Rangeman GW-9400

When I was a kid and G-shocks were new, I wanted one from the time I first saw one. After I got my first one, there was never a time when I didn’t have one on my wrist all through my school years, my construction years after school, then onto boot camp and nine years in the army. After the military I went on to law enforcement and the G-shock stayed with me. Unbelievably tough, the only excuse I ever had for buying a new one was just because I wanted a new model. They never failed. As I got into my late 40’s early fifties, I discovered auto movements and different styles of watches and as I developed an affinity for them and started wearing them all the time right up until the present. Thing is they weren’t nearly as rugged and found myself breaking quite a few. I’m now 61 and again found myself missing the ruggedness, looks, and features of the G-shock for everyday use. I’ll still wear an auto on occasion when I want to dress up, but I’m back for good I think. The GW-9400 is a beast. Thanks to the NM sun, it never needs winding. And thanks to the atomic time clock in Colorado I never have to set it either. It’s got a bunch of cool features like a compass, an altimeter, a barometer, etc, and they do actually work pretty well. But the greatest thing about it is its ruggedness. I’m pretty tough on my gear and I’ve broken several lesser watches in the past while camping, riding my motorcycle, or just putting around doing what I do, but in my entire life, I’ve never managed to break a G-shock, which ultimately is what really brought me back to them. Good looking, great product I can’t recommend enough. And at even its current price, it is an incredible value. If you’re on the fence, don’t even think about it. You’ll quickly find it’s a no brainer.

Amazing product. Durable. I’ve been using the GW-9400 for a few months now, and it’s quickly become my go-to watch for outdoor activities. The durability is exactly what you’d expect from a G-Shoc, it’s been through hiking trips, swimming, and other rugged activities without a single issue. The built-in compass has proven to be extremely useful when I’m outdoors, and it adds real value beyond just being a feature on paper. The Tough Solar charging is another standout. I never have to worry about battery life, which makes it even more reliable for long trips. It is a larger watch, so if you prefer slimmer designs, that’s something to keep in mind but the trade-off is worth it for the functionality and toughness you get. Overall, this watch is a powerhouse, rugged, practical, and dependable. Highly recommended for anyone who spends time outdoors or just wants a tough everyday watch.

I have owned this watch for a number of years now and I feel very comfortable with it. When I first bought it, I had some problems to the point that I needed to return it for some servicing.. I might have just got a very uncommon 'lemon' as the returned item has been flawless. First off, its a big watch.. so the wife hates it as I wear mine facing down from the wrist and that rubs when we hold hands and walk. It occasionally jabs her too, and I have to remind her it was her mom's gift to me.. the debate over the coolness of my watch is, at this moment, unsettled. That being said, its mostly comfortable for me and I do not have heavy weight wrists or size. I will take it off or rotate it when working on a keyboard as it can get in the way there - but otherwise, even given its size, it doesn't get in the way. One of the features that probably eliminates all other watches from consideration for me (the wife has tried with Movados, Rolex, etc... they are stylish.. but not what I look for) is the World Time feature. Your 'home time' is set and maintained on what I suppose you can refer to as your home screen. This screen is easily found by cycling through the screens with the lower left button, you will hear an audible beep each time and the home screen will have a beep of slightly different pitch. This is an incredibly smart feature as you can do this in the dark, know where you are, and then cycle to the screen you want and THEN punch the light button. It saves on battery and allows you to operate the watch by feel. World Time is the next screen after the home screen and allows me to set it to a specific timezone. I travel frequently internationally.. and I use this constantly. I can set the WT timezone to where I have landed and I now have the time at home and where I am at. Simple. I DO run into problems with DST being automatically incorporated and I have not figured out why (I am in LAX timezone.. so it shouldn't be an issue..), but this is easy to remedy by simply turning DST on and off at the appropriate times of the year. A minor annoyance. Stopwatch (STW) and Timer (TMR) features are standard and as useful as they are anywhere else. I don't use the stopwatch a lot but on occasion its handy to have one. Timer I use for BBQ or just a quick reminder to keep a schedule. For example, when I am on the road and have a number of meetings.. I will try and break up my day a bit and a 30 minute timer to focus in on specific items. Its a fairly standard feature so I am sure most are familiar with it. One item that I thought was odd though, is when you are setting the timer, the top right button DECREASES the value and the lower right button INCREASES the value. This is kind of silly and should have been configured in the opposite manner. Again, minor annoyance. There 4 Alarms and a snooze setting that can be configured. So far, I have only found use for 1 alarm and a 2nd on rare occasions. I dont use the snooze and the 'signal' feature, which iirc beeps on the hour or regular interval is not useful to me. I have not used the data recall feature, but I can see where hikers, hunters, and outdoorsman-type people would have a use for this and I think it was a tremendous idea to incorporate it into the watch. I would definitely read up on it and make use of it if I were to go on an extensive hike or remote hunt for sure. As of this time, for me, its not necessary. The sunrise/sunset features are nice from an informational standpoint. I don't use them a lot but I could see where a more tactical need of the watch would find them valuable. For me, its useful to get an idea when the sun will set or rise when I am out rafting for time management purposes. I don't need it on business travel at all currently. The Radio Controlled Atomic clock updates. I do run into a weird problem where DST doesn't seem to get sorted (perhaps its not just BJS and HKG that don't have that?) but again, minor inconvenience. The fact is, my watch ALWAYS has the right time, and with the WT I am always looking at the right time for the TZ I am in. It simply makes keeping time as simple as it should be. The last feature is the solar charging... this is quite frankly astonishing and the reason I would probably never give this watch up. For me we the watch seems to stay on HIGH for probably 25% of the time and MED for about 70% of the time... I do not 'charge it nightly' or even routinely. Probably once a year (actually... its probably closer to every other year) it hits low and I just set it up outside before I go to bed and leave it there for a day. I'll repeat again the next day till about noon and then its on HIGH again. This is also with the watch pointed down from my wrist and being indoors a lot (office job). I minimize power use and turn off the light functions so the drain is minimized. Honestly, if I could remember, probably leaving it near an open window monthly would likely be enough for it to never leave the HIGH charge value. Its simply a no-brainer and I will never own a watch that doesn't have the same feature and performance as this one: my issues with shaking, winding, or changing the watch battery came to a halt here - and I am not going back. period. It would be nice if alarms could be set based on WT or Home time, Increment and Decrement made sense, and if the DST thing would just work - but these are minor inconveniences. I am very hard on watches and have prbably broken the crystal on at least a dozen watches. This one doesn't have a scratch from over 5 years of use thus far. It does what it does exceptionally well, and is decently affordable. It will not win you any awards on the red carpet, but that't not its purpose or charter. Its a rugged, water proof watch that has reliably told me the time across the globe (literally... this watch has been through all time zones and almost all continents). Its a tool I would rely on if my life depended on it (I doubt that will happen.. but I would rely on this watch if it did) and it has the proper features and function that I think anyone looking at this TYPE of watch would want.

