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Subject: Surfer Watches (Tide Watches Included)

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SurfMonkey User is Offline

Posts:0

12/15/2005 9:41 AM	Quote Reply
Let's discuss about Surfer Watches. What you use, in terms of makes and models What do you like and dislike.

SurfMonkey User is Offline

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12/15/2005 9:11 PM	Quote Reply
I am actually using the second one of the Freestyle Shark Tide watch. I dropped the first one on a street. How did I drop it? I placed it on a board while I was changing and when I picked up the board, it fell off the board. The Likes: The tide display is easy to read and it got preset locations that I most frequent. I am presently set to Ocean Beach. The difference between here and there is about 17 minutes this week and OB comes later. But give or take 10-20 minutes is not an issue. I do check it quite a bit to determine if I want to go or not and also determine which spots to check. The plastic (silicone) belt fits well and easy to adjust. The Dislikes: Future Tide feature is almost useless because I basically have to do the same thing as setting the time and location to see a future tide. It would be far more useful if I can just easily see tomorrow's tide with a push of a button. If you compete, a watch is a must. I know Freestyle sometimes have quality related issues. I had another Freestyle watch and upon use, it sucked in water inside and that was the end of it in one session. I know another Stokemaster member had the same type of issue. Also, if you buy the watch from a surf shop that do not sell many watches, you may get a dead battery immediately. However, I did not have these types of issues on the Shark Tide model.

downtheline User is Offline

Posts:19

12/15/2005 11:36 PM	Quote Reply
Manabu, you and I have had virtually the same experience with Freestyle. I lost my first Freestyle, the Mako, at Trestles when I took it off after surfing and didn't pick it up when I left. My second Freestyle watch was a Sharktide. I took it to Oahu a few weeks after purchasing it and it got water inside on my first session. I did not want to pay the $8 return fee for a watch that broke during warranty, so I took it back to Aqua Surf Shop. It took about 8 months for Freestyle to do anything, but I finally got a new Sharktide watch for free. I agree that the tide function is near useless, especially for places like Haleiwa, where the incoming and outgoing tides are not symmetrical.

saltytaco

Posts:204

01/12/2006 9:10 AM	Quote Reply
Anyone have experience with this watch? http://www.nixonnow.com/za/NNS?PAGE=WATCH_DETAILS&PRODUCT.ID=1242&MENU_ID=1

craigoda

Posts:444

01/12/2006 2:08 PM	Quote Reply
Salty, that looks like a pretty interesting watch. Let me know if you get it. I wonder if the tide function actually works?

SurfMonkey User is Offline

Posts:0

01/13/2006 7:46 AM	Quote Reply
Looks like a good watch. I use my Shark Tide quite a bit while I surf. Tide watch is a good invenstment and like with all technoogy it is fun, if you surf a lot.

craigoda

Posts:444

04/17/2006 2:10 PM	Quote Reply
There's a good set of reviews of watches at this link. http://www.surfit.com.au/Surfit/Display.asp?ss=5&AID=891&CID=78 The Rip Curl Grab can forecast future tides. I think this is a feature that the Freestyle Shark tide doesn't have? I'm not sure if their Automatic Tide System works or not. The tide and the water temp might be nice features to have.

craigoda

Posts:444

04/18/2006 9:22 AM	Quote Reply
Here's another interesting watch, the Quicksilver Deep tide. The tide height appears as a numerical value and graph. I went to the Quicksilver site and downloaded the instruction manual. It's pretty hard to tell how easy it is to look at future tides. That appears to be the key feature. http://www.konasports.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=898

