Altimeter and Barometric pressure

[paulisa]

I have a new suunto watch with built in altimeter and barometer, how do I get the correct altitude or barometer settings, do I need a base setting or do I have to make constant adjustments depending on where I am at the time, I had set my watch to sea level for altitude, but it messed up all other settings showing me at an altitude that I know was wrong at a different location. confused! I should have paid attention more in science class.

[Wak]

If you go to
http://uk.weather.com/
you can get the barometer reading where you are at present and set the watch to that reading then, presumably, the watch would automatically adjust that reading according to where you are in future????

[KARL]

Possibly the best thing you can do is get a barometric reading direct from an instrument at a known altitude. The simplest way to do that is to go to an airport that has a manned control tower. They have precise readings to hand at all times and the elevation of the airport is known also. Feed this into your watch and you are set - general readings will cover large areas of land without correcting for altitude (losing accuracy). My advice is to operate in metric units, not imperial because if you travel anywhere (except the USA) the latter will be impossible to check..