Casio Men's Illuminator watch #AW-80-4BV Review

I got this watch as a replacement for my totally utilitarian Casio F91 "beater."That watch is a couple of years old and still works after some seriously hard use, but the strap broke so I upgraded it for a less generic Casio.I primarily chose this one for the size, its not bulky like most other multi feature watches.I like the beatability of the "G shock" types, and the fun features of the "Pathfinders" but they are just too bulky for me.

Besides looking less nerdy than the F91, this one has a couple of extra useful features such as world time, and a countdown timer. And one not so useful one--"telememo" which lets you enter some small bits of letters and numbers.It would be more useful if the strap had a little paper pad on it.I've actually used it to remember to something at the grocery store.And I programmed my telememo to say "Smile!" which is sort of a fun way to personalize the watch.

I really like the three alarm feature, that way I can set my wake up, plus two reminders during the day.The snooze feature is a bit of a bother to switch off, which is probably a good thing because you have to be conscious to make it stop.

The push button illumination has been a source of a lot of complaints in other reviews on Amazon.It does work, but it only illuminates the dial, not the LCD display, and since the dial is black, its not very bright.But you can see the position of the hands, which is really all you need. Note that the hands also glow in the dark all night, so its not really necessary to use the pushbutton at all, if your eyes are adjusted to the dark. I found that in the early morning, the missing 5 through 7 numerals, make it a bit difficult to determine the hour, unless you are fully awake, which might not be the case at this time.

Setting the watch is more complicated than the F91W and less intuitive.The manual that comes with the watch is small and most of it is in languages you dont need. I went to the Casio website and downloaded the full page size manual, which is three pages. (I suggest tossing out the foreign language portion of the mini-manual, and putting the english part in your travel bag with your toothbrush.You may need the instructions to reset the watch when you are in a different time zone.)The buttons are labeled A B C & D in the manual, but have different names on the dial, which doesn't help.I also found it difficult to get an exact time hack on the minute hand. I'm sure its possible, but it wasn't clear from the instructions. The analog hands and the digital time display operate independently, which is too bad because it would make setting easier if they coordinated.(The minute hand does coordinate to the digital, but only in 20 sec increments).

Just to clear up confusion from statements I read in other Amazon reviews on watches in this series -- this watch does NOT feature a thermometer or radio controlled atomic clock setting.It comes with a rubber strap.I've also read some complaints about the clear plastic scratching, but I figure at this price, its cheap enough to consider a disposable.Its so cheap I can beat on it like a rental car and not worry at all about scratching or breaking it.That's the joy of a good, cheap watch! When this one gets scratched too badly to buff, or the strap breaks, I will drop it in the local salvation army box.With the scuba colors, it might make a cool fish tank ornament, too. I like the sporty scuba diver looks of this watch.The high contrast yellow and black scheme looks cool and is easy to find when you put it down on a cluttered desk.

I think this watch would be pefect if the light were brighter, and the time setting were easier. Also, the dial and hands could be a bit bigger if 10mm weren't eaten up by the bezel.The dial itself is only 25mm. The Telememo function is doofy and not practical, and the name sounds too much like Spanish language TV. If the memo werent limited to a few letters, and if it coordinated with an alarm it would be a great idea.That way you could set an alarm with a reminder what you need to do.The black face absorbs the LED light, a white face with black hands would be easier to read day and night.

Overall I am very happy with the quality, style, dimensions and price of this watch.

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Product Description:
Analog/Digital quartz movement, Sport watch, Chronograph, Stopwatch 1/100 seconds, Countdown timer, World time, Telememo 30 data records for names and telephone numbers, 3 alarms with snooze feature, Auto calendar, 12/24 hour time, Polished white hands with luminous accents, White number markers, Small red numbers on inner dial, Small silver indices and red numbers on the outer border of the dial, Black resin bezel and selector buttons, Red and black resin case, Brushed stainless steel silver-tone caseback, 50 meters/165 feet water resistant

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