master

Posts:756

03/16/2008 12:56 PM	Quote Reply
QuickSilver Tide Watch Review Well, firnally my Freestyle TIDE watch went out. It ran out of the battery and then after getting the battery replaced, it leaked. It costed me $20 to get it done but what the heck. So I ran to our local HMB Board Shop and got a new watch this Friday. What I like about the watch. This watch has 4 different beaches that you can program, so I can, for example put in Santa Cruz, OB, and may be Trestles etc. The number seems to be close to my XTIDE server. The location is shown clearly in alphanumeric display. It can quickly show low1, low2, high1 and high2 tide time and height. This is really nice. It can also show you any tide in the future by simple push of a button. It just add one day per push. On Freestyle, you have to "type in" the number. With a four button control, it can be really cumbersome and not usuable, but on QuickSilver I can really use this feature to see the tide for a next couple of days. The small moon phse display is a nice addition that was not on the Freestyle. What I don't like about it. - The day of week display is super tiny and I literally had to pull out a magnifier to see. - You can get into all sorts of modes in the tide display, but there is no way to get back to the pervious "screen". In order to do that you have to go and rotate through Timer, Chorno etc. - The dual time display is easy to change back and forth but because of that it is confusing and you could easily be in one mode or another without realizing it. - Once you are ready to set up the location, it always starts from the beginning (country, regiion and beach). It does not remember current settings. So in order to adjust an offset, you have to go to North America, West Coast, and then pick Santa Cruz, or OB all over again, then finally ajust the offset. About DST Set Up The DST was automatic on Freestyle TIDE except that the law in the US changed recently so it no longer followed the law. On QuickSilver they say in the manual that they could not even figure out what the law will be in each country so they ask that you change the offset value twice a year. It's fine by me, and I now set the offset so that it closely matches the HMB tide chart.

Don't miss my own surf adventure at WavLOG.StokeMaster.COM

master

Posts:756

03/16/2008 9:50 PM	Quote Reply
I did a bit of web hunting RipCurl seems to be best bet for womens watches. How about RipCurl Waikiki Tide watch. http://www.ripcurl.com/index.php?id=126,518,0,0,1,0 They also have TideMaster model which are mechanial tide watches that require you to adjust to your local tide information (and no look up function) over a few days (I believe). They are also very expensive... upwards of $400 a watch. I looked at FreeStyle and they also have one too but does not look as nice to me.

Don't miss my own surf adventure at WavLOG.StokeMaster.COM

master

Posts:756

04/29/2008 5:25 PM	Quote Reply
Rip Curl Deep Tide Watch Review - After A Month of Use Just about a month has past since I got my Rip Curl Deep Tide watch. So what's my experience thus far? My watch is the kind that the lens is exposed. The lens scratches super easy. One time I threw the watch into the wet bucket and it quickly developed a nice scratch. The lens seems to be made of cheap-o-plastic. I don't really care if the watch gets wear and tear but easily scratch-able lens on a surfing watch? It did not happen with my Freestyle TIDE which had a recessed lens. I do like the Rip Curl features though, so next time I get the kind that has recessed lens. Black background is definitely cool looking but it is definitely hard to see especially on the water. Next time I will get the light background kind. I just re-read Craig's post from 2006 and yes, I can read the tide height in the tide mode. Though I hardly use it. I use it basically to see 'Is it low or high tide now?' 'Is it incoming or out-going?" If it is out-going and the condition is sucky already, it is a time for me to get out of the water soon.

Don't miss my own surf adventure at WavLOG.StokeMaster.COM

wavedance

Posts:97

06/11/2008 1:04 PM	Quote Reply
finally got around to creating that blog post: http://surfergrrrl.blogspot.com/2008/06/tide-watches-part-ii.html

craigoda

Posts:444

08/06/2008 6:15 PM	Quote Reply
When I took off my wetsuit this morning, my Quicksilver Deep Tide watch came off with it. The strap broke and it doesn't look easy to replace it. I liked the watch a lot. I was sad. Fortunately, I had a good session. I was able to get future tides for the weekend easily. Is the Freestyle Tide 3.0 usable to get future tides several days in advance?

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Forums > R U Stoked? > The Surf Board and Gear Forum > Surfer Watches (Tide Watches Included)

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