Spyderco Forums

March daily wear, Hammy back in rotation

Well, I misplaced my EDC watch, a Garmin Forerunner 945 I think it was. Maybe I'll find it and this post will be a moot point. Things usually turn up in these situations....

It was a neat watch.

I liked using it to listen to music while I do sports, safer than carrying my phone with me while hitting up the halfpipe.

The navigational features were neat. Elevation, compass, built in maps + GPS, breadcrumb trail helped me out many times when exploring wilderness areas with no real trails, etc.

Activity tracking was cool but I've never found a good use for the data. "I walked 22,000 steps today. Cool." or "I biked 40 miles this weekend. Neat." Never saw any benefit from having this info.

I had planned on using it to record my route during my next bike tour, but haven't gone on one since buying the watch. Too busy. But boy would that be nice. I usually just write my turns down in a notepad on my phone, and map out my route on my PC at home.

I liked having a calendar I could quickly glance at when an employee asks for a specific date off etc. Handy.

All this is to say I'm 50/50 on whether to replace it.

I think the music feature was pretty nice, but other than that I didn't mind going back to an ABC Casio today, or a DW5600 the day before.

If I go with another smart watch, what would you suggest? I'd probably lean towards another garmin, maybe suunto, def not apple anything though.

If I go with something more basic, what would you suggest? Waterproof, rugged, light, not overly thick (dw5600 is thicker than I prefer but bearable, but definitely nothing like a mudmaster). I know Casio has some watches with more high tech features with old school styling, like casioaks with bluetooth,and watches fairly similar to the dw5600 with step trackers etc.

Decisions decisions.

Casio PAW-1300
available cheap on Ebay. Large font. ABC yet thin and not overly large. Can be had with resin strap or titanium bracelet.

looks fairly similar to my oldest watch:

vivi wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 27, 2023 2:21 pm

pro trek to help navigate some unexplored territory

BTW the Garmin should pop up eventually. my phone says it has a bluetooth connection with it while I'm home. Unfortunately using find my garmin and setting a bunch of alarms didn't reveal its location.

I've recently got the Samsung Ultra at a good discount, works well within my Samsung ecosystem. I like the feature of playing stuff off Spotify through the watch speakers when I'm alone around the house, it's unbelievably loud and crisp. Also the implemented hand gestures work as intended, particularly when taking a pic with the main phone camera while your phone is away at some distance.

Most of the activity tracking features are potentially lost on me as I don't need such intricacies in my simple outdoorsy life, though they might come in handy during my backpacking/trail walking escapades. I have also been 'living by the code' of walking at least 14k steps (10 km or 6.2 miles) every day since December 2017, be it rain or sunny weather so I definitely need this metric in my life.

MAS62 back in rotation for April 2025

Wharncliffe and Watch Wednesday...

Turtle

BB36

G-Shock GD400DN-4. It's been with me for almost 10 years and through much abuse has only needed 1 battery and a (elective) new strap due to staining.

Makunochimaster wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 02, 2025 3:13 am

Casio AQ-S800W
IMG_20250302_114930_049.jpg
IMG_20250302_114933_442.jpg
IMG_20250302_114935_704.jpg

Had that one a "few" years back. Sold it in 2017
It was almost the perfect beater watch. Incredibly thin and light, but I could never get along with the watch strap. Stiff and uncomfortable, with a curvature that did not match my wrist very well.
I wish it worked out better, cause everything else was very simple and functional. OK, the backlight could have been better, but it was there if needed.

Anyone have watch band recommendations?
I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. I want a 20mm leather strap, but as a recovered watch addict I'm afraid to go do my own research in case I fall back into the rabbit hole in the process.

I like vintage style, two piece brown leather with saddler's seam and cream white contrast stitch. Minimal to no taper. Brushed or satin, uncoated buckles (if included).
That's just my goto choice, but open to suggestions. Some times you don't know what you want until you see it.
Decent quality, genuine leather of course, but I like the rougher esthetics, so no need to over pay for luxury grade stuff.

Ballpark example picked randomly from the great interwebs: