Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch

Comments about Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch:

Casio continues to lighten their Pathfinders, and while this is a large watch, it contains a combination of features from both the Pathfinder and the Sea Pathfinder. The trouble with most multi-function watches is that they kill batteries. The Solar function is constantly topping off the battery, no matter how often you use the function. Suunto's are great as I compare this to the Vector and Core(but neither do tides or Moon cycles), the Suunto's weakness is it Battery consumption, the Casio does not have that short coming due to the Solar function on this watch. In addition the Atomic Clock feature is great it receives a signal from Denver to update my watches time, no trouble getting a signal in my house.

There is Two negatives I have found.
1. The alarm signal is much quieter than other Casio's I have owned.
2. The Compass times out...fast. 10 seconds is all you get before you have to hit the button again to refresh it.

Figuring most of my friends wear similarly priced watches and all they do is tell time, I love this watch...I use the barometer the most as I can track coming rain well with it.

Comments about Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch:

I really like this watch. I'm a bit of an electronic junkie so believe me when I say i've tried a lot of gear. My previous alti-watch was a Highgear though it worked well, I was unimpressed with plastic case construction. Once I melted the screen slightly with bug spray (can't imagine what it did to my skin but we will not go there)

I purchased this watch because it had the most of what I was looking for. I'm an outdoor adventure seeker and I am getting into mountaineering (with a few peaks under my belt) so I needed a reliable watch.

I see a real advantage to the solar charge feature since i'm the type of person that would forget to change my battery when going on travel to some remote foreign country. The last thing I would want is to have my battery die on a 1 month trek across Nepal or something.

The atomic clock works well for me here in WV. i also used it in NM, which is much closer to Ft. Collins (obviously) where the atomic clock is. I'm not one to really care if my watch is off by a few minutes but the feature is nice.

I'm not a fisherman but I do spend alot of time near the water however i've yet to really use the tide chart. I can see it's usefulness though.

I'm used to having a temp guage on a watch and understand that I need to take the watch off for a while before it reads the ambient air temp. Basically i'm pleased with this feature however i would like it if it went below zero (for mountaineering purposes) Apparently the limit is 14 F. An advantage of reading my skin temp is that I could possibly monitor my body temp while climbing to keep my body in check (though i've not actually tried it).

The compass works as designed but I never rely on a watch compass. I come from that school of thought that you should always take the tools needed for every situation. My idea of this compass is strictly for backup in a survival situation....so for that it would most likely work perfectly.

The Altimeter seems to work well but i have never found an alti-watch that wasn't off by a few hundred feet here and there, and i'm ok with that. I'm really not that picky. I just need to know if i'm within a certain range. With any wrist top alti watch that uses barometric pressure to calculate altitude, your going to see some jump even when standing still (especially when weather is always changing). I think all of this is perfectly acceptable. So the alti feature works well for me.

Now for what I don't like. I really wish there was an all stainless steel version ( or titanium) case. All the PAW 1500 watches are a resin case with a steel or Ti bezel. I'm sure they do this to keep cost down and weight at a min. Other then that I really like the watch. I'm actually going to order a second one for my equally picky and adventurous wife. (I'm going to have to make a custom band unfortunately because the mens band is just too big) She will be spending a few months in Africa in the bush so she will not have access to "fresh battery's" (hence the solar feature)

I will keep this review updated as I put this watch through more abuse.

So far so good.

Comments about Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch:

I originally intended to use this watch when I do a variety of outdoor activities and when I travel abroad. I purchased this watch because I had gone through 2 ogio's, 3 Suunto's, and 1 Luminox ( still have ). I got the suunto core light because it looked stylish, was light, and had many many features I was attracted to. However I owned it for 3 months and went through 2 batteries. To be fair I used the majority of the features of the watch every day as I was traveling a large amount. I finally found that I could not rely on the batterie and several times found that the watch would just stop working out of the blue. I had already tried ogio's and that was a mistake and I was running out of options. The only reason I did not get the casio in the first place was cause I did not like the metal band ( the only one they had was titanium and very pricy ). But finally I broke down and went back to see if they still had it. Much to my amazement they had this version. I tried it on and it seemed ok, so I bought it. Man was I in for a shock!

I went from wearing a luminox watch daily, and just using this watch for when I went outdooring to wearing this watch all the time. Once you get everything set, it is super easy to use. Its very accurate for a watch and if you set everything right you should be good to go. I have yet to worry about even a low charge since the solar is a beast! I have jumped off rocks 60 feet plus and hit the water with no problems, no software issues have come up, nothing.... I was dumbfounded. This watch does exactly what casio said it would do. If you notice the other manufactures, they will tell you what great features the watch has but there is always a little blurb about how you cant do this and cant do that and dont leave it this way or take care of it that way, well this one is not like that.

To sum up... If you want a watch that has all the features of any abc, gshock, or sport watch rolled in to one, with none of the drawbacks, get this one. I spent more on the suunto and batteries in 5 months than I would have on just this watch.....

