# Got me a new Casio G-shock "Atomic/Solar" watch



## Cosmic Superchunk (Jun 5, 2003)

*Got me a new Casio G-shock \"Atomic/Solar\" watch*

Well, my inexpensive Timex Triathalon watch was looking rather pitiful after several years of wear and tear, so I decided to seek out a replacement. I wanted to keep it under $90US so I went to a few places in town and looked at what they had to offer. I had owned 2 Casio watches in the past including a simple G-Shock model, with no fancy features, but boy have they changed! I settled on what I assume is a relatively new Casio G-shock watch:

Pic is from Casio.com






This particular model features Atomic Timekeeping (transmitted from Ft. Collins, Colorado) and is Solar Rechargable. It is designed to pick up a time calibration signal and update it's time setting in accordance with the signal. You can set it for "Auto Receive" and it will calibrate when the watch reaches 2:00AM, 3:00AM, 4:00AM and 5:00AM (in timekeeping mode), or you can simply set the time as you please. The watch contains a solar cell and a secondary rechargable battery (which is charged by the solar cell), and has a power level indicator. Other features on this watch are: World Time (30 cities 29 time zones), Time Recorder, 4 alarms (1 snooze alarm and hourly signal), Stopwatch, EL backlight (with Auto Light feature), Power Saving Mode (puts the watch in a sleep state when not in use), and finally 200 meter water resistance. Now to the real question, do I really need all these features in a watch? Heck no, but it sure has the cool factor! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif 
All in all a very cool hi-tech and rugged watch for under $80.00 retail (Target, Wal-Mart). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif


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## dtsoll (Jun 5, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

Nice watch man! I have been looking at the same model on the internet. No place around here has em. Keep me updated on how you are liking it. I think I need one. dtsoll /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


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## Cosmic Superchunk (Jun 5, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

Thanks. I got mine at Target yesterday, but I was just in Walmart this afternoon and saw that they just got the same model in stock. $2 bucks cheaper at Wally-World.


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## budlight (Jun 5, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

I've had the same model for a few months now. I set my other watches and clocks to it. The guys at work, though, say it belongs on a younger wrist than mine. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

It may take awhile to sync-up to Colorado the first time but afterwards it never misses. I usually have it on in the pool and when I shower with no signs of humidity inside.

Mike-


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## Bullzeyebill (Jun 5, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

Costco is selling a G-shock that looks similar. Price is very reasonsable. Of course, may not be same watch. Anybody elses see that watch at Costco? Bill


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## Cosmic Superchunk (Jun 5, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

[ QUOTE ]
*budlight said:*It may take awhile to sync-up to Colorado the first time but afterwards it never misses. I usually have it on in the pool and when I shower with no signs of humidity inside.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mine calibrated well overnight. Incidentally, last night I forgot that I had set the Power Save feature on, so this morning I nearly freaked because the screen was blank. No worries though, just move the watch and it comes out of sleep mode while still keeping perfect time. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif


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## dtsoll (Jun 5, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

Cosmic,
If ya don't mind me asking, what did ya have to give for it? My walmart doesn't have it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif At least a couple months ago they didn't. Maybe I'll have to check again. dtsoll /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Oops, I should have read your post a little closer, under 80 bucks.


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## Cosmic Superchunk (Jun 5, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

[ QUOTE ]
*dtsoll said:*
Cosmic,
If ya don't mind me asking, what did ya have to give for it? My walmart doesn't have it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif At least a couple months ago they didn't. Maybe I'll have to check again. dtsoll /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif 

[/ QUOTE ]

I got mine at Target for $79.99, but I saw the exact same model at a local Walmart for $77.99. When I commented on it the sales associate over the counter said they just got them in.


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## sotyakr (Jun 5, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

It's the same model (GW-300) I got from Costco for $50 several months ago. It's nice when no one can challenge you when they ask what the exact time it is! A really nice, somewhat bulky, accurate, no-maintenance watch.


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## flownosaj (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

Question--does the atomic clock signal recieve feature only work in the continental US? 
What if you go on a long trip overseas (like Europe), would you still get proper signal?

-Jason


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## tsg68 (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

I wear nothing but G-shocks and have since the first model was introduced when I was 15 years old. I grew up on the waterfront just off the Chesapeake bay (The Magothy River to be exact) a perfect waterproof watch territory, and these watches are definitely the best made anywhere. I still have my first one although it's getting harder to get replacement batteries for it. I a have a couple G- shocks, all work really well though the two older ones are so beat up that I only wear them to construction jobs, or stripping furniture, or spray finishing or welding, well you get the idea! My latest is the DW 6600 and it is now about five years old and looks new, its been in the oceans and gulfs of the country and all over, I was not suprised to see them on the wrists of many Special Operations members I've seen in photos and in person. 

I own a few divers watches inculding a Bulova and one of the Luminox divers designed by Marathon, but I almost always wear the G-shock, all the features(I use em all too) and durability in one watch for that low price, very cool!!!

