Customer Reviews

Casio Men's PAW1500T-7V Pathfinder Multi-Band Solar Atomic Ultimate Watch

5 star:		(48)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've owned a lot of great watches over my 30 years of adulthood -- from inexpensive Timexes to my beloved Movado -- but THIS ONE is SOMETHING SPECIAL! Why "special"? Because, simply, it does everything it is advertised to do; and it does well, and with a touch of class!

Casio obviously put a lot of thought into the design of this watch and its features. The digital compass is the snappiest and most accurate I have found in a watch. The altimeter is a gem....accurate to within 5 meters (or about 20 feet). The barometer is quite sensitive and the trend graph on the watch face has proven to be very useful. The thermometer works great and, if kept a short distance from the warming effects of the skin, is very accurate and sensitive. The atomic clock update works like a charm here in Virginia.....takes about 3 minutes for an accurate "fix" each night. The motion sensor that turns on the face light in dark areas when you tilt the watch towards your face is terrific....especially in a dark car when you can't take your hands off the wheel to check the time....but the watch face lights up as you tilt your arm towards your face. Now how cool is that????!!!!

A couple of lessons learned since I brought this gem home: READ the owner's manual! Yes, it's complex and will take a couple of hours to go through carefully....but it will save you endless frustration and will tailor this watch exactly to your own needs and desires. It's a VERY complex watch.....but once you get it set up (ie, power-use modes; metric or English measurements; tides set to your beach, etc....), it becomes an incredibly useful tool that you will be consulting frequently throught each day and night.

A second lesson learned: follow the instructions and CAREFULLY calibrate your "reference altitude" and the barometer. The best instructions for doing this, in tandem, and taking into account ambient temperature, is critical and is well-laid out towards the END of the instruction manual....in the "Reference" section. Accurate calibration of the altimeter and the barometer are dependent on the ambient temperature....so read those instructions....they are well-written and take you step-by-step through the short process.

This watch may look big.....but it's not as big as some other watches I have owned. It's thinner than the G-Shocks.....and sits on my very lean wrist quite nicely. The watch is designed to be worn OUTSIDE long-sleeve clothing to allow proper charging of the solar battery....and be most useful as a reference instrument! When wearing short-sleeve shirts or T-s, I put a 1" sports wristband on my wrist first....then put the watch over it. Works like a champ.....and tends to keep the thermometer, barometer, altimeter a whole lot more accurate with the slight seperation from body temperature. (I use the Under Armour 1" Performance Wristbands under the watch.....and they disappear beneath the watch...but allow the watch to sit very confortably and securely on your wrist....yet not add any significant "bulk." You can find them here at Amazon (good price!) and in sporting goods stores.)

Bottom line: if you enjoy cutting-edge technical gadgets that work REAL WELL.....AND serve a very useful purpose.....AND enjoy top-notch quality......AND great support from the folks at Casio (check out their website!).....this is the watch for you. It's gem!

I wasn't really in the market for another watch, but when my son, the Marine, told me he had a Casio G-Shock he loved I, naturally, went to Amazon.com and started looking into what Casio had to offer. I'm old enough to remember when Casio put out its first LCD watches back when the tuning fork Accutron was the cutting edge watch. I've owned several Casios over the years, and those were mostly of the lower end variety I used as scrub time pieces which I discarded like cheap sunglasses. Over the years I got away from the casio watches since they were mostly of the same watch face design with the familiar LCD screen which I grew bored with. BUT during those 'lost' years Casio really made great progress in their watch designs and cutting edge technologies which I discovered only recently to my joy. While looking through all that Casio offered and reading many of the reviews accompanying the different styles I came across this Pathfinder model 3134, and I was almost hooked until I saw that Amazon's price was way below what its MRSP price of $400 was - then I was sold. I really like the look of the watch; the many features it offers; the titanium band and bezel; the solar and atomic automatic calibrating of the time and battery functions; and the overall appearance. I ordered it, received it, and after adjusting the band to fit my wrist, fits on my arm like it was meant to be there. The directions are great for adjusting all the functions contained in the watch and recalibrating it to fit my area of the country - ie. the Southeast. The only thing I really had to change was all the measurements to English instead of metric as that's what I'm most familiar with. The only other adjustment/calibration I had to perform was the altimeter setting. All other calibrations weren't necessary as they all were reasonably accurate and within close proximity of what I was able to compare the measurements with. Since I'm not going to use it as stringently as some reviewers seem to want, it fits my every need excellently. Afterall, is it really necessary for the barometric pressure reading to exactely match that of what weather stations report since their reports usually have considerable time lags involved. The compass is right on the mark, the altimeter and temperature is very accurate as are the other measurements. In short, I love it!

