Customer Reviews

Casio Men's AW80-1AV Forester Ana-Digi Databank 10-Year Battery Watch

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(15)

 

 

I purchased this watch for work and exercising and after using it for a day I'd say it performs admirably; one certainly cannot complain about the price. Shipping wasn't particularly cheap, but Fed Ex 2 day never is. Stopwatch and timer functions work perfectly, but appear limited to 23:59:59 at max. The daylight savings toggle is handy, and Casio allows a one or two button combination to rapidly set the analog dial in increments of about twenty seconds. The alarm is moderately loud, on par with every other Casio I've used. 30 cities to choose from for world time is a nice bonus if you care.

Some annoyances:

The 'illuminator' light ring is VERY poorly designed and appears to consist of two yellow LEDs embedded in a clear plastic ring under the outside edge of the 'crystal'. When in use, analog time is just visible but the recessed LCD screen is totally unusable. If low-light or nighttime use of the stopwatch or timer is important to you buy something with an electroluminescent face instead of this.

The 30 entry data bank function is probably very handy in a pinch, but entering letters and numbers by using the two watch buttons is incredibly slow. Use your cell phone or a little black book.

The numbers on the outside of the dial are redundant with the ticks on the inside of the dial. One or the other would be preferable for aesthetic reasons.

The battery will probably not last nearly ten years if the analog time is adjusted often or the 'illuminator' is used too often.

I prefer leather bands over resin, but that can always be swapped out at a drug store or mega mart.

The 'crystal' of this watch is in fact made out of plastic, which causes it to become marred and scratched nearly as soon as it's removed from the containing box. The backlight is almost totally worthless and the databank function is unusable with a total of four buttons. The analog dial does not even feature a second hand.
Avoid.

It's a good product at a good price, but I don't know why it was billed as a thermometer watch when it has no thermometer. A Casio watch I ealier owned actually had a thermometer. Also the count-down timer has no alarm, which seems unusual. But these problems are not so substantial that I want to return the watch.

If you have the least bit of active lifestyle - and by active, I mean that you move around the house, probably step out once or twice a dayhea into public spaces - then avoid this watch.

The glass scratches very very quickly, in fact so quickly that I am a little stunned. I've worn watches for the past 20 years, and I had a much more active lifestyle as a student for a majority of those years. I was active in sports and theater, and I've never had a watch scratch as quickly as this one. What is the glass made of? Why do I keep calling it glass, when it is clearly cheap plastic.

I asked Casio how much they would take to repair this $18 watch. They said $12 to change the glass, and $9 to ship it back to me.

great for my workouts and casual outings. many compliments from friends. Subtle styling and great functionality

This is the best watch I have found for traveling.
1. Dual time display with your choice of global cities.
2. Three alarms for those hotels without an alarm clock.
3. High contrast hands and dial- read it at a glance.
4. Looks better than most Casios that are cluttered up with labels and logos, but not shiny enough to garner unwanted attention in the bad part of town.
5. There is so little metal in this watch that you don't need to take it off to go through the airport metal detector. It won't set it off!
6. Cheap enough that you won't cry if it's lost or stolen.

I take off one star for the poorly designed backlight that others have mentioned. And here's a tip: to make the band last longer, don't ever wear it in the shower. Soap makes the resin brittle and it will crack.

I've long been a fan of casio watches - they're the prefect mix of affordability, quality and durability. I bought this watch to replace my prior casio which after about 7 years had a scratched up crystal and two of the buttons were becoming too difficult to push (one of which was the light).

This watch was very easy to program, and had all the features I wanted. The digital numbers are easy to read, multiple alarms, world times for different cities are a nice feature (we have friends in Europe, and it's always nice to know the time over there prior to calling).

As other reviewers have noted, you cannot see the digital output when you use the light in the dark...you can see the digital numbers on my timex explorer, but you still can't do anything with the digital programming while you're holding down the light button on the timex...so I really don't see this as a problem with the casio. All I ever want to do at night it simply check the time, and the light allows you to read the hands perfectly.

One note on the "notes/memo" function on this watch...I think it's a vestige from the days before cell phones and PDAs. I can't imagine taking the time to program in someone's phone number or a note about something...much easier to do that on my Blackberry. Still, it's there if anyone wants to use it.

As I mentioned earlier in this review, I have a timex expedition which is a digital/analog watch that I never use. If you're curious why I don't use it, it's because the thing is heavy and the ticking sound is too loud and keeps me from wearing the watch at night. I actually use the watch alarm as my daily alarm - it's loud enough to wake me up while not disturbing my wife. However, with the timex, neither of us can get to sleep with that loud, annoying, ticking sound.

The casio is silent, and it's light - almost like not wearing a watch at all. Both of these are huge pluses in my opinion.

Finally, I think this is a nice looking watch. Not gaudy - one I can wear to work or as a casual watch.

With a timer, stopwatch, 4 alarms *and* a "snooze" alarm this would be a nice, full featured watch. But, add to that list multiple time-zones, daylight saving time switch *and* both analog and digital faces and you have a fantastic watch.

Likes: averaged size watch face, not HUGE, but not small, it looks good enough to be worn dressy or while roughing it. Multiple alarms is a necessity for me.

Dislikes: some functions only work in one direction. For example, if you are setting the analog face, the arms only move forward, so if you pass up the correct time, you need to go through another 12 hours of settings. Same thing for multiple time-zones, if you pass up the time-zone you want you'll need to circle the earth one more time. Not hugely a problem, just not convenient.

When the band on my old Casio watch broke and I couldn't find a replacement, I decided to get a new watch. This particular model looked interesting, as it generally has an analog appearance, but also has an LCD window big enough to display a couple of lines. Unlike some similar looking analog/digital models, this one displays all of the hour numbers on the dial face. The LCD has the capability for several functions, including basic time, alarm, countdown timer, stopwatch, and world time. The analog/digital layout works pretty well, and the display is easy to read about 75% of the time. The other 25% the hands of the watch partially block the view of the LCD.

The hands have a luminous stripe, that doesn't glow very brightly, so it's good that there is also internal lighting. It does an adequate job of lighting the dial face, but the LCD display itself is not illuminated, and is invisible in the dark. The buttons are large, and fairly easy to operate. Hopefully they won't stick later on. The silver painted case looks nice new, but will undoubtedly get dull and wear away under normal use. The resin watch band is very comfortable, but rather thin. The odds are the band will probably crack before the watch fails, so treat the watch gently when it is not being worn, as getting a replacement band might be a problem. Having a battery that lasts ten years is great, but these kinds of watches are not designed to last that long under normal use.

This watch is called a 'databank', because in the 'telememo' mode, you can store names and phone numbers in the watch. As most people usually store numbers in their cellphone, this feature seems pretty useless. This model is available in different color schemes, and even with a metal band, so you can choose the one you like best. It is lightweight, not too expensive, and fairly sharp looking, although you can't see the LCD all the time.

As far as bang for the buck goes, this watch is a good value IMO. Besides having all the basic functions you would expect the tele memo & world time functions are a bonus. To top it all off it looks pretty nice and would probably look good with a black leather band if you wanted to put one on it.