Customer Reviews

Pulsar Men's PM7001 Tech Gear Flight Computer Watch

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

With the demise of my Philip Starck watch (surpisingly fragile for a stainless), I was in need of a solid watch for around $100 or less. My only requirements were that it be analog and have a countdown timer (a must-have for someone who cooks a lot, particularly around the barbecue). I looked at the Casio Solar Atomic, but didn't like the blue steel look. I'd had Casios before, and the huge rubber ones looked a little too toy-like. I was considering a Pulsar Diver watch, but it lacked a countdown timer, but was on sale for $48. But before I could buy it, the price went up to almost $70. The Citizen watches had analog and countdown timers, but the least expensive was around $200. Then I spotted the Tech Gear watches.

I'm a fan of Seiko watches, but could never afford one. Since the Pulsars are entry-level Seikos, I figured the quality would be on par. This model had the analog face as well as a digital digital world clock and the countdown timer I needed. The sliderule face looked like a fun piece of obsolete technology but the $104 price sealed the deal.

This watch is heavy and as the other reviewer noted, it screams durability. I'm the clumsy type (banging into walls and doorways, slamming wrists on desks while typing) so the solid construction is a must. The wristband looked like it could fit a gorilla, so I went to work with a thumbtack to remove 4 of the links, and it fit just right. After programming the analog clock and the digital one to the right timezone, I was set.

A couple of issues. Getting the A button to engage (holding for 2-3 seconds) to switch from alarm/countdown/lap timer can be frustrating. The backlight is fairly dim (if you're used to the bright blue of the Casios, you might have trouble reading this). And the analog hands occasionally obscure the digital info in the background. Other than that, if you want a solid stainless pilot's watch with world clock functions AND a sliderule computer and don't want to spend $200 for a Citizen or $400 for a Seiko, this Pulsar will get the job done.

***UPDATE***
The price drop to $80 makes this a steal. Highly recommended at that price.

I'll go straight to the points, as other reviews give you great overall picture.

Pros:
1. Good price - Especially considering sturdiness and function.
2. World city codes - Displays different time zone, including UTC.
3. E6B - I honestly doubt general users will ever (try to) use this except on the first day, but it does have an E6B
4. Easy-to-read analog hands - Easily recognizable under low light
5. Smart one-time alarm - It starts from the next minute and forward (if it's 10:10 now, setup display starts from 10:11. A real time-saver.)


Cons:
1. Ridiculous alarm volume - Only way to hear the alarm sound is to prepare the watch near your ear shortly before the time. It makes hourly chime, two alarms, timer function virtually useless... unless you are alone in home office perhaps. My biggest disappointment. It took a star off on this review.
2. Can't setup a DST info into a specific city - Example. My home city is Seattle with DST during summer. While working I set UTC on display. Problem - I need to unselect DST and vice versa per each zone switching. I forget, then it's one hour off. At least they could have set DST option inapplicable to UTC. There's no DST for UTC!!!
3. Unable to keep city code on display - It shows month, day, or day of week only for normal display. City code shows up only during setup.
4. EB6 is not complete - No time axis here. But perhaps it won't matter for most users, including me.
5. Backlight too short - It brightens for only 2 seconds. Maybe enough to read time but not for alarm setup, etc.

Verdict:
1. I almost refunded this watch due to con #1. Upon hearing the alarm sound, my initial thought was wow-there-must-be-some-kind-of-alarm-volume-control. Of course there was none.
2. I change city setting about 4-6 times a day. DST on/off mistake can be costly (for my work at airport). Users like me would have liked individual DST setting per city. At least no DST override for UTC, for Greenwich's sake!
3. Then why am I wearing it? It's pro #1 and #2 - price and world city codes. In this price range, a function-rich watch in sturdy case is a rarity. Pro #4 is a definite plus, too. I decided these outweighs cons #1 and #2.

Advice:
1. Alarm sound can be a big issue. It's just not audible.
2. Those with X-man ears will appreciate the smart one-time alarm setup.
3. After all, the price may justify this flaw.
4. No buy if alarm function is critical to you.
5. No buy if you need/want full scale E6B.
6. Go buy if 4 and 5 don't bother you. At this price, it IS a steal deal.

Bought this one after trying on the Citizen Skyhawk. Its much cheaper, and has features that I would use more: Larger digital displays and a backlight.

On a functional level, the only complaint is that the digital and analog displays drift in sync.

Also, dont know if its just my watch, but the metal band squeaks pretty often and is getting annoying.

Over all, this is a keeper.

This 7001 watch is a good size watch, quite sturdy and/but heavy.
It does look funky cool with a curved glass.