About adjusting the titanium band: This is the only possible feature that may pose a temporary problem, but after thinking about it I had no trouble in adjusting the band. You don't really have to get a special tool or any complicated, specialized impliments to adjust this band as it's very easy once you've made the decision to do it yourself. Here's how I adjusted my band: First, look at the inside of the band's links and locate the arrows which indicate the direction the link pins need to be pushed out. Straighten one end of a small metal paperclip to use as a drift punch and grasp the paperclip with wirepliers so you can apply enough pressure on the pins to force them through the other side of the link. After the pins have been forced part way to the other side of the link, use the wirepliers to pull them the rest of the way out. There is a very small metal sleeve type of roll pin that is located on the inside of the inner area of each link. This roll pin sleeve is used as a holding mechanism that prevents the pin from working out of each link through movement and is an important element of the band's strength to stay intact. Be careful to watch for this sleeve to fall out and be prepared to put it back in the inner link when you're ready to put the metal link pin back. Remove the number of links needed for the band to fit your wrist and put the band back together. Walla! You're done!

This watch has about all the gimmicks you could want in a watch. Well, perhaps a GPS, heart rate monitor and MP3 player would be nice inclusions... However, it is solar-powered with a generous battery reserve and should never die with normal light exposure. I've never seen my battery level fall below H (high). It has a thermometer, barometer, altimeter, compass, moonphase indicator, tide chart, automatic synchronization with international atomic clock radio broadcasts and the standard multi-function watch stuff like stopwatch, world time, etc.

That's all fine and dandy, but let's face it, this is NOT a precise instrument.

The compass is surprisingly consistent, though I did have to calibrate it away from the factory preset initially. I feel this feature is the watch's strongest feature due to its accuracy and the fact that it could someday save your life. Still, it's not perfect. The compass display only lasts a few seconds, so you can't use it like a real compass.

The barometer also is quite consistent once calibrated, though I have seen errors of 2 hPa in either direction.

Thermometer is rather fickle if the watch is being worn on skin. I've noticed as much as 5 degrees Fahrenheit error in either direction. It's typically within 1 F degree either way. Have never verified the thermometer's accuracy when not being worn, so can't comment on that.

Altimeter gives decent approximation. I live at sea level and get readings as low as -10 meters and as high as 10 meters while at sea level. Typically it reads 0 or 5 meters. On a recent trip about 250 miles from home, with the watch calibrated at my home's sea level, I reached a peak altitude of 1195 meters, according to the watch. On my descent, I compared the watch's altitude reading with a posted USGS altitude sign. At 457.2 meters (1500 feet) the watch read a pretty consistent 420 meters.

The moonphase indicator is, of course, very accurate.

Tide charting leaves much to be desired. It calculates first high tide to within 20 minutes. Pretty good. However, this is the only actual high or low tide to be seen and to actually see the actual time, you must go into the Adjust mode. The actual graphing of the tides is sloppy and inaccurate. A dot-plotted chart like that used for the barometer should be incorporated. The 2-hour increments of the present graph also hinder true accuracy. Also, this mode ALWAYS defaults to showing tide at 6:00 am. This time can be adjusted manually each time you enter the mode, but the default time CANNOT be changed. Tide charting is the watch's weakest feature.

Rather disappointed with the atomic clock synchronization too. I live in HNL, one of the listed time zones that should be able to receive atomic calibration. Has not happened yet, after over a month. When I try to manually synchronize, I get a level 1 (low, but existent) signal indication, but no synchronization. Frustrating.

It's also a little disappointing that a "titanium" watch has a PLASTIC shell and stainless back and presumably a something-other-than-titanium case. The band does appear to be legitimate titanium but I wouldn't be surprised if it's titanium-plated aluminum or something. This watch, despite it's substantial bulkiness, is very light. My Citizen Eco-Drive Skyhawk, which is TRULY a titanium watch and is notably smaller, is noticeably heavier.

