CasioRangeman GW-9400

The Casio Rangeman watch is a tricky product for me to review. Don't get me wrong: It's highly functional and robust, well-conceived, and most of what it does it does quite well. What makes this tricky is that the Rangeman poses a philosophical dilemma, for somebody like me who collects watches: Do I really need anything more than this? What is the appropriate criterion for judging a watch like this? I'm writing this review in part to try to answer those questions.So first off, I bought this watch with several specific use-cases in mind. I wanted a light-weight, shock-resistant watch for running with, and I also wanted it to be easy to read, and to have the ability to function as a stopwatch. I also wanted a "field watch" for hiking, kayaking, and other outdoor activities away from civilization -- hence no smart watch or fit-bit. I liked the idea of solar power, so as not to need to change the battery out for 10 or 15 years, at least. And finally, because I do have some other mechanical watches, I also wanted an "atomic watch," something that would always be synced and accurate and that I could use as a reference to set other time-pieces. So those are the reasons why I picked out the Rangeman to try.This was not my first experience with a Casio G-Shock, by the way. And my previous G-Shock was not a success -- I got a GX-56 "King," with the primary aim of using it to time myself during a mud-run obstacle course. Unfortunately, I bought one with a "reverse" LCD display -- i.e., where the numbers appear white on a black background, instead of the other way around. That turned out to make that watch difficult to read, even in bright sunlight. And I learned the hard way that if I can't easily read the face of a digital watch, then it's useless to me. Which added another demand to the use-case for my new Rangeman: it had to be very easy to read the time, regardless of the ambient lighting or the angle of my wrist.So here's the good news: It turns out that the Rangeman is quite good for all of my use-cases. It's easy to read, light-weight and good for running, good as a field watch, with excellent atomic time-keeping. If anything, I find myself using this watch for more situations than I expected to. On a recent business trip across country, for example, I kept the Rangeman with me, because it's world-time function made it easy to switch time zones, while still keeping track of time at home. Plus the basic home screen display, which shows the time, day, date and month (based on a perpetual calendar through the year 2100) is incredibly functional and useful. So yes: by comparison with most mechanical watches, the Rangeman is almost ridiculously functional, even just in terms of the basic display that you get without pushing any buttons at all. Did I mention that (in the U.S.) the Rangeman will automatically keep track of daylight savings time, and make the adjustment without you even having to think about it?So this led me to the existential question, do I really need any other watch, now that I have this one? After thinking about it for several weeks, I've concluded that the answer still is yes, at least for me. And the reason why goes to specialization: namely, a watch designed to do one thing can be tailored to that purpose, whereas a watch designed to do many things necessarily involves some compromise. And sometimes, I really do want the specialized watch. So for example, I have an inexpensive mechanical dive watch (similar price point to the Rangeman). My diver is a better watch for swimming than is the Rangeman. Even though the latter is supposed to be water resistant to 200m, I simply don't feel confident in this to the same degree that I do with my mechanical watch. (Look at the reviews on Amazon -- 19 out of 20 people love the Rangeman, but the remaining 1 out of 20 gets a lemon, often to do with faulty water resistance.) Likewise, my mechanical dive watch is actually better for sleeping with -- it has glow-in-the-dark lume on the hands, which means you can easily see the time with a glance even in a pitch-black room, or under the covers. The Rangeman can also light up in the dark, but you either have to push a button for this, or else set the watch so that it automatically lights up every time you move your wrist when in the dark -- and neither of those options is as good for sleeping with as is a traditional mechanical dive watch.Getting back to my recent trip across country: I sat next to another passenger who was wearing an expensive watch on the plane, I believe it was a Tag Heuer Carrera -- a racing-inspired sports watch on a leather-band, the kind of thing you might wear out for an evening with on the town with friends, when visiting Monte Carlo. By comparison, my Rangeman looked almost like a toy. Don't get me wrong -- I very much like the bulkiness and the tactical look of the Rangeman. But it's certainly not a watch that slides easily under a dress shirt cuff, or that fits in well at the office. Which is just another way of saying, as versatile as the Rangeman is, the design is optimized for some uses and settings, but not others. Camping? Yes. Covert ops? Yes. Going to your best friend's wedding? Probably not.In sum, I still give the Rangeman 5 stars. It is very well designed for what it is, and it does many things well. I've had it for a month, and I am enjoying it a lot. Even though it won't replace other watches for me, I certainly wouldn't give it up, now that I've experienced it. So there!

When I was a kid and G-shocks were new, I wanted one from the time I first saw one. After I got my first one, there was never a time when I didn’t have one on my wrist all through my school years, my construction years after school, then onto boot camp and nine years in the army. After the military I went on to law enforcement and the G-shock stayed with me. Unbelievably tough, the only excuse I ever had for buying a new one was just because I wanted a new model. They never failed.As I got into my late 40’s early fifties, I discovered auto movements and different styles of watches and as I developed an affinity for them and started wearing them all the time right up until the present. Thing is they weren’t nearly as rugged and found myself breaking quite a few. I’m now 61 and again found myself missing the ruggedness, looks, and features of the G-shock for everyday use. I’ll still wear an auto on occasion when I want to dress up, but I’m back for good I think.The GW-9400 is a beast. Thanks to the NM sun, it never needs winding. And thanks to the atomic time clock in Colorado I never have to set it either. It’s got a bunch of cool features like a compass, an altimeter, a barometer, etc, and they do actually work pretty well. But the greatest thing about it is its ruggedness. I’m pretty tough on my gear and I’ve broken several lesser watches in the past while camping, riding my motorcycle, or just putting around doing what I do, but in my entire life, I’ve never managed to break a G-shock, which ultimately is what really brought me back to them.Good looking, great product I can’t recommend enough. And at even its current price, it is an incredible value. If you’re on the fence, don’t even think about it. You’ll quickly find it’s a no brainer.

