Customer Reviews

Casio Men's G-Shock Watch GW810D-1V

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

 

 

FAVORITE FEATURES OF MY NEW WATCH

I had done a lot of comparison shopping for digital watches on Amazon and determined that this watch had all the features I wanted: digital display, metal watchband, atomic timekeeping with 5 radio bands, solar-powered rechargeable battery, count-down timer, and snooze alarm. It even has some things I hadn't thought of but really like. For example, in dim lighting, the pastel green backlight turns on automatically when you tilt the watch towards you to check the time. In addition, the watch can automatically adjust for Daylight Saving Time by receiving up-to-date DST information over the airwaves! This will come in handy in case the US government decides to change the start and stop dates of DST (again).

Here is the most important (and coolest) feature by far: The watch can set itself automatically by synchronizing with an atomic clock. It does this by tuning in to a radio signal -- on any one of 5 different frequency bands, no less. When in receive mode, the watch displays the strength of the radio signal so that you can move the watch to the location with the best reception. Moving the watch near a window, like the instructions say, really does make a difference. The watch will tell you the date, time, and frequency band of the last successful synchronization so that you know the time is accurate.


COMPARISON WITH MY OLD CASIO WATCH

My previous watch was a Casio TS-100 with digital thermometer, which still works just fine after years and years of continual use. With my old watch, I went through any number of plastic bands before I finally got a good leather band, which has lasted much longer; however, the metal band on my new watch can be cleaned a lot more easily than a leather band, and I think it makes the watch look better, too.

The main thing I don't like about my old watch is that it gains over a period of time, and I often find it is a couple of minutes fast by the time I am ready to reset it again. I don't like the feeling of looking at my watch and wondering, "What time is it really?" With my new Casio GW-810D watch, I know it will be accurate to the second every time I look at it, thanks to the automatic synchronization with the atomic clock.

Also, when using my old watch to wake myself up at 5 AM for work, I had to set four separate alarms, which was very tedious. With the new watch, I can set one alarm and turn on the snooze feature to achieve the same effect. The new watch is actually more effective because the snooze alarm will go off once every 5 minutes for half an hour -- that's like having 7 alarms to wake yourself up!

Many of the functions of my new watch work exactly the same as the functions on my old watch, which made learning to use the new watch faster and easier. The instruction manual is well-organized and generally clear; however, there is one thing conspicuously missing from the instructions: how to adjust the metal watchband!


ADJUSTING THE METAL WATCHBAND

It took a lot of fiddling around with a very thin hex wrench and a small eyeglasses screwdriver, but I finally figured out how to remove links from my watchband. Most of the links do not have any side holes which would allow you to insert a suitable tool to compress the pin. Instead, you have to hold a small jeweler's screwdriver perpendicular to the pin, fit the edge of the screwdriver into a tiny groove near one end of the pin, and then move the screwdriver parallel to the pin to compress the pin and remove the link.

After some trial and error, I determined how to divide up the remaining links so that both the watch and the clasp landed in the right places on my wrist. The biggest surprise was that the two chains of links coming off the watch needed to be of different lengths for everything to sit properly -- but now it fits comfortably and it looks really good. If you don't want go through all this to adjust the metal band, you can take the watch to a jewelery store.


SUMMARY

I love Casio watches, and this one could easily be the last watch I will ever need. This watch is both highly functional and very attractive -- it qualifies as jewelry, in my opinion. I expect to enjoy my new watch for many years to come. I enthusiastically recommend this watch to any man who wants a well-designed, good-looking digital watch with lots of truly useful features.


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I want to thank my brother for giving me this watch a a gift. It was an excellent choice, if I do say so myself! :-)

Only had it for two days and the first impression is positive, although there are a couuple of nits to pick.

Likes:
-Good looking, high tech looking without being overwhelming
-Solar power is cool - I like the idea of not having to change the battery and ruin the water resistance.
-Atomic time calibration is really cool - now that I have radio calibrated clocks in my home and my classroom (I'm a teacher), it is nice to have a watch that keeps up with them. When I took it out of the box it was about three minutes fast and indicated that its last calibration was almost six months earlier. I manually calibrated it, which worked fine. Then that night it auto calibrated, while sitting on the night stand.
-Five alarms, countdown timer, and light features. I have worn a series of Timex Ironman watches for the last 15 years or so and generally been satisfied, although they always eventually failed when they lost their
water resistance and got moisture in them. I did pick up a Casio combo analog/digital 4 years ago that I really like but it only has one alarm, no countdown timer, and no light, all of which I must have, either for work or for camping with my scout troop.
-The metal band clasp that locks down is great - popping loose has always been my complaint with metal bands.