The Casio Rangeman watch is a tricky product for me to review. Don't get me wrong: It's highly functional and robust, well-conceived, and most of what it does it does quite well. What makes this tricky is that the Rangeman poses a philosophical dilemma, for somebody like me who collects watches: Do I really need anything more than this? What is the appropriate criterion for judging a watch like this? I'm writing this review in part to try to answer those questions. So first off, I bought this watch with several specific use-cases in mind. I wanted a light-weight, shock-resistant watch for running with, and I also wanted it to be easy to read, and to have the ability to function as a stopwatch. I also wanted a "field watch" for hiking, kayaking, and other outdoor activities away from civilization -- hence no smart watch or fit-bit. I liked the idea of solar power, so as not to need to change the battery out for 10 or 15 years, at least. And finally, because I do have some other mechanical watches, I also wanted an "atomic watch," something that would always be synced and accurate and that I could use as a reference to set other time-pieces. So those are the reasons why I picked out the Rangeman to try. This was not my first experience with a Casio G-Shock, by the way. And my previous G-Shock was not a success -- I got a GX-56 "King," with the primary aim of using it to time myself during a mud-run obstacle course. Unfortunately, I bought one with a "reverse" LCD display -- i.e., where the numbers appear white on a black background, instead of the other way around. That turned out to make that watch difficult to read, even in bright sunlight. And I learned the hard way that if I can't easily read the face of a digital watch, then it's useless to me. Which added another demand to the use-case for my new Rangeman: it had to be very easy to read the time, regardless of the ambient lighting or the angle of my wrist. So here's the good news: It turns out that the Rangeman is quite good for all of my use-cases. It's easy to read, light-weight and good for running, good as a field watch, with excellent atomic time-keeping. If anything, I find myself using this watch for more situations than I expected to. On a recent business trip across country, for example, I kept the Rangeman with me, because it's world-time function made it easy to switch time zones, while still keeping track of time at home. Plus the basic home screen display, which shows the time, day, date and month (based on a perpetual calendar through the year 2100) is incredibly functional and useful. So yes: by comparison with most mechanical watches, the Rangeman is almost ridiculously functional, even just in terms of the basic display that you get without pushing any buttons at all. Did I mention that (in the U.S.) the Rangeman will automatically keep track of daylight savings time, and make the adjustment without you even having to think about it? So this led me to the existential question, do I really need any other watch, now that I have this one? After thinking about it for several weeks, I've concluded that the answer still is yes, at least for me. And the reason why goes to specialization: namely, a watch designed to do one thing can be tailored to that purpose, whereas a watch designed to do many things necessarily involves some compromise. And sometimes, I really do want the specialized watch. So for example, I have an inexpensive mechanical dive watch (similar price point to the Rangeman). My diver is a better watch for swimming than is the Rangeman. Even though the latter is supposed to be water resistant to 200m, I simply don't feel confident in this to the same degree that I do with my mechanical watch. (Look at the reviews on Amazon -- 19 out of 20 people love the Rangeman, but the remaining 1 out of 20 gets a lemon, often to do with faulty water resistance.) Likewise, my mechanical dive watch is actually better for sleeping with -- it has glow-in-the-dark lume on the hands, which means you can easily see the time with a glance even in a pitch-black room, or under the covers. The Rangeman can also light up in the dark, but you either have to push a button for this, or else set the watch so that it automatically lights up every time you move your wrist when in the dark -- and neither of those options is as good for sleeping with as is a traditional mechanical dive watch. Getting back to my recent trip across country: I sat next to another passenger who was wearing an expensive watch on the plane, I believe it was a Tag Heuer Carrera -- a racing-inspired sports watch on a leather-band, the kind of thing you might wear out for an evening with on the town with friends, when visiting Monte Carlo. By comparison, my Rangeman looked almost like a toy. Don't get me wrong -- I very much like the bulkiness and the tactical look of the Rangeman. But it's certainly not a watch that slides easily under a dress shirt cuff, or that fits in well at the office. Which is just another way of saying, as versatile as the Rangeman is, the design is optimized for some uses and settings, but not others. Camping? Yes. Covert ops? Yes. Going to your best friend's wedding? Probably not. In sum, I still give the Rangeman 5 stars. It is very well designed for what it is, and it does many things well. I've had it for a month, and I am enjoying it a lot. Even though it won't replace other watches for me, I certainly wouldn't give it up, now that I've experienced it. So there!

