AltimeterThree

Update (12/28/2018): The "Casey McKenzie"* AltimeterThree had a great year! This December 21st, 2018, my students launched 5 rockets without a single issue with Bluetooth connecting. I am therefore upgrading my review (from 4) to 5 out of 5 stars.My advice: only have one phone with Bluetooth on and paired to the altimeter and keep using that phone for the entirety of your launches. It worked beautifully this year with no hitch or hiccup.Previous Review (originally posted 11/2017—now with minor addendum and readability updates):I would like to give a brief explanation of some of the many superlatives of Jolly Logic’s AltimeterThree—an electronic device that, after pairing via Bluetooth with a smart phone (and/or other Android and iOS devices), rides along with a model rocket (among other contraptions) and records data during its flight. The positives out-weigh the negatives, by far! There are many great features to note, and I must state that I highly recommend this altimeter. However, I will spend much of this review talking about 4 negative traits that caused me give this product 4 out 5 stars instead calling it absolutely perfect.As far as the positive side goes, I can attest that all of the features listed are correct and work as stated, but you would be better off going to Jolly Logic’s product page for more detail and pictures of what the smartphone/tablet app, called AltimeterThree, looks like—you can also download the app itself for free on Google Play and Apple’s App Store. To quickly note some of the standout properties: this altimeter records data during model rocket flights (and more, but not personally tested), and calculates important attributes like where the rocket is over time, its velocity and acceleration, the apogee (highest point reached), and more. This information is transferred from the altimeter to your device when it reconnects with your smart phone via after the flight. The graph of the flight is awesome—it plots position (vertical) versus time, noting certain hallmarks of the flight—end of thrust, ejection charge and parachute deployment, and apogee. This screen alone paints a picture that helps you intuitively see how your rocket performed.For background, I use the device for my High School Physics classes to provide data for us to analyze. Also, I have previously launched with an earlier model, the Jolly Logic AltimeterOne. That AltimeterOne is still in a very tall tree. Or at least we think it's up there--it's hard to determine if that's the wayward rocket or some part of the tree itself in a fairly dark and dense copse of pine trees--it must be up about 40+ meters (130 feet) or more. However, the AltimeterOne worked great (for what it did) before we lost it, and that is at about half the price of the Three (I don't think the Three was around when I bought it, of course). The main difference is that the older model 1) did not connect to a smart phone, and, 2) only recorded the peak altitude, retaining the 100 latest launches. If that is all you need, then it’s a much cheaper option.To replace our woebegone altimeter (bought personally), this time I decided to upgrade to the AltimeterThree after a very generous donation from a student that paid for it entirely (thank Casey McKenzie!)--$99.95 at the time I ordered it. The Three is a huge upgrade over the One, so I think the increased price is worth the additional functionality.However, there are (were) 4 shortfalls, that keep me from giving the Jolly Logic AltimeterThree the full 5 stars:1). (see Update above—this was not an issue in 2018) As Jolly Logic admits, there are issues with connecting with Bluetooth at times. The included instructions state this near the beginning and they offer tips to help have better luck. Most of the time, the methods worked. However, it required turning Bluetooth off and unpairing then repairing, or turning the altimeter off and on. There is a lot of trial and error and hoping and pleading. To be safe, I make sure students have the app downloaded to their pone in case mine doesn't connect. In addition, I think there may be an issue if more than one phone attempts to pair or connect at a time--something that may happen by mistake if others have the app and have BT on. I asked everyone other than the designated data-taker to turn off Bluetooth just to stave off that possibility. We launched a total of 7 times (I think) on that day. We did get it to pair, connect, and record successfully all 4 times the Altimeter was working properly, though, again, it was a pain and the data was spread out among phones. The 2 times that the altimeter didn't work at all I discuss in #3 since it was not a Bluetooth issue.2). Unlike the AltimeterOne (and I assume the Two of course, but I have never used it), with the Jolly Logic AltimeterThree you MUST pair, and connect a Bluetooth enabled device (iOS and most/all modern Android phones and tablets) in order to start the recording of data. I wish you could tell it to record via the AltimeterThree itself. On the One, you used the single button to turn on/off the device and navigate the simple (but well designed and intuitive) menu. I hope this was a firmware decision and not a hardware issue where Jolly Logic could add this feature in the future. I'm sure they thought it was an unnecessary feature since using your phone/tablet with the altimeter is pretty darn cool. But when the Bluetooth is giving you issues and you're out in the Mississippi sun on a 90+ degree day with about 90% humidity with 24 eager, hyper, but hot high school students, you really just want to launch ASAP. So a polite feature request, if possible, J.L.!3). After the 4th launch's fairly high velocity recovery--or lack of one, since their parachute did not deploy correctly-- the altimeter went off and would not power on again. I had noticed the battery was at 71% when the students placed it into their rocket so this was not the issue. I will note that we were launching eggs for this project, and the altimeter was actually with the egg in the foam protected payload bay / nose cone section--so it was safe from the gas of the ejection charge, but the g's did depend on how well these students designed and constructed their payload bay with foam or other materials. We launched with a C6-5 engine, and the apogee occurred at only 45 meters (~150 feet) or so. I think the altimeter took a decent hit, and perhaps that's why it went dead. We then did three more launches without the altimeter because a). we were in the field away from school and this was our only opportunity and b). we had no backup. We forgot clinometers that day also, so no altitude or any flight data was recorded for the final 3 launches.When we returned to school, I plugged the altimeter into a USB port via the supplied cable. It immediately turned on. That was a relief. It showed a 69% battery level when it cycled to that screen. But it was disappointing since we only had one day to launch (near the seniors last day before all the graduation stuff) and two groups did not get to collect data, including the student who donated the money for the new altimeter!I would love to hear Jolly Logic's opinion. Mine is that somehow being knocked into the ground and experiencing high g on impact did something to temporarily render it dead. Perhaps something was jogged loose and me pushing in the USB cable into the device reseated a connection. Though it is odd, right? I didn't notice anything loose including the micro USB port.4. This is minor and, if a bug, can be fixed via a firmware update. There is a neat feature where you can display a message, such as "If found, contact xxx." You can change the default message from the app. However, ours is stuck on the default one. I've tried several times to change it. However, since the default reads to email Jolly Logic if found, then I feel safe. I would immediately contact them in the event of it being lost and hopefully they could repatriate the lost device. So still a good feature.*Lastly, I would like to say we named the altimeter after the student who donated the money for it--but she didn't want me to tell anyone at the school about it until after she graduated (May 2017). But the Casey McKenzie AltimeterThree will be back again next year for a fresh batch of Physics students.