Dislikes:
-The black face with light readout is cool looking but kind of hard to read in anything less than bright ambient light situations.
-The EL light is very brief, I would like it to stay on a little longer. I know that this is a tradeoff to save power, a tradeoff necessary for the solar power feature.
-The alarms do not have a weekend/weekday feature. This may be the dealbreaker for me that relegates this watch to weekend and summer use. I use the alarms on weekdays to help me with my classroom schedule but I do not need or want the alarms going off on weekends. My last Timex Ironman had three alarms, one with snooze and all with weekday/weekend function. I may have to get another one of those to be my work watch.
-The alarm could be a bit louder.
-The buttons are a little difficult to press but I am hoping that that is the tradeoff for better water resistance than my Timex's have had.

I like it and will keep it. But my quest for the perfect watch will go on.

This really is a fine timepiece and am quite pleased with it overall.

The two most impressive features are the atomic clock and solar powered battery. I just can't say how great these two features are. I've worn it off and on during the day and it has stayed consistently charged at full capacity and it handled the daylight savings time change like a champ. No fuss, no muss. It just works.

The only thing that isn't quite like it appears on the picture here is that the non-lighted dial is difficult to read at some angles while in a dim room. The illumination feature lights for only 1.5 seconds and you can't seem to change that value which for me I'd like to see it set at 2 seconds. This makes me have to light it up twice sometimes if I want to see the time AND date. This is the only downside I've found, and this 4 star rating from me is really a 4.7, as everything else is just darn near perfect for what I want in a watch. It's definitely a step up from a sports watch stylistically, which makes for a more casual dress style that will work on or off the field. Also, the black dial does give it a distinctly 'different' look and people notice it, which adds to its value beyond mere functionality.

I'm truly pleased with my purchase.

Casio's have come a long way since the nerd watch I had back in high school with the built-in calculator and database. I bought this watch because I had seen good reviews for the G-Shock as a dive watch, but it is difficult to read under water and the back light functions for very brief interval. I've had it 6 months and am constantly having to put it under a light for long periods of time because it frequently reads low battery and never goes above a medium charge even when left under a bright desktop lamp for 60 hours. Customer support tells me I need to charge it for up to 120 hrs (less if sunlight) to achieve full charge and if that doesn't work I'll have to change the battery. Changing the battery would then void the water proof warranty, which is why I bought the watch in the first place. I bought mine on clearance at a JCPenney, so it may have been under the counter for a long time, but overall, I've been disappointed and would not recommend it, particularly as a dive watch.

Good

Water resistant to 200 M
Looks good
Always accurate with atomic feature
Automatic backlight on when tilted in poor lighting

Bad

Difficult to read in most conditions without backlight
Backlight time is very short - not variable
Solar battery doesn't hold full charge very long

Picked one of these up last week for a very good price and am so far satisfied. The other reviews which mention that the display is a bit difficult to read in low light are correct, however it is really not that bad. If you just tilt the watch a bit to catch any spare light, it is fine, or you could just press the button for the back light which works just fine.
Being up in Canada, and within the outer ring of the reception map, I had a bit of trouble the first time I tried to sync the time. However, I discovered that I just needed a clear night, and to do it late in the evening, and it worked just fine.
The solar power is great, looking forward to not having the replace the battery. I've also had bad luck in the past with my previous watches and changing the battery in regards to negating the water resistance.

I was really impressed with this watch. It is a great looking watch that has lived up well to its G-Shock name. I work around a lot of machinery and handle a lot of rough materials and this watch still looks brand new.
One thing i was worried about when buying this watch was the size of it. I have small wrists and i don't like huge, bulky watches. This one is perfect though, big enough to be tough, but doesn't look huge on me.
All of the features of the watch work great, the atomic time keeping is really nice.
All in all i really like this watch and would buy it again if given the choice.