Perhaps this is a bit early for a review of my new Casio GW-9400 Rangemaster (red), but since this is my 4th Casio G-Shock watch since my first one in 1983, I feel like I can give an honest assessment. If I ever need to add any additional info, I'll edit this review. I received this watch 2 days ago, got it all set up, (a huge shout out to the Watch Geek on YT which made the setup simple) and placed it in a south facing window overnight. The next morning it showed that it had synched. Since it showed 2 bars of charge when I took it from the fancy little can it arrived in, I left it in the window until noon yesterday when it showed fully charged. I purchased this watch from Amazon for $200 & it was shipped from JBD Trading Inc. This was the best price I could find for the Rangemaster, but it's still the most $ I've ever paid for a watch. If it's as good as my last 3 G-Shocks, it will likely be the last watch I'll ever purchase. A bit of info for anyone who's interested, is sizing. I searched through every review, specification, and general info on this model to see if I could figure out before I ordered on if it would fit my 9 1/4" wrist. I never did find any assurance that it would fit however it does fit, but it's on the second set of holes & I wouldn't want to stretch it out to the first set, so my best guess is if your wrist measures over 9 1/2" either look for a different watch or see if you can find a longer band, I am not a collector. I wear Casio G-Shocks because they are durable, dependable, & nearly indestructible. It's a real plus that it's a mighty fine looking watch as well. I highly recommend Casio G-Shock watches & for anyone looking for a watch with these specs, I don't think you can find one any better for the price.

