Casio G-Shock GW3000BB Review
February 20, 2014
Pros
- Syncs to atomic clock in CO.
- Second hand ticks precisely on marks. Same goes for minute and hour hands. (If they ever go off, Tough Mvt is suppose to compensate.)
- Unlike digital displays, this is always easy to read, even in low light and at an angle.
- Perpetual calendar
- 24 hour dial lets you glance at how much time you wasted today.
- Large military/aviator style numbers for easy reading.
- Stopwatch is accurate to 1/100 second
- Has alarm function
- Dial for 2nd time zone also indicates minutes, which is great for timezones with 0.5 offsets.
- Home time zone and away time zone are easily swappable for when traveling between two locations frequently.
- Despite all the extra analog functions, the main dial always displays the time.
- A fresher style when compared to traditional analog chronographs.
- Hard to accidentally press buttons, require a solid push to activate.
- Fairly silent watch, hard to accidentally make sound.
- Very comfortable.
CONS
- Only 24 minute stopwatch
- Stopwatch dial must transition from 2nd time zone to starting position before you can start (this can take several seconds depending on the hands position)
- 1/100 dial is extremely hard to read
- Only one alarm
- No hourly chime
- No countdown timer
- Hour and minute hands are controlled by the same motor, which means they take longer to settle when swapping time zones (but that doesn’t happen often)
- Hard to use stopwatch function when the hour and/or minute hand are pointing near 3 o’clock.
- Second hand has no lume (seems ridiculous to me), as well as stopwatch and 24 hour dial.
- Extremely thick (it can get in the way when reaching into pockets)
- Living in Los Angeles area, the watch does not sync every night (more like one out of every 3 or 4 nights, which is okay).
- Bit of a learning curve (but if you’re semi competent, then you’ll figure it out)
- Alarm is very quiet (don’t depend on it to wake you up)
CONCLUSION
I really like this watch and I plan on holding onto it for a long time. In retrospect, I understand the strengths of its successor the GW4000:
- Larger dial for stopwatch functions
- Larger dial diameter makes the watch thinner
And the advantages of the GWA1000:
- Individual motor for both minute and hour hand allows them to be set much faster. Eliminates need for secondary dial for stopwatch functions.
However, I feel the GW3000BB & GW4000 are superior to the GWA1000 in that they always display the current time and have fewer moving parts (electronic crown).
BONUS
BONUS BONUS
Watch tanaka has a HD video of the blue version with metal band.