access your current coordinates, speed, distance traveled (from the previous waymark), ascent/descent, and where you are relative to various landmarks on the GPS map system.

Probably most useful is that GPS watches can import your chosen route, allowing you to see your current position relative to where you should be. In addition, after making it safely home again, you can download all this GPS data to relive your trip in digital form.

The biggest downside to GPS watches for hiking is they all suffer from short battery lives – I’ve yet to see a watch that can survive more than a day or two with the GPS tracking turned on. 

Therefore, if you are going on a longer trip your options are likely restricted to only having the GPS signal turned on for limited periods and/or bringing along some form of charger, either a battery pack or solar charger.

Thermometer

Thermometers are a feature that pop up on some watch models, giving you an idea of how hot (or cold) the air temperature is.

We’ve yet to be convinced as to how useful such a feature is, as your own internal sense of the external temperature will let you know if it’s time to throw on your jacket or peel off a layer. Additionally, as the temperature sensor sits next to your wrist, temperature readings from watches tend to be skewed slightly by your body heat.

As far as we are concerned, a “nice to have”, but certainly not a must-have feature.

Heart Rate Monitors

A large number of hiking watches can also record and show your heart rate (HRM). As with the thermometer, this isn’t a particularly necessary feature but does allow you to keep an eye on how well you are pacing yourself and gives you an overview of your fitness levels.

This feature is most useful for those who are hiking to improve their fitness (as you’ll be able to monitor your improvement over time by referring to your heart rate) or those “metric geeks” (such as myself) who love nothing more than poring over data/trends.

Watches that have a heart rate monitor work by measuring your body’s electrical pulses (generated by your heart pumping), either through a transmitter/receiver built into your watch (measuring through the wrist) or by using a transmitter chest strap and a receiver built into your watch.

A word of caution – even the most sophisticated wearable heart rate monitor isn’t particularly accurate.

Durability, Weight & Comfort

Trips, slips, and falls. Everyone who’s spent sufficient time hiking or backpacking knows that their body will take the occasional beating due to a wet rock or misplaced foot. As such, your equipment needs to be sturdy enough to survive such misadventures.

Many good hiking watches are protected with sapphire glass lenses which offer increased protection from scratches as compared to the traditional mineral crystal glasses you’ll find on regular watches. Expect to find a higher price tag for that protection though.

While getting wet is generally something to be avoided while out in the wilderness, staying dry is often something that isn’t feasible. To that end, all (good) hiking watches are water-resistant, often marked up to 100m (10 ATM), which seems like a little bit of overkill (even if you’re trekking through the Amazon and decide to go for a dip every evening). 

Suffice to say, anything above the roughly water-resistant 30m point should be sufficient to weather even extreme downpours and the occasional bit of skinny dipping along the route.

Because your watch may be the only item you will wear continuously for days on end (we hope you change your underwear occasionally), it should also be comfortable to wear. When buying, look for softer materials in the wristband and read user reviews to get a feel for how comfortable the watch is after repeated all-day use.

Also, durable and rugged straps and added features may result in bulk that makes it awkward, particularly for those of us blessed with slender wrists. Does it fit snuggly, or does it chafe like hell after only 2km?

Don’t underestimate how important comfort is, and ultimately, if you forget you are wearing your watch, then comfort-wise, you have chosen well.

Style & Design

As someone who has often heard the question “are you really wearing that?” pass my wife’s lips, this is an area that isn’t a personal priority. However, I am keenly aware that others may want something that looks stylish, particularly if you plan to wear it around town as well as on the trails.

My take is that if it’s solely for the trail, then function always beats fashion. If it’s for wearing bushwhacking off the trail also, then function still beats fashion…but that’s not to say that you can’t find something that pulls off both.

Battery Life

Depending on the duration of your typical trip into the backcountry this may (or may not) be an important consideration in an outdoor watch. All the hiking watches reviewed here should see you through a one (or two) day outdoor adventure without the need to look for your nearest electrical socket.

However, for those of us who expect to be out for multiple days, weeks, or even months, then longevity from your mountain watches battery is something you may wish to prioritize. Certainly, hauling a spare battery pack is a possibility, but that’s extra weight on your back.

Generally, there are two broad-brush correlations here, 1) more features = shorter battery life and 2) higher price (for a similar number of features) = longer battery life. This is why we would typically recommend a simpler watch for those more advanced backpackers who expect to be out for weeks on end.

Best Watch for Hiking: The Verdict

If you are on a budget or want to spend your money on other pieces of kit and/or don’t require enhanced functionality like GPS, then we recommend a simple ABC watch like the Casio Pathfinder or Protrek, or the Suunto Core watch.

If you’re keen on GPS or simply want more stylish, sleek designs with enhanced functionality – particularly other features such as thermometers, atomic time-keeping, and HRM – then you can spend a little more and get yourself the non-baro version of the Suunto 9 or Suunto Traverse.

If you’re looking for a high-end model that will do practically everything bar cook your food upon reaching camp, we recommend the Garmin Instinct Solar or Garmin Fenix 6X Pro, both of which are for serious outdoors folks who like precise, detailed data, plenty of bonus features, and top-notch mapping.

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