EDC watches: Are you guys still wearing those and what do you wear?

[Sylvain]

The photo with the light is just like my current G-SHOCK. Can't read the LCD at all in the dark even with the lamp on.

I like the looks of the all black more, but the "negative" LCD, even though it looks better, is really hard to see unless you're in direct light. I have a reading light on right now and I can't read the LCD on my watch. I think that one would be the same way. So if I do buy another watch at some point I'm going with more contrast even though I like the looks of the all black better.

I dont really have a need to see the date or any of that in the dark anyway.At night I just want to be able to see the time.
And I agree with you, it's easier to read the positive LCD than the negative one.I tried in the shop with 2 different models.
With the negative ones you really have to be right in front and not at an angle on the side.

 

[Booya]

INGO group buy?

I didn't see it in person but the store ordered it so I could get a look at it later in person.
I just saw it on a catalogue but at a 1:1 scale (wich is not the case of all the pics you can find online).
I was affraid it would be a huge watch, some of the G-Shocks are huge, but it's the same size as my current watch.

Im in! I'm fairly certain I've seen this before, in person, and I thought it was awesome then too!

 

[Sylvain]

Bump.

Dont tell me more INGOers wear watches.

 

[chezuki]

I saw this one in the store today.

Solar, atomic time, all black with black stainless steel body.

Found these from several Amazon vendors for $100 shipped.


http://www.amazon.com/Casio-AWGM100...&qid=1410045849&sr=8-4&keywords=gshock+atomic

http://www.amazon.com/Casio-AWGM100...qid=1410045849&sr=8-12&keywords=gshock+atomic

 

[Sylvain]

Found these from several Amazon vendors for $100 shipped.

I would be very careful if you order them online.There are many fake ones sold online.

I was looking at some models on Ebay and some looked questionable (price was off, user manual didn't look like a real one etc).
$100 especially with shipping included could sound too good to be true.It's around $150 in store.Cool be just a good deal too, not sure.

I would just buy from an official Casio dealer or a reputable dealer.

It's hard to believe that even cheaper Casio models (like sub $30) have fake versions as well.Probably worth $5, not really waterproof, cheap plastic etc.

 

[chezuki]

I would be very careful if you order them online.There are many fake ones sold online.

I was looking at some models on Ebay and some looked questionable (price was off, user manual didn't look like a real one etc).
$100 especially with shipping included could sound too good to be true.It's around $150 in store.Cool be just a good deal too, not sure.

I would just buy from an official Casio dealer or a reputable dealer.

It's hard to believe that even cheaper Casio models (like sub $30) have fake versions as well.Probably worth $5, not really waterproof, cheap plastic etc.

Blargh.

 

[melensdad]

With some little electronics, a wristwatch can now become a tool for back country travel and hunting. This watch is an older titanium cased Tissot T-Touch Trek watch, cost about $1700.00. Its now a discontinued model, but they offer other versions. Its not the best back country watch on the market. The new SUUNTO CORE is probably the best watch out there for backcountry use, its commonly available for about $275, give or take a bit. PYLE offers a watch with similar features, I've seen them on Ebay for as low as $49.00. Casio makes several versions that offer some of these features, prices vary from $250 to $500.

So what makes a GREAT back country watch?

How about a COMPASS, a BAROMETER and an ALTIMETER for starters? Add in a THERMOMETER, an ALARM and a STOPWATCH function too.​

I'll be using my Tissot T-Touch Trek for illustrations here, but the other watches do all/some of these things, some do them much better, some about the same, some a little worse. But this will give you some things to think about.

If you are lost in the woods while hunting, or if you are hiking a trail from one point to another, an ALTIMETER and a simple topographic map can help you find your location. If you think you are at a point on the map, just check the the elevation lines and check the altimeter function on your watch, it can confirm your location or show you just how lost you really are. This can let you know that you have reached the peak, or maybe just a false peak. Or confirm you are in right valley, etc.

On this watch I set the ALTIMETER function and the hands point to ALTIMETER, then the digital read out gives me my elevation above sea level.

COMPASSES on wrist watches are known to be moderately accurate. A quality magnetic compass is going to be more accurate, but some watches can do a pretty good job and most can give you a reasonably accurate indication of your direction of travel. On this particular watch you set the watch to compass mode and the hour hand moves opposite of the minute hand and then the 2 hands rotate so that the minute hand is pointing to Magnetic North Poll while the hour hand points to the Magnetic South.

