Casio Men's GPRB1000 G-Shock Rangeman Watch

I’ve noticed the mixed reviews and felt compelled to add my two cents. You’re either going to love this watch or hate it, and here’s why:The Rangeman is an absolute beast of an outdoors/survival watch. Nothing comes close to it on the market as of this review. I say that because what other GPS watch is solar powered, has a barometer, altimeter, compass, and thermometer as well as having all the usual timers, alarms, world times, etc? None. Are there other GPS watches? Absolutely. Will they work indefinitely when you’re lost in the middle of nowhere? No way. You’ll get a few hours out of them, and when they die, it’s game over. (Stop with the, “I’ll bring a battery pack with me on my hike to charge it” argument. Really?)So let’s talk about what the Rangeman isn’t first. It’s not a smartwatch — there’s no messaging or email on it. It’s not a fitness watch — there’s no heart rate monitor or step counter, nor does it store music. It also doesn’t have a fancy full color screen. So for those expecting this to be an Apple Watch, this isn’t it so just keep shopping.This also isn’t a traditional GPS watch loaded with maps. Why? Maps and the processor/screen needed to display them take a lot of power hence the few hour limitations of other GPS watches. This watch is designed to always work and be able to charge itself while doing it. Even if you threw solar panels on a different brand’s GPS navigation watch, the panels couldn’t keep up with the power consumption (if they could, Garmin and the like would have made it happen already). So Casio saw this problem and solved it.This watch, while it comes with a charger, will never need it unless you run the GPS for nearly 40 hours straight and want to use it for another 40 right away. In fact, someone on YouTube drove from the UK to Switzerland with it on constantly over a two day period and still had 4 bars of battery life on it (full). It dropped to 3 somewhere along the way, and then the sun brought it back to 4. The watch will pause the GPS if you’re not moving for a while, to save battery, and then continue once you start moving again. The watch will also go into a power save mode at night and turn off the screen while you sleep to save even more battery. It was designed to never die and never let you down. You literally can’t kill it... even after the 33 continuous hours (non-stop moving), the GPS shuts down and the rest of the watch still works until the sun replenishes some of the battery so you can start the GPS again. Nothing on the market today can even come close to that performance. In fact, locked in the dark with zero light, the watch still has a 1.4 year battery life before it’s dead and needs to be charged. Again, what other GPS navigation watches can claim that? None. It’s safe to say that this watch will never die on you as long as you wear it.But all these zombie apocalypse features come at a slight cost. If you want to map out a detailed route to follow, you have to use the G-Shock app (which has a map) and then upload it to the watch via Bluetooth. You can’t do it directly on the watch. What you can do on the watch is save a start point, then go explore. Leave the GPS on and it will track you. Turn the GPS off after you save the start point and you’re still good. Now you’re lost, no service on your dead phone, can’t remember where you parked your car, what do you do? Load your saved start point (technically what the watch calls a “Point Memo”) and the watch will show you the way. If you had GPS running, just select backtrack and you’re good to go. Both do the same thing but keeping it running will allow you to see your exact route in the app afterwards, along with pictures you took along the way and some additional information. You can also save points of interest as you travel such as a pond, or overlook, or even a restaurant for that matter and navigate back to them whenever you want. It even has icons in the watch to help you label them. To see all this in more detail, you can download the G-Shock app, select Rangeman, and then select demo. You can play with the app like you just did a few outings to get a feel for it. No watch is needed for the demo.I saw a review about the altimeter not being accurate. The altimeter works two ways: it uses the barometric pressure to give an approximate altitude (usually within a couple hundred feet of accuracy), or when using the GPS, it gets it from the satellites. You can’t get anymore accurate than that. In case you’re wondering why it’s approximate in the other mode, it’s because the air pressure changes with weather so it’ll never be 100%, but what you do get with that barometer is the ability to predict the weather which the watch can do all by itself as well, and it will even alert you if a storm is on its way! Altitude accuracy is a non issue if you read the owners manual. Also the comment about the barometer being off? He could have calibrated it in the watch to whatever instrument he was using so that’s a non-issue as well. I wouldn’t mess with it though. Casio also doesn’t recommend it unless you’re using a high end instrument and know for sure what you’re doing. It’s more than sufficient for what it’s designed to do and should be accurate from being calibrated at the factory and will never need to be adjusted. I do have to say that it seems like most of the negative reviews came from people who didn’t bother to read the manual. Someone actually said you can’t use this watch without a phone because the GPS won’t get a signal without it. Really bro?!? Do you even own the watch?!?So I hope this clears up some of the positive and negative reviews. Is it big? Yes. I have a 6.75” wrist and it fits fine. Size is subjective though so I can’t be of much help there, but you get free returns if that is your only concern. The display is crisp — it can be read indoors and out. The watch is always accurate to the second from its constant automatic daily updates (Bluetooth or GPS). If you switch time zones, the watch will update that automatically as well. You don’t really need to use the app at all if you don’t care about creating/viewing your actual route (remember, the watch was designed to work when your phone and everything else fails, so no phone is ever needed to operate this watch). And it has every other bell and whistle you can think of that any other regular watch has, except a depth meter. So if you’re into scuba diving, while absolutely waterproof to 600 feet (another category the other GPS watches fall far behind in), it can’t tell you how far down you went. And let’s not forget it’s a G-Shock — It’ll handle everything short of a full swing of a sledge hammer to its face, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it survived that too. I haven’t read of anyone breaking one anywhere which also means it is absolutely tougher than all the other comparable watches. YouTubers love torture tests... did you know you can freeze and even boil a G-Shock and it still works? And if you do happen to scuff it up during an adventure, replacement parts are available online.Die hard G-Shock enthusiasts will also complain about the lack of an hourly chime (I get it, but it’s not a big deal), and some complain about the stopwatch not displaying hundredths of a second. If I had to make an uneducated guess as to why the watch doesn’t display hundredths of a second, I would say it’s a limitation of the screen technology. I don’t believe the refresh rate can keep up with such fast moving numbers so it had to be left out. Trust me, the screen is amazing though. I think this was a case of the engineers having to give a little to get a lot. But that’s just my guess so don’t take my word for it.One last important note. While other “smart” watches have a shelf life, this one doesn’t. Have you noticed yourself needing to upgrade every few years because your tech gets slow as update after update gets installed over time? This will never happen with this watch. Unlike other GPS watches or other smart watches, this one will still work 10 years from now as good as the day you bought it with probably the original battery still in it (there are many solar G Shock owners who have gone 20+ years without a battery change). Just keep the battery topped off with some light (indoor or out), and it will never let you down. And I almost forgot, it does have a phone finder alarm feature so if paired to your phone, it’ll help you find it when you lose it. I think that’s my most used feature! They killed it with this one, right down to the sapphire crystal. Mic dropped.So I can’t tell you if this is a must buy or not. If you’re a little adventurous and like to hike, boat, or explore the backcountry, this is a no brainer. If you’re looking for a watch to let you know you have a new message or email, or how many steps you did today, then I’d say pass. Just don’t let the negative reviews sway you. The watch is amazingly flawless for what it was designed to do, and you can’t fault the watch for not doing what someone else expected or hoped it would do when Casio is extremely clear about its specs. For me, I don’t need a mirror image of my phone on my wrist with limited batteries when I’m in the middle of the desert with no cell service. I need a never fail backup tool to make a potential life-threatening situation a mere inconvenience. This watch is just that, and I wear it daily as well as a bonus. 5 stars.One last thing — be smart. Select the other sellers in the listing and read some of their reviews. It’s a shame some of you were sent used watches. Authorized G-Shock retailers are listed there (I bought mine from one in that list), so you won’t have to worry about getting screwed.

