My first job in the skydiving manufacturing industry was in customer service/marketing for Alti-2, so I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the good ol’ altimeter.

John Hawke, the new Alti-2 GM, has written a nice synopsis on dropzone.com, “Digital or Analog Altimeter.” It only uses Altimaster products as reference, but you can substitute any digital/analog product.

A while back, Nils Kløcker Predstrup at Skydive Voss in Norway conducted a study testing the use of digital altimeters for students: “Digital Altimeters for Students.” Larsen & Brusgaard (L&B) altimeters are referenced here but again, you can extrapolate the study to any altimeter.


There’s a difference between the mechanism and the display, so here is a (hopefully) helpful chart of the most popular visual altimeters, to tell what’s what:

Product Photo Hardware Display Manufacturer More Info Altimaster II Mechanical Analog Alti-2 LINK Altimaster Galaxy Mechanical Analog Alti-2 LINK Altimaster N3 Electronic/Digital Digital Alti-2 LINK ALTITRACK Electronic/Digital Analog Larsen & Brusgaard LINK VISO II Electronic/Digital Digital Larsen & Brusgaard LINK

Note: Audible-only altimeters are not listed here. That’s another discussion altogether!