Good Wood's Watch?

Razor

Razor

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Dec 8, 1999
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I have been looking at the Casio pathfinder. Do the digital compasses, work on these watches? Would another brand, of watch be better?
 
I've got a marataq AQC that I like, Compass is pretty good, and it's a nice looking watch. I think J Williams has one too (thought I saw one on him in one of his recent pics). Countycomm had them for a while, then they were out of stock, but they might have more now.

I wore mine when I was in Hawaii for 10 days, it had no problem with the salt water or the abuse it got. I know what happened to it in that time is about the worst that any watch I have will suffer, so I'm very confident in it's durability and reliability in the woods.
 
Do yourself a favor and spend the money on a good watch and a good compass individually.

I had a Casio Forester IIRC and I was constantly having it refind it's self, I would never walk into the weeds with with a compass dependent on a gadget, it's not worth the convenience.

Besides it's not as accurate as a analog compass.
 
I would never use a watch compass as a primary or even a secondary, although I think it is a good function to have on a watch.
 
I use a Suunto Observer. Compass function works very well on it. I do not rely entirely on it though. Always have a back-up compass.
 
I'd only recommend buying a watch/compass if you already own a good compass. That being said, I have had good luck with my Suuntto. Also, I like to have several of those cheap pin-on ball compasses for backups and situations where accuracy is not important.
 
Several years ago, I had a Timex (forget the model) - seemed like I was always have to re-calibrate the compass on it.
 
I've got a Suunto core and the compass is Ok but as it's been said they're not to be used as the sole navigation device. In fact any battery operated/electronic device is a risk of failing when you need it most.
I wear a G-shock everyday at work as a landscaper on the tools and six years on I've got nothing but good things to say, it's bomb-proof.
 
I prefer analog watches and my EDC is a Marathon GSAR, however my backup watch is a G-Shock (solar)...it's went with me to Iraq and is going to Afghansistan here in a couple months. It's a simple, tough-as-nuts watch. It gets used for morning PT (love the timer) and the bedside alarm. If I'm doing some rough range work, I'll let the GSAR take a break. Can't go wrong with the G-Shock.

Another good, inexpensive analog watch is the Citizen Eco-Drive. My son has literally abused the heck out of it and it's still working.

ROCK6
 
I had a G-Shock and I must be the odd one out, it lost the seal on the case and would fog up all the time. I asked about repair from a Casio dealer and they said they could fix it but not guarantee the repair...:confused::mad: Kind of turned me off the G-Shock. I went out and bought a Swiss Army instead and really like it, no complaints other than I had to buy a Nato style band to replace the one it came with as it was too big, I have REALLY skinny wrists:D

I want to get a Seiko Landmonster and it has a compass, though I would never trust it. Like everyone else has said, good watch and good compass but not together.
 
I have a Suunto core watch and it has a compass feature (and lots more those I don't remember well).
I'll carry a compass as the watch stops working if the battery is out.

As well said repeatedly in the previous posts,
maybe a combination of just a simple robust watch and a compass is the best.
 
Everyone always gets negative when I post this, but my favorite watch now is a cheapo Timex Expedition. It has the analogue face, which I prefer (and people think I'm intelligent enough to read a clock rather than spout digital numbers) but also a small digital window so I can fool all those folks above. The digital/analogue combo I find is really great. It has all the goodies of a digital watch - indiglo light, alarm, stopwatch, backwards timer, 2nd time, date. It has great features of an analogue, attractive black and easy to read white numbers, a second hand that ticks by the second not in smaller increments (I hate that) and a moving bezel to use as a manual timer, which I've grown to prefer over the stopwatch for some reason. The expedition is thin, unfortunately cheap plastic, but is light weight. Put on an attractive watch band and it looks good enough to be an okay dress watch. My $200 seiko kinetica series just sits in the drawer now since I've gotten the expedition. All that for $50. When the battery goes, I'll just buy another one.

I prefer a regular compass. I never been too keen on the electronic ones.
 
ROCK6 said:
I prefer analog watches and my EDC is a Marathon GSAR, however my backup watch is a G-Shock (solar)...it's went with me to Iraq and is going to Afghansistan here in a couple months. It's a simple, tough-as-nuts watch. It gets used for morning PT (love the timer) and the bedside alarm. If I'm doing some rough range work, I'll let the GSAR take a break. Can't go wrong with the G-Shock.

Another good, inexpensive analog watch is the Citizen Eco-Drive. My son has literally abused the heck out of it and it's still working.

ROCK6
Click to expand...


+1 on the Solar G Shock, great watch and never needs batteries and when charged has a long shelf life.
 
I like the pathfinder,I can't remember which model I have,but it has the atomic time keeping (accurate),solar battery(awesome),digital compass(accurate so far),altimeter varies by 200 m. The altimeter is not necessary for me and the instructions say that air pressure will change the reading and you should keep an eye on that feature. The watch comes with a 150 page manual and I can't remember half of what it can do. The barometer is a fun little feature,with a little practice ,you can forecast weather. The fact that it is solar powered eliminates one of the weakness of watch compasses,which is the dependence on batteries.
 
I agree with flnder...I really like mine.
yes, I own a compass but my watch can be a back up. I love not having to worry about batteries. Mine also has the atomic timekeeping.
I've only had mine for about a month but I like it.
I also didn't make it through the manual so its safe to say the watch is smarter than me! :)
 
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