Casio G-Shock GD-100-1ADR

It's been 28 years that the world has experienced the ruggedness and durability of G-Shocks. Attributed to the need of a shockproof watch after his watch got damaged upon falling to the floor, Kikuo Ibe, an engineer in Casio went to his lab started experimenting on a shockproof watch. Testing it by dropping the prototypes out the window of the 3rd floor until one survived. By it's humble beginnings, the G-Shock line has garnered huge success and has now hundreds of styles to choose from.

For this post, I can present to you one of the latest models in the market. Officially released in Japan last September 2010, this watch is part of the Classics line and is more of a spin-off of the X-Large Combi Series of GA-100.

My review of the all digital Casio G-Shock GD-100-1ADR.

Case:

Dimensions of the case is 50mm in width, 52mm from lug to lug and 17mm in thickness. The durable plastic resin casing protects the watch from shock and water resistance up to 200 meters. The stainless steel case back is screwed to the case with markings of where it was made, model no., module no. and G-Shock trademark logos. What I love about the case, quite possibly one of the selling points of the watch is the large size for that modern hey my watch is bigger that my wrist look but hey not that ben10 comic look. The crystal is nicely guarded by four indices in the case that serve as bumpers. The buttons are safely secured under the case guards to prevent the plastic buttons from damage or being pushed accidently. Buttons are also big, that allows for easier operation, not convenient but effective. The case also has that large markings of G-SHOCK PROTECTION which I love. It's like a constant reminder of it's main feature or a tattoo of Superman on Shaq.

Movement:

Module no. 3263 Casio Quartz movement. Battery lifespan is estimated to last for 7 years considering normal watch operation.

Strap:

The rubber strap is attached through screws and a spring bar. Width of the strap is 28mm from the case, then tapers to 21mm at the ends. The thickness of the straps thins out from 2mm to about 1.5 mm at the tip which then allows it to be flexible and comfortable. It also uses the two hole buckle design for added lock and fit.

Dial:

The dial is an all LCD display that has two eyes on the 3 o'clock side and connects to 3 indicators all the way to the 9 o'clock position. The indicators divides the LCD into two. Upper portion displays the day, date, milliseconds, modes and settings. While the lower portion gives you mostly time keeping information. Another selling point of the watch are the 2 powerful LED lights that makes the watch face glow in the illumination feature. The neutral face with the LEDs make this a watch easier to read than other Gs.

Features:

For the timekeeping mode, it's pretty standard. What you see is what you get. The numbers are medium size, not an easy grandpa read but will do. And it comes a setting of four multi-timezones for timekeeping that's a basis from the world time function.

You have the World time, which covers 48 cities in 31 countries which includes UTC and the very useful daily savings time.

The timer, which is capable of counting down from 24 hours. Pretty neat.

The Stopwatch function is still the same as with other G-shocks. Elapsed timing, split time, and the 1st and 2nd place times. Still lacking is the Lap Timing and Memory recall for those runners and anybody timing laps or cycles. That's one wish I'd definitely like Casio Genie to have bestow on this watch.

The Alarm has 5 independent alarms that can be set to daily or one time only. That's it, no setting of weekends or weekdays only or anniversaries and others. The volume of the beep of the alarm is medium, not loud enough to wake me up, just able to let me know that it's time for kitkat.

Then there are the Flash alerts which you could set for you alarm or hourly chimes and all.

The watch also has that Auto Light Switch where the Super LEDs light up every time the face of the watch is tilted to more than 40 degrees or the viewing angle. It's a cool feature but I tried using it while driving or just doing the normal things, the watch lights up everytime of course and I could only guess when the battery will run out. Pretty useless I think, same with Timex's Flix system. Only useful if you're like paralyzed from the neck down and the only thing you can move is your wrist.

Price:

Stated 89$ on the gshock.com

In summary, the watch has its strengths and weaknesses. Bad news first, no lap time memory recall (Timex IM +1), useless Auto Light Switch, and Alarm feature has no weekend/day setting. Good points or I'd rather say great points goes to of course, the tried and tested gravity shock protection, extra large case that enables larger buttons for easier operation without sacrificing durablity, built like a tank, strong materials, super LED illumination, world time, 200m WR, affordable and of course you'll get a lot of respect from the fashion, music, sports, celebrity, military and WIS following all over the world.

This G-Shock GD-100 is not the jack of all traits, but what ever it provides, it's the best at it.