New Estes Altimeter for 2013?

I saw this in the 2013 Estes catalog.



How long has this been out?

Greg

It's news to me. Competition is good.

Somehow I hope John (Jolly Logic) has his hand in this and it isn't just another Chinese knockoff. I can envision the translated instructions. Jest sayin'....

"Proper operation is commenced when operating switch in most correct manner promptly"

fyrwrxz said:

Somehow I hope John (Jolly Logic) has his hand in this and it isn't just another Chinese knockoff. I can envision the translated instructions. Jest sayin'....

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It definitely looks like a Jolly Logic Altimeter One, with extra room for a replaceable battery. I would hope it shows up much cheaper than Altimeter One.

RWmarlow said:

"Proper operation is commenced when operating switch in most correct manner promptly"

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rofl

The catalog just came out.

If you mean the actual altimeter, it is not out yet.

GregGleason said:

I saw this in the 2013 Estes catalog.

View attachment 111857

How long has this been out?

Greg

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Maybe it IS a Jolly One, and John has been keeping his cards close to the vest for awhile. If so, good for him!

RoyAtl said:

It definitely looks like a Jolly Logic Altimeter One, with extra room for a replaceable battery. I would hope it shows up much cheaper than Altimeter One.

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Nope, I'm not involved with Estes' project. We've had talks, but they never progressed very far.
I wish them the best of luck. I probably would have bought one three or four years ago rather than developing the AltimeterOne. But then again, their unit was obviously inspired by the AltimeterOne.
I would guess that they will sell their altimeter for a very reasonable price ($29?), and that should make a lot of people happy. I know that there's not always room for my altimeters in every budget.
It will be interesting to see if I can get the AltimeterThree to wide release before the Estes Altimeter arrives...

Pic looks very cheaply built compared to the pictures of the Jolly Logic, imho.

[Sigh] You'd think that they would have tried to work with you on a volume deal for a real product instead of trying develop their own, like they did with Aerotech on the AP motors. Sorry to hear that such a nice guy like you is apparently getting screwed like this. Have you had any luck getting into the large hobby distribution channels, or is it one of those things that if you're not doing $XXX amount of volume they don't want to talk to you?

John Beans said:

Nope, I'm not involved with Estes' project. We've had talks, but they never progressed very far.
I wish them the best of luck. I probably would have bought one three or four years ago rather than developing the AltimeterOne. But then again, their unit was obviously inspired by the AltimeterOne.
I would guess that they will sell their altimeter for a very reasonable price ($29?), and that should make a lot of people happy. I know that there's not always room for my altimeters in every budget.
It will be interesting to see if I can get the AltimeterThree to wide release before the Estes Altimeter arrives...

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John Beans said:

Nope, I'm not involved with Estes' project. We've had talks, but they never progressed very far.

...
It will be interesting to see if I can get the AltimeterThree to wide release before the Estes Altimeter arrives...

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I haven't used my AltimeterTwo as much as I should, but I will look forward to AltimeterThree!

By the way, I'm the one whose AltimeterTwo was stuck 35' up in a tree overnight in a rainstorm two years ago, and you didn't think it would survive.
It dried out nicely in a bag of rice, and has been up six or seven times since with no ill effects!

Remember folks, Estes is a business, and they have to do what they feel is the best business decision.

That said, based on what I've heard about John and Jolly Logic, when I buy an altimeter of this type, I'll be buying from John.

-Kevin

Competition is a good thing. The more people who get interested in altimeters, the better it is for rocketry and, by extension, Jolly Logic.
I'm glad they took our cues on design direction toward convenience and ease of use, that's part of why I started making products. But our products are moving ahead, too, and we have some cool things coming up.

John Beans said:

Competition is a good thing. The more people who get interested in altimeters, the better it is for rocketry and, by extension, Jolly Logic.
I'm glad they took our cues on design direction toward convenience and ease of use, that's part of why I started making products. But our products are moving ahead, too, and we have some cool things coming up.

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That's a great attitude, John and I agree with troj's take, too. Looking forward to seeing what lies ahead!

Greg

I like that Estes is coming out with this, much better than that rocket they had out before...However, one has to look at what they want when choosing between say this and Alt1. I know what the price of each is(well, when we find that out for Estes, but let's say $30), but what is the VALUE? I know I can get replacement parts for the Alt1, and it's rechargable. The Alt1 also will track flights to a higher altitude. Is all that worth the extra $20 or so, even though I may not need an altimeter that goes over 10K. Personally, I'd probably go with the Alt1, but there is plenty of people that doesn't care/need those extras and will get the Estes. Different strokes for different folks, that's what makes the world go round. Tell you the truth, I was looking at Jolly's website and kinda want an Alt2....can't wait to see what the Alt3 has in store!

Davidtmp said:

Tell you the truth, I was looking at Jolly's website and kinda want an Alt2....can't wait to see what the Alt3 has in store!

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I'm finding myself in the same boat -- I was going to get an Altimeter 2 for my son. Now that I know there's a new model on the horizon, I'm very curious!

-Kevin

John Beans said:

But then again, their unit was obviously inspired by the AltimeterOne.

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"inspired" is an understatement, John... I had a product design that was "cloned" in China, and inspiration is not their modus-operandi.

John Beans said:

Nope, I'm not involved with Estes' project....
It will be interesting to see if I can get the AltimeterThree to wide release before the Estes Altimeter arrives...

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Ohh,Ohh! I'll help! Sign me up for a 3 already. ( I implicitly trust this chap-plus, I'm an altimeter junky kinda guy-NOT a junky altimeter kinda guy)

I used my altimiter two for the first time yesterday with my daughters science project rockets. She made identical designed/shaped and weighted rockets with diameter being the only difference and were measuring altitude differences compared to sims. Weather was terrible with light rain. Unit worked flawlessly....


Frank

John Beans said:

But our products are moving ahead, too, and we have some cool things coming up.

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I love my Alt2 - I've used it on 12-15 flights. Only "issue" I've had was when I had a launch delay and forgot to check that the alt was still on when I finally got to fly - 2 hrs later. (oops)

Jim, are you going to NARCON? If so, are you going to have any of these upcoming cool things to show/discuss? :grin:

rbelknap said:

I love my Alt2 - I've used it on 12-15 flights. Only "issue" I've had was when I had a launch delay and forgot to check that the alt was still on when I finally got to fly - 2 hrs later. (oops)

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What is this set at to automatically shut off? I didn't run across it when scanning the Alt1 documentation earlier.

From what somebody said..."the retail price is 34.99"

Davidtmp said:

What is this set at to automatically shut off? I didn't run across it when scanning the Alt1 documentation earlier.

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One hour.

I hope hobby lobby carries these and are priced <$40. That would be a great deal!

Derek said:

I hope hobby lobby carries these and are priced <$40. That would be a great deal!

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John Boren (Estes R&D) said $34.99 .

RoyAtl said:

John Boren (Estes R&D) said $34.99 .

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awesome! I really hope hobby lobby carries it.

Derek said:

awesome! I really hope hobby lobby carries it.

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That's a good point. If they do, then at $21 they are almost disposable.

FYI - I am a proud ALT 2 owner and love the service from John.

Any news on the release date for these things yet?

Saw one fly at a SCRA meet last weekend. It's about the same size as the Altimeter One, but it doesn't have the rechargeable battery (or, obviously, the USB connector to charge it from). It retains the last 10 flights. It seemed to work OK, I was too busy to have much conversation with the gentleman that had it.