Casio GW2310-1 Men’s Tough Solar Watch

I purchased this G-Shock model for three primary reasons: 1) atomic timekeeping, 2) solar charging, and 3) readability. I have found over the years of owning G-Shocks that these are the three most important features to me.

Atomic timekeeping means that this is a “set and forget it” timepiece. Solar charging means that I never have to open the watch to replace a battery, keeping it water-tight for the life of the watch. Finally, have you ever noticed how “busy” and crowded some of the G-Shock watch faces are? In some cases, it makes it really difficult for older (not ancient, mind you!) eyes to read the time at a quick glance.

This model is a basic, no-nonsense EDC. It doesn’t have an altimeter, heart rate monitor, GPS, thermometer, or whatever. The watch I wear doesn’t really need those things because I think there are better specialized tools for those jobs anyway. It does have the tools I do need in a watch though like a stopwatch, timer, alarm, day/date, back lighting, military time display, and world time. If you need more in terms of lap timers for swimming and fitness training activities, there may be better options for that. Otherwise, this is a tremendous watch.

The atomic function works flawlessly. It actually works while on my wrist. I was up late gaming with one of my sons and I noticed that it was setting the time while I was playing on the PS4! My atomic watches in the past were much more finicky. Those things had to be placed in a particular spot in the house, pointing in a particular direction, the voodoo witch doctor had to shake a chicken foot over it, and then maybe it would pick up the signal. Not anymore!

When I received the watch from Amazon, it was completely dead with no charge at all. It appeared to have come directly from the manufacturer and had not been out on display or anything like that. It took a couple of days (it’s winter time and cloudy up north right now), but now it’s good and charged up. Be advised that it can take a little time to get charged to the “High” level, but once there, these watches tend to hold the charge for a long time with the power save feature active. Give it a good bit of sunshine once every few months and you’ll never have a problem.

The readability on this watch is excellent. Casio did a nice job of keeping the view uncluttered. Many of the G-Shocks suffer from lots of “stuff” on their faces. The older models suffer from the three-eye syndrome that shrinks the size of the useful information you want to see in lieu of useless little circles that nobody needs or cares about. This watch increases the size of the useful information and uses a white background to increase readability.

The obvious thing about this watch, of course, is that it’s a G-Shock. It is essentially the toughest mass produced watch in the world. Good luck killing it in the normal course of everyday wear. Among other things, I like to go snorkeling and skin diving on vacation, so this will be going with me for those activities with no worries. If these are good enough for Navy SEALS and law enforcement personnel, they’re probably good enough for the rest of us. Go ahead and beat it up. It laughs at you for trying to take it down!

I do have one small gripe about the watch, more specifically about the strap. Why does Casio insist on producing the world’s toughest ADULT watch and then slap a child-sized strap on the thing? I am an averaged-sized, athletic male (6′ 2″, 230 lbs.). I have to wear the watch right at the end of the band, so it just barely fits. To be honest, I wish there were just a little more band poking through the holder. I worry about losing it. In short, the band could be longer and more robust.

All in all, this is a great watch. Get it, charge it up with some intense sunlight, get it set up (it’s easy to do, just read the instructions), and you’re good to go.

Looks cool, rugged, and functional. It also feels great on wrist. Could probably use this in most contexts, but you mustn’t expect to be able to fit this well under sleeves or cuffs of any kind. I will probably use this as a beater, mainly. While this is described as being “utilitarian” on the Casio USA website, I know of arguably more tough or “utility over form” G-shock watches in a similar price-range, such as the GD-400.

Muy bonito diseño.
La luz es verde e ilumina desde el fondo de la pantalla. Buen precio para un reloj solar y con sincronización de hora.
Desde chihuahua si puede recibir la hora desde la antena de USA.
Lo mejor, comprado con Amazon y en la caja del reloj viene que ellos lo importaron.
Original.

I bought this watch after extensive research, comparing different models. This watch has stopwatch, countdown timer, world time, atomic time and it is 200m water resistant and solar powered. When I received this watch the power indicator was on MED level, I exposed it to a strong sunlight, after a few minutes it went to HIGH level and then in about 5 minutes back to MED and its been there since. After that I exposed the watch to artificial light only. The atomic function works fine only by the window showing L3 signal strength which is the max level. I synced it in manual mode. At night for some reason it didnt sinc. only had this watch for two days now.

I am happy with the watch except for the alarm signal volume. Sometimes you cant hear it at all if there is a background noise. The screen is large enough but the numbers are a bit small, the EL illumination is not as bright but you can see all info on the screen in the dark with no problem.

The good feature is that the world time is showing in the same screen with the city code for that time zone, so you always know the time in both cities without toggling between the screens.

It is easy to use, controls are all intuitive especially for someone who owned any kind of a digital watch before. It doesnt look bulky on small wrists either.

I gave it 4 star rating only because of its weak alarm volume. This watch has several alarms that can be set up at different times. But the weak sound makes it impossible to use this function at all unless you are in a perfectly quiet room and the watch is not covered by your sleeve.

UPDATE: A month of having this watch.
It syncs all the time automatically at night usually at 12:04am or 3:04am if I place the watch by the window. Having alarm and not being able to use it due to its weak sound is very annoing but I guess it should be expected since the watch is waterproof so sound can’t be loud though it.

UPDATE: After almost a year of wearing this watch I can add to my review that the signal is not that loud but to my surprise I got used to the sound, I mean to distinguish it from other sounds so that I can hear it in situations where external noise was high enough and at first I’d never thought I would have heard it. The light meter indicator never went down, stayed on HIGH level, the only problem is that as other reviewers mentioned this watch has alot of places where dirt and dust, lint can get stuck, so have to wash it with warm soupy water and it is like brand new again. The update is tricky but never failed when placed as instructed in the manual facing the window.

Just wanted to mention for some who may be concerned. someone also mentioned here that there is lots of places where dirt and dust can get on the surface of the watch. it is true…after a while it does gets kind a dusty in those places so you would need to wash it thouroghly with a soupy water, or like someone here suggested through it into the dishwasher…I never did that but I am sure the watch will withstand this as well.

UPDATE 02/27/2016

I took this watch with me to all possible vacations, it has seen salty waters etc. I played volleyball on the beach and never took my watch off my wrist. it is going strong, I love it, accurate and solar power is the best after 4 years all I had to do is to ensure that the watch gets enough sunlight at least 5 min per day. I changed my rating from 4 star to 5 and Good watch to Great watch. I only wish the alarm to be louder.