BAROMETERS are probably the feature that I think are most critical for safety and for comfort. Some watches actually will give you a GRAPH showing the past 12 or even 24 hours of barometric pressure trends. Some even have little icons shaped like clouds, rain clouds, or the sun to indicate weather. Mine is pretty simplistic compared to something like the new digital watches, but it does the job. Set it into the METEO mode (which is the Barometer on this watch) and the two hands come together and then point into 1 of 3 positions. If the two hands point toward NOON then the barometric pressure has been STABLE for the past 12 hours and there will be NO CHANGE in the weather. If the two hands point toward 1 o'clock then the barometric pressure is RISING and good weather is coming. BUT, if the two hands point toward the 11 o'clock position then the barometric position is FALLING and bad weather is coming.

I snapped this photo this afternoon, about 3 hours after taking the picture the HEAVY RAINS started. Knowing in advance that bad weather was coming I could have returned to camp, or pitched a tent and prepared for rain, or taken other precautions before the rain starts.

My watch also has a THERMOMETER function. I'm not a big fan. If I'm out hiking and its cold, I know it. If its hot, I know that too. I suppose there is some use if it becomes dangerously hot or cold, but I don't see a lot of use for knowing the exact temperature. Still, the digital readout give me the temperature and the hands point toward the function to confirm its a temperature in the readout. I know of no watch that can tell me if the FUTURE temperature is going to fall or rise and then project it with a future temperature. However the previously discussued BAROMETER function can give you an idea of the future weather, and that is, in my opinion, more important than the specific temperature. I suppose if you wake up in your tent, see steam rising when you open your mouth, say "I'll bet its colder than a witches' tit out there, you could use a thermometer on your watch to confirm that fact.

TIME, ALARM and STOPWATCH functions . . . why are these important? Simple, if you know your destination on a map, and you know your current location on the map, and if you know your rough walking speed, you can use the STOPWATCH and TIME to help you determine the time to your destination or your waypoint. Or, if you know the time you left your starting point, and your rough walking speed, you can roughly find your location on a map by using the distance scale and the elapsed time since you started walking. Using the ALARM function you can set a time into the future, and based on your walking speed, the alarm should sound at/about the time you reach a point on the map that you had previously chosen so you don't pass up a pre-determined meeting point, etc.

One thing that I have NOT discussed is a GPS feature in a watch. Garmin and a couple other companies now have GPS enabled watches. The problem with a GPS watch is the same problem that exists with a handheld GPS, that is they EAT BATTERIES and/or must be RECHARGED too frequently. Out for a quick "day hike" or out hunting for the day and you probably won't come close to wearing out the battery, but what happens if you go out for a week? Odds are the battery in your watch can be stretched to a few days if you are very careful with powering down the GPS and use it only a couple hours a day. But if you are in back country then you probably should learn how to use a compass and a map instead. Leave the GPS watch behind. JMO and YMMV.

In an age when many people rely on their cell phone for time and fewer people are wearing a watch, if you go back country you may find that you have no reliable signal. A watch can be a versatile and invaluable tool to help you navigate your way through canyons, over hilly or mountainous grounds, across an island, etc. Give some thoughts to the functions above the next time you rely on a GPS to get you home, could you have done it with a map and a compass, or even a map and a wristwatch?

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

Likin that амфцвця. Might look into one of those.

 

[Sylvain]

So what makes a GREAT back country watch?
How about a COMPASS, a BAROMETER and an ALTIMETER for starters? Add in a THERMOMETER, an ALARM and a STOPWATCH function too.

I have a digital one that does all that but it turns out I never use it even for hiking.
The barometer fonction shows clouds if it's cloudy but I can just look up and see that without the help from my watch.
I know if a storm or rain is coming by simply looking at the sky.
For the thermometer to properly work without your body temperature interfering you actually have to take the watch off for like 5 minutes.
I can just feel the temperature and dress and dress accordingly without the thermometer.

 

[jdmack79]

Likin that амфцвця. Might look into one of those.

I also like the 110 series. The great thing about Amphibians in addition to their durability is their massive variety of offerings. They're available with a ton of different bezels and faces.

 

[WebSnyper]

So where is a good place to look at the Gshocks in the Indy area? I see some Finish Lines and some other stores I have not heard of listed as dealers on the Casio Gshock site. Anyone know of a store that has a good selection? Walmart seems to have a few here and there, but not many. My local Target doesn't seem to carry any Gshocks although they do have some other Casios. I'd like to check out some of these, especially some styled like the one in Chez's post, but something like a watch requires some hands on for me to make a purchase decision.

Also, where do you guys get these serviced (batteries, etc) locally?

 

[CathyInBlue]

Likin that амфцвця. Might look into one of those.

You misspelled it. It's амфибия, Russian for "amphibian". ц = ts. и = e. The standard Cyrillic typeface can be confusing with those two characters. Also, в = v.

