Good luck trying to figure out all the functions if you buy this watch. Seriously. It’s almost like there is a map to the lost world of Atlantis buried deep inside this watch and you need the brain of Rodney McKay to figure it out. I have to be honest though, this Casio Pathfinder watch is sweet.
This watch is dubbed the Ultimate Pathfinder and for good reason too. The three right-side buttons brings up a digital compass, barometer/thermometer, and an altimeter. Plus, within the left-side ‘mode’ button, there is a tide graph, yacht timer (wtf?), stopwatch, five alarms, and yes, a clock.
Chances are wearers are not going to use all these features, but just in case, they are easy enough to use. I only had to pull out the manual to figure out how to read the barometer and set the temperature to Fahrenheit; everything else I figured out on my own with some hunting and pecking.
I took the watch out deer hunting one morning and besides finding the little computer/watch amazingly distracting, the barometer and thermometer was nice to have. Deer rarely move when it’s really cold, but because I live in Michigan, I have to bundle up with layers of warm clothes to go out hunting at 5:00 am. I found having a real thermometer was handy to watch the rising temps.
This isn’t a small watch so guys with girly wrists shouldn’t apply – to be honest, my wrists are the size of a manly women and it doesn’t look too bad. It is light though, thanks to a titanium band, but because the casing and face are so large, it feels kind of top heavy.
All that being said, this is one badass watch. The metal and dark plastic doesn’t make it feel too nerdy, and the multi-functions are great to have. It isn’t cheap with a $399 MSRP, but if you’re an outdoorsy type – or a wannabe – you might want to check it out.
… but does it have a remote control like the one I got in the last Wootoff!?
I bet this watch would be perfect for hiking or trail riding too.
Looks like a watch for Bear Grills from Man VS Wild
I had a slightly earlier model of this watch. Some combination of the 6 batteries inside went dead after about a year. I had a local watch place replace batteries but the seals where some how not perfect afterward and the whole thing rusted out after getting slightly wet one day. The place that replaced batteries of course pointed to a tiny side in back (ah the fine print) mentioning that only the factory can guarantee water resistance.
Oh, and the stupid temperature gauge never worked right to begin, setting the tides unless you live the predefined region was um challenging. I liked the digital compass but ultimately it was a huge wast of 150 bucks.
Casio can get back to me when they guarantee 50 years of battery life and free manufacture replacement if they stop before that.
that is why this has a solar charged battery. case never needs to be cracked. i hope for ten years on the battery. my first pathfinder is 10 yrs old and still looks and works like new!
Fred’s right – all of this series are tough solar. No need to replace the batteries, if you TRULY owned the watch you’d know it was solar powered.
I think this was a negative review just for the purport to be negative and never owned the watch.
My husband has a pathfinder solar powered watch, it went dead after about 1.5 years, I took it in to get the battery replaced…and just got a call saying that the watch doesn’t work after the new battery was placed, I am wondering if I was supposed to do something else with it?
Actually the previous poster is correct. His watch came with 4 batteries. Not all pathfinders have the solar power function. Most do know but the watch described above is the PAG-40.
Fred is not right. The watch described by HA5AN is a PAG-40. It came with 4 batteries.
Damn looks like the ultimate camping watch! If I was trapped on an island I wouldn’t mind having this bad boy on my wrist! Only bad thing would it would probably get really annoying with the barage of beeps and it’s weight doesn’t seem like it’s the lightest watch. But for all the stuff you get, couldn’t ask for a better deal.
Damn looks like the ultimate camping watch! If I was trapped on an island I wouldn’t mind having this bad boy on my wrist! Only bad thing would it would probably get really annoying with the barage of beeps and it’s weight doesn’t seem like it’s the lightest watch. But for all the stuff you get, couldn’t ask for a better deal.
Can anybody comment how accurate compass that thing has?
I bought the earlier version of pro-tech Vs the one featured above as I wouldn’t be using the moon reading etc. But, let me tell you the pro-tech series is gr8. way to go Casio.
Cheers,
I just bought the watch and sure you need to read the manual. This thing has an assload of features. Do you expect them all to be self-explanatory? I am thinking this might be the worlds baddest watch but there is still that little test of time before judgement can be passed. As I stated earlier I just bought the thing, but initial reaction is very impressive.