november 19, 2005
I was scouting around for watches a while back and found the Fossil Wrist PDA. It is really cheap now because it did not sell well -- you can find the Abacus version for $49.99 at Amazon (and that includes free shipping!). The thing was huge since it had a full Palm OS 4.1 PDA crammed into it. It could HotSync and act like any other Palm device -- albeit with a tiny, tiny screen. What a fantastic watch at a fantastic price. But, I started to research and found that the stupid thing needed to be charged almost every night! I have already had enough with charging my Suunto n3 watch everyday, I don't want to do that again -- a watch should just run and run for a while without charging or having a battery swap. Also, from my research, I was finding that any Fossil watch is not the most durable, reliable, nor tough watch around -- a buddy of mine had experienced the build quality in person when his titanium Fossil watch's hour hand fell off after three months of usage.
I know a lot of people nowadays rely on their mobile phones for time. I mean, it is pretty nice since you always have your phone with you and it keeps good time -- and some even sync their time with the cell tower, giving accurate time no matter what. I know I carry my phone with me all the time, but never use it for time-keeping. It is kind of a hassle for me to take my phone out of its case, push the button to light up the external display, look at the time, then shove it back into the case. That's why I still like wearing a watch, it is very convenient.
With my appetite for a new watch whet, I went looking at my favourite brand of watches: Casio G-Shocks. I have a few G-Shocks in my mini-collection. The last G-Shock I purchased was a few years ago (back when I was still dating my wife). I got the G-Shock G-100 at the Manhattan Macy's. It is a great watch, I still continue to wear it and it continues to tell time. I have always wanted a watch that had this special combination: Atomic clock synchronization, solar powered and analog. I mean, doesn't that sound like the best combination? A watch that never needs to be charged and sets the time for itself? I looked on Casio's watch browser and found that there are quite a few G-Shocks that have this combination. They had a huge price range also. I was not looking for something especially fancy or expensive. I just wanted a tough, reliable watch that could sync with the atomic clock in Fort Collins, CO and be charged with light. With that in mind, I found the GW1500 series and to my surprise, in that series there was a black G-Shock with yellow accents! Of course, the black/yellow version was much harder to find than the more common black/red and blue/white versions (the black/red one can be found at Target!).
I looked all over the internet for the black/yellow version at a good price and found it at Great Timing (through their storefront on Amazon). The service was awesome from Great Timing and I would recommend them if you are looking for a watch. The watch finally arrived yesterday after some snafus. I have been playing with the watch ever since and really like it.
The watch itself is a lot like my G-100 in looks, size and weight. The face of the watch looks almost the same and is the same size. Here are my initial impressions of my new GW1500A-9V Atomic Solar G-Shock watch:
- Time sync works well. You do have to put the watch standing up with the back facing a window for best reception. It synchronizes four times a night at midnight, 2am, 3am and 4am. If none of those get a time, then it will try one last time at 5am. Mine got all four last night.
- Solar is cool. Mine came fully charged and it will probably be fully charged if I keep wearing it. Only takes 8 minutes of direct sunlight to give it a charge for a full day. There is also a power-saving mode to help conserve power. And there is a battery inside that will keep the watch running for a few years before dying.
- The LED lighting. This watch does not have the standard EL (electroluminescence) type backlighting for night time use. Instead there are two bright blue LEDs at 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock. When the light button is pushed, these two LEDs light up to show the time -- you have to see it to believe how bright they are. The only niggling issue I have is that the three small round LCD displays are somewhat recessed into the face of the watch, and the LEDs don't really light them up enough to be readable. There is also an auto-lighting feature, which I leave off.
- The size of the watch is not incredibly large like my Raysman or Breitling. The watch is actually pretty light weight and comfortable to wear.
- The watch has Japan Movement, but is cased in Thailand.
Anyways, enough babbling. If you want to see a picture of my watch collection, click the picture above. I can't wait to start wearing this new G-Shock on a daily basis to see how it is.
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