10/11/2009

Review of Casio Men's G-Shock Classic Digital Watch #DW5600E-1V

This 5600 has everything I need, and nothing I don't:
- It tells you the time, date, and day of the week at a glance.
- It has 1 alarm (not 5 like many other G-Shocks -- too fidly).
- A countdown timer (with the current time shown in the upper box).
- A stopwatch (again, time is still shown).

That's it. If you want fancy "features" like inaccurate temperature readings, barometric pressure graph which gets distorted by temperature and altitude, 19 alarms, and world time in 7,000 cities around the world -- look elsewhere! This watch does exactly what a wristwatch should, which in my opinion is tell the time, and take an absolute beating. I don't particularly want to stand in public pressing 15 buttons on my watch, just to set a quick alarm to remind me of something. This 5600 keeps everything relatively simple (obviously go through the manual when you first get it).

(I started collecting G-Shocks; they have all since been given away/sold since I discovered this little beauty. I had a Riseman, Gulfman, Mudman, and G7700 -- and none of them were worn after purchasing this. And I paid AUS$350 for the Riseman!)

The design of this watch is absolutely classic. It is truly a "timeless" design for a digital watch. The best thing about it is the simplicity -- it is one of the few G-Shocks which doesn't have random circles which show the seconds, bar graphs, a bezel 2 inches off your wrist, etc etc. It's clean and simple.

As far as durability, I haven't taken mine off for over 6 months; it's been swimming indoors, at the beach, smashed against shelving time and time again (I'm a storeman), it gets run under hot water about 10 times a day for hand-washing, I shower in it, sleep in it, play with my kids at the park ... It is yet to show ANY visible damage -- absolutely amazing!

The buttons are fine to press. After setting the alarm, starting the stopwatch, whatever, it returns you to the time mode with a single button push. Again, there is no nonsense, like scrolling through 5 more modes just to get back to the time display.

If you are also looking at the "solar atomic" model of the 5600, please consider -- the batteries in this watch will last years and years, and it will keep very accurate time (I reset it against Internet atomic time every few months and it's never been out by more than a few seconds). In my opinion solar & atomic are essentially "gimmicks" in wristwatches (no offense to those that enjoy those features, but, I see them as useless, and I have owned a solar G-Shock).

I 100% recommend this watch for the no-nonsense buyer who wants a relatively slim/sleek G-Shock with all the toughness, and non of the "fluff".



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