I’m looking for a watch in the 30 to 50 dollar range. The G-shock gets reviews but I have not found any reviews by kayakers. Any advice on this watch or any other would be appreciated.
Great watch for the price. Had one
for many years with no problems. I replaced the wrist strap many times until finally most of the plastic was missing on the watch. I have a new one now and wear it paddling, swimming etc. I never had a problem with water.
My son has one.
It is very very durable.
I’ve
had one for over 12 years before the battery even died. Beat the hell out of it, great watch.
Casio G-shock is a Great Watch
– Last Updated: Jan-04-09 9:05 PM EST –
and the primary watch I wear kayaking (salt and fresh water). Mine is well over ten years old and still ticking.
I go through wrist bands for the watch considerably faster than batteries. The plastic bands seem to last an average of 18 months for me. I believe I have replaced the battery twice since the original purchase
I would not hesitate to purchase another one for kayaking if this one ever completely gives up the ghost!
Mine is their basic chronograph, which has worked well for my needs (under $50 at K-mart).
The G-shock is now available in several flavors and I think some of the fancier models (over $50) can be set via the atomic clock. There is also a model with a settable tide cycle.
You can sometimes find get prices on the G-Shocks at Campmor.
For example:
http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___87411
Baby-G
Cindy has a Pink Baby-G. seems to work fine for a couple years now.
Gnarly look in G-Shock Pink!
steve
well
For a few bucks more step up to the Casio Pathfinder series. Solar powered, and gets signals from the atomic clock so it sets and updates itself. Also it has all the bells & whistles, barometer altimeter, compass. Works better then the 300 dollar sunuto I used to have!! It even has a function that automatically turns on its backlight when you lift your arm to look at it in the dark.
Watches
The Pathfinders are a good bit more expensive. It’s just as easy to loose cheap watch.
It “atomic clock” thing is a gimmick. The watches keep good enough time that you don’t need it.
I like the idea of not needing a battery.
Basic with battery.
http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___87411
$35
Solar charged.
http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___88951
$80
Least expensive pathfinder (solar charged).
http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___83863
$130
I couldn’t find a pink one.
maybe it is a gimmick
but it was neat not having to set it for Daylight savings time. And vice versa. Got mine for 82 bucks, about a year ago.
Daylight saving
"for Daylight savings time. And vice versa. Got mine for 82 bucks, about a year ago"
I’d agree that is a benefit!
(There’s no technical reason they can’t program the watch do deal with the daylight saving stuff.)
Tides?
– Last Updated: Jan-05-09 2:08 PM EST –
I just noticed that some models include tide information. Such as the GLX5600-7. Some are as low as $69 at Amazon...
I've had real good luck with the cheapest Casio watches that seem to last a long time and even the 50m water resistant ones have been flawless for swimming and wind surfing.
Presently use a Timex Expedition (two different models). One has compass - never use the compas pretty much. The other has altimeter/barometer/termometer - the alti/baro is very unreliable and needs calibration often but the temp is OK as long as you know how to measure properly...
From wearing these two, I'd say here's what matters:
- a recessed glass display (one is recessed and has not gotten a single scratch yet, the other is flush and plastic and it scratches regularly, needing me to re-polish it from time to time or I can't see it due to glare off the scratches)
- sturdy and long band (for use over wet/dry suit), one that won't undo itself easily
- big #s to see at a glance
- low weight (I'm tempted by some diver's watches but at close to 3 oz in weight I'm having second thoughts and still use the light plastic watches I have and am not afraid to loose -;)
EDIT - just found the product manual online from Casio: http://ftp.casio.co.jp/pub/world_manual/wat/en/qw3151.pdf
However, I'm not clear how the watch would know the tide data for the specific location... Looks like it checks a location and compares to the moon phase, but is this enough for accurate tide prediction? 30 miles apart tides can be quite different based on tables I've seen for these locations...
Watch tide info useless for kayakers
– Last Updated: Jan-05-09 2:42 PM EST –
I think the "tide information" is mostly intended for fishermen.
Tides and tidal currents are complicated. A watch can't do anything but provide very, very basic information about tides (and nothing about currents).
Learn to use the online resources (eg, NOAA) for tide/current information.
Tha was my point too
The watch operating on the moon/location data can only have the generic tidal info and none of the current/terrain-induced tide properties.
More sophisticated tide calculators can factor local oddities in the calculaiton or can probably have tables stored in memory but I have yet to see a watch do that…
watch
The Casio that Campmor has for $80 (solar/atomic) I found on Amazon for $50 and ordered it. Thank You.
tough cheap casio
I use the water resist alarm chrono calculator watch. gotta have the alarm and calculator functions, it will go about 18 months before fogging up if you get out on the sailboard with it regularly.