Comments about Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch:

I really like this watch. I really wanted a solar powered watch that would be rugged and reliable in all conditions. I tested out all the features (except Atomic time signal because I live in Alaska and the frequency does not reach Anchorage from Colorado) and I am very satisfied. After I calibrated the compass I tested it against two regular ones and it worked great in several locations. It is much easier to keep this watch level for a good reading in comparison to the compass watches sold by Timex. I also kept track of the local Barometer and it matched up perfect and will be really useful for keeping a track on changing weather patterns. You can display a graph of the barometric pressure reading on the main display in place of the name of the day. It takes auto readings every hour. For the thermometer, it naturally reads very high when worn on my wrist so to test it I took a pot, filled it with snow and added water. Then I dunked the watch in there for a bit. When I pulled it out and checked it read 32.2 and started rising as I held it in my hand, so I was pretty impressed. The Altimeter uses barometric pressure and temperature changes to give approximate hight. Knowing that both of these are correct, I feel pretty confident in the altimeter. I tested it by setting it to zero feet and then going up several flights of stairs and it was pretty close (it reads in 20ft increments). I recommend when using this feature to always calibrate it to a known hight (or just zero) and then keep an eye on any changes in pressure to get a good reading. I also double checked the Moon and tide info online for my area and it was also correct. It goes off the city information you set for your main time plus you can make tide adjustments if necessary, which is easy to do. In fact, making any adjustments or calibrations are very easy. The manual looks huge but that is because it is in several languages and all the steps are easy to follow and simple to remember. Other than that, everything operates like a normal digital watch. Feels very comfortable (after it pulled out a few hairs on my wrist) and I wear it all the time. The green backlight is a good brightness, not too bright nor too dark, and the auto-illumination can be turned on or off by holding down the light button for 3 seconds.

Comments about Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch:

My brother bought this watch for me. I'm a real "one watch" guy so at first I wondered if I would wear it. Now, I have a hard time going back to my luminox because it only tells time. This watch really does everything it sets out to do and does it well. Having the time always accurate is nice and allows you to set other clocks with confidence. I've used the tide graph when near the ocean to know when to go check out tide pools and gentlemen, if you live with a lady, the moon phase calculator can serve multiple functions - seriously. My only real gripes are that the non-adjustable metal band doesn't allow you to wear it over outerwear like jackets or wetsuits and other mutlifunction watches have a combo altimeter/chronograph allowing you to monitor descent/ascent rates in one function. It also tends to lose power in the Northwest's grey winters, but it has never gone below medium power.

Comments about Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch:

Great watch that does almost everything under the sun. I play with it all the time and have never had the battery indicator say anything but high. The barometric trend graph is great to notice a front before you can see it. Only thing it doesn't do is a heart rate if your a runner, and I wish they could figure out a way to make the temperature reading do the air instead of your skin.

Comments about Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch:

I tried out the PAW1300 before I traded up to this one, very glad I did. The 1300 is made in Thailand and does not seem to be on par with the quality of the 1500 (made in Japan). I love the rotating bezel feature of the 1500 and the features are everything that I had hoped for. The band seems to be much more durable than the 1300 as well. In short, great watch, I could not be more happy.

One minor comment would be that the bezel seems to shade the solar charging ring due to the depth of the face below the rim. This makes it hard to charge it back up as the entire ring needs to be exposed to light to charge. Not a biggie, but worth mentioning.

If you are looking for a watch with the ABC functions, give this one a shot!

Comments about Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch:

Not much to add to the other thorough reviews here so I'll keep is short. I use this for everyday, fishing and trekking. I find the tide information really helpful. The altimeter and compass are great, including memory for different altitudes. The more I use it and understand how to use it (it can be complicated), the more I love it. Yes its bulky but the thing is brilliant. I travel internationally a lot and setting the time zone is really nice and simple. Don't wait. buy yours now.

Comments about Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch:

This is a wonderful watch. I just bought it last weekend and am already really enjoying it. Before this, I had the Suunto X6HR, which was a good watch, but had many issues (blanks out, eats batteries, band tears after use, complicated button system in the dark). My X6HR battery died in the middle of a triathlon - not a good situation. I like the Suunto product, but I really feel that the Casio is more reliable and tougher. The Pathfinder overcomes many of the Suunto issues by being easy to use (don't be scared off by the 1/2 inch thick instruction booklet), good buttons, and atomic/solar timekeeping. It already seems that this will be a watch that stands up the the abuse that my X6HR could not. Plus, at [$], it is much cheaper that the fully loaded Suunto. The only issue some people may find is that it is a larger watch than most. So, if you are a smaller person, this may not be what you would want. Everything else with this watch is pretty awesome.

Comments about Casio Pathfinder PAW1500-1V Multifunction Watch:

The PAW 1500 is a good time piece,and under proper and ideal conditions, with a good break in period,can be a good tool. However, If you are in the military or law enforcement or another field that REQUIRES you to function at night, avoid this product.. As many of us know the light on the unit is a very valuable tool. Especially if you need to function at night, ie map reading when no flashlight can be used.... and the dozens of other things we do with that low glow light. The short lived energy reserve in this unit will prevent that.. Should you run the cells down, and that doesn't take long,.. the unit ceases to function until recharged.. Therefore no compass... no alarm, (wich is not loud enough, by the way), is not a good thing when those tasks are critical in the various scenarios of night ops..In essence..you will not "Rule The Night" because your watch alarm didn't wake you up!!
Its altimeter has a lot of "training" to do as well. It becomes more accurate the more you calibrate it and the greater the parameters are for those calibrations.. It has a way to go before it is anywhere close to accurate.. I thought I would give the solar concept a go, and it is an idea that will continue to develope. I'm sure it will be a reality not to far in the future.. For now, until the much needed improvements in battery technology take place, the watch is over engineered, and unreliable for other than low level tasks.. keep a battery operated backup around for another decade at least..
I'd recomend it to a friend that wasn't using it at night for critical circumstances..