CASIO Men's Master of G Solar Watch (Open Box)

The Casio Rangeman watch is a tricky product for me to review. Don't get me wrong: It's highly functional and robust, well-conceived, and most of what it does it does quite well. What makes this tricky is that the Rangeman poses a philosophical dilemma, for somebody like me who collects watches: Do I really need anything more than this? What is the appropriate criterion for judging a watch like this? I'm writing this review in part to try to answer those questions. So first off, I bought this watch with several specific use-cases in mind. I wanted a light-weight, shock-resistant watch for running with, and I also wanted it to be easy to read, and to have the ability to function as a stopwatch. I also wanted a "field watch" for hiking, kayaking, and other outdoor activities away from civilization -- hence no smart watch or fit-bit. I liked the idea of solar power, so as not to need to change the battery out for 10 or 15 years, at least. And finally, because I do have some other mechanical watches, I also wanted an "atomic watch," something that would always be synced and accurate and that I could use as a reference to set other time-pieces. So those are the reasons why I picked out the Rangeman to try. This was not my first experience with a Casio G-Shock, by the way. And my previous G-Shock was not a success -- I got a GX-56 "King," with the primary aim of using it to time myself during a mud-run obstacle course. Unfortunately, I bought one with a "reverse" LCD display -- i.e., where the numbers appear white on a black background, instead of the other way around. That turned out to make that watch difficult to read, even in bright sunlight. And I learned the hard way that if I can't easily read the face of a digital watch, then it's useless to me. Which added another demand to the use-case for my new Rangeman: it had to be very easy to read the time, regardless of the ambient lighting or the angle of my wrist. So here's the good news: It turns out that the Rangeman is quite good for all of my use-cases. It's easy to read, light-weight and good for running, good as a field watch, with excellent atomic time-keeping. If anything, I find myself using this watch for more situations than I expected to. On a recent business trip across country, for example, I kept the Rangeman with me, because it's world-time function made it easy to switch time zones, while still keeping track of time at home. Plus the basic home screen display, which shows the time, day, date and month (based on a perpetual calendar through the year 2100) is incredibly functional and useful. So yes: by comparison with most mechanical watches, the Rangeman is almost ridiculously functional, even just in terms of the basic display that you get without pushing any buttons at all. Did I mention that (in the U.S.) the Rangeman will automatically keep track of daylight savings time, and make the adjustment without you even having to think about it? So this led me to the existential question, do I really need any other watch, now that I have this one? After thinking about it for several weeks, I've concluded that the answer still is yes, at least for me. And the reason why goes to specialization: namely, a watch designed to do one thing can be tailored to that purpose, whereas a watch designed to do many things necessarily involves some compromise. And sometimes, I really do want the specialized watch. So for example, I have an inexpensive mechanical dive watch (similar price point to the Rangeman). My diver is a better watch for swimming than is the Rangeman. Even though the latter is supposed to be water resistant to 200m, I simply don't feel confident in this to the same degree that I do with my mechanical watch. (Look at the reviews on Amazon -- 19 out of 20 people love the Rangeman, but the remaining 1 out of 20 gets a lemon, often to do with faulty water resistance.) Likewise, my mechanical dive watch is actually better for sleeping with -- it has glow-in-the-dark lume on the hands, which means you can easily see the time with a glance even in a pitch-black room, or under the covers. The Rangeman can also light up in the dark, but you either have to push a button for this, or else set the watch so that it automatically lights up every time you move your wrist when in the dark -- and neither of those options is as good for sleeping with as is a traditional mechanical dive watch. Getting back to my recent trip across country: I sat next to another passenger who was wearing an expensive watch on the plane, I believe it was a Tag Heuer Carrera -- a racing-inspired sports watch on a leather-band, the kind of thing you might wear out for an evening with on the town with friends, when visiting Monte Carlo. By comparison, my Rangeman looked almost like a toy. Don't get me wrong -- I very much like the bulkiness and the tactical look of the Rangeman. But it's certainly not a watch that slides easily under a dress shirt cuff, or that fits in well at the office. Which is just another way of saying, as versatile as the Rangeman is, the design is optimized for some uses and settings, but not others. Camping? Yes. Covert ops? Yes. Going to your best friend's wedding? Probably not. In sum, I still give the Rangeman 5 stars. It is very well designed for what it is, and it does many things well. I've had it for a month, and I am enjoying it a lot. Even though it won't replace other watches for me, I certainly wouldn't give it up, now that I've experienced it. So there!