The analog and digital parts have no connection at all, so all the time zone, stop watch, alarm etc. are all digital functions.
Digital read out is not that clear (hard to read at certain angles). Backlight is kind of dim and alarm is not loud (don't use it as the alarm clock).
For the date /day function, you can only select either the month or day or date. The resolution of the dot matrix display (top) is kind of low quality.
Bracelet is sturdy, edge is smooth.
Made in China.

Quality is not up to the seiko ana-digi standard but it is good quaility for the price (especially I paid $80 delivered). .

Not perfect, but good watch for the money.
I am happy with the purchase.

I just received the Pulsar PM7001 Tech Gear watch from Amazon.com and it's going back. I was looking for a dual time zone watch since I will be traveling alot for business and thought the PM7001 had the right features for a reasonable price. I expected a certain level of quality from Seiko/Pulsar. Here's what I found:
My biggest issue is with the readability of the digital display, or rather, the lack thereof. It's almost unreadable in any lighting situation. Ironically, you can see the display best when it's completely dark and the backlight is used. Unfortunatley the backlight is relatively weak, so it doesn't help in just dim lighting situations. The images on the web site show a display with very good contrast, unfortunately the contrast is poor in real life. I really feel Pulsar, and anyone else that shows those web images, is misleading potential buyers. Having the "reverse LCD" characters on a black background aggravates the problem. Things are made worse if you try looking at the watch with polarized sunglasses.

More minor issues that make the watch seem lower quality:

The quality of the black finish on the center bracelet links is questionable. It appears to be painted on, and only on the top surface. The finish doesn't cover the entire link, and so you see the stainless steel on the edges. The only black finish on the inner edges of the link is whatever drips down during application.

The digital display and analog display don't track - the second hand and the digital seconds counter don't show the same values.

The movement of the seconds hand is not aligned with the markings on the dial, which, in my opinion, detracts from the perceived quality of the watch.

The plastic buttons and crown make the overall watch look cheap.

Although I'm not a pilot and don't intend to use the rotating bezel to calculate anything, apparently Pulsar doesn't expect anyone to, since it's not mentioned in the owner's manual (although it is downloadable from pulsar's website).

Also, the watch is very heavy and thick (about 14mm).

Hopefully this review will help anyone considering the PM7001. It probably keeps decent time, and it has alot of good features, but, in my opinion, it just doesn't measure up to the quality I expected for a watch of this price.

I'm an Air Force transport pilot and own several worldtime/chronographs. I thought this would be a sturdy, inexpensive addition to my collection, but I'm returning it. It's practically impossible to read in any lighting condition. There is no easy way to cycle through and display different city times. Also, the most ridiculous feature is that daylight savings time correction is applied to all time zones at once including UTC! Hence, making the watch's worldtime feature inaccurate half of the year. Pulsar has the potential for a good watch, but until the digital programming and lighting is fixed - don't buy this model!

I liked this watch from the get go. It's great looking and has a nice feel to it. Is it heavier than alot of watches out there? yes. Am I leaning to one side because of the weight? no. As for the ease of use I had no problem at all. The manual walks you through everything, and as long as you can read there should be no problem. Others reported having problems with the back lighting and alarm volume. I can honestly say that I don't agree. I can see everything with a push of the button. The alarm isn't that loud but then again, I don't plan on using any watch for an alarm clock

Sent it back. Main reason: digital display is only visible lit up in the dark. Photography in the ad made it looked great, but it isn't practical in normal lighting. Also, has a standard battery with 2 years life expectancy quoted, I believe. These days, and for the price and quality of this watch, I expect much longer, up to 10 years.

This is a great little watch for the price range. As much as I would love to drop $5K+ on a Breitling that does the same thing as this watch, for the price, this watch gives you everything you need and more. Besides, with avgas prices, I'd rather use that extra money for flight time. Anyway, I digress...This is a good solid watch with some hefty weight to it that cries out durability. The most important feature of this watch is the E6-B on the bezel, which is a must-have for any pilot's watch. It took only a little bit of getting used to how the E6-B is arranged on this watch, but it doesn't take much to adapt. The only drawback, if you want to call it that, is where we would be used to seeing times expressed in hours and minutes along the innermost ring, it's absent on this watch. But that's really no big deal. One the goodies in this watch includes having all the world's timezones, whereas with analog pilot's watches you can only have maybe one or two other timezones displayed. I have mine always showing UTC underneith the local time analog hands. It has the chronograph, timer, one alarm, and calendar included. It's not the most expensive watch in the world, and it won't break your budget. I tend to be rather hard on my watches, so having something really durable is a must-have. It IS a big watch, so small-wristers be aware. It's also a HEAVY watch. It's stainless steel casing and everything that's packed into it gives it a good heft, and you can definitely feel the weight on your wrist.

This is an expensive looking watch for under $80. I will agree with some of the other reviews that it is heavy. If that is a problem then you should keep looking. The diameter of the dial face is also on the large side. I found the directions to be refreshingly straightforward though. I would buy again!