Asking for trouble...

Here's my 2 cents.

I have a couple of altimeters. My favorite is Perfect Flight HiAlt45. I've had it over ten years now and it has never failed me. It is easy to set up and use, and seems to be pretty robust. Unfortunately it is no longer made; but I would trust other Perfect Flight altimeters. I also have 2 Missile Works RRC2+ altimeters. These are smaller, also easy to set up and use. I really like these as well. I did have an issue with one a couple of years ago. It failed to ignite a charge and record altitude intermittently twice over the summer. I wasn't able to diagnose the problem with Missile Works help. Missile Works took it back but it seemed fine in their hands. Never-the-less they replaced it with a new one. I've not had a problem with either since then.

I use charge wells when there is room on the bulkhead of the altimeter bay. I believe there are a number of sources but I've gotten mine from Dog House Rocketry. When space is tight, I just use microcentrifuge tubes (up to 1.5 g) or cyro-storage tubes (up to 5.0 g). They are easy to use and I have a ton of each.