Customer Reviews

Casio Men's GW300A-2V G-Shock Atomic Tough Solar Watch

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Casio makes watches that, decades ago, you could only dream about. This is one of them.

Imagine a watch that keeps perfect time....forever. Accurately. (Isn't accuracy the most important aspect of a watch?)

I have to admit it. I am a watch nut. Rolex, Movado and a whole bunch of Seikos and Casios. Yet this is the one I wear most of the time. The reasons are simple: spot-on accuracy, light weight, full features, and a good size.

So what's not to like? If you live on the East Coast (I live in NYC), you can't set it manually whenever you want. The time-setting transmitter is in Fort Collins, Colorado, and NYC is close to the extreme outer range for setting this watch at night (which it will do almost every time) but in daylight hours, forget about it. The problem is not with the watch, but with my location, so far from the transmitter.

Fortunately, the watch is extremely accurate, gaining or losing no more than half a second a day.

One of my favorite features is that there is an indicator on the face of it that shows whether or not the watch has reset itself during the previous night.

If you are as anal about time as I am, you will put the watch on a window sill at night (in NYC, that means facing West toward Colorado) for perfect time. Otherwise, you can do it every week or two, knowing your watch won't be off by more than a few seconds.

Buying this watch is one of the easiest decisions you will ever make.

I have been wanting a G-Shock Solar Atomic watch for a long time and finally Amazon had it on sale for a good price and I grabbed one. I really like this watch. I was concerned that it would be noticeably heavy and bulky but it hasnt been a problem. I have always worn my watches backwards on my wrist, with the crystal on the inside of my wrist. Wearing it frontwise I dont think it would be too high.

The buttons are quite recessed and not easily accessible. They are made that way to protect the watch but you cant easily use the stopwatch function. Its not a problem for me, I just want a watch that is accurate, durable, and never needs batteries. Once you get an atomic watch its a good feeling to know that you have the EXACT time and it will never need resetting, unless you change time zones.

I live in Michigan and havent had a problem getting a good time sych.

The biggest drawback is the included manual...very small and difficult to read. All watches seem to have gone to very small manuals with small print. Download a copy of the manual that is online, makes it a lot easier.

I would recommend this watch.

I purchased this watch in hopes I wouldn't ever have to call the Naval Observatory for a time hack again. I have to say that it does keep perfect time... as long as you get a hack every week or so. As far as the atomic clocks are concerned, if they don't get a good signal the time ends up off by quite a bit after a week or two (I saw the year 2009 on one of the clocks in the briefing rooms this morning), so make sure you are getting a good hack. It takes one at 3:03, 4:03, and 5:03 am and chooses the best one. Unlike the guy in NYC, I live in Phoenix, which isn't that far from the transmitter in CO, but I still have to put it in the window sill every night. Don't let me dissuade you, though. It's an outstanding watch with great features (including an autolight which will automatically turn on the backlight when you turn your wrist in the dark if you select it to do so). I highly recommend it.

I bought this for my husband for father's day. He loves the watch and all its features. One bit of caution... the wristband is blue not black. It is hard to discern from the picture. My husband is keeping the watch, but now he has asked for a black one for Christmas.

Like most guys, I love toys and gadgets. I got the urge to buy an atomic solar watch and have been looking at them for quite awhile. I ended up ordering the black version of this watch but it was out of stock and wouldn't ship till the end of November. Then the blue one came up in my Gold Box one morning so I ordered it and cancelled the black. I figured the blue would set the watch apart as something unique.

I won't go through the myriad of features that this watch has since they've been covered by other reviewers. Suffice it to say it has enough features to satisfy the most demanding techo-geek.

The watch arrived and I was very pleased to take it out of the box and find it showing the correct time. I don't know if NYC is the default city or if someone sets these watches, but it came set for NYC and for Daylight Savings Time. I didn't have to adjust a thing. The battery was showing Medium. I did turn on the automatic back light feature, but after seeing how often it came on, I turned it back off.