I'm looking to go one (or both) of two ways. One is the spencer rifle/jdmack79 route for a bullet-proof apocalypse ready time piece. BTW, jd, you got any leads for a supplier for the амфибия?
The other is this: Android Wear and Tizen smartwatches light up IFA ·  LinuxGizmos.com

But I'm not looking to add another mobile OS to my life, so it would have to be an Android/pure Linux rendition of these types of smart watches.

 

[jamil]

So where is a good place to look at the Gshocks in the Indy area? I see some Finish Lines and some other stores I have not heard of listed as dealers on the Casio Gshock site. Anyone know of a store that has a good selection? Walmart seems to have a few here and there, but not many. My local Target doesn't seem to carry any Gshocks although they do have some other Casios. I'd like to check out some of these, especially some styled like the one in Chez's post, but something like a watch requires some hands on for me to make a purchase decision.

Also, where do you guys get these serviced (batteries, etc) locally?

Is ther a Macy's in Indy? They carry G-Shock. I'm sure most department stores do.

 

[Sylvain]

So where is a good place to look at the Gshocks in the Indy area? I see some Finish Lines and some other stores I have not heard of listed as dealers on the Casio Gshock site. Anyone know of a store that has a good selection? Walmart seems to have a few here and there, but not many. My local Target doesn't seem to carry any Gshocks although they do have some other Casios. I'd like to check out some of these, especially some styled like the one in Chez's post, but something like a watch requires some hands on for me to make a purchase decision.

Also, where do you guys get these serviced (batteries, etc) locally?

Not sure where you can find a G-Shock store around Indy but for the batteries you can change them yourself.
You just need tiny screwdrivers and some little knowledge.
A store can charge you over $50 for battery change and it will take a few days.
If you get a solar model you shouldn't have to worry about the battery though.

 

[WebSnyper]

Is ther a Macy's in Indy? They carry G-Shock. I'm sure most department stores do.

Looks like there are some, Keystone at the Crossing, Castleton and Greenwood. I may have to check them out. Got some business travelling to do this week, so may have to try and get to one of those in the next couple of weeks.

 

[tetsujin79]

Here's my EDC:

And here's my gym timer/house painting/brush & field watch:

I had the first version of this when it came to the US in the 80's. No solar, no atomic, just unbreakable. Hell, the battery made it 8 years! This one above is the newest version (6 vs 5 for the atomic time keeping) and has a screw-in caseback.

Get the G-Shock you want. They're worth it.

 

[WebSnyper]

I just got this G-Shock today. It's this one AWGM100-1A - Classic - Mens Watches | Casio - G-Shock I got it at Kohls. They had them for 25% off the MSRP, and then I had a 30% coupon in addition and got $10 Kohl's cash as well.

They only had a couple of Analog G-shocks, and this was the one I liked best. I was looking for the blacked out version of this, but glad I got this one. It did not have the features description on it at Kohl's so I actually bought it without knowing all the features, but it has the features I was after. Solar, Atomic, auto backlight, etc.

 

[chezuki]

I just got this G-Shock today. It's this one AWGM100-1A - Classic - Mens Watches | Casio - G-Shock I got it at Kohls. They had them for 25% off the MSRP, and then I had a 30% coupon in addition and got $10 Kohl's cash as well.



They only had a couple of Analog G-shocks, and this was the one I liked best. I was looking for the blacked out version of this, but glad I got this one. It did not have the features description on it at Kohl's so I actually bought it without knowing all the features, but it has the features I was after. Solar, Atomic, auto backlight, etc.

Did Kohl's not have the blacked out version? That's the exact watch I'm looking for except I want the all black one. I guess I could still go check it out in person and order the black one.

 

[Sylvain]

I just got this G-Shock today. It's this one AWGM100-1A - Classic - Mens Watches | Casio - G-Shock I got it at Kohls. They had them for 25% off the MSRP, and then I had a 30% coupon in addition and got $10 Kohl's cash as well.

They only had a couple of Analog G-shocks, and this was the one I liked best. I was looking for the blacked out version of this, but glad I got this one. It did not have the features description on it at Kohl's so I actually bought it without knowing all the features, but it has the features I was after. Solar, Atomic, auto backlight, etc.

INGO approved watch!

 

[WebSnyper]

Did Kohl's not have the blacked out version? That's the exact watch I'm looking for except I want the all black one. I guess I could still go check it out in person and order the black one.

They did not. I checked 2 stores. I got this for $78 and change, before tax, and after sale and coupon, so went ahead and jumped on it. I've also got $10 in Kohl's cash to spend later. I think I will actually like this one better for being able to see it, but would have preferred the blacked out version myself for style purposes.