All in all, it's a cool watch. It's very stylish for a digital watch. It's comfortable. It's very durable. And you'll always have reasonable accuracy from any function (maybe not with tide charting), with a good compass. Worth the Amazon price, but not the suggested retail price.

This watch is awsome! As a boat captain, its functions are indispensable. The tides, moon and compass functions are great. Without adjustment, the tide function is accurate for my area on the gulf in Florida. I had an older model of the pathfinder that I thought was great, but this watch far exceeds my expectations. A must have watch if you fish or work on the water.

I like the watch overall, but I bought it because of the tide function.

When I called customer support (1800 435-7732 x5) they were very nice, but they told me that you have to reset the first high tide of every day that you want to check the tide. Basically, I'll need a tide chart to use their tide function.

I have reset the first high tide, and the tide function is usually within 1 to 2 hours behind the actual tide...this is much better than initially, when it was about 6 hrs behind the actual tide.

The compass feature is a bit weak also.
It disappears after a few seconds...it takes longer to settle down than it's displayed.
If you use the compass, you need to be stable.
It is better than nothing, but still, I don't understand why they didn't give it more display time.

I would not recommend buying this watch if all you want is the tide function.

But it is a great watch otherwise.
(the auto night light is cool, if I twist my wrist enough)

Since Amazon already explains all the features of the watch I am not going to be redundant, instead I will try to provide my opinion on the general functionality and value of this device.

Pros: The watch is very rugged and durable. It is solar powered so there isn't any worry about replacing the battery every two years. Although rather large in size, the watch is not heavy and does not look ridiculous or strange even on my small wrist. It has a ton of features that work pretty much as advertised and could be very helpful depending on the activity.

Cons: Not a con per se, but more of a warning - some readings are somewhat inaccurate; altimeter's margin of error is +/- 100 meters, thermometer's margin of error is +/- 4C (while not on the wrist), barometer's margin of error is +/- 15 hPa. I have not yet been able to receive a signal to sync with the atomic clock and I have tried everything the manual mentioned. The compass can be accessed only for 15 seconds after which you have to keep pressing the button to access it again. I suspect this is due to battery life issues.

Overall: I wish I had the option to give it 4.5 stars; however Amazon does not allow it. My .5 reduction is for not being able to sync with the atomic clock, which is a rather important feature of the watch. As far as slight measurement inaccuracies, I am not deducting any points for that since one cannot honestly expect a $260 wrist device to provide 100% accurate measurements on pressure, temperature and altitude. Basically, the watch is exactly what it claims to be, no more, no less and I think it's fairly priced for everything that it offers, I definitely recommend it.

This watch has exceeded my expectations. I did a WHOLE LOT of research on watches before I decided on this one. And I do not regret it for a second. The watch has served me at work, in the ocean, and in the wilderness. The time is dead on due to the updates (checked it against an atomic clock, less that 1/16 of a second off) i live on the west coast and the tide charts and moon charts are spot on. Also the compass, altimeter, and barometer are fairly accurate.(I checked all these features against other professional equipment). If you are of reasonable intelligence this watch is fairly easy to operate. One piece of advice though, study your instruction manual!!!!!

I just got around to figuring out the alarm. I set it a few times to go off within 5 minutes but nothing happened. I finally was determined to get this thing to work so I kept on trying till eventually I set it and held it next to my ear. With the watch 3 inches from my ear the alarm was so low in volume I could barely hear it.

If you are watching TV or driving in your car with the radio on the watch alarm in impossible to hear.

I don't know if they are all this low in volume but even though the alarm is not the main reason I bought this watch if I spend $240 on a watch I want all advertised features to work.

I love this watch and hate to send it back but I want an alarm that I can hear.

I have had 4 pathfinders. Over the course of 5 deployments to the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates the bands always take a beating secondary to low humidity and large amounts of dust. I also never took them off so they had to deal with iintermittent dampness from the shower.

The titanium band is comfy, and I know I will never have to replace the band, plus I like the solar power since the regular pathfinder takes 6 batteries when it's time to replace them.

Very pleased.

TV

The review below on the key features of this watch is comprehensive so I will not cover this.

I initially had trouble when removing links from the watch as in addition to the Pin there is also an inner "locking" collar about 2mm long that fits into the center section of each link.

I did not notice this collar at first and it fell to the ground when I removed the first link. Without this piece the Pin's will just slide through the links with no locking mechanism.

I do a lot of outdoors activities and this is a great watch for them.