Watch Sighting: Casio 3D Databank Watch (Model: AEQ100BW-9AV)

When I walk through Walmart to buy anything, I always take a short detour through the watch department looking for cool, inexpensive, watches that might be fun to add to my collection or for readers to check out.  Last weekend, this totally bling-tastic watch leaped out at me.  It's a Casio Databank Watch with 3D dial.

Casio Data Bank Watch Style

If you look closely, you can see that the circles and batons denoting each hour are slightly raised for a '3D' effect.  The watch itself has a 50 millimeter diameter dial and a 15.3 millimeter thick case.  The case itself is resin (black) with a gold dial color.  From a style perspective, this humble Casio pops like a much more expensive watch.  In this photo, it's clear that the watch even has prompts on the watch face to help wearers remember the button functions.  However, I found the dial a tad busy and difficult to read.  This photo seems a little larger than real life and my eyes are getting old.

Casio 3D Dial Databank Watch Performance

From a performance perspective, this $35 watch delivers unexpectedly high performance and very nice features.  First of all, it has a 10 year battery and 100 meters of water resistance.  It has all the standard stopwatch functions like a 1/100 second stop watch, a countdown timer, 3 alarms, and the ability to keep time in 12 or 24 hour formats.  The watch can also keep track of the time in 30 cities around the world.  Finally, the watch can keep track of up to 30 names and phone numbers in its databank feature.  That's a lot of function for an inexpensive watch.  I've had a Casio Telememo 30 World Timer databank watch in my collection before and they are pretty cool.

Wristwatch Review: Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer Digital Watch

A Digital Watch for Outdoorsmen and Werewolves 

On the prowl? The Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer digital watch can tell you the phase of the moon and the best times to hunt.

 (This is a reprint of my original review from Yahoo Contributors network.)

The Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer Digital Watch is an attractive digital watch with a mission. This watch can tell you the phase of the moon, when the sun rises and sets, when to go hunting, and much more. It has an attractive camouflaged cloth and velcro band, a stainless steel back, and a green and metallic plastic case. The digital LCD display is ringed by a metal bezel which protects the watch face well. The Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer watch is well proportioned and not too clunky. The case measures about 45 millimeters across and about 13 millimeters thick. The leather-trimmed, camouflaged, wristband is about 20mm wide and easily fit my 8 1/2-inch wrists. I found this watch to be roughly the size of my Armitron All-Sport Digital Watch.

The best thing about the Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer is that it looks like an adventure on your wrist. Astronomers and werewolves will like being able to see the moon phase on the watch face. With a push of a button, the watch will tell you the age of moon (day in its cycle). The worst thing about the Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer is that you really don't want to lose the manual. I'm a basic analog watch guy and I find the Casio Pathfinder watch a little complicated. In fact, I postponed writing this review for months because I couldn't find my manual. Fortunately, I was able to find a manual on the web and download it. The manual is vital because you need to enter your longitude and latitude and the appropriate offset from Greenwich Meantime (GMT). The Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer is definitely not a simple analog watch like my Timex Expedition Metal Tech. However, the Casio Pathfinder watch is very cool once it is set up properly.

The core function of the Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer watch is its ability to identify the best times for hunting and fishing in accordance with Solunar Theory. According to Solunar Theory, there are two major times of day and two minor times of day when hunting and fishing is best due to the tidal influence of the moon. While explaining Solunar theory is beyond the scope of this wristwatch review, the Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer watch keeps track of these peak hunting and fishing times. Peak hunting and fishing times are displayed as black LCD dashes around the hashes on the bezel. The major periods are displayed as 4 dashes and the minor periods are two dashes. Each dash represents 15 minutes.

But wait, that's not all! When the wearer pushes the mode button on the Casio Pathfinder Hunting Time, the next display shows the moon phase, age of the moon, and the peak times cycle on the display. Another push of the button reveals the moon phase, age of the moon, time of sunset, and time of sunrise. If you want to test out Solunar theory, the watch has a data bank that allows it to remember times when the wearer pushes a button. Conceivably you could enter the exact time that you catch each fish on your next outing and check to see how the times fit the theory. The watch also offers stop watch functionality in case you need to time yourself in wind sprints against a bear.

Overall, at a retail price of $30 to $50, the Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer watch is a howling good value and will delight any sportsman or werewolf on your gift list.

Sources:
Deer (Animal) Activity from Solunar Moon Sun, Kings Outdoor World website
http://www.kingsoutdoorworld.com/hunting-guide/deer_activity.htm

Casio Watches for Christmas

C is the next stop on my Christmas watches A through Z tour.  It can be hard to imagine buying someone a Casio watch for Christmas.  The company was built on cheap little digital watches.  But, today, Casio is a watch world powerhouse with premium watches for everyone.  The big choice for today's Casio buyer is between analog, digital, or ana-digital watches.  The company is known for it's G-Shock series of ruggedized digital watches.  Now, Casio is also known for advanced analog watches marketed under their Edifice model line.

The Big Casio Watch Choices: 

Casio also has many watches that can take the wearer off the beaten path. I like CASIO Men's Forester Sport Watch as an inexpensive bang-around watch.