My main concern with this watch was whether or not I could receive the radio signals from Ft. Collins, CO. since I'm in the boonies of upstate NY. When I took the watch out of the box it showed that it had last received a signal on Sept. 22. I received it on the 27th. That night I left it on the window sill next to my bed and, sure enough, it received the signal at 5:03 AM. It has received the signal each morning at 5:03 AM since I've owned it with the exception of one night when I tried leaving it on the nightstand. It was only about 6 inches from the window sill but apparently that's enough to make a difference.

This watch seems to really love natural sunlight. I've worn it under bright flourescent lights at work all day and I've set it under an incandescent lamp for hours at a time but the battery meter would not go to High. We finally got a sunny day and I wore it outside and in no time the battery moved to High. It slipped back to Medium as soon as I went back inside. We're approaching winter here so I'm a little concerned about having opportunities to be in the sun. I'm hoping that if I can get it solidly into High that the ambient light will be able to maintain it.

The watch is attractive although a little thick. But if you've had any kind of alarm chronograph it's really not any bigger. It has a ton of features and they all work as advertised. If you want to always know the exact time, not have to fiddle with time setting or Daylight Savings Time, Leap Year, or changing batteries (hopefully), then this watch is for you. It's a lot of bang for the buck.

*** ADDED *** We finally had a sunny day and I sat the watch on a table where the sun was hitting it and left it there a couple of hours. The battery meter went to High and has stayed there ever since.

Its a great product and its easy at night as well. Its a great watch under $45. The only thing i don't like is color combination (gray-blue and sky-blue). It has great features but you got to keep its manual.

Just adding few words on it. It was a great watch that I loved with every aspect but I just lost it few days back (in April 2010). It was working perfectly and the only maintenance was to wash it in a timely manner to protect its band.

This ia a superb watch in every way. Mine attempts to update the time at 2AM, 3AM, 4AM and 5AM local time when you have set your correct time zone. I wear the watch at all times except when bathing. You can update the time anytime by pressing the correct series of buttons. Keep the watch reasonably stationary during the update process.

Visiting our children and grandchildren we range from Seattle,WA to Harrisburg,PA to Austin,TX. No problems anywhere. That's pretty sensational for a watch.

For the watch to reset the time it must have a reasonably conductor-free view toward the Bureau of Standards at Ft. Collins, CO. Your body conducts well enough to ground out the radiofrequency time signal. If the watch is under your body, the signal can't get through. Otherwise, no problems. I would expect interference from massive buildings. Ordinary houses pose no problems.

But let's be reasonable, the watch is specified to lose or gain no more than 1/2 second per day. If it doesn't reset for a week, the time may be in error by as much as 3 1/2 seconds. Big deal!

The day I bought the watch I sat it in a small water glass looking up and fully charged it by illuminating it for 6 hours with a 60 watt light 2 feet away. It has remained at full charge since with just ordinary wear.

Its been almost a year now. And, the watch is still in excellent shape.
One feature I like most- Solar powered. Watch is fully charged under the sun for about 20 minutes.

Pro:
1..Time sync with atomic clock.
The time is the same with my work's clock, so it's accurate to know when a particular program script has run.
2..Impact resistance
I have a tendency of banging my watch around without knowing. Any other good watch would have several scratches on them, and this watch is impact resistance to meet my unintentional abuse.
3..Solar power with meter to show battery status.
I occasionally wears a watch that has a dead battery without knowing.
With a battery meter, and solar panel charging, this would not be my worry any longer. At least I know when the battery will die ahead of time.
4..Transmission Receiving Indicator.
This indicator shows if the time-sync-transmission was completed early in the morning. It would attempt to sync 3 times (1AM, 2AM, and 3AM).
5..2nd Time zone clock-great for travel.
I live on the East Coast and do travel to Midwest occasionally, instead of switching the time from EST to CST back and forth, I just press the button once to get to the 2nd time zone.

Con:
1..Wrest bend
Dislike the bend... looks like it's custom made for this watch, maybe difficult to replace in the future.
2..Signal strength:
On the New England area, the strength of transmission is not the best, may only receive 2-3 time a week pending on weather. (It's not all bad).

This watch does everything that I was told it could do, it is very tough, adn always keeps accurate time with the satalite link up....No complaints