A Tide Watch being sought ; anybodys sucess or failure pl ?

[Capt Popeye]

Wll have decided to buy myself a 'tide watch' that displays the Tidal sittuation ,as well as the Time /Day etc

Well seems that this is a difficult search , some Tide Watches appear to give the wearer the opportuninty to select the Tide Time from a pre recorded system offering aboutb 250 options around the world ; that ok if one travels world wide , but ere in our South West thats neither needed or wanted ; the cheaper watches appear to display a sort of Wave indicating the Present Tide Sittuation , which sounds better to me, as it might give a Real Time indication , when needed ; So asking , has anyone please got own experience of locating /buying a usefull 'Tide Watch' ?

Research shows that such watches are combined with 'what a fisherman might want ' , indicating Water Temperatures , etc etc ; that to me is certainly not required , just want to know the current state of the Tides

Thank you CP

 

[Neeves]

To save you wasting your money.

I was given a G-Shock wrist watch which displays tide as a series of bars - the bars are of different heights and indicate a wave form. There are 3 bars between high a low tide - so its visual accuracy is limited, or non existent. for example I know high tide is about now + or - an hour. If this is good enough for you - then its fine. I also find that altering for summer and winter time a bit of a faff - as I need the instructions (as my memory is insufficient to recall the operations every 6 months .

I want to know with more precision when high tide is and the height of that tide - and I simply down load the annual tide times to a tablet - I then get high tide to the nearest minute (which is much more accurate than I need) but I also get tidal difference, which is fairly critical - if we have dried out. I could download the tide table to a phone - but the tablet is bigger. Your other option is the weather forecast as (here in Oz) the forecast and tide are commonly provided together.

On the boat we also have an electronic tide clock which we bought from China (try Aliexpress). You can get them off eBay - but they are the same or similar clock but grossly more expensive. You need to set the time for high tide and they are quite accurate but tend to slip accuracy over a couple of months and they benefit from bit of physical help to retain accuracy.

For a rough idea - the watch is fine, for more accuracy the tide clock is good (but no tidal difference with either). but for accuracy - the tide table. If you are looking for a tide gate - when you can enter or leave - the tide clock would be satisfactory - I'd be twitchy if its a short gate if using a watch.

The tide table is good for planning as neither the clock nor watch allow you to look to the future - beyond today, though you can guess for tomorrow. I can thus look up the tide table, find when the king tides will be and plan to schedule my maintenance to give me maximum day time on a dryish beach - I cannot do that with a wrist watch nor tide clock.

I suspect this is of not much help - or not what you wanted to read

Jonathan

The G-shock is 'nice' but the tide table and the clock are more useful.

 

[Boathook]

I had a tide clock for years and it required adjustment each month to stay correct. I find tide tables much better and more accurate !

 

[Hermit]

How about a new or second hand Apple Watch? Does mean you ahve to have an iPhone (Probably same for Android).

Lots of apps that can give proper tidal data on the watch.

 

[Stemar]

Lots of apps that can give proper tidal data on the watch.

As long as you have a signal, I presume.

Even in my unadventurous sailing, I quite often find myself in areas where data downloads are decidedly iffy.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Tide watches and clocks usually operate using a thing called the lunitidal interval. This is a rough approximation of the difference between the time the moon crosses the meridian and high tide. It IS approximate; it takes no account of solar tides and is usually only tabulated to half an hour precision, which is probably a reasonable reflection of the likely accuracy! It's useful as a quick reference to see what time of the day high or low water will be, but if you need more precise timing and an estimate of the height of tide, it is useless. It can even be misleading where the tidal situation is complex (e.g. the Solent, with a double high water).

I have a G-shock with this facility; it probably works as well as any and I find it useful to give me an idea of when I should be thinking about tides. But I am relaxed and cautious about tides - if it needs precise calculation, I don't go as tidal calculations are in practice far less accurate than the textbook examples suggest! I find examples of calculations with accuracies in the 10cm range quite laughable; meteorological changes can affect the height of tide by several times that. The astronomical portion of the tide can be calculated with high accuracy, but the effects of wind, barometric pressure and river flow are all pretty much guesswork.

 

[Capt Popeye]

Well thank you for ALL the input , lots to consider there ; might state that generally my need to know HT Times is wether HT is am or pm or night time when I am out Shopping , and a friend calls , with , how about going out next ??? day and I am well away from my Computer , Tide Tables , sight of Water , etc etc

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Well thank you for ALL the input , lots to consider there ; might state that generally my need to know HT Times is wether HT is am or pm or night time when I am out Shopping , and a friend calls , with , how about going out next ??? day and I am well away from my Computer , Tide Tables , sight of Water , etc etc

That's exactly what I use my tide watch for; it works well for those situations where exact information is not required.

 

[Draystone]

Well thank you for ALL the input , lots to consider there ; might state that generally my need to know HT Times is wether HT is am or pm or night time when I am out Shopping , and a friend calls , with , how about going out next ??? day and I am well away from my Computer , Tide Tables , sight of Water , etc etc

If you answer the call on a smart phone, then why not use an app? Free versions will give you the tide times today at least and you can always add one hour.

 

[Capt Popeye]

If you answer the call on a smart phone, then why not use an app? Free versions will give you the tide times today at least and you can always add one hour.

Hi yes thats another idea on my list ; seriously thinking of going Smart Phone now , looking a TESCO offers (why TESCO one might ask ?) they use the best reception /coverage carried in my area ; thats 02

 

[alahol2]

If you go for an android phone then one of the simplest tide apps is 'Tide Prediction'. Works without a phone connection and is plenty accurate enough for most purposes.

 

[Sandy]

I find the tidal curve for Plymouth, other tidal curves are available, a pencil and rule works wonders. Just for fun I also adjust for barometric pressure.

The lovely people at Sea Chest sell one that is laminated in stuff that allows pencil marks to rub out easily.

 

[fifer]

If you go for an android phone then one of the simplest tide apps is 'Tide Prediction'. Works without a phone connection and is plenty accurate enough for most purposes.

On an android device I really like the slightly more complicated but comprehensive and easy to use 'Absolute Tides'. Well worth the few quid each year.

 

[Tzu]

Encouraged by this thread I've today downloaded from Google store the "TideChart" app that also works on my Samsung watch. Shows on the watch what the tide is doing (at a point pleasantly close to my mooring) , when the next HW and LW's are and the moon phase. About £3.50 but I'm quite pleased with it. I have it for the "shall I go to the boat now or after dinner?"type questions

 

[LadyInBed]

Well thank you for ALL the input , lots to consider there ; might state that generally my need to know HT Times is wether HT is am or pm or night time when I am out Shopping , and a friend calls , with , how about going out next ??? day and I am well away from my Computer , Tide Tables , sight of Water , etc etc

Look at the moon or put this
HW difference wrt HW Dover : Monty Mariner
and this
Dover Tides 2020 % : Monty Mariner Oops! I need to update the link title ?
On your phone
Also a link to this
Tide locations in South of England - BBC Weather

 

[Capt Popeye]

Well all responses much appreciated by CP ; think that I will update my Mobile so that I can download a Tide Information app ; thinking that my first approach to obtaining High Tide times , when Out and About etc by using a Wrist Watch is flawed , as I never go anywhere without my present Mobile , but its a Talk n Text model , so not any good to get Tide Times at all , I must make a leap into modern communication times and go Android App wise ; using an Android App I can actually get far more details about the Tidal conditions that any Watch can offer me !

So thank you all , indeed I am getting all geared up to indulging into my boating thoughts and planning , even when in the Cafe /Restaurants

Great outcome , thanks all - CP