Brand Reviews

Over the years, I have bought nothing but this particular watch. I got my first 6 years ago, and had it for 4 years until it met its end in the washing machine. I drove over the second (whoops!) and am now on the third. The reason I keep coming back to this particular watch is that it is rediculously easy to set and use. In the traditional time mode, there is an option for 10 seconds of backlighting, and a toggle between 12 and 24 hour mode. Press "mode" and you continue on to the alarm settings. You can toggle the alarm on and off, as well as set a chime for the hour. The exact same process is followed to set the alarm as to set the time. Press 'light', then use the 12/24 button to increment the fields, and 'light' to continue through all the fields. If you changed anyhting, pressing mode returns you to the time, otherwise, pressing mode again takes you on to the timer. 12/24 starts the timer, light spltis the time, and 12/24 again stops the timer. Pressing light while stopped clears the entry. Pressing mode returns you to the time if you used the timer, otherwise, it continues on to the set-time screen. This behaves the same as the set alarm screen, except you also set the date here.

After 6 years of using this model watch, I have found exactly two problems.
1) The date didn't increment to Feb 29, 2000. It went to March 1, 2000. But I was able to manually set it, and it's been fine ever since. We'll see what happens Feb 29, 2004.
2) My first one had a type of cloth for the wristband. It wore out relatively quickly, leaving me with the watch but no band. The plastic/rubbery band is much more durrable.

But the positives are much more numerous:
1) Extremely easy to set.
2) Batteries have never wore out on me, and I use the backlight frequently.
3) Nice backlight.
4) Logical "menus"
5) Intuitive navigation - I am a computer programmer, but I've had other digital watches that I could not navigate through with the manual. This one is usable without a manual.
6) Year 2000 compatible! :)

This watch is worth far more than Amazon (or anyone, for that matter) charges for it.

Please note, despite the editorial review description, this watch does not have a countdown timer. Indeed it's the only flaw. I don't know why the description is in error, but beware!

Even though I lead a life of leisure, knowing my watch is correct to the second is important to me. I find this watch very comforting in that respect. I would like to address the problem of picking up the atomic signal that a couple of previous reviewers mentioned. I wonder if they set up the watch as the instructions dictate, laying it flat, near a window, away from electronic interference, etc. I live in an area of poor radio reception, far from the signal in Colorado, but the watch successfully receives the signal overnight if I follow the instructions. It's true, however, that it can be difficult or impossible to get the signal manually or if I haphazardly leave the watch lying around overnight. I have found that if the watch misses the signal one night it's still on perfect time the next day. Therefore, I'm very happy with its accuracy. I can't give it a five-star review because I find the function buttons don't work well. The way they're recessed makes it hard even for slender fingers to push. I like to use the stopwatch function for cooking, but it's rather annoying to start and stop it.

I love knowing that my watch is ALWAYS in perfect time. My workplace uses the atomic clock for it's network time so I know that my time is in perfect synch with every PC, network server and timeclock, as well as every clock in my house! If all of your friends have one, your will always know exacly what time everyone has! I am also VERY hard on watches. I can hardly ever keep one for more than a few months before I manage to break them, but I plan on having my G-shock for many years.