I purchased this through Amazon by White Pearl Trading in New York on May 13, 2020. The Amazon tracking said the package had been delivered on Saturday May 16th at 7:34 PM. I had not received a package and sent a note to the seller through Amazon's procedures. They responded quickly advising that they had specifies the package required a signature and that it would probably arrive within a day or two. I was thankful that they required the signature and sure enough the package arrived on Monday May 18 before noon. So far a good relationship with White Pearl Trading. The outer package was strong cardboard and stuffed with foam bubbles. The watch is a genuine watch manufactured on October 18, 2019 according to the serial number and a decoding table provided in a great review/tutorial video on Youtube by "The Watch Geek." Set up was easy after watching the two great videos by "Watch Geek," User Guides Part one and two by "Mostly Casio Watch Reviews" and another good one by Greg Anderson "The Good Timekeeper." I also downloaded the Casio manual for the watch as a PDF from the web. So if you read a few instructions before you get the watch set up is a snap, otherwise you will definitely fumble around and not have a clue. One big change was setting the actual Latitude and Longitude to achieve more accurate sunrise/sunset times. I used NYC as the timezone city but I live south of Miami closer to the Keys so an adjustment for actual Lat and Long was essential. I tried to due a manual reception of the Atomic Time Signal but only got strength L1 and an "err" message so I set the watch to receive automatic updates and I will let it try to receive the signals after midnight tonight. In the meantime, I just set the watch manually. I have not had the watch in my pool or any other water yet, so did not rate it for water. One nice surprise, when I registered the watch online with Casio I received an online confirmation number with a statement saying that, as a bonus they were extending the warranty by one extra year. I look forward to using this watch in many outdoor activities and everyday casual wear. So far no whining, and the look, feel and function of the watch is great. I am thankful I did not buy the good looking negative/reverse video green version, though it looks good but I need to actually see the small digits in all the modes clearly in most lighting conditions. I will update this review as necessary and as I gain more experience with this great watch. Stay safe and good luck! God Bless! Rob. Update 05/19/20 I tried a manual update on the atomic clock yesterday but I received an “err” message so it did not update. Last night I placed the watch in an upstairs window facing north with auto update feature enabled and when I looked at the watch in the morning I noticed their had been no new update other than the initial factory update that had been done on Oct 22 at 1402 (2:02pm) probably in 2019 because the watch was manufactured not one before that. I figured maybe I’m too far from the Fort Collins signal way down here near the keys. I noticed the battery charge indicated medium charge but then I remembered reading the fine print in the manual which stated that the watch will not auto update whenever the power saving (PS) feature is enabled. I disables the PS feature and I tried to do another manual update which reached a level 1 (L1) signal and failed. I will try allowing the watch to attempt more auto updates tonight, but this time with the PS feature disabled. The volume of the alarm and other key beeps are almost inaudible for me and my hearing is still decent for my age. None of those faint beep sounds will get my attention unless I am anticipating them and listening closely for them when they occur. I will post a few updates if necessary. Update 5/20/20 When I left the watch in the upstairs window facing north with “power save” (PS) off and “receive auto update” on, I found in the morning that the watch had successfully auto updated the time signal probably the first time it tried at OOO6 (six minutes after midnight). During the day I also swam thirty laps in my pool and the watch was perfect when I came out. So far the watch is performing very well, except for the really weak beeps/signals for the various alarms and button presses. I really don’t care about those signals at all but if I could never rely on the alarm feature to wake me up from a sleep. I also left the watch outside in the sun for about an hour and boosted the battery charge up from medium to full charge on the indicator. Since then it has not dropped back down to medium. I really am enjoying this watch so far. update 06/20/20 I have found that even where I am located way down in the southeast (Homestead FL near the Keys) if I place my watch in a north facing window it will auto update the atomic time signal most days just after midnight as advertised. I really like this watch and I have subsequently ordered another G-Shock watch, the badass looking Casio G-Shock Mudmaster green/black GG-1000-1A3. It’s not atomic or solar and it’s analog with only temperature and compass but also afordable like this Rangeman. I just like the looks of it.

