Casio Illuminator AE1500WH Digital Watch

If you are looking for an inexpensive watch that does the basics, is easy to see and can take a beating this is a good option. Really comfortable on the wrist (even though it is a little big). Easy to use and the display and font are the best I have ever seen on a watch. There are a couple things that kept it from being 5 stars for me:
(1) The backlight time can not be adjusted
(2) It does not have the wrist tilt backlight feature
(3) The strap does not have a keeper (to keep the buckle from moving on the long part of the strap)
Those are minor complaints. For this price point it is a great watch and perfect for those who want something that is easy to see, use and will take a beating. The attached video shows all of the features and settings, hope this helped.

I have used my cell phone instead of a watch since about 2001. Decided to start wearing cheap, quartz watches again because I often find myself without my cell phone within reach at rehearsals, recording sessions, lawn-mowing, or work from home situations. Picked up a few Timexes and Casios around the same time. So far, I like this model the best for general use. The size of the time display is so easy to read that I have already started preferring it to comparable analog models. I will mostly be looking to buy digital watches like this with big, simple displays from now on.

I’m not James Bond, in spite of what you may have heard. I don’t want an expensive watch on my wrist that might make me a potential target for theft/robbery downtown or on a subway. If I get some paint on this one or it breaks while I’m trying to remove an oil filter, it would be no great loss.

Use is fairly intuitive and it hasn’t lost or gained time in the few weeks I’ve owned it, unlike a Timex expedition analog model I got at the same time. After only a couple of weeks, the analog Timex expedition has lost about ten seconds already, which I admit I was surprised by.

The only complaint I could possibly make about this watch is that the two LED’s are quite poor in comparison to Timex’s indiglo or the backlight used on much more expensive G-Shock models. But for how cheap and functional this model is, that is a completely unfair comparison. The lights work perfectly fine for me to see if I wake up in the middle of the night but can’t roll/reach over to check my phone due to a sleeping dog contorting my legs at the foot of the bed. Or if I fall asleep on the couch.

I have mostly avoided getting it wet up until now, but I did accidentally leave it in the bathroom with the shower running a couple of times and no condensation formed on the inside of the face at all even though there was plenty of water vapor in the room. I also leave it on when washing my hands with no ill-effects.

I’m very impressed by how simple and functional this watch is. These cheap, digitals are light years ahead of the Timex Ironman I owned as a kid. But it should be said- that $25-$35 Ironman I bought sometime around 1995 went body boarding, surfing, in the pool with me, and I showered with it on. That thing was basically water-PROOF and never had an issue in water less than 20ft. deep. I swam in Atlantic/East-Coast hurricanes with that thing and it even got tossed around in the salty surf with me. Also used it to time lap-swimming in Olympic-sized pools. I do not have the same confidence in this model, though I have no real rationale for that.

The rubber strap was very uncomfortable on the old Ironman models and used to cause some really annoying, visible, skin irritation. I found G-shock straps of that era to be almost just as bad. That is not the case with these modern Casio polymer straps.

I also despise those weird circles Casio, Armitron, etc. put on watch faces and take up a quarter of the face of the watch. This watch has NONE of that BS going on. The info on the watch face is SO bold and easy to read that I would definitely prefer it to all the G-shocks with those damned, senseless circles taking up so much of the display. PV cells excluded because they actually do serve a purpose. But here’s my view on all that: if the watch battery lasts even close to ten years, it will already outlast the battery/operation of the solar-powered, $150 G-Shock I once owned by a factor of YEARS. So I would still prefer this because legibility is far more important to me than photovoltaics.

After a few weeks getting used to wearing a watch again for the first time in twenty years, I’ve really appreciated not having to dig my cell phone out of my pocket just to check the time/date. A weirdly subtle difference I would never have thought would matter. But it does. I’m starting to really like Casios!

I also like the hourly chime because otherwise I get lost and completely lose track of time while recording/producing. That could only backfire if the chime goes off in the vocal booth and ruins a take. Hasn’t happened yet, though.

I’m also glad they make it in the desert-sand/beige color because I’m fair skinned so it doesn’t look like a giant thing on my wrist.

At some point or other I will wake up exhausted and forget to take it off before I get in the shower. At that point I will update this review if water penetrates the buttons/gaskets/seals.

Again, I am in disbelief at how excellent this watch is for the price. I hope they never discontinue this model until an identical “20 Year Battery” model is available. But by then we’ll no doubt have flying cars, rocket-skates, jet packs, and digital, tattooed watches with veinous, indiglo epidermis. Or more than the current, standard-issue, two to three computer chips implanted into in our visual cortex at birth.

Just pick the color you like and buy the damned thing!

I bought this watch for my partner who is visually impaired. It looks great on him, keeps perfect time and very easy for him to read. We are so pleased!

Buen artículo de acuerdo al precio, ya que el plástico de las bandas se siente de baja calidad, pero de nuevo, de acuerdo al precio está bien, a demás de que es muy bonito

Good looking color. It used to be called khaki but now they call it Tan, even though it’s still khaki color. Great price for my third watch in the illuminator series of Casio. I use it for lawn work and in the first couple days of receiving it I have put it thru the durability test. While wearing it, I have dug out a large dead shrub with a pick axe and shovel, planted new shrubs, mowed lawn with both riding lawn mower and self propelled, used my weed trimmer and backpack leaf blower on the property. It has withstood the vibrations, sweat, water hose, and the jarring of an axe and shovel. Rinsed off and good to go for next chore. This keeps my pricy watches out of the brutality of lawn work and shop work. Not totally intuitive to set everything, just playing with it, UNTIL you read the instruction manual and once you understand what the function of each button is, then everything about this watch becomes easy, going forward. Testing the light button in daylight is underwhelming until you test it at night, then you realize how well the entire face lights up. The alarm sound is slightly on the weak side, but sufficient. Its value and build quality out performs the persona of a throwaway watch, despite its throwaway price. Yet, it looks good enough for a night out or day at the office or shop. It uses the large but flat CR2032 battery, the same ones you find in many car remotes, thus the ten year battery claim. It’s as easy to change as any other watch battery, and remote batterie, I have changed for neighbors, friends, and myself. It has many functions but one that stands out as unique is a daily alarm “with a snooze function”, that one surprised me of the five alarm settings it has. It has the typical stop watch, timer, and dual time function. Lastly, I have . a 6.75 wrist and it fits well. Plenty of band holes for left for smaller or large wrists. I recommend.