Executive Summary: For $800, a GPS watch without the ability to manually input GPS coordinates, and short sighted wireless recharge lost 2 stars. Also poor build quality loses another star.Details:I bought this watch KNOWING the primary problems (for me) already. So lets start off with why I bought it anyways:A GPS watch? With solar recharging? WOW awesome! Yes count me in all day every day. What more do you want? It has awesome features, tide graph, count down, world time, etc. I love it! I wish it had retained the atomic clock ability. I don't think the antennas were too big. Why? Because if your battery is too low, you can't auto sync with the GPS.Problems (for me) I knew already:1. you can't input manually a GPS coordinate to navigate TO. Wow this is annoying. YES you can use your phone to make a goal.. but what if I broke my phone? there is this dial on the side which would make inputting coordinates pretty easy... but.. for some reason they left that out? why?Also this would be handy to put in "emergency" locations. for example, if you're doing a several day hike, and you know where you're going, but would like to stache several emergency points (point a for day 1, point b for day 2) there is NO WAY to do this, even with a phone. The only way you can STORE a location is to physically BE there, and record the location.2. recharging. SOME wireless charging stations can actually recharge the watch! but some can't. Casio could have really simplified their package by just adopting the Qi wireless standards a little. (maybe they did?) no stars lost for this...3. build quality. WOW (in a bad way).. for an $800 I am very surprised by how LOW QUALITY the build is. The plastic housing that protects the sensor (side with 2 buttons..) is lose. It can wiggle around. I replaced the fancy carbon fiber band with my own 550 paracord band, and the screws don't go ALL the way through. in other words, there are 4 short screws that hold the band on instead of 2 "all the way through" screws.some cool features I didn't consider:The android app is cool. A bit sluggish but, I hiked a long mountain and took pictures. It will show you where you were when you took the pictures (based on time stamp on picture NOT GPS location!) This is really cool to show your friends where you were exactly when you took the picture.The GPS time sync function is COOL. I love it.Hold still when starting GPS function as moving will throw everything off.

Great watch, but I received it used and dirty.

The watch itself is great, but it is not new. The band has scratches and there was none of the protective plastic on the stainless steel areas that are found in brand new Casio watches. The box and instructions similarly had been opened and the instruction manual was well worn. The watch is in good enough condition to keep, but I feel I could have gone to eBay and sought a used model if that was what I was seeking. I see no indications that the watc( being sold was a used watch.

I bought my watch new shortly after this model was offered for sale to the public from Amazon.com. It is everything I hoped for and exactly as advertised. It was not too difficult for me to set up, and I am not really very tech-minded. This watch does NOT come with an operator's manual, but you can download one off the Internet. It does come with a quick review manual, however. It is a beautiful and rugged watch, and quite large, which is what I like. My only complaint is that this watch does not have an hourly time signal (which I really miss); it does, however, have four daily alarms. I would certainly recommend this watch to anyone who likes large Gshock watches!

The watch is great but was to large for my needs. The return process is disgraceful and Amazon’s customers service is of absolutely no help.

This was given to my brother as a gift.

Definitely a large wristwatch but subjectively speaking being used to the GWG1000 Mudmaster, the GPRB1000 Rangeman does not feel any more substantial, in fact it feels lighter on the wrist. Setup was super fast and easy. See pictures for size comparison between the aforementioned watch and some others including SEIKO SKX009, SEIKO SNA411, and Victornox Profesional Diver. I don't like to give reviews without using the product for a while, hence the rating is of first impressions and the top notch service of the seller.

Took some getting used to . This watch is awesome. Big but it gets a lot of compliments .