Excellent product! My son used it for a model rocket experiment, and was able to record all the necessary data easily. Performs better than expected; it even spent a week 60 feet up a tree in mid-February in Northeast Pa with temps from 10 to 40 degrees F, snow, freezing rain, sleet, and heavy winds. When it was finally retrieved ( don't ask!), it still worked perfectly and had 48% battery left.

The JL Altimeter Three is the most fun addition to my low, mid and high power rocketry hobby that I've made. It'll fit in one of my kids' small Estes rockets and works perfectly in my larger L1 and L2 high power rockets too. It's super quick to download the data after a flight -- you don't even have to touch your rocket. The app's flight graph is great to show people in the field or share on Facebook/etc (or in a review here, as I just figured out). The xls data file is great if you want to look deeper into the data. Overall: super easy to use, very tough and a lot of fun.

The Altimeter3 is a well thought out product that I use to measure the altitude profile on high flying kites. It has worked well until the battery was depleted during a longer flight which resulted in the loss of the flight data. Jolly Logic says it will update its firmware to save flight data should the battery get to low during a flight. The automatic downloads of the flight data after a flight works most of the time but if for some reason it fails to download it may not download after power cycling the altimeter3 and repairing with the phone. Resetting of the altimeter3 deletes the last flight data so cannot be used to start a download that does not start.

I bought this for my class to measure the height of their bottle rockets. From the beginning there were issues: the application that was downloaded would work for a little while, flicker and have to be downloaded again, the display didn't show completely, and the blue tooth connection would fail often. My advice is simple: Don't buy this!!! Total waste of money!

I teach high school physics and having BlueTooth communication with a Smartphone is a good idea and the next logical upgrade. But I had a lot of difficulty staying connected to the Altimeter Three via my Android phone (v7.0). The good news is the flight data doesn't get lost. There is a sequence of steps that you can do to get connected and re-connect, but it's too cumbersome for me, so I returned my Three and got the Two.

On the choppa, it works so well. On my custom rocket, let's just say it's a good thing I'm a data analyst or else it would have been difficult to get the data needed for my son's science project.

It is very accurate in measuring the height. I was not expecting this level. It is so light and small that you can fly with every model rocket. Amazing the capabilty to report and send email with your fligh data. Great idea to control it via iphone. You have easily all data that in the past was just a dream to get.Well done Jolly Logic !! :-)