Later,
TSG /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif


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## Wingerr (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

My question is what purpose the time memo is supposed to serve- it's an interesting feature, timestamping a date and time into memory, but it looks like it traded off a countdown timer, which would have been more useful to most people.


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## Wolfen (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

"Question--does the atomic clock signal recieve feature only work in the continental US? 
What if you go on a long trip overseas (like Europe), would you still get proper signal?"

-Jason 


Sometimes the signal won't make it to Chicago to update my Atomic Wall clock, so I don't think it will go around the world.

Nice watch! I want one!


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## markus_i (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

[ QUOTE ]
*flownosaj said:*
Question--does the atomic clock signal recieve feature only work in the continental US? 
What if you go on a long trip overseas (like Europe), would you still get proper signal?

[/ QUOTE ]

No chance. The signal is sent somewhere in the VLF band (for Germany, supposed to be available in most of central Europe, it's on 77.5 kHz) and usually has a range on the order of 1000 km. May be slightly more for the US. If you travel overseas, you'll need a different watch - there used to be one around that could tune in to 3 (IIRC) of these atomic clock signals.

Bye
Markus


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## Cosmic Superchunk (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

[ QUOTE ]
*flownosaj said:*
Question--does the atomic clock signal recieve feature only work in the continental US? 
What if you go on a long trip overseas (like Europe), would you still get proper signal?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, on this specific model you won't get the signal from Colorado if you're in Europe. The manual says that under good reception conditions, it is possible to get the signal within a 2000 mile (3000 kilometre) radius from Ft Collins. There's a small map in the manual which illustrates that you can get reception in the 50 United States, most of Canada, and most of Mexico. However, judging by the illustration, it doesn't look like you can get reception in the Canadian Maritime Provinces. 

**Note* The manual states that best reception is in the middle of the night and that you may NOT get a clear reception inside or among buildings, inside a vehicle, near a construction site or airport, near high-tension power lines, among or behind mountains or if the watch is placed near household appliances.* You have to place the watch near a window in a location where there are no metal objects in order to get the signal. 

I set mine on Auto Receive, so each night I place the watch by the window, and by the next morning it's already calibrated. I live in a valley in western Georgia and there are lots of tall trees in my area, but so far it works fine.


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## Cosmic Superchunk (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

[ QUOTE ]
*Wingerr said:*
My question is what purpose the time memo is supposed to serve- it's an interesting feature, timestamping a date and time into memory, but it looks like it traded off a countdown timer, which would have been more useful to most people.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree, I too would have preferred a countdown timer. I haven't played with the Time Memo feature yet, but the manual says that you can store up to 30 records of current time and that you can use this feature to record the start time and end time of a particular event.


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## Wingerr (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

If it allowed you to put some alpha text in there it would be useful, but unless there's a specific need to record 30 occurrences of the same event, it'd be hard to remember just what was being logged.

Some descriptions of reception capability from the atomic watch thread


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## Zephyr (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

[ QUOTE ]
*sotyakr said:*
It's the same model (GW-300) I got from Costco for $50 several months ago. It's nice when no one can challenge you when they ask what the exact time it is! A really nice, somewhat bulky, accurate, no-maintenance watch. 

[/ QUOTE ]


I saw the same watch too at Costco but was hesitant to get one so I didn't. I heard that the Waveceptor did not intercept any signal from Colorado and I assumed this one is not that much different. So, does it really pick up signal well?


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## Empath (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

I've had mine a couple of months. I wear it to bed, and there is only one night that it failed to receive a signal. It wasn't necessary since it was still exact, but I took it off, layed it on the window sill and started it's manual receive mode. I went back about 5 or 6 minutes later and found it had received.

I've only one complaint with it. I had a WaveCeptor before that wasn't solar. This one requires a great deal of effort to push the buttons due to the protective molding around the buttons. My earlier WaveCeptor was easy to push.


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## shrap (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

I've got one for a month or so, and I have a difficult time getting a signal. I have to place it facing up, next to a window, without any metal near it, facing east, only in the wee hours of the night...

Far from automatic.

I don't see any purpose for the time record feature.

The buttons on mine are very hard to push (recessed and protected by plastic) but I prefer the buttons this way. I had a watch that changed its time and date by itself, much more annoying.


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## Cosmic Superchunk (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

Shrap, that's exactly what I do to get my watch calibrated. The instruction manual states that clear reception is best during the middle of the night, so I just keep the watch set on Auto Receive, place the watch by my window before going to sleep and by the time I wake, it's already done. So far it works fine.

I agree with you on the buttons, but I too prefer them to be recessed anyway. It just takes a little time to get adjusted to it.


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## sotyakr (Jun 6, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

[ QUOTE ]
*Zephyr said:*
I saw the same watch too at Costco but was hesitant to get one so I didn't. I heard that the Waveceptor did not intercept any signal from Colorado and I assumed this one is not that much different. So, does it really pick up signal well? 

[/ QUOTE ]

I also leave mine on auto receive, and it usually sets itself at least once a day at various times (BTW, I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area). Keep in mind, the time signal is a radio transmission and like shortwave radio, is dependent on variable conditions in the upper atmosphere.


