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Comment by MegaDeKay | Hacker News Reader

On top of the nasty hit to battery life requiring USB charge for advanced functions, this watch loses the 24h count-down timer and multi-band daily time sync from my beloved M5610BC (the latter is worked around with phone syncing but I don't generally carry a phone). The new pixelated display looks great though.

I love the fact that my watch is this wonderful, self contained unit that I never have to bother with charging or setting. It is in fact my second one - my first one got run over by my tractor and then got a ride through the attached lawnmower. I only found it months later twenty feed away hidden in a patch of zucchini squash. The band was destroyed and the case was mangled, but the display still worked and the time was accurate to the second. Incredible. When Casio says these watches are tough, believe it.

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They're indestructible, I was diving on my first deep technical dive with a rebreather and was so preoccupied with my gear that I left one of these on with my dive watch, as I was descending I noticed but figured its gone and got on with my dive.

We went just over 60m, when I finished up I saw the thing was still fine. After that, I believed their claims of bar pressure etc, when I see other watches that claim 50m etc, I wouldn't dare trust them to survive.

I've taken several watches on dives just to see if the ratings are real.

Timex Easy Reader, says 30m, failed on a dive that was no more than 15m.

Seiko SKX-007 OTOH, rated to 200m, I have taken it to about 30m with no ill effect.

I've since learned you can have a watch repair shop test this with a pressure chamber and a finely-calibrated displacement-measuring instrument, no water required.

Water resistance ratings of 30 meters don’t mean that you can dive with it up to 30 meters. Those ratings are related to static pressure tests.

Generally 30 meters shouldn’t be submerged, 50 meters is okay for swimming, above that diving is acceptable to certain limit. True diving watches start with 200 meters and preferably ISO diver's certification (which SKX has).

The funny thing about the 200m WR rating on true diver's watches is that that's more than even 99.9% of divers are ever going to use. Recreational diving tops out at 40m (that's a deep dive!), let alone 200m. The actual number of people diving to deeper than that in an entire year, worldwide, is a 3 digit number.

Of course I say all that and yet I have a Seiko spring drive tuna 600m saturation diver, even though it's never been deeper than a few meters and very unlikely ever to do so. But the engineering is fun to appreciate even if it'll never do even 1% of what it's capable of.

I only wear G-Shocks for this reason, though I also love the more aesthetic models. I have a dressier one that I wear to nice/fancy events, but my daily driver is the solar powered multi-band radio adjusted one. In the first month of owning my daily driver, I hit a giant pothole on my commute ride home from construction that hadn't been marked yet and took a huge fall; I was biking at 17 mph unfortunately since I was at work late and the streets were pretty empty. The crash gave me some pretty bad road rash, some bruises, and destroyed my helmet.

The G-Shock hit the ground first and slid along with me. Other than disfigurement on the part of the bezel that slid, the watch was fine. Later on, I filed off some of the chewed up parts of the rubber and the watch now only looks minorly scuffed. Years later it's been on swims, dives, hikes, camps, long bike rides, been with me through carpentry, and travel, and it's still going strong with mostly the scuff marks to show for. I also frequently shower with it. I love never having to think about it; the watch just works. I sometimes fall asleep with it on and forget I even had it.

Teddy Baldassarre made a video where they rented a helicopter and tested the drop resistance of G-shocks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDniaf1w_Ls

> On top of the nasty hit to battery life requiring USB charge for advanced functions

There's a "Tough Solar" G-Shock [1] with fitness features that doesn't need manual charging.

1. https://www.casio.com/in/watches/gshock/product.GBD-H2000-1A...

I've got my doubts about that. https://www.g-central.com/specs/g-shock-gbd-h2000/ says "Requires wired charging for HR monitor, GPS, and heavy use"

Whoa. I'd never seen this one - it looks awesome. Only problem is I'd need a (much) bigger wrist to wear it.

The GBD-200 is a little more manageable: https://www.casio.com/us/watches/gshock/product.GBD-200-1/

It uses a standard coin cell, but, does not have a heart rate sensor.

The solar charging is for Watch functions. The heart rate monitor still requires USB charging to work.

Does this mean it has two separate batteries, or what? If only one battery, then you could keep it charged up on solar and only occasionally do a HR reading, without ever having to plug it in.

I have a 5610 that I bought recently with the 3495 tough solar module, as context.

Damn that's sexy. The bezel is a bit too thick for me, though.

It looks so incredibly extra

looks like it still needs it, there is a charging port.

Bomb proof but also in the off chance they do get destroyed by some force of nature...they're only like 12 bucks to replace.

I've gone through like 4 smart watches and any time I'm in a harsh environment always default back to the g-shock.

There's no way you're getting a real, new G-shock for $12.

You're right, I was accidentally exaggerating a little. I just checked my Amazon order history and mine was 40 bucks. still unbelievably cheap for a watch that is bomb proof. ordered mine in 2019. I think I've worn it 90% of the time since then. still going strong. It's beaten out fitbit's and Garmin instincts.

I really wish they made a health tracker without a watch on it like the old original fitbit bracelets.

I would just wear the G-Shock plus the health tracker bracelet be perfectly happy.

I got an Amazfit Neo for $30 or so, it's been amazing. Lasts for a month on a charge and has fitness bits.

I miss the hayday of fitbit so much.

100% in the garmin camp now though.

He's probably thinking about the F-91W but even that is at least 20 Euros now.

I bought an F-91W after destroying my M5610BC for whenever I'm messing around in the yard. It's great! So cheap that I don't worry about getting dirt in it, scratching the bezel, or whatever. It keeps great time, is easy to read, and weighs nothing. What's not to like for that price???

The watch doesn't "require" charging for fitness functions, unless I'm reading what Casio announced wrong. According to them, the watch will recharge enough with the solar panel quickly enough to use the fitness functions for 7 hours a week(1 hour a day). Sure, for some people that's not enough, but I imagine for a lot(like myself) who only do 1-2 hours of actual exercise where I want to use the tracker per week, that's more than enough. I can't wait to order it, and I plan on never using the USB charger - will see if that proves doable.

> unless I'm reading what Casio announced wrong. According to them, the watch will recharge enough with the solar panel quickly enough to use the fitness functions for 7 hours a week(1 hour a day).

You are reading it wrong. What it says is that if you use fitness one hour per day, you will have to manually charge it once a week

> a wired charger is also included. On a full charge, which takes around three hours, the watch will run for about a week when using the added fitness features for an hour a day.

Right, but surely there is some level of use that is not high enough to make the USB charging necessary, right? I plan to use mine 1-2 hours for fitness a week, I expect it will replenish that from the solar panel alone.

It's not clear. It's possible that even if you don't use the fitness at all, you'd still have to plug in once a month. Or maybe your situation would work, i.e. it could regenerate an hour worth over the span of a week.

I wonder if people who designed these kind of watches could assemble to do the same for other devices today.

Panasonic Toughbooks are nice additions to your reference collection, so long it won’t sneak into your luggage.

I always wanted to buy one to see how they feel in person.

Closest memory I had to these are airline meal carts, and Sony camcorders. Maybe because mine is a used and beaten up example, but the latch is too solid for an aluminum luggage case, yet seems a bit flimsy for a military hardware. The body is light for its thickness, modules have gaps not enough to rattle but enough to be able to be removed in all situations, and if disassembled, it’s obviously at least IP5X just by the looks of edge seals.

Mine is CF-19 Mark 2, a Core Duo(32bit). Takes old ThinkPad AC fine when I need a paperweight with an LCD :p

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