After owning the watch a month or so, I think I'm ready to give it a long-winded review:A Triple Sensor G-Shock is pretty much exactly what myself and a lot of other G-Shock fanatics have wanted for many years now. The Rangeman is a great first model, especially with the new Version 3 sensor. The biggest benefit of the new sensor is the speed at which these sensors pick up their settings - altitude readings, compass bearings, and barometric pressure (and temperature). My older Casio Pathfinders would often take a few seconds to pickup a compass bearing or barometric reading - the Rangeman does so noticeably quicker. I didn't think this would be that big of a deal, but the increased speed of the sensors make feel more like it's a tool as compared to a toy. And speaking of the triple function sensors, here's a bit of a review on each:Compass: Definitely a lot less "travel" in the compass. On the Casio Pathfinder watches that I've had in the past, I could leave them still on my wrist and they'd still change readings by up to 10 degrees or so. The new sensor in this watch fixes that and the travel now is only a degree or two. The compass stays on for a minute now as opposed to only a few seconds for previous Triple Sensor models which is nice. Be sure to set magnetic declination in your area for more accurate readings. Large chunks of metal will throw the sensor off however. When in my vehicle, I'm assuming the engine block is throwing things off as my readings are 100% unreliable. While outdoors or in my apartment however, readings are pretty much spot on.Barometric Pressure: Probably the most accurate sensor. The absolute pressure on this watch has been spot on compared to the National Weather Services reading for my location. One thing that confused me with when I first got this watch....the watch comes from the factory calibrated to read the ABSOLUTE pressure (NOT the adjusted Sea-Level pressure readings that you see on websites/newscasts). As such, my readings in Fort Collins, CO (around 5000 ft. altitude) provided a pressure reading of around 25.00 inHg. Not knowing this was absolute pressure, I quickly adjusted my watch to match the 29.90 inHg listed on my location's weather report. This worked fine until I visited my parents in Nebraska (around 2200 ft. altitude). Since I had set my pressure to adjusted Sea-Level Pressure in Fort Collins (compounded by the fact that traveling downhill means an increase in pressure reading), when I got to my parents place in Nebraska, my watch mysteriously read "ERR" when taking barometric pressure readings. This is because with my altitude drop (and my manually adjusting the barometric pressure) the watch was unable to take a reading because the new pressure value at my parents place registered off the scale. Long story short, keep the pressure settings to the absolute pressure!Altitude: By far the least reliable sensor. It's not the fault of the watch necessarily, it's just that it gets the readings from the barometric pressure. If you're sitting still and the pressure changes, your altitude will change on the watch (rising pressure = altitude drop, decreasing pressure = altitude gain). There's no way around this (my Suunto Core did it too as do other watches) other than perhaps getting a watch with a GPS built in. It's fun to use as a general guide when I'm driving in the mountains as it always tends to be within +- 200 ft. of my actual altitude. Just don't expect accuracy unless you're out hiking and you know that the barometric pressure isn't going to change.Temperature: For me, it's pretty much always 10 degrees warmer than what it really is. It picks up on my body heat, no big deal. For my purposes I never need to know the exact temp anyways, an estimate is just fine.World Time, Stopwatch, Timer, and Alarm are all pretty standard compared to my other Casio watches. I do like that I can start the stopwatch from the main menu.Sunset/Sunrise: Haven't had this feature before. Not mind-blowing, but I appreciate having it. You're able to program in Latitude/Longitude areas which make for very accurate Sunset/Sunrise times, accurate to the minute compared to websites where I can look up the info.Recall Mode: Again, haven't used this feature before, but like having it. Basically you can time-stamp any setting that you'd like (time, pressure reading, altitude, etc) and it keeps track of it. Also keeps track of the total altitude that you've ascended or descended, along with minimum and maximum altitude readings.Atomic Time: I'm about 10 miles away from the Atomic Clock here in Fort Collins. As such, I have no issues (nor should I)!Watch Strap: Casio has watch adapters (search Google) that will fit these watches, so I wear it with a Zulu 24mm nylon strap as I do most of my watches. Nothing specifically wrong with the factory strap, just my preference.Watch Style: Some people love Casio's look, some people hate it. I'm somewhere in the middle bordering on liking it. I work in IT, so wearing this to work is no problem and adds to that geek factor all of us IT people are looking for ;) I have a fairly skinny 6.5 inch wrist and while the watch looks big on my wrist, that's kind of the style these days.Final Thoughts: Really, I love all things tech and wanted to purchase something on my wrist loaded with features. However being in Colorado, I wanted something that was reliable when out on a hike where I wouldn't have to worry about battery life, durability, etc. Looking around at the latest Suunto and Garmin offerings, they sure do look cool, but each have their own quirks as well as very short battery life (this is the price you pay for having GPS enable watches). In the end, I'll give the technology another couple years to figure itself out before looking at watches again. As it stands right now, I have a watch that never needs a battery and is always EXACTLY the right time.