I'm a little disappointed in the price, too...though it's not that much above my "buy two" threshhold.
The other alternatives I can think of are the
How High SP from Winged Shadow Systems (also sold by Apogee and Quest) and the Eagle Tree Altitude Sensor (first item on
this page). With the former, there are flashes to count, but it's all self contained with replaceable lithium coin cells for power. It's about the same weight as the AltimeterOne, but less robustly packaged.
With the latter there is power to provide but a single-digit LED display which reads the altitude out one digit at a time. I power the one I'm using as a rocket altimeter from a small single li-poly cell. This setup is more like 10g.
Both of these are from the R/C airplane market and adaptable to rockets, unlike the AltimeterOne.
I have used both and one of these days I'll fly them both at the same time to compare results. Both give reasonable-looking results.
Heck, I've just talked myself into getting one AltimeterOne at least.
The Pico looks interesting as well....I just wish it wasn't as picky as its documentation says it is about input voltage. I'd much rather it was happy on 3.7-4V so I could do the one li-poly cell thing with it as well rather than needing two and some way to drop the voltage to within 4.5-5.5V.
added: just watched the video and Tim says, twice, it needs sixty minutes of inactivity to turn itself off.