The Casio Forester is Perfect for Fall Foliage

But, the Casio Men's PAS410B-5V Pathfinder Moon Phase Hunting Timer Watch is a great digital watch choice for fishermen and hunters.

Casio Pathfinder Moon Phase Hunting Timer & Mothra!

I think the Forester would be a great choice for an active kid who likes the outdoors.  The more sophisticated Casio Pathfinder might be a great choice for an adult.  Both watches are less than $30.

Finally, don't forget the Casio Edifice!  It has three subdials and a great stainless steel look!

A Casio Edifice Watch

You can find the most modern Casio Edifice now on Amazon.com!

Christmas for Nerds: Nerd Watches

Do you have a nerd on your Christmas list?

If so, you can always get him a nerdy watch.  Nerd watches are big business.  There are even online discussion boards dedicated just to Nerd watches.  For example (back in 2012), you could visit the Pocket Calculator Show's now defunct Nerd Watch Message Board to learn all about vintage nerd watches.  They have the coolest collections of interesting and obscure digital watches.

As for me, I only have one genuine nerd watch.  It's a Casio Calculator watch.  These watches are dirt cheap at Walmart and make a great bonus gift or stocking stuffer at Christmas.  If you haven't read it yet, here's my review:

Wristwatch Review:  Casio Calculator and Calendar Watch

Need a Nerd Watch - Check out the Casio Classic Calculator & Calendar Watch

Wristwatch Review: Casio Classic Calculator and Calendar Watch.

I've built up quite a collection of watches, but I haven't had much nerd watch cred.  Until now...

It's a classic calculator watch from Casio.  That's model CA53W-1 for all the uber-nerds out there.  It's definitely a nerd watch!  But, I'm ready for a math word problem at any time!  

Updating this post in 2024, here's my review from 2012 -

Long, long ago, when digital watches were new to our planet, the calculator watch was a stunning technical achievement. Now, it's a fondly nostalgic timepiece for retro nerds. Of course, when I walked into my apartment wearing the Casio Classic Calculator and Calendar Watch, I soon found out that not everyone is nostalgic about it.

  "Is that your geek watch?"
 
  "Yeah, it's my nerd watch."

  "Did you wear that to work?"

That quick conversation with my wife let me know that I wasn't getting any cool points for wearing a calculator on my wrist. My week of wearing the Casio Classic Calculator and Calendar Watch wasn't off to a great start. It's a digital watch that prepares wearers for an adventure in math. It's not a glamorous vision.

The watch itself (model CA53W-1) is functional and provides time, date, stopwatch and calculator functions. The display gives you the time and day of the week at a glance. A push of an exposed button on the right side of the watch activates the calculator. A second push shows you the time for the alarm. A third push displays a second timezone time and a fourth button push gets you to the 1/100 of a second stopwatch. A smaller recessed button is pressed when you want to set the time or alarms. The stop watch is started and stopped via buttons on the calculator.

The Casio Calculator watch is water resistant to 30 meters and survived when I got caught in a sudden rainstorm. However, with all the buttons on this watch, I'd prefer to keep it dry. The calculator works and is convenient to have on hand (or wrist). You can expect 5 years of battery life with this watch. The Casio Calculator watch itself works well, but has a few drawbacks. First, the numerals and markings on the calculator keypad are small. I need to use a a magnifier or reading glasses to see the numerals and functions. Second, this watch does not have the same button navigation pattern of most watches so there is a slight learning curve. Third, I was unable to find any light to illuminate the face of this watch at night.

While this Casio Classic Calculator and Calendar Watch is perfectly practical, the main reason to own this watch is nostalgia. When the digital watch first arrived on the scene in the 1970s, it was truly a marvel. It evolved from the LED digital watch to the LCD digital watch and then to the calculator watch. When the calculator watch was introduced, it was truly a marvel. However, the features of today's more expensive digital watches far surpass this humble Casio that sells for $19 at Walmart. You can get watches like the Casio Pathfinder Hunting Timer that tell you when to go hunting or fishing. Other watches provide compasses, altimeters, and Global Positioning System (GPS) functionality. But, all those wonders started with the calculator watch. For that reason alone, this Casio Calculator Watch is a worthy addition to any watch collection.

Amazingly in 2024, the Casio Classic Calculator and Calendar Watch (Model CA53W-1) is still in production and available on Amazon.

Psssst.... check out Watches at Walmart!

The Walmart Watches of 2011

Watch enthusiasts tend to look far and wide for their latest timepieces.  However, they could save a lot of money if they just went to Walmart.  A whole wide world of watches awaits with prices as low as $7.  Most sell for about $12.88. 

The Watch Shelf at Walmart

Name brand watches from Casio, Timex, Carriage, Armitron, and Elgin are also available.  Most are very reasonably priced.  For example, one alternative to Casio's expensive G-shock models might be this simple, but colorful, digital model for only $14.24.

A Bright Blue Casio Digital Watch

Of course, if you like the Walmart price on this inexpensive Casio watch, you'll really love this low price for the same watch on Amazon!