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## Jakpro (Jun 7, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

You guys need to sleep outside with your right hands in the air facing east for it to calibrate correctly. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I have a g-shock and I was thinking about getting one of these watches. I have am atomic desk clock that really works great and I use it to set my Omega once a month. I really don't know why I worry about being on the second accurate, but I do! One of these would be a great beater.

How does the solar feature work?

Daniel


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## Wingerr (Jun 7, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

Around the perimeter of the face is a solar cell, which charges up the battery when exposed to light- Sunlight is best, but any strong lighting will do. If it's under your sleeve, it's not going to get much of a charge, so you can just stick it at a window when the charge indicator drops down (it shows HIGH/MED/LOW in the top left corner).
It's nice if you make liberal use of the backlight either manually or in the auto on mode, where you tilt the watch towards you to activate it for a few seconds. The mode is switched on and off easily by just holding down the backlight button at the bottom front, for a few seconds, until it beeps, toggling the mode. The auto backlight is disabled when there's sufficient illumination hitting the face, as sensed by the solar cell, so you can leave it on in daylight without worrying about running down the battery unnecessarily. Nifty idea, but I don't find it as useful because you have to hold your arm all the way up to my face to turn it on, not exactly convenient. Maybe other people can twist their wrist so the watch is vertical while waist high, but not me... It'd be better to have it sense a quick flick of the wrist, in any position, rather than the orientation sensor it uses.
For now, I'd rather just push it manually-


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## Smaug (Jun 10, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

I got a new Casio too, but not of the same breed as your'ns. (who was it that just moved to Georgia, James? )

Mine is a Data Bank 150. I bought it because I lost my pocket planner, the paper one. The watch has a schedule feature, in which you can set off alarms with alphanumeric text scrolling across the top of the display to remind you what you're supposed to be doing. You can protect them so they go off once a year (such as for birthdays and anniversaries) Not only that, but a phone book, a countdown timer, a stopwatch, a calculator, (handy for seeing through mass pricing tricks in the supermarket) world time, and a conventional alarm.

It isn't solar powered. It isn't atomically synced, although they make one now that is. It is accurate to +/- 15s per month, which is plenty close enough. I have an atomic wall clock which I monitor my timekeepers with.

Before I got into flashlights, I was into mechanical watches. Below, you will find a link to my watches web page. Let me know what y'all think. (whoops)

http://user.mc.net/~jzorns/Watches.html

You might notice that a lot of them are mechanical, self-winding watches. This may not seem to jive with high-tech flashlights, but I just like the feeling of 'being needed' to power my watch, and I like the mechanical symphony contained within them.

[ QUOTE ]
*www.limes-watches.com said:*
Mechanical watches are also engineering marvels. They are the worlds most energy efficient, widely available "machines". Ponder this: The energy produced by the combustion of one CC of gasoline (1/3000 of a gallon) would move the average American automobile less than 3 car lengths. This same energy would power a modern jeweled mechanical watch nonstop for 562 years !

[/ QUOTE ]

There is no denying that that is amazing, eh? I miss them now and then and go back to them often for a touch of personality in my timekeeper.


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## shrap (Jun 11, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

The calculator/databank watches are very nice and useful. I had one and I miss those scheduling functions. Too bad it was ugly as sin, non-waterproof, and had no light.


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## tiktok 22 (Jun 11, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

Hi Guys,

Had my databank 150 now for about six years. Its always performed flawlessly and comes in very useful at times. I do have to agree that it's ugly as sin. I wish they made this watch in a G-shock format.


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## Smaug (Jun 11, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock*

[ QUOTE ]
*shrap said:*
The calculator/databank watches are very nice and useful. I had one and I miss those scheduling functions. Too bad it was ugly as sin, non-waterproof, and had no light. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Ugly? Yes.
non-waterproof? Yes.
But mine has a nice Indiglo-style light which Casio calls an Illuminator.

I just decided that it was more important to stop forgetting important things that to be fashionable all the time. When I want to be fashionable, I just strap one of these on...


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## dtsoll (Jun 20, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock \"Atomic/Solar\" watch*

I finally found one of these Casio's in my area, although I had to drive 50 miles to get it. It's a beauty and sync's well here in Nebraska. Gotta go read the book!!! I'll let you know my impressions later. Right now I'm real impressed. Doug /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


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## dtsoll (Jun 22, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock \"Atomic/Solar\" watch*

I think one of the cooler things about this watch is the sleep mode. I already knew about it when I got the watch by reading this thread so I wasn't surprised. Watches that are not solar should have this feature too. Great battery saver. Another thing that completely blows me away is that it can last for six months when fully charged. The best thing is I live in central Nebraska and receive the signal from Ft. Collins most excellently. I really love this watch so far. The buttons are recessed quite far but that is something I can live with and wouldn't stop me from buying another one.....or two. Doug /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


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## Cosmic Superchunk (Jun 22, 2003)

*Re: Got me a new Casio G-shock \"Atomic/Solar\" watch*

Congrats on your new Casio. I really like mine as well. Enjoy! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif


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