After owning the watch a month or so, I think I'm ready to give it a long-winded review: A Triple Sensor G-Shock is pretty much exactly what myself and a lot of other G-Shock fanatics have wanted for many years now. The Rangeman is a great first model, especially with the new Version 3 sensor. The biggest benefit of the new sensor is the speed at which these sensors pick up their settings - altitude readings, compass bearings, and barometric pressure (and temperature). My older Casio Pathfinders would often take a few seconds to pickup a compass bearing or barometric reading - the Rangeman does so noticeably quicker. I didn't think this would be that big of a deal, but the increased speed of the sensors make feel more like it's a tool as compared to a toy. And speaking of the triple function sensors, here's a bit of a review on each: Compass: Definitely a lot less "travel" in the compass. On the Casio Pathfinder watches that I've had in the past, I could leave them still on my wrist and they'd still change readings by up to 10 degrees or so. The new sensor in this watch fixes that and the travel now is only a degree or two. The compass stays on for a minute now as opposed to only a few seconds for previous Triple Sensor models which is nice. Be sure to set magnetic declination in your area for more accurate readings. Large chunks of metal will throw the sensor off however. When in my vehicle, I'm assuming the engine block is throwing things off as my readings are 100% unreliable. While outdoors or in my apartment however, readings are pretty much spot on. Barometric Pressure: Probably the most accurate sensor. The absolute pressure on this watch has been spot on compared to the National Weather Services reading for my location. One thing that confused me with when I first got this watch....the watch comes from the factory calibrated to read the ABSOLUTE pressure (NOT the adjusted Sea-Level pressure readings that you see on websites/newscasts). As such, my readings in Fort Collins, CO (around 5000 ft. altitude) provided a pressure reading of around 25.00 inHg. Not knowing this was absolute pressure, I quickly adjusted my watch to match the 29.90 inHg listed on my location's weather report. This worked fine until I visited my parents in Nebraska (around 2200 ft. altitude). Since I had set my pressure to adjusted Sea-Level Pressure in Fort Collins (compounded by the fact that traveling downhill means an increase in pressure reading), when I got to my parents place in Nebraska, my watch mysteriously read "ERR" when taking barometric pressure readings. This is because with my altitude drop (and my manually adjusting the barometric pressure) the watch was unable to take a reading because the new pressure value at my parents place registered off the scale. Long story short, keep the pressure settings to the absolute pressure! Altitude: By far the least reliable sensor. It's not the fault of the watch necessarily, it's just that it gets the readings from the barometric pressure. If you're sitting still and the pressure changes, your altitude will change on the watch (rising pressure = altitude drop, decreasing pressure = altitude gain). There's no way around this (my Suunto Core did it too as do other watches) other than perhaps getting a watch with a GPS built in. It's fun to use as a general guide when I'm driving in the mountains as it always tends to be within +- 200 ft. of my actual altitude. Just don't expect accuracy unless you're out hiking and you know that the barometric pressure isn't going to change. Temperature: For me, it's pretty much always 10 degrees warmer than what it really is. It picks up on my body heat, no big deal. For my purposes I never need to know the exact temp anyways, an estimate is just fine. World Time, Stopwatch, Timer, and Alarm are all pretty standard compared to my other Casio watches. I do like that I can start the stopwatch from the main menu. Sunset/Sunrise: Haven't had this feature before. Not mind-blowing, but I appreciate having it. You're able to program in Latitude/Longitude areas which make for very accurate Sunset/Sunrise times, accurate to the minute compared to websites where I can look up the info. Recall Mode: Again, haven't used this feature before, but like having it. Basically you can time-stamp any setting that you'd like (time, pressure reading, altitude, etc) and it keeps track of it. Also keeps track of the total altitude that you've ascended or descended, along with minimum and maximum altitude readings. Atomic Time: I'm about 10 miles away from the Atomic Clock here in Fort Collins. As such, I have no issues (nor should I)! Watch Strap: Casio has watch adapters (search Google) that will fit these watches, so I wear it with a Zulu 24mm nylon strap as I do most of my watches. Nothing specifically wrong with the factory strap, just my preference. Watch Style: Some people love Casio's look, some people hate it. I'm somewhere in the middle bordering on liking it. I work in IT, so wearing this to work is no problem and adds to that geek factor all of us IT people are looking for ;) I have a fairly skinny 6.5 inch wrist and while the watch looks big on my wrist, that's kind of the style these days. Final Thoughts: Really, I love all things tech and wanted to purchase something on my wrist loaded with features. However being in Colorado, I wanted something that was reliable when out on a hike where I wouldn't have to worry about battery life, durability, etc. Looking around at the latest Suunto and Garmin offerings, they sure do look cool, but each have their own quirks as well as very short battery life (this is the price you pay for having GPS enable watches). In the end, I'll give the technology another couple years to figure itself out before looking at watches again. As it stands right now, I have a watch that never needs a battery and is always EXACTLY the right time.

Amazing watch, perfect fit for daily use or for outdoors use, it feels very good and all the functions are perfect, once you calibrate the sensors, works perfectly, the quality of the materials are very very good, even when it is a big watch you will be very comftable wearing it, if you have a doubt about purchasing this watch, I strongly recomend to do it. And just sharing my experience I was kind of nervous about the fake version of this watch, so I investigated a lot about how to identify a used one or a fake one, and the one that i recivied was original and new, great watch

I bought this watch and I would like to tell you that if the apocalypse will come, I would like to have this watch on my wrist . I was looking for something that I don't like about it , and I couldn't find . The watch came in perfect shape, brand new how I was expecting. Being atomic watch , is updating every night at 3:11 at night ( around that time ) very precise , light for its size , looks good on your wrist lots of options , very accurate on compas. As a law enforcement officer I need the ABCs . I highly recommended

Awsome watch with usefull features

Reloj de muy buena Calidad en sus materiales, excelentes prestaciones. Llego en los tiempos estimados. Todo lo mejor de Casio en una referencia

Watch = Epic. Service= Outstanding. Very happy with everything and would highly recommend this watch and the company I bought it from.

Great watch.